As America Has Done To Israel
347000
What an eye opener!!! One of the most enlightening books I have ever read. If you are interested in "true" history, this book is for you!
2905782
This is a must read book for anyone interested in a thorough examination and understanding of the relationship between Iran, Israel, and the United States and how the relationship between Iran and Israel has historically been defined based on geostrategy rather than ideology from the beginning of the Jewish state.

First a minor correction -- United Nations data shows that Iran's population was about 27 million back in 1967 and not 41 million as stated in chapter 3 under subheading "The 1967 War".

Second a general observation - While not downplaying Dr. Parsi's excellent scholarly work and analysis, it is clearly obvious which audience the book is trying to address or not to offend. For example, in the same chapter on page 33, the former Shah is characterized as someone who was "prone to conspiracy theories" for believing that the U.S. media was controlled by Jewish interests. However, the former Monarch was not entirely alone in that assessment. Former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was quoted in Donald Neff's book "Fallen Pillars" in February 1957:

"I am aware how almost impossible it is in this country to carry out a foreign policy [in the Middle East] not approved by the Jews..... Terrific control the Jews have over the news media and the barrage the Jews have built up on congressmen.... I am very much concerned over the fact that the Jewish influence here is completely dominating the scene and making it almost impossible to get congress to do anything they don't approve of. The Israeli embassy is practically dictating to the congress through influential Jewish people in the country"

In October 1973, Senator Fullbright, then Chair of Senate Foreign Relations Committee said: "The Israelis control the policy in the congress and the senate." on CBS' "Face the Nation".

It is also no secret that American media is a Jewish dominated institution that blindly adopts Israel's half-truths, myths, and talking points to ensure that the American public only sees, hears, and reads Israel's viewpoints. Despite such total domination, the Jewish lobby still attacks the media and those few columnists and scholars who dare challenge Israel are ridiculed, intimidated, and immediately labeled as anti-Semitic. Just ask Stephen M. Walt and John J. Mearsheimer.

However, none deters from Parsi's lucid analysis and contribution towards a better understanding of the relationship between the three countries. After reading this book, I'm optimistic that perhaps underneath all the current idealistic rhetoric that flies in the face of any sane geostrategy, cooler and wiser heads are still pursuing the far more rational policies of the past because at the end of the day, a weakened Israel or Iran as a result of an unnecessary war can only benefit their common enemies in the region.
3887766
This book explains more in it's ~250 pages than any scholar, university, professor, teacher, or any other educated or self-proclaimed intellectual ever could.

This book is based on truth and history as we know it. It takes the history of Israel as compares it to America as we all know it today. We all know America is heading down the wrong path. Israel did too. This book explains exactly what happened to Israel and explains what and why things have happened in America with absolutely unprecedented levels of accuracy; from dates to speeches.

It's simply a must read. Period! I'll probably read it at least one more time!
4353594
The conflict between the Hasid Jewish community and American law has been in the news so much in the last five years, whereas 20 years ago it was unheard of. To bring criminal proceedings against a Hasidic Rabbi, school, or place of worship was almost a taboo at the time. These people were the countrys model minority, always trusted by the nation, always beyond reproach. That moral immunity is gone now, and everyones asking why.

The Pious Ones is an unbiased look at the conflicts in places like Brooklyn, Monsey, Kiryas Joel, told in a straightforward manner. The author is strictly reporting the results without trying to draw conclusions, though Im not sure how well that works. He devotes a chapter to the Rockland County Hasidic community, who set up prayer rooms in their basements, then clashed with the officials over the fire codes. The owners of the houses were definitely in violation of the law; if a fire started, the stampeding crowd would jam the exit. The Rabbis, however, put up a fight with the public safety departments. They called names, made accusations, and behaved in a way that wouldve been forbidden in earlier years. Back in the 1960s, no Hasidic leader wouldve put up a fight with the county. If he feared anything more than God, it was the idea of looking bad to the non-Jews. Nowadays, that doesnt seem to be a problem.

Further, the author discusses how the Hasidic population is ballooning. With families of 8 kids, one every 18 months, and early marriage, thats a whole lot of people to deal with. A lot of people in one sect means they can vote as a block, creating a hurdle for Councilmen, Mayors, and Congressmen. Keep in mind, these families are poorly educated and reliant on public welfare, so theyll vote for whomever promises them money. Theres also the issue of sexual abuse, and the number of kids plays a part. Look at it this way; a pedophile works in a school, has access to lots of little boys, molests half the kids, and three years later they're all teenagers who molest younger kids. Thats going to strain social services, strain the criminal justice system, and strain the states mental health budget.

Maybe this book is a wake up call. Hasidic overpopulation will get worse down the road.
2210290
Yes it did...How from the very  beginning of civilization and religion the Jewish community has always been under attack on all fronts. The latest example, is how the state of Israel came into being has been the greatest attack on the Jewish community with no end insight. So the books teaches us that through propaganda, lying and deception is the only method the Jews uses to accomplish a political desire. This is how it is viewed now and it was in the past. It is what I gathered from this book. Although, I do believe that Zionism and Judaism is not the same thing...Something I had in mind while reading this book...
4594951
This book, and others like it, are vital for educating the average American in the pattern of deceptions and tactics used by the Israelis in the past to demonize their Arab neighbors and to justify Israel's intransigence and attacks in its quest for territory. Only then can Americans recognize the same patterns being repeated today. When all Americans are being called upon to blindly (and expensively) support Israel, they should be much better informed as to the worth of that for which their leaders are spending national effort, credibility and money. I don't agree with all of Mr. Shlaim's conclusions, but the documented facts he puts forth are invaluable in helping me to make my own decisions.
940265
This is the story of a New Jersey boy who ended up as Israel's ambassador to the United States. Parts of it read like straight out of Raiders of the Lost Ark: childhood wimp matures to become a paratrooper, then academic at Princeton and other Ivy League schools. Yet it is a serious book, not a cheap thriller, even if the author writes well enough to make it exciting. Oren is a serious scholar, having written the essential history of two hundred plus years of US involvement in the Middle East: "Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present."  Both the Washington Post and the New York Times have run hatchet jobs on the book;  given their antipathy for Israel,  that is regrettable, but not unexpected. Oren is scrupulously fair, but clear-eyed, in his assessment of the personalities with whom he had to interact during the 4 years he was ambassador. Yet, this is not a book about politics, or about the US-Israel relationship. When all is said and done, this book is a long love letter from a man who has assumed his three-thousand-year-old Jewish heritage to the country of his birth. "Ally" is well chosen as a title.
4309133
After receiving this book as a gift i want to say that i was impressed by jimmy carters hutzpah in bringing this issue to the fore. The palestinians are under represented and abused in the middle east. The influential jewish lobby in the u.s is a threatening force that marches in lockstep, and needs to be exposed. I suggest that instead of attacking president jimmy carters person, we should face the facts and issues at hand. As we speak, there are close to one million people expressing themselves in lebanon by protesting against the government. The Governments in the middle east have the right to vote into power whatever form of government they wish. The antisemitic  label should not be used to attact a man of the stature of president jimmy carter, it should not be used to intimidate anyone who expresses an opinion on the middle east or any issue held sacred by these americans with allegiance to another country. I support israels right to exist as a nation but do not support them in trampling on the rights of the palestinians. Our allegiance should be to the United States of America, and on lending help to the less needy of the world.
998722
The book is informative and heart-breaking. I was always siding with Israel until I read this book. I wish the whole world knew about the atrocities committed on the Palestinian people by Israel with the help of the U.S.  I wish something could be done to take away some of the power of AIPAC. I wish the U.N. would act to stop the expansion of the settlements. I don't understand why Israel has been free to violate international laws for so many decades. No wonder that the result is the hatred demonstrated by the Islamists who are looking for revenge no matter how brutal and savage it is achieved.
1534294
Well documented.  Many prior authors now have a big " I told you so", for what they wrote about the Jews in the past.  Poncins is vindicated too, thank you for adding him.  I feel Michael even held back some.  He could have added a chapter on the Young Turks and the slaughter of 1-2 million Armenians.
All in all, there are too many cases where the Zionists are proven to be hypocrites with double standards.  Plus all the Israeli false flag operations that have been exposed leads me to think that more and more people are fed up with Israel and its antisemitism against the Palestinians.  They sure are sick of the "Lobby", major media, neoconservatives, etc.  Fortunately, God is Sovereign, everything will turn out according to His plan.  Jesus Christ reigns.
4314871
I applaud the courage of the Southern Baptist Convention for declaring that it will target Jews to convert to Christainity in America.  6 million Jews in America are not Christians -- that's the biggest segment of any group which are not Christians.  Jews have led America in pushing immorality and laws that hurt Christianity.  Don't you know a Jewish lawyer in your town?  I rest my case.  Protecting Christian America means converting Jews to Christianity.  There are other alternatives, but I would support converting Jews.  America is under threat -- it's the Jewish fault.  Terrorist use America's "support" of Israel as an excuse for their attack.  After reading this book, I realized the damage that Jews have done to the security of America with their Jewish lobby groups pushing for support Israel.  I did not know much about the Jewish State before reading this book.  After reading this book, I realized how immoral it would be to support a state that is neither Christian nor uphold any of the Christian values.  I guess converting Jews in America will help ultimately to making Israel more moral because have you met a Jew in America who doesn't support the State of Israel, which they call "Jewish Homeland"?
941468
While the Israeli Lobby in the U.S. and Internationally carries out its campaign of propaganda about its intentions in the Middle East, authors such as Cook expose the real nature of the Zionist-Apartheid State of Israel. Sadly, it need not be this way. The mixing pot of Progressive and Ultra-Orthodox Jews that is modern day Israel has carried the rest of the world along with its troubling politics and vision of itself for too long. That this tiny country should be allowed to possess perhaps 250 nuclear warheads, all illegally acquired is an outrage. That this very troubled country should be able to use them as an unspoken "trump card" in its Geo-political manoeuvering is completely unacceptable. Cook exposes the problems of being Arab AND an Israeli citizen. The writing style is clear and presents for easy reading.
2869190
They are still dealing with so many things, even in Israel.  It's good to become aware.
1687993
I started by reading the Solving 9-11, the first book in in which Christopher Bollyn gives a full description and clear picture of what Israel and its intelligence agency from Mossad (the Israeli CIA) are up to, with the obeisance and aid of the United States government.
It is surprising what power these Israeli groups have over our country, mainly our politicians, especially our airports, media, the false and overdone Holocaust Industry, and other areas deemed important. They have quite underhandedly affected our consciousness, an intrusion which has profoundly altered attitudes of both young and old Americans. It is truly insane. In Bollyn's books you will learn of very powerful people who are highly instrumental in Zionism and Mossad activities in the U.S. and in Israel.
In no way do American minds glean very much about what is truly going on from the Zionist-controlled media. Deceiving the public is, after all, the main thrust of the U.S. press. It is a stealthy kind of propaganda to fool the eye and confuse and train the public mind.
As Bollyn says, in Chapter 2, The Planes of 9-11:  "The journalists of the 'free press' in the United States are confined to the Auschwitz of the mind' like the American public they write for...Journalists know very well that to touch the subject of Israeli involvement in 9-11 would be like touching a live wire."
Talking to my own daughter recently, she did not believe what I was saying and advised me not to read books like Solving 9-11, and not to get involved. Sadly, like many others, I cannot reach my children because of the powerful mind games being played upon the public. Folks complain loudly on the changes in our country, but do little or nothing to decipher the why and how.
In Bollyn's first book he describes Benjamin Netanyahu attending a 2-day celebration of the terror attack on the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in which more than 90 people were killed by Jewish terrorists. In celebrating the July 1946 terror bombing of the hotel, Bibi was showing his true colors. This bombing led to the British withdrawal from Palestine, which allowed the Zionist terrorist group Irgun, a dangerous organization to commit murder. Bollyn makes clear that some of these members are still living, even strongly into the Israeli government.
Bollyn provides much evidence to show that 9-11 was planned many years in advance with tools the public didn't know about then. He invites one to look into the truth.
Another book, "Solving 9-11: The Original articles," is filled with astounding information that you will never see in the New York Times or the Boston Globe. In his chapter, "The Media Cover Up" he describes how true news accounts were quickly smothered up after the attack. CNN and Fox news were the worst offenders.

George Washington's quote is often mentioned, where he warns Americans against a "passionate attachment" to any other country.
Carol Rae Bradford, Author, "Mayflower Arab: A Memoir"
2808041
Since this flick came out 8 years ago, a lot has changed.
The West Bank settlers are marginalized as is the Israeli Left.
The issue then was holding onto "captured/liberated" territory depending on your definition or reducing/neutralizing an existential threat from the major Arab powers outside..seeing this movie yesterday, it is almost moot since in this post 911 scenario, Iraqi War,  Lebanon War, the real politic is now on containing nuclear threat from Iran not wishful idealist thinking in regard to rebuilding the Third Temple by blowing up the Islamic Dome Of The Rock by a bunch of religious seminary students who take their zeal from a Rabbi spewing forth not hatred of the "other" but idealism that blurs the distinction between the world of the senses and a  world beyond appearance.
It is in this context that the filmmaker is clever and insightful being able to portray Israel as either a haven for Jewish suffering whose goal is to be "normal" like anyone else concerned with pleasure and pain or the idealists whose vision of greater Israel as a divine birthright highlights the conflict and resolution between living in the world of experience or the world of the unknown. Israeli society is a fine example of this conflict and the filmmaker captures the tensions well between love of child or G-D, love of land or one's fellow tribesman,jealosy between friends in regard to love and basically seeing reality as reality despite the minds furnishing of it or seeing reality behind ideological blinkers that can distort or enhance again depending on perspective.
The acting is good all around, the action is fast paced catching real glimpses into Israel's religious Zionist Yeshiva world and settler mentality. The movie has nothing to do with Arab Jewish tension but is a careful snapshot of Israeli society years ago whose threat nowadays are the bombardment of it's citizens by the Gaza strip and the all too likelihood of a strike against Iran to maintain her security.
1005705
This book opened my eyes as to how difficult the peace process has become and why Palestinians are not the only ones to be blamed for the failures. Gorenberg shows how successive Israeli Governments have chosen religious parties as Coalition parties in order to forestall real opposition. This has had the effect of making the government succumbed to the right wing agenda of these religious parties who consider that all of the Palestinian land was given to them by God and that driving Palestinians out of these lands is doing God's work.
He also shows how difficult it will be to give up illegal lands occupied by Israel since 1967.
Gorenberg's solutions seems to me to be more of a wish than I believe practicable.
However, there  seems to be an increasing number of people who are now questioning where Israel is heading and if there is a sufficient number, we may still hope. For all of our sake.
4557919
As others have pointed out, this is a 'must read' book on Israel.  As Ari Shavit sees it the tragedy of the two peoples in one land goes back to 1948.  Here two people sorted out the land in a difficult manner that haunts the land today.  This probably necessary division gave Jews a homeland and a strong Zionist government.  The land tensions remain, but the Zionist government has faltered after 1973.  The dilemma remains.