The Historical Case for Israel

This week, we’re going to be talking about Israel—which is sometimes a subject I try to avoid—not because I don’t have opinions about the topic. I do. But because it’s one of those subjects on which debate and discussion often seems both divisive and futile.

As some of you know, in a previous life, I was an opinion writer and reporter for the National Post newspaper here in Canada. I often travelled to Israel and wrote about that country, typically from what most would call a Zionist perspective.

But for all the dozen of articles I wrote on the subject, I’m not sure I ever really changed anyone’s mind.

My fan mail always came from Zionists who already agreed with me, and my hate mail always came from readers—assuming they even read what I’d written—with… let’s call it an anti-Zionist perspective.

Similarly, whenever the subject of Israel came up at dinner parties or on social media, I found that discussions never really ended with anyone changing their mind—even if the participants discussed the issue in good faith.

I also stopped reading books about the issue, in large part because they often just recited arguments I already knew, on both sides. And reading things you already know isn’t interesting to me.

But I’m going to make an exception for Israel on Trial: Examining the History, the Evidence, and the Law—a forthcoming book on the subject by Venezuelan-American lawyer Roy Altman.

And the main reason is because Altman—a fellow Yale Law School alumnus whose day job is district judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida—shares my passion for history.

And I don’t just mean the history of what happened in 2023, or 1967, or 1948—but the grand sweep of Middle Eastern history going back to the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Roman Empire—all subjects that you’ve heard me discuss with academic historians on the Quillette podcast over the years.

Altman is more of an unconflicted Zionist than I am. Nevertheless, I found myself strongly persuaded by the case he lays out in his book, which traces the historical presence of Jews in Israel all the way back to 3,000 year old artefacts.

Judge Altman—who I should point out, wrote this book in his personal capacity—also engages intellectually with the frameworks of settler colonialism and indigeneity—ideas that are typically emphasised by modern progressives and anti-Zionists.

A Fashionable Madness: The Obsession with ‘Settler Colonialism’

The works of literary critic Adam Kirsch and of novelist and memoirist Joan Didion provide a salutary rebuttal of settler colonialist theory.

In this respect, he argues that Jews can no more be called settler colonialists in Israel than the Cherokee or Navajo can be called settler colonialists in the United States. 

Since Jews have called Israel home since the time of the Pharaohs, he argues, calling them settler colonialist interlopers would be like arresting a man for being on his own property.

One note I should mention before we continue: Judge Altman’s book hasn’t been released yet. Quillette was fortunate to get an advance copy. It will be hitting shelves in three weeks, on April 28. But you can pre-order the book on Amazon or wherever you buy books—including, I’m guessing, your local bricks-and-mortar bookstore. 

That said, please enjoy my interview with Roy Altman, author of Israel on Trial: Examining the History, the Evidence, and the Law.