Palestinianism is not only the newest manifestation of anti-Semitism; it also poses grave threats to peace, human rights, and democratic values. Its dangers must be exposed and challenged in the marketplace of ideas. It is the purpose of this book to pose that challenge and to put Palestinianism on trial for the moral crimes of bigotry, incitement to violence, and destroying any prospects for peace.
By “Palestinianism,” Alan Dershowitz does not mean merely supporting a Palestinian state or the rights and well-being of the Palestinian people. Those are entirely reasonable positions to take. He means only the obsessive focus on the claims of Palestinians and their supporters—to the exclusion or minimization of the claims of other, more deserving, groups. This singular focus on the “rights” of Palestinians is coupled with an equivalent singular focus on the alleged “wrongs” of only one country—Israel, the nation-state of the Jewish people. It is the coupling of these biases that constitutes the new “Palestinianism” that we are now experiencing on university campuses, in international organizations, among hard-left politicians, and in many media.
In Palestinianism, Dershowitz explores the sources of contemporary Jew-hatred, Israel demonization, and other threats to Jewish communities around the world. He demonstrates why he believes things are likely to get worse, as they did in Germany during the late 1930s. He does not believe they will culminate in another genocidal holocaust but that when the young bigots who so fervently rally behind Palestinianism grow into influential adults, they will increase the hatred against Jews and their nation-state. He argues that Jews and their state must become more self-reliant, and less dependent on the approval, support, or selection by others.
