Israel Alone - by Bernard-Henri Levy (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Weaving in fifty years of experience with Israel, Bernard-Henri Lévy analyzes global responses to October 7, the new virulent waves of the oldest hatred in the world: anti-Semitism, why Israel is waging this existential war against barbarism alone, and what's at stake for Israel and the world.

Bernard-Henri Lévy's Israel Alone is a passionate and outraged cri-de-coeur, about the loneliness of Israel and the tragedy of October 7, starting with Lévy's eyewitness account the day after the pogroms.

On October 8, 2023, Bernard-Henri Lévy flew to Israel to bear witness to the unprecedented invasion and massacre committed by Hamas. Israel Alone begins here and weaves in Lévy's fifty years on the ground in Israel, from his first trip in 1967, his experiences writing on all the conflicts since, and his participation in various peace plans and contacts with all the Israeli leaders from Menachem Begin to Shimon Peres and from Ariel Sharon to Yitzak Shamir and Yitzak Rabin.

From his unique philosophical and humanist perspective, Lévy analyzes the ultimate evil unleashed on Israel on October 7 and delves into how the Islamic Republic of Iran, Russia, radical Islamist groups, Turkey, and China have played roles and profited from this tragedy.

The book addresses how October 7, though historic in scope, became, within weeks, a "detail" in the global consciousness amid a worldwide eruption of anti-Semitism, cloaked in anti-Zionism.

Lévy deconstructs the arguments of those calling for a "cease-fire now" without the release of all hostages and of those who demand that October 7 be seen within a greater "context."

Lévy's meditation on the soul of Zionism and Israel shows why this war is existential, not only for Israel but for the global West.

And yet, despite the urgency and critical nature of this war, Israel takes it on alone.

Lévy analyzes, today, why this is so and why Israel's solitude is greater than ever.

About the Author

Bernard-Henri Lévy is a French philosopher, director of eight films, and author of forty-eight books. Lévy is one of the West's foremost intellectuals, defending democracy and humanism against totalitarianism and fascism. His recent books include The Will to See: Dispatches from a World of Misery and Hope (2021), The Virus in the Age of Madness (2020), The Empire and the Five Kings (2019), The Genius of Judaism (2017), American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville (2005), and Who Killed Daniel Pearl? (2003).

Lévy has made films on the war in Bosnia; Libya; Iraqi Kurdistan besieged by ISIS; and Afghanistan, Somalia, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Ukraine.

Lévy's work as an intellectual, a writer, and a film-maker is intertwined with humanitarian activism. For fifty years, Lévy has reported on the world's "forgotten wars" and devoted numerous books, films, and articles to these crises. Lévy has participated in various peace plans and contacts with Israeli leaders from Menachem Begin to Shimon Peres, and from Ariel Sharon, Yitzak Shamir and Yitzhak Rabin.