May 25, 2015
Blumenthal’s (Republican Gomorrah) latest is a heart-wrenching narrative of being caught in the middle of wartime. In July 2014, following the kidnapping and murder of Israeli citizens by two Palestinian men with ties to Hamas, Israel launched rocket strikes against the Gaza Strip for 51 days. Blumenthal, who was on the ground for part of the offensive, bore witness to the loss of life, shelter, and possessions—but never hope—among Gaza’s Palestinian residents. His experiences in Gaza shed valuable light on the miserable living conditions there, while also fueling Blumenthal’s rebuttal to defenses of the strikes as justifiable responses to terrorism. He portrays Israel’s response as vastly disproportionate, particularly emphasizing the toll on Palestinian economic development. While vividly recounting firsthand experience and interviews with Gaza residents, Blumenthal also carefully charts the ascension of the right wing in Israeli politics and offers a jaundiced eye on the maneuvers of the Israeli government. The result is a harrowing, transfixing narrative of a people’s ordeal that will provoke and challenge any reader more accustomed to pro-Israel perspectives. Agent: Anna Stein, Aitken Alexander Associates.
June 1, 2015
An alarming report on Israel's devastating 2014 attack on Gaza. Alternet senior writer Blumenthal (Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, 2013, etc.) arrived in Gaza on the 38th day of the recent conflict, just as the Israeli military took to the air with fighter jets and drones to deliver a relentless barrage of missiles and bombs. In a narrative based on interviews with citizens, physicians, and others, the author writes that the Israeli military "unleashed massive force against the civilian population," killing 2,200 people (mostly Palestinian civilians), wounding over 10,000, and destroying about 18,000 homes. Some 3 million bullets were expended in wreaking $7 billion in damage, he writes. "The shocking level of firepower Israeli forces exerted against Gaza's civilian infrastructure told the story of a frustrated Goliath unable to punish its vastly underarmed foe into submission," writes Blumenthal. Israel, protected by an advanced sheltering and early warning system, had far fewer casualties. Sympathetic to Gaza's 1.8 million refugees and highly critical of Israel's increasingly right-wing leaders, the author attributes the ferocity of the Israeli attack on "bloodlust" over the deaths of three Israeli teenagers who, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had been "abducted and murdered by human animals." Netanyahu added: "Hamas is responsible and Hamas will pay." Based on his observations and accounts from survivors, the author charges that the Israeli onslaught targeted Palestinian civilians rather than Hamas fighters. He claims that Israeli soldiers engaged in execution-style killings, deliberately destroyed Gaza City high-rise buildings housing dozens of local media organizations, used Palestinians as human shields, and attacked cemeteries as well as U.N. schools that served as refugee shelters. The war elevated the status of "fundamentalist warriors" in Israel and left a wake of "rage and spreading radicalism" that is certain to bring more military conflict. Explosive, pull-no-punches reporting that is certain to stir controversy.
COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.