Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth

Written in 2021 by a secular Israeli actress dubbed the "Israel Explainer" by The New York Times, this history of Israel starts in w/archeological evidence of the indigenous Jewish people 3,000 years ago and stops short of October 7, 2023 - complete w/footnotes. It lays out the history of the entire geographic region as well as that of the author's family who fled pogroms in Europe for the safety of a Jewish homeland. It's irreverent and straightforward and allows the reader to quickly grasp the long history of the surrounding region until Israel's official designation as a UN state by 1947. She reiterates that Israel is the sole democracy in the region & is populated by Arabs, Christians, & Jews w/equal rights for women, LGTBQ+, and a thriving economy despite not having ANY natural resources. If you're not into sagas, skip to The Appendix which summarizes 3,000 years in 5 pages of bullet points. There's a glossary of terms that after often misused and misunderstood. I flew through it in a weekend & was wiser for having done so. Kudos to Ms. Tishby.

Instructive informative truth telling.

I first saw this author in an episode of Star Trek enterprise, where she played a very capable security officer. This book is written from her point of view as a Jewish person who is a self-described liberal, and has lived much of her adult life in America. She spends a great deal of time talking about how Israel came about and the challenges they faced today and offers many solutions to these challenges. Israel is a wonderful place of creativity, history, where there is a family type bond between each citizen and the country as a whole. I highly recommend this book because I learned a great deal about Israel and their current situation and history. This was written before the October 7 attack. The only issue I would take with the author is that while she is a self-described liberal, and genuinely wants peace, I see the problems in the middle east as thousands of years old problems that are not going to go away ever. She is genuinely hopeful that peace will be found, but I think a bit naïve in that respect. She mentioned many attempts at piece, but did not mention at all Donald Trump when she mentioned the Abraham Accords. Without Trump, there would be no Abraham Accords. But I highly recommend this book because you all learn a great deal about the history of Israel, what they are facing today, and the incredible bond between Israelites that makes Israel unique amongst stations.

Tishby does a great job of relaying the history of the State of Israel from it's inception through her eyes and those of her family before she was born. This is not a typical book of history . It's written in a very informal way by a woman more attuned to the world of entertainment than history. She made some great points about how Israel has on a few occasions offered to give the West Bank to the Palestinians as their own state but didn't adequately explained why they have continued to expand the Jewish settlements. Overall, a very enlightening book.

The basic premise of the book is the author's contention that uninformed people don't understand "The life or death nature of being an Israeli". That the people of Israel live in close proximity to militant forces who reject its presence and wish to destroy it by violent means. That Israel is faced with the conflict between idealism and pragmatism, vision and reality, and between theory and practice. She refutes the contention that Israel is a colonial occupier of Palestinian lands, which operates as an apartheid state, with facts demonstrating that Israel provides equality by law for all its citizens, and has consistently made overtures for peace, cooperation, and co-existence, for the betterment of everyone, which overtures have been consistently rejected by militant enemies of Israel's existence. As an example, the author cites Gaza, which Israel withdrew from in 2005, and handed over to Palestinian rule. Between 2005 and June 2014 there were 9,062 rockets and 5,099 mortar rounds fired at Israel from Gaza. (Note: the book was published before October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.). She points out the facts that demonstrate that the Jewish people are indigenous to Israel, and have always lived there. She describes Zionism as a movement for Jewish liberation, for the Jewish people to have self-determination and self-governance in their ancestral land. She points out that 700,000 - 750,000 Arabs left Israel after 1948, 800,000 Jews left Arab nations, a large number of whom came to Israel. She points out that the UNRWA created a system in which refugee status is automatically inherited so that there are now 5.6 million registered refugees, which includes every new generation, regardless of where they live, or their citizenship, and that it is the Arab nations that refuse to allow Palestinians to integrate into their societies, in contrast to Israel which welcomed and absorbed all those Jewish people who came from the Arab lands. She agrees that Israel is not perfect, and that many of its policies and actions can be properly criticized, but that Israel is subjected to a constant torrent of violent condemnation, even by the governments of nations with deplorable records of human rights abuses. Of note, is that the author who was born in Israel, grew up there, served in the IDF (apparently as an entertainer), moved to Los Angeles where she now lives.

I’m reading books on all sides of the conflict. This one was one of the better in that it’s not too preachy. She has lots of citations that I researched and found them to be legitimate. I have multiple advanced degrees and often have to put books down if I’m detecting heavy bias. This author is very fair. One minor thing is that she occasionally gets too colloquial in her word use. But she also gets right down to the facts about both sides of the argument. Great primer for those who want to understand the context of what is happening. It’s not an overly complex academic account but there are citations available for a deeper explanation. I’ve now read multiple books on the subject and I appreciate her attempt to offer counterpoints to her own. Not every author attempts to be this balanced. She has a viewpoint for sure but it’s offered in a way that didn’t make me tune her out: I became more interested.

I loved your incredible research and facts about Israel!! You are right on and I pray this book gets to the people who need to read it My criticism is you have not included the history of the Jews from the Bible. Jews are Gods chosen people and He will always protect them. This is why they are so resilient!! Please get the Jewish history from the Bible! Great book!

Reading this book is like listening to someone telling stories about an old friend or family member. The author presents the history of Israel and it's people in a very personable manner. She also revealed enough about herself that I came away feeling like I had just read a novel featuring a character that I liked. It is a great blend of history and biography.

Easy to read and very informative.

Valeu esperar, é best seller!!

Noa Tishby ist sowieso eine tolle Frau, Rednerin und Aktivistin für Israel und in diesem Buch bechreibt sie spannend, unterhaltsam und kompetent die komplexe und hochemotionale Geschichte dieses fantastischen Landes. Authentisch, erhellend und absolut grundlegendes Wissen, empfehlenswert!!!

Excellent book. The author takes the reader through all the arguments placed against Israel and refutes it. This is the book to go to if you want to listen to Israel’s side of the arguments. However, this is written pre October 7 2023, therefore refer to Douglas Murray’s books for a more rounded experience.

Noa Tishby has done what so many people have not been able to do. To clearly, factually, and personally explain what Israel is. She does it be writing in a style that average Americans can understand easily. So it is not difficult reading. I encourage people to buy and read this book.