Table Against Mine Enemies: Israel on the Lawfare Front Hardcover – April 1, 2017 by Larry M. Goldstein (Gefen Publishing House )

Larry Goldstein's "A Table Against Mine Enemies: Israel on the Lawfare Front" was one of the most informative books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Middle East I've read. I teach Israel political advocacy to high school and college students and read many books and articles on the issues effecting Israel and her neighbors. I value an author who can discuss a complicated topic and explain it in layman's terms. With little background in lawfare or anything legal, I was able to grasp abstract and difficult concepts fairly easily as I read this book. The value of this book is the conquering of a challenging topic with little effort. I'm grateful for the education this book gave me.

The title says it all: a table against mine enemies. The book brilliantly expounds the nature of the assaults that the nation of Israel is experiencing on every front. Israel is challenged into a position of having to find ways and means to defend itself. A table of evidence has to be set up against these slanderous efforts that seek to question the legitimacy of the State of Israel as the nation State of the Jewish people. Placed under the microscope of enemies that seek to engineer its downfall, every possible avenue to discredit Israel in the eyes of the world is venomously pursued. What the author describes not as warfare, real or ideological, but as lawfare, is a vivid description of efforts to find reasons to drag Israel to the International Court of Justice in the hope to discredit it as a human rights abuser. 

The ingenuous and highly perceptive ways that Israel employs in calling the bluff of these falsified so-called cases against it, exposes the hostile Arab nations and groups as themselves the worst of human rights offenders. Sane consideration is given to the methods and techniques these hostile groups employ in their onslaught and how Israel can effectively counteract these efforts. The changing face of warfare and how to prepare for future assaults is another most valuable contribution this book has to offer. The style of the writer is clear, forthright and unambiguous. He is a superb master of logic, taking the reader along from one argument to the next. The intent of each chapter is clearly set out at the beginning and a summary given at the end of each. The book captures the interest and attention of the reader and sets out the truth of the matter in a way that is most enlightening to anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear..