Shabbat Reading: Amos Elon's The Israelis

#whatireadovershabbat Amos Elon's The Israelis: Founders and Sons, 2nd ed. (Penguin, 1983)

Amos Elon’s portrait of Israel is unsparing. Published 50 years ago, The Israelis: Founders and Sons nods to almost every criticism of Israel you’ve heard in the past month. Yet Elon never mistakes criticism for a justification of annihilation. The first half of the book, a skeptical account of the country’s founders, thoroughly details their failures and achievements. The second, a look at the Israeli psyche after 1967, is a tour de force of national insight. In the end, Elon, better than any apologist, explains why Israel had to exist and why it will endure.