Unabridged Audiobook
This book is strongly biased against Israel (despite the publisher’s blurb calling it “balanced”). A couple examples: (1) As the British mandate was ending, many people became refugees. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs left the area that became Israel, and hundreds of thousands of Jews left the Arab lands to enter Israel. Both groups were seeking safe and peaceful lives. The author devotes much attention to detailing incident after incident of the persecution and violence suffered by the Arabs that drove them to flee. In that section there is no mention of any comparable actions against Jews. Later, there is a passing mention that many Jews left Arab areas “under duress” – that’s it, two words. (2) In discussing the first truce in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the author recounts how the Israelis used the time to strengthen their military. Oh, those perfidious Jews, exploiting a truce! There’s no mention that the Arabs did the same. The UN mediator, Folke Bernadotte of Sweden, issued a report emphasizing three serious violations of the truce; two were committed by Arabs but this book ignores them. (The author does grudgingly admit that the truce ended because Egypt launched an attack.) I charitably give three stars because the book does have a lot of valuable information. It would have been much better without the bias, though.
A must-listen for a rational, logical human being interested in the chronological events that placed Palestine/Israel in their current horror. A primer on how to use religion to justify atrocities and theft; once again, religion at the root of all world chaos and suffering.
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