Jewish Blood Is No Longer Cheap - by Alan M Dershowitz (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Jewish Blood Is No Longer Cheap draws stark parallels between current threats to Jews and Israel and the pre-Holocaust era in 1930s Germany. Invoking the Talmud's directive to preemptively defend against killers, it criticizes historical Jewish underreactions due to fears of overreacting, citing figures like Rabbi Stephen Wise and Felix Frankfurter. Professor Alan Dershowitz argues that Israel's military response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacres--killing over 1,400 Israelis--was a justified overreaction to centuries of cheap Jewish blood, emphasizing deterrence over proportionality. It rejects genocide accusations, contrasting Israel's collateral civilian deaths with Nazi extermination and Allied WWII bombings.

The text explores the civilian-combatant continuum in Gaza, questioning the innocence of massacre supporters and doubting Hamas's casualty figures. It advocates population transfers for peace, citing post-WWII examples like Sudetenland and Königsberg, proposing a demilitarized, rebuilt Gaza as a "Singapore on the Mediterranean." Dilemmas of hostage retrieval in democracies are examined, weighing military needs against family pressures.

Israel is urged to prioritize security over public relations, amid global bias, and embody both Sparta's military prowess and Athens's technological and intellectual strength to counter threats like Iran's nuclear ambitions. Dershowitz calls for adapting morality preemptively against immoral foes to prevent recurrence. He warns of a pincer attack from right-wing (e.g., Tucker Carlson) and left-wing extremists (e.g., The Squad), posing political dilemmas for Jews, and advocates proactive steps to avert future disasters.

About the Author

Alan Dershowitz is one of the most celebrated lawyers in the world. He was the youngest full professor in Harvard Law School history, where he is now the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus. The author, most recently, of The Preventive State, Trump to Harvard, Palestinianism, The Ten Big Anti-Israel Lies, War Against the Jews, and Get Trump, and of numerous bestselling books, from Chutzpah to Guilt by Accusation to The Case Against Impeaching Trump to Reversal of Fortune (which was made into an Academy Award-winning film) to Defending Israel, Dershowitz has advised presidents and prime ministers and has represented many prominent men and women, half of them pro bono. Philosophically, he considers himself a constitutional libertarian, a meritocratic egalitarian, and a constructive contrarian.