Disclaimer: I LOVE Verso. I've read so many Verso books in the past couple years, and all of them have left me a better informed and more empathetic human.

This book was no different. It's simply a must read for anyone wanting to gain an understanding of what's happening in Palestine. This book doesn't shy away from the horror that built and that sustains the Israeli ethnostate. Just read it.

I’ve never read about Israel’s role as a cog in the war machine in such an extensive way. This book explores Israel’s role in most world conflicts, from arms dealing to state of the art intelligence spyware, and how its importance came to be at the expense of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied territories of the West Bank as theyre used as lab rats. When all of Israeli weapons come recommended as battle tested this is what they mean,

Loewenstein goes in detail about Intelligence projects and secret military programs, also thanks to anonymous sources that used to be part of the IOF, and how these programs and the knowledge garnered from them shapes the world now that they’re used against drug cartels in Mexico, or government Modi’s opposition’s in India and Kashmir, or in Israel as well when the Israeli citizens saw these programs being used against them during Covid - while they accepted it when they were used on Palestinians up until then.

It’s a bit of a tough read, first of all because the horror of violence on innocent people is undeniable, but also because it’s a very dense list of war crimes to cram in about three hundred pages.

It’s an incredible resource, up to date until late 2022/early 2023 (it was published in May of this year), but if I have to voice a complaint - the chapters are way too long. There are few paragraph breaks, there are no subsections, and as I said they are chock-full of information: they’re dense, and a bit difficult to read when you don’t know when you can stop. Of course, nonfiction shouldn’t be read like a novel, but I saw myself putting off reading because sometimes I came to dread it a bit knowing it would take a long while for me to finish.

Regardless, this finds an easy solution in learning to pace yourself while reading, so not all hope is lost! It’s still deserving of acclamation.
3.5 stars rounded up.

Access to the ARC acquired thanks to NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book really helped contextualize the extent and mission of Israel's military apparatus, and how it markets it's occupation of Palestine to sell their arms and technology around the world. It was hard to read—not because of the author's writing, which was detailed and thorough without being too dense—but because of the revelations within and the implications of worldwide growth of occupation, dictatorship, surveillance and control.

The parts that will stick with me are Israel's domination in the arms and tech market, and its ambivalence of who they sell to and aid in operations. Even if the US stopped giving military aid to Israel, they would still dominate in weaponry and be able to target and maim Palestinians at leisure. Israel's goal is endless growth and expansion at any cost, and they will turn a blind eye to whomever they sell to—even if the regime is targeting Jews (as was the case in arming Nazis in Argentina post WW2, in one example). The Israeli government favors "expelling Palestinians over finding killers of Jews," as the author writes; in short, they want total extermination. Their collaborations with Modi's regime in India, the apartheid in South Africa, the US-Mexico border wall, the genocide in Rwanda, and the coups in Chile and Guatemala stand out as other notable global examples of their participation in settler-colonialism, but that doesn't even scratch the surface of everything covered in this book.

Kudos to Loewenstein for engaging in this deeply personal work with a clear eye, and bringing to light what is often glossed over in mainstream reporting on Palestine.

I received a copy of this from Netgalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. I must note that at the time of this writing you can also get a free ebook direct from the publisher at https://www.versobooks.com/products/2684-the-palestine-laboratory

This was so well written and with everything going on the world right now it is so important that if you don’t know what is going on to stay informed and educate yourself. I am grateful that I was approved to read this because many of the bookstores and libraries did not have many resources currently available. This particular book was easy to follow along (I typically don’t read primarily non-fiction) but reading this I didn’t feel like I couldn’t understand what was going on in each chapter. There are great overviews of the history of what is going on between Israel and Palestine. I definitely recommend checking this out and educating yourself on world events.

“Israel is monetising occupied Palestine as a testing ground for its powerful weapons industry” - such a thesis may sound like an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, but this very well-documented book, peppered with facts and figures, makes a convincing case that it is a sad reality.

I am sure that “Palestine Laboratory” will cause much controversy, but its author is a respected journalist and I think anyone interested in geopolitics should read it.

Thanks to the publisher, Verso Books (US), and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.