Reviewing: “Israel Alone” by Bernard-Henri Lévy. Wicked Son. 2024. Paperback. 176 pages. ISBN-13: 979-8888459300.
“And their solitude is all the more tragic because the small but great nation of Israel, this thin strip of land attacked on all sides and jeered at by billions of people who have forgotten what they owe it, this people constantly found guilty and at fault, constantly stigmatized, is caught between two fires, tossed about like a doll, pulled between liberal forces that resemble it but disavow it and illiberal forces that do not resemble it, but defend it.”
Israel Alone by Bernard-Henri Levy is chock-full of thought-provoking insights like the one above. Few writers have Levy’s credentials, depth of experience or historical perspective to draw upon, not just regarding Israel but for other hot zones across the world. He is a world renowned philosopher, journalist, filmmaker and intellectual who has written over 30 books and as well as been involved in numerous films. His main focus over the years has been on human rights abuses, beginning as a war correspondent covering Bangladesh over 50 years ago. His written and film credits, as well as his travels, have included places like Bosnia, Afghanistan, Kurdistan and Somalia, but he has also covered topics as diverse as the Covid pandemic, murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, American patriotism and “The Genius of Judaism.”
In his latest work, Israel Alone—a relatively quick, but powerful read at under 200 pages—Levy does not pull any punches and manages to cover a lot of ground in a relatively short space. The day after the October 7th massacre Levy flew to Israel to bear witness and what he learned shocked him. In its essence, the book is an exercise in controlled rage at the atrocities committed by Hamas and how the world has reacted to them, and why Israel and the Jewish People, who have always stood apart, are perhaps more alone than ever as they face an existential war against barbarism.
The first chapter, titled Pogrom, is stark and unapologetic, as Levy graphically recounts the atrocities committed by Hamas as described by survivors, ”Barbarians coming out of nowhere; the breathless, silent savagery; the stampedes; the random shootings. The incredulous cries of children, eyes wide with terror; the dying, crawling toward their phone to send a last message.” As he begins processing the horror, he shares that ”I realized with a chill that the world had just witnessed an event whose shockwaves and blast effect would change the course of all our lives—including my own. Not all events are Events with a capital ‘E,’ but the pogrom of October 7, 2023 was just that.” This, from a man who had spent a career covering the worst horrors known to mankind over the past half century.
The next chapter, Event, speaks to something that no one sees coming, akin to a Black Swan event. He describes it as being unthinkable even after it has been revealed. “They are so different from our habitual range of view that we do not see them emerge; they are so foreign to what a mind might conceive that they may as well be written in an unknown language.” Levy continues that the “Event of October 7 has a future because these consummate criminals, undeserving of a seat at any negotiation table, have overturned the table.”
In the chapter Amalek’s Bath Levy posits that the message from October 7 is that there is nowhere on this planet where Jews are safe. “Never and nowhere will it be possible to say that Jews can live in the world the way the French live in France, the English in England, and the Americans in America—and that will be true until the end of time: such is the obvious truth.” He compares Hamas to the original Amalek, calling both “the terrifying being that has no other attributes or will than the inborn, radical, and eternal hate that he bears for Jews.”
In the chapter Radical Evil, Levy quotes one of the Gazan butchers who calls his parents and, displaying one of his kills, says “Mom, your son is a hero! I killed ten… ten with my own hands.” He speaks of the “Pure evil, plain-faced, gratuitous, senseless,“ then calls out supportive nations that will forego their own ancient enmities if it will help their current cause, specifically mentioning five entities, Russia, China, Iran, Turkey and the “other Arab counties prone to Jihadism.”
The accusations intensify in each succeeding chapter. For instance, in Events Can be Erased, he notes the level of shamelessness from Hamas, who used GoPro cameras to proudly record their acts of barbarism, something he said even Stalin or the Nazis would not do. Despite Hamas’s wearing their barbarism as a badge of pride, owning their crimes and posting them on TikTok, some observers continue to deny it to be true, or if they concede that it did take place, attempt to justify the unjustifiable.
Perhaps at his angriest, Levy lashes out at the many specific groups who continue to downplay or even ignore what actually occurred, such as the women’s organizations who normally would fiercely defend women subjected to rape, or UN agencies such as UNWRA, or the progressive members of the United States Congress. He calls out UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, the latter a woman who deserves her own special place in hell for her outrageously anti-Israel comments. Levy talks of a March 26, 2024 report she wrote entitled Anatomy of Genocide, in which it is Israel who is condemned for perpetrating genocidal acts, with no mention of Hamas’ actions of October 7. Referring to all the various groups and players involved in this conspiracy of sorts, Levy observes “What we saw was a world historical “Event” being submerged, if not denied altogether.”
Levy continues to build his case throughout the remainder of the book, challenging the absurd rationale that people and nations use to excuse atrocities against Israel and then flip logic on its head by turning Israel into the bad guy, concluding with the observation “The pogrom that should have been the occasion for seamless solidarity with the dead and those who mourned them, produced the opposite effect; a gale of antisemitism.” He points out that none of this is new. The Jewish People and now Israel as its proxy have always been treated differently, always been given the role of scapegoat. He alludes to a biblical prophecy when referring to the current situation “Perhaps they are alone, as it was always said they would be, just more desperately so.”
In the final chapter, Levy’s tone becomes more uplifting. He speaks of the bravery of Israel’s soldiers, the unity of its people, its vibrancy, endurance and overall goodness, neatly binding it together in an historical context. Like the book of Kohelet, which is difficult to endure throughout but concludes on a meaningful note, Israel Alone is a book worth reading.
Robert Isler is a freelance writer who specializes in topics related to Israel and the Jewish People. He can be reached at [email protected]
