The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine by Nathan Thrall (Metropolitan Books)

In a series of essays, International Crisis Group analyst Nathan Thrall smashes one pro-Israel orthodoxy after another with lucid precision and logic. Thrall’s mastery of detail and brevity makes him one of the most astute commentators on the subject. In a devastating takedown of liberal Zionist apologia, “Feeling Good About Feeling Bad,” Thrall takes aim at the vanity of Israeli writer Ari Shavit whose My Promised Land was widely praised in the U.S. Shavit put forward the self-serving proposition that liberal Zionists can absolve their conscience by acknowledging the expulsion of Palestinians in 1948, all while maintaining that it was necessary for the birth of Israel as Jewish State. With characteristic colonial insolence, Shavit demands that the Palestinian have the moral obligation to forgive and forget, and insists that Western criticism is hypocritical, given worse deeds against indigenous people in North America. This is too clever, Thrall argues, as no White American would get away with stating that it’s the moral obligation of Native Americans to forgive their tragedy simply because it was “necessary” for the colonizer whose sole reciprocal obligation is a begrudging admission of past crimes. Thrall ably discredits other pro-Israel bromides (e.g., the myth of Israel as a peace-seeking nation: in fact, it has spurned numerous Arab offers) in a great primer for non-specialists and a handy reference for pro-Palestinian advocates.