A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A bold urgent appeal from the
acclaimed columnist and political commentator addressing one of the most important issues of
our time “At this painful moment Peter Beinart’s voice is more vital than ever. His reach is
broad—from the tragedy of today’s Middle East to the South Africa he knows well to events
centuries ago—his scholarship is deep and his heart is big. This book is not just about being
Jewish in the shadow of today’s war but about being a person who cares for justice.” —Adam
Hochschild author of American Midnight and King Leopold’s Ghost In Peter Beinart’s view one
story dominates Jewish communal life: that of persecution and victimhood. It is a story that
erases much of the nuance of Jewish religious tradition and warps our understanding of Israel
and Palestine. After Gaza where Jewish texts history and language have been deployed to
justify mass slaughter and starvation Beinart argues Jews must tell a new story. After this
war whose horror will echo for generations they must do nothing less than offer a new answer
to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew? Beinart imagines an alternate narrative which
would draw on other nations’ efforts at moral reconstruction and a different reading of Jewish
tradition. A story in which Israeli Jews have the right to equality not supremacy and in
which Jewish and Palestinian safety are not mutually exclusive but intertwined. One that
recognizes the danger of venerating states at the expense of human life. Being Jewish After
the Destruction of Gaza is a provocative argument that will expand and inform one of the
defining conversations of our time. It is a book that only Peter Beinart could write: a
passionate yet measured work that brings together his personal experience his commanding grasp
of history his keen understanding of political and moral dilemmas and a clear vision for the
future.
