Levy’s analysis and diagnosis is spot on. This is the most important piece I have read on the horrors of the last year, since October 7th and yet, with a hopeful eye towards a day after.

This is an important book, by veteran historian Levy, and should be read by people interested in the topic (and who isn't?).

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

Reading this book was uncomfortable at times, but that's to be expected considering the subject matter. Levy gave not only a detailed account of the history of Israel and the Jewish people but also an overview of the current political state. For those curious to know more about the subject matter, I'd highly recommend Israel Alone.

This was the kind of book that I didn’t want to read, but felt it was important to do. It’s like Holocaust memoirs—I never *want* to read one, but I do whenever I get the chance because I was raised to bear witness and work hard to make a better world for all of us. This wasn’t an easy book to read, but it’s so important, and really addresses a lot of issues, both historic and current, that have led to Israel’s isolation on the world stage.

October 7th, 2023 is a day that I already know I’ll remember vividly for the rest of my life. While I wasn’t in Israel, someone very close to me was at the Nova festival, and when I saw the news, I was one of the people waiting with my heart in my mouth to find out if my loved one was safe … and alive. Someone let me know that she was okay, and safety at home. But three of her close friends were taken hostage, and one is still a hostage, but there hasn't been any news about him, so it’s just a waiting game. It wasn’t just my moral obligation to bear witness that led me to read this book, but more in an effort to understand how the world has seemed to flip upside down and antisemitism has exploded around the world.

To start with, I hadn’t heard of Bernard-Henri Lévy before this, but was very impressed with his background—fifty years of visiting Israel, engaging in activism, creating documentaries about various wars around the world, and advising Israeli leaders on peace plans and conflicts since the 1970s. His extensive knowledge shows in this work, especially as he connects the dots between past and present, and exploring how this massive increase in antisemitism developed, seemingly out of nowhere, and has changed how our world views not only Israel, but diaspora Jews.

What hit me first about this book was that it is dedicated to the hostages held in Gaza. At the time of this book’s original French printing, there were 131. When the English version was made available, the number was changed to 120—but no one has been able to provide an exact count of how many remain alive. Five hostages had been rescued alive, others have had their bodies recovered. I started this book and was immediately struck by the name Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the six hostages who was murdered by Hamas just days before they were found by the IDF, since he was still alive at the time that this book was printed.

I was really worried that it would be difficult to read, because of the emotional aspect of this whole situation. However, Lévy tackles the subject matter with respect and sensitivity, focusing more on the background of the conflict and the aftermath than the gory aspects of the tragedy. Initially, he discusses his experiences visiting Israel the day after, on October 8th, with busy cities more like ghost towns, and everyone trying to put their shattered lives and sense of safety back together. By the time of his visit, most of the bodies had been cleaned up, but touring towns and kibbutzim surrounding Gaza revealed the extent of the pogrom: he describes what he saw, what he smelled, allowing readers to visualize the aftermath.

Lévy explores the mind-boggling phenomenon of how Hamas terrorists filmed their acts and proudly bragged about them to their parents, friends, and sharing videos on the internet, yet:

“In spite of this evidence, there were some cynical souls who came forward immediately after October 7 to say that they either saw nothing or did not believe what they had seen.”

Over the last 11 months, we have watched in real time as people refused to believe what they saw and heard with their own eyes, called facts ‘propaganda,’ creating new definitions for words that don’t align with what the word really means, and blaming everything on Israel and the Zionists, while ignoring everything negative about Hamas, even to the point of people on the streets calling to globalize the intifada and gas Jews. This wasn’t the response that we were expecting, and it wasn’t a response that helped the conflict in any way.

“The truth is, the pogrom that should have been—and was, for a brief moment—the occasion for seamless solidarity with the dead and those who mourned them, produced the opposite effect: a gale of anti-Semitism (sic). Or, to call it by its right name, a tempest of hatred for Jews without precedent since the Second World War.”

This book also debunks a lot of the misinformation that is being spread around about Israel and its history, the conflict between Hamas and Israel, and offers plenty of factual, historical information that is freely available in this day and age. However, dialogue and research seem to have gone out of fashion, in favor of being able to shout louder than your opponent, and an inability to accept views that don’t align with one’s own echo chamber. Discussing how Israel is not a ‘settler-colonial project,’ but rather one of the most successful decolonization efforts by an Indigenous population (yes, Jews are indigenous to the Levant, not Europe).

Finally, the book turns its attention to radical Islamism, and how the spread of it threatens not only Israel and Jews, but is a threat to democracy, Western values, and freedom. Another easily observed fact is the blatant Arab imperialism that is ignored—Islam has been spread from the Arabian peninsula to the entire SWANA (Southwest Asian and North Africa) region, much of Africa and Asia, in their own brand of settler-colonialism, while blaming Jews for the same thing in their own ancestral homeland. Islamist violence threatens us all, no matter your religion. The goal is a global caliphate, and Israel is on the front lines of this fight … alone.

Overall, this is an exceptional book. It’s thoroughly researched and should be read by everyone. Yes, the author talks about gore that he’s seen in a straightforward manner, without it ever feeling like trauma porn or gratuitous gore. The connections between ancient and current antisemitism can’t be ignored, and Lévy gives a clear and easy to understand analysis of this major Event (as he terms it) and what happened afterwards. If you know a Jewish person or don’t, if you’ve been personally affected by October 7th or not, or if you are only becoming aware of the increasing antisemitism and want to learn more, this is a great place to start.

For more reviews and bookish posts visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

Israel Alone by Bernard-Henri Lévy is a philosophical treaty about the world’s reaction to the October 7 attack on Israel. Mr. Lévy is a secular Jewish-French philosopher, commentator, novelist, and filmmaker.

This book is short but packs a punch. The author reflects on history, justice, antisemitism, as well as the double standards, demonization, and the weaponizing of both international laws and organizations against Israel.

For me, Israel Alone by Bernard-Henri Lévy, didn’t reveal much I didn’t already know, and the world’s reaction after October 7 reinforced it. However, he makes a much better argument than I ever could, and that alone is worth reading the book.

The October 7 attack on Israel, he argues, was a pogrom where the jihadists streamed their atrocities live on the internet. The terrorists took delight in their carnage, attempting to rally Russia, China, Turkey, Iran, and other Arab countries to Hamas’ cause of killing Jews everywhere made the attack.

Throughout the West, there were immediate efforts to erase October 7 from memory and blame Israel for it. Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and former British PM David Cameron, along with other politicians, academics, and students immediately started muddling the water and casting doubt on whether these atrocities, filmed and streamed live, actually happened. The Red Cross ignored the Israeli hostages, and the #MeToo movement’s silence was never so loud.

Mr. Lévy addresses decades-old false accusations against Israel, which have become standard talking points among the extreme left and far right. Israel is a “colonial” state, the Jews don’t assimilate, the willful forgetfulness of Arabs supporting the Nazis during World War II, and more.

The book methodically and clearly shows how vilifying Israel has been a successful international PR campaign. So successful, that blood libels and misinformation have been weaponized allowing critics to repeat partisan bias against Israel supporting talking points provided by a terrorist organization in the guise of intellectualism.

I like to discover both sides of a situation before drawing any form of conclusion and so I decided to read Israel Alone as an adjunct to other books that I have read with a view to The Holy Land. Sadly apart from a lot of verbosity, flowery prose and a very obviously biassed attack on anything and everyone not associated with his people of choice there was not a lot to be learned.

This is a great pity as with more of an open mind he could likely have offered some strong and relevant facts as to why the Holy Land is anything but...

In my opinion, this book has been written by someone who loves purple prose who, at the same time, seems incapable of providing anything other than a totally skewed/biassed version of what is actually happening and why.

Regrettably, this review has to be careful with its choice of words as freedom of speech has fallen to the will of the AI that scans all reviews posted.

In a sweeping history of Israel’s existence, featuring documentary evidence of Israel’s struggle to survive from the date of its birth, the eminent Bernard-Henri Levy has created a treatise on how the October 7, 2023 massacre exemplifies ongoing antisemitism in a world that has always made Jews into scapegoats.

For a few minutes in time, the world was shocked by and empathetic to the victims of a vicious act of terrorism perpetrated on thousands of young civilians gather only to dance. Everything changed in a few hours. Mr Levy explains that the phrase Never Again, coined to expel the notion of another Jewish Holocaust/ genocide could ever be repeated. It became immediately obsolete. The unthinkable had occurred. But once Israel fought back world support dwindled and ended. Though historical fact and carefully documented sources, we come to understand that Israel stands alone with no true or dependable allies.

I’m not going to reiterate the arguments that are so well stated in this heartfelt and heartbreaking work. If you are interested in these facts, you must read this book. It is a dark and anxiety provoking analysis of why a ceasefire cannot work in the context of Israel’s ongoing effort to simply exist in a world that would deny them that right.

Five stars for the story of a people that must be told. My thanks to NetGalley and Post Hill Press for an ARC in exchange for my review. Publication in English will be on September 10,2024. It is a must read for those interested in keeping an open mind about Israel’s history and right to exist.

Written after the Oct 7th invation by Hamas, Levy takes the situation as a continued original war for independence in 1947. Because of over two thousand years of pogroms and antihebrewism, the Jews/Israelis have learned that they have no true friends. Yes the USA has been a good friend but in reality a lot of it is because of the guilt of knnowing about the 'Showa/Holocaust' and having done nothing. A large part of the Americans who back Israel are Evangelical Christians who expect Israel to bring on the second coming.

Does Israel really need to be popular with the rest of the world?? The Arabs hate us because we have done more with a little bit of land in the middle east, and they know that without Oil they would all still be living in tents, herding goats, and burning camel dung to keep warm. The two biggest countres by population (over two billion out of nine) only care about how Israel affects the price of oil and the ability to sell their products to Europe and the rest of Asia.

Anyone growiing up Jewish in any of the last seventy years, understands why "we" are so paranoid. Name one country that hasn't pursecuited our people in the last two hundred years. Freud said it best, "just because your parnoid, doesn't mean people aren't out to get you".

Israel is alone because they are commitng genocide. Imagine mudering 1000s of children and then crying because people don't like you😭

This is such an important book and I wish everyone would read it. Giving the history of the Israeli conflict beyond simply what TikTok tells the world is so vitally important. With decades of experience telling the story of Israel and reporting on similar conflicts around the world, Levy brings his philosophical eye to the current war in Israel beginning with October 7 and how the world reacted.

It is heartbreaking and educational. The story does not end with the end of this short book, but this is a good place to start.

This is a translation and revised version of Levy's original book released in March 2024 but alas, not much has changed since then.

Releasing in September 2024 in English.

Thank you to Post Hill Press | Wicked Son and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.