A bold urgent appeal from the acclaimed columnist and political commentator addressing one of
the most important issues of our time In Peter Beinart’s view one story has long dominated
Jewish communal life: that of persecution and victimhood. It is a story that erases much of the
nuance of sacred Jewish tradition and history and also warps our understanding of modern
history. After Gaza where Jewish texts history and language have been deployed to justify
mass slaughter and starvation he 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 story that would draw
on other nations’ efforts at moral reconstruction and a different reading of Jewish history. A
story in which Jews have the right to equality not supremacy and in which Jewish and
Palestinian safety are not mutually exclusive but intertwined. One in which we inhabit a world
that recognizes the infinite value of all human life beginning in the Gaza Strip. Being
Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza is a provocative and fearless 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 nuance and a clear
vision for the future.
