... I found the book to be a rather clumsy piece of nonsense that was morally grotesque. Schoenman couldn't even get his facts straight or bother to look for more up to date material to confirm the information he presents. For instance, when discussing the Kanster affair Schoenman quotes from the book "Perfidy", by Ben Hecht which was written in 1961. The book "Perfidy" [was] written in the early 60's to smear the Israeli left by a right-wing Zionist. Yet, the book itself has been proven to be inaccurate as historians such as Yoav Gelber, whom spent years in Israeli and German archives, present facts that Ben Hecht didn't even know.

Furthermore, Schoenman recounts the story of Rabbi Weissmandel who accused the Zionist of not giving him funds to save the Jewish people while the Nazis were slaughtering them. However, what Schoenman fails to mention is that the Zionist did in fact try to funnel money to Rabbi Weissmandel; however, the deal was doomed to fail from conception. One reason being that the Jewish people just didn't have the money that the Nazi officer who was making the deal demanded. And more importantly the Nazi officer himself was a swindler who had no intention (or real power for that matter) to save any Jews (Yoav Gelber, "Jews For Sale?").

In addition, Schoenman states that "No Zionist leader supported his [Rabbi Weissmandel's] request, nor did the Western capitalist regimes bomb a single concentration camp." Beside the fact that there were Zionist leaders who did support the Rabbi, Auschwitz was bombed at least once. It is true that the Allied powers could have done more to save Jews; however, it is extremely debatable whether or not bombing the camps would have saved millions. Especially since bombing the camps would have meant killing the Jews inside of them. There is also at least one piece of irony and hypocrisy when Schoenman titles Chapter 8 "Blitzkrieg and Slaughter". In the chapter Schoenman blasts Israel for bombing Lebanon and inflicting high civilian casualties (another bogus claim). The truth is that Israel would drop leaflets on warning the civilian populations and other non-combatants when and where they would commence bombing. The Syrian/Lebanese government told the civilians not to touch the papers because they were poisonous. One should note that apparently Schoenman is in favor of collateral damage when the victims are Jews but apposes it when they are not.

Schoenman seems more content on proving his ignorance when he discusses what he likes to call "Ben Gurion and the final Aim". Though this section should more aptly be titled "Schoenman and his lack of Brains". He quotes Ben Gurion saying a couple of things and links them to a supposed expulsion of Palestinians. The quotes are taken way out of context and show Schoenman's total lack of intellectual integrity...

The book makes many more statements that are of equal stupidity and are far to numerous to recount here...

This is an excellent book which outlines the creation of Israel at the expense of the native population, the wars, the occupation and it's treatment of the Palestinian population, which includes toruture, home destruction, and murder. And unlike what a previous writer said, Ralph Schoenman is a Marxist, but NOT a Stalinist. Even though this book is old, it will help explain WHY the first Intifada started, WHY the Arab community distrusts Israel, WHY Palestinians must have their own independent state. This is the book that Pro-Israeli individuals don't want you to read, which explains the negative reviews which don't back up any of their claims with facts, just a wave of the hand. If you want to find out the truth about Israel, not fairy tale stories about Zionist morality, then read this book.

Shocking is the only way I can describe what I felt as I read this book. Schoenman trots out the well-cited facts that cannot help but convince the reader that Israel is colonial power set up by Great Britain to protect its oil interests, that has methodically resorted to the most heinous atrocities to cleanse Palestine of Arabs. Further, since the end of WWII, the U. S. has for the same motives as G.B. financed the slaughter and expulsion of Arabs by Israeli forces, in addition to playing one Arab nation off against another. Like most Americans, I have been too busy to look beyond the headlines. As Noam Chomsky has written, however, the American news media is the world's most powerful propaganda machine with a pro-American business bias. Schoenman makes it clear that that bias was recently used to allow Israel and the U.S. to do terrorize the world under the cover of eliminating "terrorism" elsewhere. The 9-11 attacks were shocking, but nothing like as shocking as the truth about America's support of a monster nation like Israel. ... Shocked.