Israel and the Lure of History

The pogrom of October 7, 2023 signaled the end of an illusion: that of the possibility of ignoring Palestine. This ill-fated illusion first rose and then collapsed not only in Tel Aviv, but also around the world. Israel appears variously as the only possible refuge for a persecuted people, as brutal colonial enterprise, or as devastatingly vulnerable and traumatized. But what's certain is that no other state today provokes such mental fixity and intransigent polarity across the West.

Gérard Araud, former French Ambassador to Israel and the United States, seeks to move beyond the declarative, black-and-white "for or against" trap. Remembering his encounters with political figures, including Arafat, Obama, and Jared Kushner, he describes how they navigated fears and ambitions under the immovable constraints imposed by power dynamics. He also shows how the historical narrative has been weaponized by both Netanyahu's war machine and that of Hamas: history has become one more expression of unrestrained emotion, one more ideological tool, and something which is used to undermine reason. This use of history seeks not to bring reality into clearer focus, but to deny the legitimacy of the other's claims. Without a change of course, the very future of Israel is at stake.

This even-handed account will renew the quality of debate surrounding a status quo which must be abandoned in favor of an empathy which extends to all victims.