Not long after September 11, 2001, the conservative US historian Bernard Lewis wrote a book by the title What Went Wrong?: The Clash between Modernity and Islam in the Middle East. Lewis examined historical, political and cultural developments in the Muslim world, and arrived at the conclusion that the 9/11 attacks had been born from a profound sense of frustration amid Muslims that somehow–from the pinnacle of Ottoman expansion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries–they had fallen behind the rest of the world in economic and technological development. Germany and Japan—countries obliterated by World War Two—had quickly stood up, dusted themselves off, rejoined the world order and enjoyed thriving economies, while the nations of the Middle East continued to lag behind. According to Lewis, this sense of frustration mounted over time, especially with Western military incursions into the Middle East, and may well have motivated those who perpetrated the September 11, 2001 hijackings of US passenger planes.

Some twenty years on, we have Îsrael: What Went Wrong? by Omer Bartov. Bartov is Jewish, was raised in kibbutz, served his time in the Israeli military, and is a pronounced skeptic of recent Israeli military and economic policy. His criticism of Israel’s behavior stems from the departure of its behavior, which he considers to be borderline genocidal toward the Palestinians, and the lofty rhetoric of its 1948 Declaration of Independence, which mirrors that of Thomas Jefferson.  For various reasons, Israel has never passed a constitution. According to Bartov, a formal constitution may have lent weight to these words. “It will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex.”

The most potent charge that Bartov levels against Israel is that its leadership, led by Benyamin Netanyahu,  has been conducting a campaign of genocide in Gaza in the name of defending a state whose own creation was the product of genocide. In Bartov’s view, two wrongs, however horrific,  don’t make a right. He draws parallels between the terms that Nazis had for Jews and those that Israelis express toward Palestinians. A former Israeli Prime Minister, referring to Palestinians,  is quoted thusly: “I don’t call them human animals because that would be insulting to animals.” Tough rhetoric, indeed. Bartov might have achieved better balance by quoting someone form the Palestinian side.

The situation in Palestine has endured for generations. I grew up with it in the news, and it will most likely remain in the news after my time.  Countless books have been written on supporting either side. Bartov  to an extent sympathizes with the Palestinian side, though Hamas comes in for heavy criticism for the October 7 attack. His final chapter surveys novel propositions to resolve the conflict. Perhaps he’s simply tired and looking for a resolution—any resolution—to the seemingly endless mutual hostility. Wouldn’t all of us welcome such a development.