Israel: The Way Out | David Shulman | The New York Review of Books

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en" xmlns:fb="http://ogp.me/ns/fb#"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <link rel="icon" href="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/themes/nyrb_2020/img/favicon.ico"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="57x57" href="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/themes/nyrb_2020/img/apple-touch-icon-57x57.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="114x114" href="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/themes/nyrb_2020/img/apple-touch-icon-114x114.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="72x72" href="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/themes/nyrb_2020/img/apple-touch-icon-72x72.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="144x144" href="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/themes/nyrb_2020/img/apple-touch-icon-144x144.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="120x120" href="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/themes/nyrb_2020/img/apple-touch-icon-120x120.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="152x152" href="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/themes/nyrb_2020/img/apple-touch-icon-152x152.png"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/themes/nyrb_2020/img/favicon-32x32.png" sizes="32x32"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/themes/nyrb_2020/img/favicon-16x16.png" sizes="16x16"/> <meta name="application-name" content="The New York Review of Books"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#990101"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/themes/nyrb_2020/img/mstile-144x144.png"/>  <meta name='robots' content='index, follow, max-image-preview:large, max-snippet:-1, max-video-preview:-1' /> <style>img:is([sizes="auto" i], [sizes^="auto," i]) { contain-intrinsic-size: 3000px 1500px }</style>  <script type="text/javascript">var _conv_page_type='article';var _conv_product_name='Israel: The Way Out';</script> <script src="https://cdn-4.convertexperiments.com/v1/js/100412152-100412539.js" type="text/javascript"></script>   <title>Israel: The Way Out | David Shulman | The New York Review of Books</title> <meta name="description" content="If Israel is to survive, physically and spiritually, it needs to undergo, collectively, a sea change in its vision of reality and face some unpleasant though obvious facts." /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/" /> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US" /> <meta property="og:type" content="article" /> <meta property="og:title" content="Israel: The Way Out | David Shulman" /> <meta property="og:description" content="If Israel is to survive, physically and spiritually, it needs to undergo, collectively, a sea change in its vision of reality and face some unpleasant though obvious facts." /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="The New York Review of Books" /> <meta property="article:publisher" content="https://www.facebook.com/nybooks" /> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2024-05-08T18:40:51+00:00" /> <meta property="og:image" content="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/shulman_1-050924-900.jpg" /> <meta property="og:image:width" content="900" /> <meta property="og:image:height" content="600" /> <meta property="og:image:type" content="image/jpeg" /> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" /> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@nybooks" /> <script type="application/ld+json" class="yoast-schema-graph">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/"},"author":[{"@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/#/schema/person/image/182a5455116800dfa952b9304272c077"}],"headline":"Israel: The Way Out","datePublished":"2024-04-18T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-08T18:40:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/"},"wordCount":2721,"publisher":{"@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/shulman_1-050924-900.jpg","articleSection":["Human Rights","International","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","articleBody":"Most eyes are focused now on Gaza, for good reason. The catastrophe is there for all to see. But I want to begin with the Palestinian village of Mu‘arrajat, in the Jordan Valley on the occupied West Bank. In mid-March I stayed overnight there with other activists, in what we call “protective presence”—a concerted effort to protect Palestinian villagers from the rampages of armed Israeli settlers who are terrorizing them day and night. Mu‘arrajat now has two settler outposts at its throat, one deep in the grazing grounds of the Palestinian shepherds (forbidden territory for them since the war in Gaza began) and another on the hill above the village. In October settlers from these outposts were stopping Palestinians’ cars on the highway and telling their occupants that they had twenty-four hours to leave their homes and that they would be killed if they refused. A few weeks ago these settlers came into the village and dug a row of empty graves near the school—a sign of what they want to do to the people of Mu‘arrajat. Violent intrusions by masked, heavily armed settlers, often together with soldiers, are by now routine. The honorific term “soldiers” in the Jordan Valley and the South Hebron Hills really refers to paramilitary units, in uniform, made up of settlers who have been armed by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the convicted criminal and Jewish supremacist whom Benjamin Netanyahu appointed minister of national security in November 2022. They are a law unto themselves. The settlers’ mantra—“Get out or we will kill you”—has been repeated in nearly all the villages in the Jordan Valley and the South Hebron Hills. Most of our friends in the villages have heard it. Usually it is uttered in the course of attacks on Palestinian homes, sheep pens, food supplies, water tanks and wells, wind turbines, and anything else the invaders can wreck. Sometimes these settlers shoot at the villagers and kill sheep and goats. We know of at least sixteen Palestinian villages that have been evacuated over the last few months because of ceaseless settler violence backed by the army; many more are barely hanging on. International pressure has had some meaningful impact on the situation, but for the most part the settlers are winning this miniwar. They tend to be fanatical men or adolescent boys, brainwashed, apocalyptic, and messianic, who have emerged from the dark and brutal undercurrents of religious Zionism. They want to rid the West Bank of all non-Jews (and maybe some secular Jews as well) in order to hasten the arrival of the Messiah, who is scheduled to turn up as soon as this campaign of ethnic cleansing is completed. But the ideological motivation is only part of the story; we who have seen these people in action, who have met them in the field, can confirm that many of them are driven by sheer sadistic pleasure.1 Is it even possible today to imagine an end to the occupation and to the settlement enterprise on the West Bank? Maybe not. The entire political system, with the exception of the tiny constituency on the far left, is mortgaged to that project. But none of this happened in a vacuum. Palestinians have to examine their own acts just as Israelis must examine theirs. The suicide bombers of the second intifada (2000–2005) more or less destroyed the Israeli peace camp—by far the Palestinians’ most important ally in the 1990s—and the atrocities of Hamas on October 7 probably wiped out most of the remaining pockets of moderation and hope in Israel. Maybe when, or if, the Gaza war ends, this mood will change. But the present government and the man who heads it see the Gaza war, with its unthinkable losses and devastation, as instrumental in the long-term goal of maintaining Israel’s occupation. Netanyahu and his ministers are disconnected from reality; they live comfortably enough with the humanitarian disaster of Gaza, and they are incapable of conceiving of a viable future for the state of Israel. They are in denial when it comes to the very real possibility that Israel, under their direction, is on the fast track to self-destruction. Reading the news these days is like watching a horror film, with the nontrivial difference that the horror ends when the film is over. For the last fifteen months, since this government was sworn in, we have watched the accelerating disintegration of the state and its institutions. No one, not even the most optimistic of our enemies, could have predicted this swift decline. We have a prime minister whose main talent is to contrive ever more unscrupulous schemes for his own political survival; an army bogged down in the dust and mud of Gaza with no exit strategy and subject to constant attack by Hamas guerrillas; a society hovering on the brink of civil war; a sick economy impoverished by unimaginably vast transfers of citizens’ tax money to the ultrareligious factions and their yeshivas; a civil service that has been gutted by the appointment of political hacks and sycophants in place of professionals; a legal system, once more or less functional, in danger of being destroyed by the minister of (in)justice, Yariv Levin; the once-banned, violent Kahanist extremists, relegitimized by Netanyahu, in the Knesset and high-ranking positions in the government; and in the occupied territories, the marauding gangs of Jewish settlers. This is the short list. I won’t ruin your day with the long one. Were he not so incompetent, and if he had at least an iota of integrity, Netanyahu could almost be a tragic figure—an intelligent or at least cunning man who sold his soul to the devil. In a sense, he is a sinister accident of history. He had no business being in politics. At first his one credential was being the brother of Yoni Netanyahu, who was killed in the 1976 raid on Entebbe, in which Israeli commandos freed the hostages who had been hijacked to Uganda by Palestinian and German terrorists. In his six terms and more than sixteen years as prime minister, his record is, in a word, abysmal. His singular achievement has been resuscitating the existential threat to the state that had more or less disappeared since the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan decades ago. But he has won several elections with a noxious blend of antidemocratic, racist-supremacist, and ultranationalist populism; it’s clearly a winning formula. Over a million Israelis voted for him in the last election in 2022, enabling him to cobble together the present government of thugs and thieves. At least a quarter of the electorate are “Bibists,” hypnotized by Netanyahu, whom they think of as a king; and they are filled with hatred for the secular liberals they see as a privileged elite. By now there is no need to rehearse Netanyahu’s failings. They are evident to anyone with eyes. It is, however, relevant to the current debacle to state clearly that he bears responsibility for what has happened, and that he characteristically refuses to acknowledge that responsibility. He fomented profound internal divisions in Israel with his attempt to undermine the supreme court and, in effect, the entire legal system, which provoked mass protests and created the conditions for the Hamas attack—since Hamas correctly noted that Israeli society was unraveling. Netanyahu also chose to ignore urgent warnings from the highest echelons of the army and the security forces that such an attack was imminent. He is now pursuing a deadly war that probably cannot be won, and there is good reason to think that every decision he makes—including in the negotiations for an agreement to release the Israeli hostages in Gaza—is tainted by his personal interests, namely his survival in power and his ability to evade the criminal charges he is facing. According to recent polls, roughly half the Israeli population thinks he is prolonging the war because of those interests. To make matters worse, he has bonded with Ben-Gvir, whose very presence in the government is the most shameful appointment in the entire history of the state. It is as if the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan had been appointed head of the FBI. But although deposing Netanyahu is a matter of utmost urgency, he is not the only problem we have. We need to look deeper. If Israel is to survive, physically and spiritually, it needs to undergo, collectively, a sea change in its vision of reality—a change on the order of what the South African apartheid regime experienced, with much bloodshed, as it began to collapse. Israelis will have to face unpleasant though rather obvious facts: Palestinians are human beings, no different from the Jews or anyone else. (They have a rotten political system, but so do we.) They are not going anywhere. There are two national movements in the territory west of the Jordan River, with their own legitimate claims and bloody record of atrocities; the two populations are now equal in size, some seven million each. Israel cannot suppress Palestinian and other Arab resistance by force alone. (The foundational axiom of the Israeli polity has always been that only brute force works.) Survival depends on sharing the land between these two peoples. The settlement project in the West Bank has to end. The barbarian extremists on both sides, as if colluding together, will, given half a chance, kill us all. God, if there is a god, is unlikely to save us from ourselves. None of these points is going to be easy for Israelis to swallow. I can attest that most people find it easier to sacrifice the lives of their spouses, siblings, and children in a futile cause than to change how they feel and how they understand the world. We have wasted several blood-soaked decades on the obscene dream of annexing the territories and expelling the Palestinian population there. Israel steadfastly refused to make peace on the basis of the Saudi Initiative of 2002, unanimously endorsed by the Arab League, which could and should have led to a normalization of Israel’s relations with much of the Arab-Islamic world. The Saudi Initiative, also called the Arab Peace Initiative, offered an end to the Arab–Israeli conflict if Israel would withdraw from all the occupied territories (with minor territorial adjustments to be negotiated), a settlement of the Palestinian refugee problem on the basis of UN Resolution 194, and the creation of a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority accepted the plan immediately, as did the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, with its fifty-seven member states. (It describes itself as “the collective voice of the Muslim world.”)2 There was never a good reason to reject that plan as the starting point for negotiations on final status—that is, peace. Instead, the right-wing governments of Ariel Sharon and later Netanyahu have done whatever they could to undermine the plan (this includes Netanyahu’s persistent funding for Hamas, via Qatar, as a way to divide Gaza from the West Bank, thus precluding the possibility of a Palestinian state). It’s not so hard to prevent peace from breaking out. There is only one way out of the current morass. As it happens, it’s a good way and, in theory, feasible if we had a minimally rational government capable of articulating a way forward for the people of Israel. What we now call the Biden plan would revolutionize Israel’s place in the Middle East and in the world at large; at the very least it would reverse the present murderous escalation. Its guiding idea is that Israel would become part of a regional system bound together by ties of normalization and full diplomatic relations between it and each of the moderate Sunni states, thus creating a bulwark against Iran and its proxies; the new configuration would necessarily include, indeed depend upon, some acceptable solution to the Palestinian thirst for freedom. That means a demilitarized Palestinian state and the dismantling of the occupation. In the absence of some such systemic solution, Israel will continue to fight recurrent, catastrophic wars. In the end, the state will be overwhelmed. That, in fact, is the Hamas plan, with Iranian backing. The Iranians think they can destroy Israel by 2040, if not earlier.3 The most effective, perhaps the only antidote to that plan is for Israel to make a decent peace with those who share the land with us. The irony is that Netanyahu, and the Israeli right in general, are the greatest allies of Hamas in this doomsday scenario. Netanyahu likes to say that there is no difference between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority: both have the same goal of destroying Israel. This politically convenient and utterly anachronistic excuse lumps together all Palestinians as a murderous (though nonexistent) nation. I suppose Netanyahu has no direct experience with living Palestinians, and I think he has no more than rudimentary Arabic. In any case, he remains locked in his idée fixe that a Palestinian state must be prevented at all costs. If he manages to survive in power until the next Israeli election, he will undoubtedly run on a platform built around this false premise. He may win, though only 15 percent of Israelis say they want him to remain as prime minister, according to polls from January. Hardly anyone believes a word Netanyahu says. But I do believe him when he says that he will never allow Palestinians to have anything even remotely like a state—that is, some political framework that embodies their national aspirations, as the state of Israel does for the Jews. If he gets his way, we can expect the imminent Hamasification of the West Bank. Already Hamas is riding high in the Arab world and, according to the wartime polls, to some extent on the West Bank; it clearly aims at taking over the Palestinian national movement. Nothing would enhance its chances of doing that as much as a continuing Israeli refusal to make peace with the Palestinian mainstream, or whatever is left of it. We will be lucky if this government doesn’t precipitate a full-scale war in Lebanon or beyond. So far it lacks any intelligible plan to end the fighting in Gaza and any political goal of some positive import. Even worse, from the start it has been playing into the hands of Hamas’s leader, Yahya Sinwar: first draw the Israeli army into Gaza, then turn it into sitting ducks in a guerrilla war that can continue indefinitely; let Israel kill enough Gazans and wreak enough destruction to turn international opinion against it, while Hamas hangs out safely in the tunnels it has created until the Israelis go away, with nothing to show for their sacrifices. Wars are won only when they have an attainable political goal. Meanwhile, Israel is well on its way to becoming a pariah state. The wave of anti-Israel feeling that is engulfing large numbers of people in the Western world has emerged not merely from the Gaza war, with its unbearable civilian casualties and now mass starvation. What that wave reflects, more profoundly, is the justified disgust with the ongoing occupation, its seemingly eternal and ever more brutal continuation, and the policies of massive theft and apartheid that are its very essence. It remains to be seen if the people of Israel and of Palestine have the resources, and enough remnants of the classical humanistic values of both Judaism and Islam, to extricate themselves from today’s terminal process of self-destruction. There is another glimmer of light in this darkness. We have a new generation of committed Israeli activists in the territories. They embody the best of human virtues, including a nonchalant, ethically grounded courage. And there are the ordinary Israelis whom we meet in the antigovernment protests, week after week. They are sick of Netanyahu’s lies and capable of articulating the dream of equality, honesty, moderation, peace. They will fight for those goals. Little by little, recognition of the moral corruption of the occupation and of the need to put an end to it has seeped into these mainstream demonstrations. It is possible that they will slowly swell, like the demonstrations that nearly unseated Netanyahu a year ago, until millions join us in the streets. —April 11, 2024"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/","url":"https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/","name":"Israel: The Way Out | David Shulman | The New York Review of Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/shulman_1-050924-900.jpg","datePublished":"2024-04-18T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-08T18:40:51+00:00","description":"If Israel is to survive, physically and spiritually, it needs to undergo, collectively, a sea change in its vision of reality and face some unpleasant though obvious facts.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/#primaryimage","url":"https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/shulman_1-050924-900.jpg","contentUrl":"https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/shulman_1-050924-900.jpg","width":900,"height":600,"caption":"Gaza City, April 3, 2024"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://www.nybooks.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Articles","item":"https://www.nybooks.com/?post_type=article"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Israel: The Way Out"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/#website","url":"https://www.nybooks.com/","name":"The New York Review of Books","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://www.nybooks.com/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/#organization","name":"The New York Review of Books","url":"https://www.nybooks.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/#/schema/logo/image/","url":"https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/nybooks-t.png","contentUrl":"https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/nybooks-t.png","width":1200,"height":1200,"caption":"The New York Review of Books"},"image":{"@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/#/schema/logo/image/"},"sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/nybooks","https://x.com/nybooks","https://www.instagram.com/nybooks/","https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-new-york-review-of-books","https://www.pinterest.com/nybooks/","https://www.youtube.com/nybooks/","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Review_of_Books"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/#/schema/person/image/182a5455116800dfa952b9304272c077","name":"David Shulman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https://www.nybooks.com/#/schema/person/image/23494c9101089ad44ae88ce9d2f56aac","url":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Shulman"},"description":"David Shulman is the author of Tamil: A Biography, among other books. He is Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was awarded the Israel Prize for Religious Studies in 2016. He is a longtime activist with Ta’ayush, the Arab–Jewish Partnership, in the occupied Palestinian territories. (January 2025)","url":"https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/david-shulman/"}]}</script>  <meta name="author" content="David Shulman" /> <meta name="byl" content="by DAVID SHULMAN" /> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//stats.wp.com' /> <link rel='stylesheet' id='all-css-0' href='https://www.nybooks.com/wp-includes/css/dist/block-library/style.min.css?m=1739294329g' type='text/css' media='all' /> <style id='co-authors-plus-coauthors-style-inline-css'> .wp-block-co-authors-plus-coauthors.is-layout-flow [class*=wp-block-co-authors-plus]{display:inline} </style> <style id='co-authors-plus-avatar-style-inline-css'> .wp-block-co-authors-plus-avatar :where(img){height:auto;max-width:100%;vertical-align:bottom}.wp-block-co-authors-plus-coauthors.is-layout-flow .wp-block-co-authors-plus-avatar :where(img){vertical-align:middle}.wp-block-co-authors-plus-avatar:is(.alignleft,.alignright){display:table}.wp-block-co-authors-plus-avatar.aligncenter{display:table;margin-inline:auto} </style> <style id='co-authors-plus-image-style-inline-css'> .wp-block-co-authors-plus-image{margin-bottom:0}.wp-block-co-authors-plus-image :where(img){height:auto;max-width:100%;vertical-align:bottom}.wp-block-co-authors-plus-coauthors.is-layout-flow .wp-block-co-authors-plus-image :where(img){vertical-align:middle}.wp-block-co-authors-plus-image:is(.alignfull,.alignwide) :where(img){width:100%}.wp-block-co-authors-plus-image:is(.alignleft,.alignright){display:table}.wp-block-co-authors-plus-image.aligncenter{display:table;margin-inline:auto} </style> <link rel='stylesheet' id='all-css-10' href='https://www.nybooks.com/_static/??-eJzTLy/QzcxLzilNSS3WzyrWz01NyUxMzUnNTc0rQeEU5CRWphbp5qSmJyZX6uVm5uklFxfr6OPTDpRD5sM02efaGpobWxpZmhgbGwAAROEu5A==' type='text/css' media='all' /> <style id='jetpack-sharing-buttons-style-inline-css'> .jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list{display:flex;flex-direction:row;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:0;list-style-type:none;margin:5px;padding:0}.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-small-icon-size{font-size:12px}.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-normal-icon-size{font-size:16px}.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-large-icon-size{font-size:24px}.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-huge-icon-size{font-size:36px}@media print{.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list{display:none!important}}.editor-styles-wrapper .wp-block-jetpack-sharing-buttons{gap:0;padding-inline-start:0}ul.jetpack-sharing-buttons__services-list.has-background{padding:1.25em 2.375em} </style> <style id='elasticpress-facet-style-inline-css'> .widget_ep-facet input[type=search],.wp-block-elasticpress-facet input[type=search]{margin-bottom:1rem}.widget_ep-facet .searchable .inner,.wp-block-elasticpress-facet .searchable .inner{max-height:20em;overflow:scroll}.widget_ep-facet .term.hide,.wp-block-elasticpress-facet .term.hide{display:none}.widget_ep-facet .empty-term,.wp-block-elasticpress-facet .empty-term{opacity:.5;position:relative}.widget_ep-facet .empty-term:after,.wp-block-elasticpress-facet .empty-term:after{bottom:0;content:" ";display:block;left:0;position:absolute;right:0;top:0;width:100%;z-index:2}.widget_ep-facet .level-1,.wp-block-elasticpress-facet .level-1{padding-left:20px}.widget_ep-facet .level-2,.wp-block-elasticpress-facet .level-2{padding-left:40px}.widget_ep-facet .level-3,.wp-block-elasticpress-facet .level-3{padding-left:60px}.widget_ep-facet .level-4,.wp-block-elasticpress-facet .level-4{padding-left:5pc}.widget_ep-facet .level-5,.wp-block-elasticpress-facet .level-5{padding-left:75pt}.widget_ep-facet input[disabled],.wp-block-elasticpress-facet input[disabled]{cursor:pointer;opacity:1}.widget_ep-facet .term a,.wp-block-elasticpress-facet .term a{-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;display:-webkit-box;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;position:relative}.widget_ep-facet .term a:hover .ep-checkbox,.wp-block-elasticpress-facet .term a:hover .ep-checkbox{background-color:#ccc}.ep-checkbox{-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;-ms-flex-negative:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;align-items:center;background-color:#eee;display:-webkit-box;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;flex-shrink:0;height:1em;justify-content:center;margin-right:.25em;width:1em}.ep-checkbox:after{border:solid #fff;border-width:0 .125em .125em 0;content:"";display:none;height:.5em;-webkit-transform:rotate(45deg);transform:rotate(45deg);width:.25em}.ep-checkbox.checked{background-color:#5e5e5e}.ep-checkbox.checked:after{display:block} </style> <link rel='stylesheet' id='all-css-14' href='https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/search/elasticpress/dist/css/related-posts-block-styles.min.css?m=1736472017g' type='text/css' media='all' /> <link rel='stylesheet' id='screen, print-css-14' href='https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/themes/nyrb_2020/assets/css/nyrb.css?m=1737053301g' type='text/css' media='screen, print' /> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.nybooks.com/_static/??-eJyNjcEKwjAQRH/IdNUI0oP4LSFdwsbNNiYbSv7eCB56KsLAMPBmBrZsSDy3BSvEoXfD0n82JZIp1hMcQSZRKE5xD/tVFEUhcwskFRjdq5vs+uaYTcFAVUeHVhlhoYJev7t/YOPhmR6Xu52v883ac/wA17VIOQ==" ></script><link rel="https://api.w.org/" href="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-json/" /><link rel="alternate" title="JSON" type="application/json" href="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-json/wp/v2/article/1543664" /><link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD" href="https://www.nybooks.com/xmlrpc.php?rsd" /> <link rel='shortlink' href='https://www.nybooks.com/?p=1543664' /> <link rel="alternate" title="oEmbed (JSON)" type="application/json+oembed" href="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Farticles%2F2024%2F05%2F09%2Fisrael-the-way-out-david-shulman%2F" /> <link rel="alternate" title="oEmbed (XML)" type="text/xml+oembed" href="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Farticles%2F2024%2F05%2F09%2Fisrael-the-way-out-david-shulman%2F&format=xml" /> <style>img#wpstats{display:none}</style>  <style type='text/css'> .rp4wp-related-posts { width:100%; overflow:hidden;}ul.rp4wp-posts-list {width:100%; margin:0 !important; padding:0 !important; list-style:none !important; float:left;}ul.rp4wp-posts-list .rp4wp-col {width:100% !important;margin-bottom:30px !important;list-style:none !important;box-sizing:border-box;overflow:hidden;float:left;}.rp4wp_component_wrapper {width:100% !important;float:left;}.rp4wp_component {width:100% !important;padding:0 0 5% !important;box-sizing:border-box;float:left;overflow:hidden !important;}.rp4wp_component a {border:0 !important;}.rp4wp_component_image a {display:block; height:100% !important;} .rp4wp_component_image img {width:100% !important;height:100% !important;}.rp4wp_component_title a {text-decoration:none !important; font-weight:bold; border:0 !important;}@media (min-width: 768px) {ul.rp4wp-posts-list .rp4wp-col {width:51% !important;height:325px !important;padding:0 2% !important;}ul.rp4wp-posts-list .rp4wp-col-first {width:49% !important;padding-left:0 !important;padding-right:2% !important;}ul.rp4wp-posts-list .rp4wp-col-last {width:49% !important;padding-right:0 !important;padding-left:2% !important;}.rp4wp_component_wrapper {width:50% !important;}.rp4wp_component_wrapper_left {padding-right:5% !important;}.rp4wp_component_wrapper_right {padding-left:5% !important;}}.rp4wp_component_2{height:20% !important;}.rp4wp_component_3{height:40% !important;}.rp4wp_component_4{height:40% !important;} </style> <style type="text/css" id="wp-custom-css"> *:focus-visible {outline: 2px solid black !important; box-sizing: border-box !important;} .sr-only { position: absolute; left: -10000px; } .skip-link { left: -10000px; padding: 12px; background-color: white; color: black; border: 2px solid black; border-radius: 5px; position: absolute; top: 0px; z-index: 9999999999; } .skip-link:focus-visible{left: 0px;} .article-col form .gform_body .gsection_title, .page-content form .gform_body .gsection_title { font-size: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; } .gsection_description { margin-bottom: 10px; } </style> <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/themes/nyrb_2020/print-css/print.css?ver=2.1" type="text/css" media="print" /> <script type="text/javascript"> dataLayer = [{ 'pageURL': '/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/', 'pageTitle': 'Israel: The Way Out', 'categoryValue': ["Human Rights","International","Politics"] }]; </script> <script id="Cookiebot" src="https://consent.cookiebot.com/uc.js" data-cbid="f1e02e50-8206-49bc-abdc-c0457eeb876b" type="text/javascript" async></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="//cdn-4.convertexperiments.com/js/10042447-10043211.js"></script>  <script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.bugherd.com/sidebarv2.js?apikey=4bdbkkrope9hewynvggzaw" async="true"></script>  <script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start': new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src= 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f); })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-KKCB24X');</script>  </head> <body class="article-template-default single single-article postid-1543664 context_nyrb page_article article-detail" data-site-url="https://www.nybooks.com" data-ajax-url="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" data-email-share-nonce="1bd703c194" data-logged-in="false">  <noscript><iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-KKCB24X" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <div id="fb-connect"></div> <div class="top-ad-wrapper"> <div id="article-top-ad" class="ad-spacing d-flex flex-column"> <p class="text-label-sm mb-xs-2 mt-xs-2 color-gray text-center">Advertisement</p> <div id="div-gpt-ad-1600879067006-0" class="mx-auto mb-xs-6"></div> </div> </div> <header class="site-header w-100 bg-green" id="side-header-full"> <div class="position-relative header-inner"> <div class="desktop-menu d-none d-lg-block"> <div class="container-fluid"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12 d-flex align-items-center pt-xs-4 menu-top-nav"> <div class="d-flex align-items-center position-absolute"> <div class="desktop-hamburger hover-cursor mr-xs-4 fill-light-blue"> <svg preserveAspectRatio="xMinYMin meet" viewBox="0 0 35 21" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M12.0005 1H0.000488281V4H12.0005V1Z" fill="#990101"/> <path d="M13 9H0V12H13V9Z" fill="#990101"/> <path d="M18 17H0V20H18V17Z" fill="#990101"/> <path d="M32.7666 20.0001C32.2909 20.0001 31.8152 19.8178 31.4514 19.4533L28.3802 16.376C27.6526 15.647 27.6526 14.4694 28.3802 13.7474C29.1077 13.0254 30.2831 13.0184 31.0036 13.7474L34.0749 16.8247C34.8024 17.5537 34.8024 18.7313 34.0749 19.4533C33.7181 19.8178 33.2423 20.0001 32.7666 20.0001Z" fill="#990101"/> <path d="M29.6955 15.8155C29.4996 15.8155 29.3108 15.7384 29.1638 15.5912L24.8893 11.3083C24.5955 11.0138 24.5955 10.5372 24.8893 10.2428C25.1831 9.94837 25.6589 9.94837 25.9527 10.2428L30.2272 14.5257C30.5211 14.8201 30.5211 15.2968 30.2272 15.5912C30.0803 15.7454 29.8844 15.8155 29.6955 15.8155Z" fill="#990101"/> <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M29 7C29 10.866 25.866 14 22 14C18.134 14 15 10.866 15 7C15 3.13401 18.134 0 22 0C25.866 0 29 3.13401 29 7ZM22.0073 11.0949C24.2649 11.0949 26.0949 9.2648 26.0949 7.00727C26.0949 4.74975 24.2649 2.91967 22.0073 2.91967C19.7498 2.91967 17.9197 4.74975 17.9197 7.00727C17.9197 9.2648 19.7498 11.0949 22.0073 11.0949Z" fill="#990101"/> </svg> </div> <div class="desktop-menu-close hover-cursor align-self-start"> <svg width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M9.85752 12.21L2.29256 19.7172L0 17.4422L7.56496 9.93495L0.131114 2.55785L2.42368 0.282783L9.85752 7.65988L17.5763 0L19.8689 2.27506L12.1501 9.93495L20 17.7249L17.7074 20L9.85752 12.21Z" fill="#990101"/> </svg> </div> <div class="cat-nav-left"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/politics/" class="pl-xs-2 pr-xs-2 font-giza color-light-blue d-inline-block text-small hover-text-light-blue hover-border-light-blue"> <span>Politics</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/literature/" class="pl-xs-2 pr-xs-2 font-giza color-light-blue d-inline-block text-small hover-text-light-blue hover-border-light-blue"> <span>Literature</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/arts/" class="pl-xs-2 pr-xs-2 font-giza color-light-blue d-inline-block text-small hover-text-light-blue hover-border-light-blue"> <span>Arts</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/ideas/" class="pl-xs-2 pr-xs-2 font-giza color-light-blue d-inline-block text-small hover-text-light-blue hover-border-light-blue"> <span>Ideas</span> </a> </div> </div> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com" class="text-center header-logo-short mb-0 mx-auto w-100 fill-light-blue"> <span class="sr-only">short logo</span> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <svg version="1.1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" viewBox="0 0 1210.96 76.13" style="enable-background:new 0 0 1210.96 76.13;" xml:space="preserve"> <g> <path d="M1139.12,74.93h17.58l8.09-22.28l8.29,22.28h17.58l13.29-38.46h6.99V24.98h-23.98v11.49h5.2l-7.09,21.78l-7.59-21.78h5.49 V24.98h-28.17v11.49h5l-7.49,21.78l-6.99-21.78h5.49V24.98h-31.97v11.49h6.99L1139.12,74.93z M1083.58,44.96 c0.4-5.79,2.9-9.49,7.19-9.49c4.3,0,6.79,2.4,6.89,9.49H1083.58z M1091.57,75.93c13.89,0,25.18-6.39,26.58-20.08h-13.99 c-1.2,4.9-4.2,8.39-10.49,8.39c-6.49,0-10.09-3.9-10.19-11.79h34.57v-1.9c0-15.99-10.39-26.57-27.27-26.57 c-15.88,0-28.67,9.39-28.67,26.37C1062.1,67.34,1074.68,75.93,1091.57,75.93 M1030.13,10.89c0,6.39,4.6,10.99,11.19,10.99 s11.19-4.6,11.19-10.99S1047.91,0,1041.32,0S1030.13,4.5,1030.13,10.89 M1022.33,74.93h38.76V63.44h-9.39V24.98h-29.37v11.49h9.39 v26.97h-9.39V74.93z M952.4,36.47h7.69l17.28,38.46h16.58l17.28-38.46h7.79V24.98h-26.48v11.49h6.49l-8.49,20.18l-8.79-20.18h6.79 V24.98H952.4V36.47z M917.33,44.96c0.4-5.79,2.9-9.49,7.19-9.49c4.3,0,6.79,2.4,6.89,9.49H917.33z M925.33,75.93 c13.89,0,25.18-6.39,26.58-20.08h-13.99c-1.2,4.9-4.2,8.39-10.49,8.39c-6.49,0-10.09-3.9-10.19-11.79h34.57v-1.9 c0-15.99-10.39-26.57-27.27-26.57c-15.89,0-28.67,9.39-28.67,26.37C895.85,67.34,908.44,75.93,925.33,75.93 M831.02,33.87V19.48 h15.59c5.99,0,8.19,3.4,8.19,7.39c0,4.1-2.2,6.99-8.19,6.99H831.02z M868.48,76.13c22.68,0,26.38-14.09,22.98-30.57h-12.89 c0.2,1.9,0.5,7.19,0.5,10.09c0,4.1-1.3,5.49-3.6,5.49c-2.1,0-3.1-1.3-3.5-4l-0.7-5.2c-0.8-5.99-5.1-9.79-14.89-11.39 c18.88-0.8,23.68-9.39,23.68-17.48c0-9.89-5.69-18.08-22.18-18.08h-63.04v14.49h11.99v40.96h-11.99v14.49h48.46V60.44h-12.29V43.86 h10.59c4.79,0,5.99,1.7,6.09,6.19l0.3,9.89C848.2,67.84,851.7,76.13,868.48,76.13 M698.84,74.93h33.87V63.44h-4.9v-5.89l5.69-4.3 l7.09,10.19h-5.3v11.49h33.97V63.44h-5.09l-14.49-20.58l9.39-6.39h9.19V24.98h-35.47v11.49H742l-14.19,10.29V4.99h-28.97v11.49 h8.99v46.96h-8.99V74.93z M641.39,74.93h44.16V63.44h-14.89V47.56c0-9.59,2.9-12.19,5.79-12.19c3.4,0,4.1,5.09,3.1,12.39h17.98 c3.7-14.69-0.7-23.78-11.09-23.78c-6.99,0-12.29,3.8-16.28,12.99V24.98h-28.77v11.49h9.29v26.97h-9.29V74.93z M600.73,49.95 c0-10.49,2.4-14.59,7.79-14.59s7.79,4.1,7.79,14.59c0,10.39-2.4,14.69-7.79,14.69S600.73,60.34,600.73,49.95 M608.53,75.93 c16.38,0,28.77-10.79,28.77-25.98c0-14.99-12.39-25.98-28.77-25.98c-16.38,0-28.77,10.99-28.77,25.98 C579.75,65.14,592.14,75.93,608.53,75.93 M518.21,74.93h54.15V60.44h-14.99V49.35l23.98-29.87h8.99V5h-35.87v14.49h8.69 l-12.99,16.88l-13.39-16.88h10.69V5h-47.26v14.49h8.99l23.98,29.87v11.09h-14.99V74.93z M411.11,74.93h17.58l8.09-22.28l8.29,22.28 h17.58l13.29-38.46h6.99V24.98h-23.98v11.49h5.2l-7.09,21.78l-7.59-21.78h5.49V24.98H426.8v11.49h5l-7.49,21.78l-6.99-21.78h5.49 V24.98h-31.97v11.49h6.99L411.11,74.93z M355.56,44.96c0.4-5.79,2.9-9.49,7.19-9.49c4.3,0,6.79,2.4,6.89,9.49H355.56z M363.56,75.93c13.89,0,25.18-6.39,26.58-20.08h-13.99c-1.2,4.9-4.2,8.39-10.49,8.39c-6.49,0-10.09-3.9-10.19-11.79h34.57v-1.9 c0-15.99-10.39-26.57-27.27-26.57c-15.88,0-28.67,9.39-28.67,26.37C334.08,67.34,346.67,75.93,363.56,75.93 M241.17,74.93h46.46 V60.44h-16.98V29.47l36.37,45.46h19.48V19.48h11.99V5h-39.96v14.49h10.99v21.38L281.33,5h-40.16v14.49h11.99v40.96h-11.99V74.93z M179.93,44.96c0.4-5.79,2.9-9.49,7.19-9.49c4.3,0,6.79,2.4,6.89,9.49H179.93z M187.92,75.93c13.89,0,25.18-6.39,26.58-20.08 h-13.99c-1.2,4.9-4.2,8.39-10.49,8.39c-6.49,0-10.09-3.9-10.19-11.79h34.57v-1.9c0-15.99-10.39-26.57-27.27-26.57 c-15.88,0-28.67,9.39-28.67,26.37C158.45,67.34,171.04,75.93,187.92,75.93 M88.82,74.93h33.27V63.44h-4.3V47.96 c0-8.79,3.3-12.29,7.29-12.29c1.9,0,4.1,0.9,4.1,4.6v23.18h-4.5v11.49h32.47V63.44h-7.99V36.27c0-7.09-5.2-12.29-13.99-12.29 c-8.89,0-13.39,4.59-17.88,14.19V4.99H88.82v11.49h8.99v46.96h-8.99V74.93z M14.09,74.93h56.75V60.44H54.55V19.48h10.99v16.48 h19.38V5H0v30.97h19.38V19.48h10.99v40.96H14.09V74.93z"/> </g> </svg> </a> <div class="text-xs position-right position-absolute pr-xs-3 pr-xl-6 z-index-10 header-sign-in d-flex align-items-center"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/account/signin/?current_page=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Farticles%2F2024%2F05%2F09%2Fisrael-the-way-out-david-shulman%2F" class="font-giza mr-xs-3 button px-0 color-light-blue hover-text-light-blue hover-border-light-blue sign-in-link"> <span>Sign In</span> </a> <span class="button hover-expand bg-light-blue color-green hover-text-green"> <a href="https://subscribe.nybooks.com/ecom/nyb/app/live/subscriptions?org=NYB&publ=NY&key_code=EPLXWWW&type=S" class="font-giza sign-in-subscribe hover-text-inherit"><span>Subscribe</span></a> </span> </div> </div> </div> <div class="row cat-nav mt-lg-8"> <div class="col-12"> <div class="d-flex justify-content-center"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/politics/" class="pl-xs-8 pr-xs-8 font-giza color-light-blue hover-text-light-blue hover-border-light-blue"> <span>Politics</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/literature/" class="pl-xs-8 pr-xs-8 font-giza color-light-blue hover-text-light-blue hover-border-light-blue"> <span>Literature</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/arts/" class="pl-xs-8 pr-xs-8 font-giza color-light-blue hover-text-light-blue hover-border-light-blue"> <span>Arts</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/ideas/" class="pl-xs-8 pr-xs-8 font-giza color-light-blue hover-text-light-blue hover-border-light-blue"> <span>Ideas</span> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="container-fluid px-0"> <div class="row no-gutters"> <div class="col-12"> <div class="rule-10 mt-xs-5"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="desktop-nav"> <div class="d-flex desktop-nav-inner"> <div class="desktop-main d-inline-block pt-xs-6 d-flex flex-column position-relative bg-yellow"> <div class="overflow-scroll h-100"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12"> <div class="d-flex"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com" class="align-self-center logo-menu-width w-100 mx-auto fill-ny-red"> <span class="sr-only">logo stacked</span> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <svg version="1.1" preserveAspectRatio="xMinYMin meet" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" viewBox="0 0 1729.18 197.28" style="enable-background:new 0 0 1729.18 197.28;" xml:space="preserve"> <path d="M1626.6,107h25.11l11.56-31.81l11.84,31.81h25.11l18.97-54.92h9.99V35.67h-34.24v16.41h7.42l-10.13,31.1l-10.84-31.1h7.85 V35.67H1649v16.41h7.13l-10.7,31.1l-9.99-31.1h7.85V35.67h-45.65v16.41h9.99L1626.6,107z M1547.29,64.2 c0.57-8.27,4.14-13.55,10.27-13.55c6.13,0,9.7,3.42,9.84,13.55H1547.29z M1558.7,108.42c19.83,0,35.95-9.13,37.95-28.67h-19.97 c-1.71,6.99-5.99,11.98-14.98,11.98c-9.27,0-14.41-5.56-14.55-16.83h49.36v-2.71c0-22.83-14.84-37.95-38.95-37.95 c-22.68,0-40.94,13.41-40.94,37.66C1516.61,96.15,1534.59,108.42,1558.7,108.42 M1470.96,15.55c0,9.13,6.56,15.69,15.98,15.69 c9.42,0,15.98-6.56,15.98-15.69S1496.36,0,1486.94,0C1477.52,0,1470.96,6.42,1470.96,15.55 M1459.84,107h55.35V90.59h-13.41V35.67 h-41.94v16.41h13.41v38.52h-13.41V107z M1359.97,52.07h10.98l24.68,54.92h23.68L1444,52.07h11.13V35.67h-37.81v16.41h9.27 l-12.13,28.82l-12.55-28.82h9.7V35.67h-51.64V52.07z M1309.9,64.2c0.57-8.27,4.14-13.55,10.27-13.55c6.13,0,9.7,3.42,9.84,13.55 H1309.9z M1321.31,108.42c19.83,0,35.95-9.13,37.95-28.67h-19.97c-1.71,6.99-5.99,11.98-14.98,11.98c-9.27,0-14.41-5.56-14.55-16.83 h49.36v-2.71c0-22.83-14.84-37.95-38.95-37.95c-22.68,0-40.94,13.41-40.94,37.66C1279.23,96.15,1297.2,108.42,1321.31,108.42 M1186.64,48.36V27.82h22.26c8.56,0,11.7,4.85,11.7,10.56c0,5.85-3.14,9.99-11.7,9.99H1186.64z M1240.14,108.71 c32.38,0,37.66-20.11,32.81-43.65h-18.4c0.29,2.71,0.71,10.27,0.71,14.41c0,5.85-1.86,7.85-5.14,7.85c-3,0-4.42-1.86-4.99-5.71 l-1-7.42c-1.14-8.56-7.28-13.98-21.26-16.26c26.96-1.14,33.81-13.41,33.81-24.97c0-14.12-8.13-25.82-31.67-25.82H1135v20.69h17.12 v58.49H1135V107h69.19V86.31h-17.55V62.63h15.12c6.85,0,8.56,2.43,8.7,8.84l0.43,14.12C1211.18,96.87,1216.18,108.71,1240.14,108.71 M997.91,107h48.36V90.59h-6.99v-8.42l8.13-6.13l10.13,14.55h-7.56V107h48.51V90.59h-7.27l-20.69-29.39l13.41-9.13h13.13V35.67 h-50.64v16.41h13.13l-20.26,14.69V7.13h-41.37v16.41h12.84v67.05h-12.84V107z M915.88,107h63.06V90.59h-21.26V67.91 c0-13.7,4.14-17.4,8.27-17.4c4.85,0,5.85,7.27,4.42,17.69h25.68c5.28-20.97-1-33.95-15.84-33.95c-9.99,0-17.55,5.42-23.25,18.54 V35.67h-41.09v16.41h13.27v38.52h-13.27V107z M857.81,71.33c0-14.98,3.42-20.83,11.13-20.83c7.7,0,11.13,5.85,11.13,20.83 c0,14.84-3.42,20.97-11.13,20.97C861.24,92.3,857.81,86.17,857.81,71.33 M868.94,108.42c23.4,0,41.09-15.41,41.09-37.09 c0-21.4-17.69-37.09-41.09-37.09c-23.4,0-41.09,15.69-41.09,37.09C827.85,93.01,845.54,108.42,868.94,108.42 M739.98,107h77.32 V86.31h-21.4V70.47l34.24-42.66h12.84V7.13h-51.21v20.69h12.41l-18.55,24.11l-19.12-24.11h15.27V7.13H714.3v20.69h12.84l34.24,42.66 v15.84h-21.4V107z M587.04,107h25.11l11.56-31.81L635.55,107h25.11l18.97-54.92h9.99V35.67h-34.24v16.41h7.42l-10.13,31.1 l-10.84-31.1h7.85V35.67h-40.23v16.41h7.13l-10.7,31.1l-9.99-31.1h7.84V35.67h-45.65v16.41h9.99L587.04,107z M507.73,64.2 c0.57-8.27,4.14-13.55,10.27-13.55c6.13,0,9.7,3.42,9.84,13.55H507.73z M519.14,108.42c19.83,0,35.95-9.13,37.95-28.67h-19.97 c-1.71,6.99-5.99,11.98-14.98,11.98c-9.27,0-14.41-5.56-14.55-16.83h49.36v-2.71c0-22.83-14.84-37.95-38.95-37.95 c-22.68,0-40.94,13.41-40.94,37.66C477.05,96.15,495.03,108.42,519.14,108.42 M344.38,107h66.34V86.31h-24.25V42.08L438.39,107 h27.82V27.82h17.12V7.13h-57.06v20.69h15.69v30.53L401.73,7.13h-57.35v20.69h17.12v58.49h-17.12V107z M256.93,64.2 c0.57-8.27,4.14-13.55,10.27-13.55c6.13,0,9.7,3.42,9.84,13.55H256.93z M268.34,108.42c19.83,0,35.95-9.13,37.95-28.67h-19.97 c-1.71,6.99-5.99,11.98-14.98,11.98c-9.27,0-14.41-5.56-14.55-16.83h49.36v-2.71c0-22.83-14.84-37.95-38.95-37.95 c-22.68,0-40.94,13.41-40.94,37.66C226.26,96.15,244.23,108.42,268.34,108.42 M126.82,107h47.51V90.59h-6.13V68.48 c0-12.55,4.71-17.55,10.41-17.55c2.71,0,5.85,1.28,5.85,6.56v33.1h-6.42V107h46.37V90.59h-11.41v-38.8 c0-10.13-7.42-17.55-19.97-17.55c-12.7,0-19.12,6.56-25.54,20.26V7.13h-40.66v16.41h12.84v67.05h-12.84V107z M20.12,107h81.03V86.31 H77.89V27.82h15.69v23.54h27.68V7.13H0v44.23h27.68V27.82h15.69v58.49H20.12V107z"/> <path d="M1019.73,197.28c9.49,0,13.91-5.28,13.91-11.91c0-7.92-4.42-11.06-12.91-12.27l-8.35-1.21c-2.43-0.36-3.14-1.5-3.14-2.64 c0-1.21,0.78-2.85,4.49-2.85c5.35,0,7.28,3,8.13,5.63h8.49V160.9h-9.2v5.71c-1.85-3.57-5.92-6.42-11.63-6.42 c-8.84,0-12.91,5.49-12.91,11.13c0,5.56,2.71,9.77,11.06,11.06l8.06,1.21c3.07,0.43,4.14,1.35,4.14,3.28c0,1.71-1.21,3.21-4.92,3.21 c-5.06,0-7.78-2.85-9.77-6.99h-8.06v13.48h9.27v-7.56C1008.18,192.86,1012.45,197.28,1019.73,197.28 M942.48,196.57h24.18v-8.2 h-3.49v-4.21l4.07-3.07l5.06,7.28h-3.78v8.2h24.25v-8.2h-3.64l-10.34-14.7l6.7-4.57h6.56v-8.2h-25.32v8.2h6.56l-10.13,7.35V144.5 h-20.69v8.2h6.42v35.67h-6.42V196.57z M915.16,178.73c0-7.49,1.71-10.41,5.56-10.41c3.85,0,5.56,2.92,5.56,10.41 c0,7.42-1.71,10.49-5.56,10.49C916.87,189.22,915.16,186.15,915.16,178.73 M920.72,197.28c11.7,0,20.54-7.7,20.54-18.55 c0-10.7-8.85-18.54-20.54-18.54c-11.7,0-20.54,7.85-20.54,18.54C900.18,189.58,909.03,197.28,920.72,197.28 M870.93,178.73 c0-7.49,1.71-10.41,5.56-10.41s5.56,2.92,5.56,10.41c0,7.42-1.71,10.49-5.56,10.49S870.93,186.15,870.93,178.73 M876.5,197.28 c11.7,0,20.54-7.7,20.54-18.55c0-10.7-8.84-18.54-20.54-18.54s-20.54,7.85-20.54,18.54C855.96,189.58,864.8,197.28,876.5,197.28 M818.22,166.89v-9.92h7.92c3.85,0,5.71,1.85,5.71,4.99c0,3.21-1.93,4.92-5.78,4.92H818.22z M818.22,186.22v-11.27h9.27 c4.57,0,6.63,2.43,6.63,5.64s-2.07,5.63-6.63,5.63H818.22z M791.69,196.57h41.51c14.19,0,19.69-5.85,19.69-13.62 c0-7.7-5.63-11.77-14.27-12.34c6.13-0.93,11.41-4.92,11.41-11.06c0-7.49-4.78-12.91-18.26-12.91h-40.09v10.34h9.27v29.24h-9.27 V196.57z M739.55,196.57h28.32v-8.2h-7.42V169.1h8.63v-8.2h-8.63v-4.57c0-2.14,1-3.85,4.14-3.85c2.92,0,3.99,1.78,3.71,4.78h11.77 c0.36-7.35-2.28-14.2-15.69-14.2c-11.48,0-18.19,4.92-18.19,14.05v3.78h-6.63v8.2h6.63v19.26h-6.63V196.57z M710.52,178.73 c0-7.49,1.71-10.41,5.56-10.41c3.85,0,5.56,2.92,5.56,10.41c0,7.42-1.71,10.49-5.56,10.49 C712.23,189.22,710.52,186.15,710.52,178.73 M716.08,197.28c11.7,0,20.54-7.7,20.54-18.55c0-10.7-8.84-18.54-20.54-18.54 c-11.7,0-20.54,7.85-20.54,18.54C695.54,189.58,704.38,197.28,716.08,197.28"/> </svg> </a> </div> </div> <div class="col-12"> <div class="header_search position-relative logo-menu-width mx-auto mt-xs-6 mb-xs-6"> <form method="get" action="/search/" autocomplete="off"> <div class="input-append"> <input class="text-small w-100 pr-xs-10 st-default-search-input" name="q" type="text" placeholder="Search by article title, author, book, contributor or subject" title="search"> <button title="submit search" type="submit" class="pl-xs-3 pr-xs-3 bg-transparent border-0 search-submit"> <svg width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M17.7666 20.0001C17.2909 20.0001 16.8152 19.8178 16.4514 19.4533L13.3802 16.376C12.6526 15.647 12.6526 14.4694 13.3802 13.7474C14.1077 13.0254 15.2831 13.0184 16.0036 13.7474L19.0749 16.8247C19.8024 17.5537 19.8024 18.7313 19.0749 19.4533C18.7181 19.8178 18.2423 20.0001 17.7666 20.0001Z" fill="#990101"/> <path d="M14.6955 15.8155C14.4996 15.8155 14.3108 15.7384 14.1638 15.5912L9.88932 11.3083C9.59549 11.0138 9.59549 10.5372 9.88932 10.2428C10.1831 9.94837 10.6589 9.94837 10.9527 10.2428L15.2272 14.5257C15.5211 14.8201 15.5211 15.2968 15.2272 15.5912C15.0803 15.7454 14.8844 15.8155 14.6955 15.8155Z" fill="#990101"/> <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M14 7C14 10.866 10.866 14 7 14C3.13401 14 0 10.866 0 7C0 3.13401 3.13401 0 7 0C10.866 0 14 3.13401 14 7ZM7.00733 11.0949C9.26485 11.0949 11.0949 9.2648 11.0949 7.00727C11.0949 4.74975 9.26485 2.91967 7.00733 2.91967C4.74981 2.91967 2.91972 4.74975 2.91972 7.00727C2.91972 9.2648 4.74981 11.0949 7.00733 11.0949Z" fill="#990101"/> </svg> </button> </div> </form> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="container menu-scrollable pb-xs-2"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-3"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/politics/" class="h4 color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red mb-xs-4 d-block hover-border-ny-red"> <span>Politics</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/politics/us-politics/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>United States</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/politics/international/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>International</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/politics/human-rights/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Human Rights</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/politics/climate-change/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Climate Change</span> </a> </div> <div class="col-3"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/literature/" class="h4 color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red mb-xs-4 d-block hover-border-ny-red"> <span>Literature</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/literature/fiction/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Fiction</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/literature/poetry/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Poetry</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/literature/biography-memoir/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Biography & Memoir</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/literature/in-translation/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>In Translation</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/literature/essays/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Essays</span> </a> </div> <div class="col-3"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/arts/" class="h4 color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red mb-xs-4 d-block hover-border-ny-red"> <span>Arts</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/arts/visual-arts/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Visual Arts</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/arts/performing-arts/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Performing Arts</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/arts/film-television/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Film & Television</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/arts/music/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Music</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/arts/society-culture/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Society & Culture</span> </a> </div> <div class="col-3"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/ideas/" class="h4 color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red mb-xs-4 d-block hover-border-ny-red"> <span>Ideas</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/ideas/history/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>History</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/ideas/economics/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Economics</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/ideas/science-technology/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Science & Technology</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/ideas/law/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Law</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/ideas/philosophy-religion/" class="h6 color-black mb-xs-4 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black"> <span>Philosophy & Religion</span> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="desktop-menu-bottom bg-white mt-auto"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-6 pt-xs-6 pb-xs-6"> <p class="h5 color-ny-red">More from the Review</p> <div class="row no-gutters"> <div class="col-6"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/events/" class="color-black hover-text-black font-giza text-small d-block mt-xs-4 hover-border-black"> <span>Events</span> </a> <a href="/issues/" class="color-black hover-text-black font-giza text-small d-block mt-xs-4 hover-border-black"> <span>All Issues</span> </a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/about/" class="color-black hover-text-black font-giza text-small d-block mt-xs-4 hover-border-black"> <span>About Us</span> </a> </div> <div class="col-6"> <a href="https://shop.nybooks.com/" class="color-black hover-text-black hover-border-black text-small font-giza mb-xs-4 d-block mt-xs-4" target="_blank"> <span>Shop Literary Gifts</span> </a> <a href="http://www.nyrb.com/" class="color-black hover-text-black hover-border-black text-small font-giza mb-xs-4 d-block mt-xs-4" target="_blank"> <span>Shop NYRB Classics</span> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="col-6 column-left-border pt-xs-6 pb-xs-6"> <p class="h5 mb-xs-4 color-ny-red">Subscribe to our Newsletter</p> <p class="text-small">Best of The New York Review, plus books, events, and other items of interest</p> <div class="menu-newsletter text-small" data-form-source="Menu Signup"> <form class="newsletter-trigger"> <div class="newsletter-trigger__wrapper"> <label for="email" class="sr-only">Email Address</label> <input type="email" class="newsletter-trigger__input bg-transparent w-100 pt-xs-3 pb-xs-3" id="email" placeholder="Enter your email address"> <div class="newsletter-trigger__submit"> <button type="submit" class="button">Continue</button> </div> </div> </form> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="desktop-header-sidebar bg-ny-red pt-xs-4 pb-xs-6 pl-xs-6 pr-xs-6 d-flex flex-column"> <div class="text-center w-100 mt-auto mb-auto"> <p class="color-yellow text-small mb-0">February 27, 2025</p> <p class="color-white h5 mb-xs-3">Current Issue</p> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/issues/2025/02/27/" class="d-block shadow-hover-dark"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/nyrb022725.jpg?w=360" srcset="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/nyrb022725.jpg?w=165 165w, https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/nyrb022725.jpg?w=240 240w, https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/nyrb022725.jpg?w=330 330w, https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/nyrb022725.jpg?w=360 360w, https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/nyrb022725.jpg?w=480 480w, https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/nyrb022725.jpg?w=660 660w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 165px, 330px" class="mw-100" alt="Image of the February 27, 2025 issue cover." > </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mobile-menu d-lg-none position-relative"> <div class="pt-xs-4 pb-xs-4"> <div class="container-xl"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12"> <div class="d-flex position-relative justify-content-center"> <div class="mr-xs-2 mobile-hamburger fill-light-blue"> <svg preserveAspectRatio="xMinYMin meet" viewBox="0 0 35 21" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M12.0005 1H0.000488281V4H12.0005V1Z" fill="#990101"/> <path d="M13 9H0V12H13V9Z" fill="#990101"/> <path d="M18 17H0V20H18V17Z" fill="#990101"/> <path d="M32.7666 20.0001C32.2909 20.0001 31.8152 19.8178 31.4514 19.4533L28.3802 16.376C27.6526 15.647 27.6526 14.4694 28.3802 13.7474C29.1077 13.0254 30.2831 13.0184 31.0036 13.7474L34.0749 16.8247C34.8024 17.5537 34.8024 18.7313 34.0749 19.4533C33.7181 19.8178 33.2423 20.0001 32.7666 20.0001Z" fill="#990101"/> <path d="M29.6955 15.8155C29.4996 15.8155 29.3108 15.7384 29.1638 15.5912L24.8893 11.3083C24.5955 11.0138 24.5955 10.5372 24.8893 10.2428C25.1831 9.94837 25.6589 9.94837 25.9527 10.2428L30.2272 14.5257C30.5211 14.8201 30.5211 15.2968 30.2272 15.5912C30.0803 15.7454 29.8844 15.8155 29.6955 15.8155Z" fill="#990101"/> <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M29 7C29 10.866 25.866 14 22 14C18.134 14 15 10.866 15 7C15 3.13401 18.134 0 22 0C25.866 0 29 3.13401 29 7ZM22.0073 11.0949C24.2649 11.0949 26.0949 9.2648 26.0949 7.00727C26.0949 4.74975 24.2649 2.91967 22.0073 2.91967C19.7498 2.91967 17.9197 4.74975 17.9197 7.00727C17.9197 9.2648 19.7498 11.0949 22.0073 11.0949Z" fill="#990101"/> </svg> </div> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com" class="header-logo-short w-100 fill-light-blue"> <span class="sr-only">site logo</span> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <svg version="1.1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" viewBox="0 0 1210.96 76.13" style="enable-background:new 0 0 1210.96 76.13;" xml:space="preserve"> <g> <path d="M1139.12,74.93h17.58l8.09-22.28l8.29,22.28h17.58l13.29-38.46h6.99V24.98h-23.98v11.49h5.2l-7.09,21.78l-7.59-21.78h5.49 V24.98h-28.17v11.49h5l-7.49,21.78l-6.99-21.78h5.49V24.98h-31.97v11.49h6.99L1139.12,74.93z M1083.58,44.96 c0.4-5.79,2.9-9.49,7.19-9.49c4.3,0,6.79,2.4,6.89,9.49H1083.58z M1091.57,75.93c13.89,0,25.18-6.39,26.58-20.08h-13.99 c-1.2,4.9-4.2,8.39-10.49,8.39c-6.49,0-10.09-3.9-10.19-11.79h34.57v-1.9c0-15.99-10.39-26.57-27.27-26.57 c-15.88,0-28.67,9.39-28.67,26.37C1062.1,67.34,1074.68,75.93,1091.57,75.93 M1030.13,10.89c0,6.39,4.6,10.99,11.19,10.99 s11.19-4.6,11.19-10.99S1047.91,0,1041.32,0S1030.13,4.5,1030.13,10.89 M1022.33,74.93h38.76V63.44h-9.39V24.98h-29.37v11.49h9.39 v26.97h-9.39V74.93z M952.4,36.47h7.69l17.28,38.46h16.58l17.28-38.46h7.79V24.98h-26.48v11.49h6.49l-8.49,20.18l-8.79-20.18h6.79 V24.98H952.4V36.47z M917.33,44.96c0.4-5.79,2.9-9.49,7.19-9.49c4.3,0,6.79,2.4,6.89,9.49H917.33z M925.33,75.93 c13.89,0,25.18-6.39,26.58-20.08h-13.99c-1.2,4.9-4.2,8.39-10.49,8.39c-6.49,0-10.09-3.9-10.19-11.79h34.57v-1.9 c0-15.99-10.39-26.57-27.27-26.57c-15.89,0-28.67,9.39-28.67,26.37C895.85,67.34,908.44,75.93,925.33,75.93 M831.02,33.87V19.48 h15.59c5.99,0,8.19,3.4,8.19,7.39c0,4.1-2.2,6.99-8.19,6.99H831.02z M868.48,76.13c22.68,0,26.38-14.09,22.98-30.57h-12.89 c0.2,1.9,0.5,7.19,0.5,10.09c0,4.1-1.3,5.49-3.6,5.49c-2.1,0-3.1-1.3-3.5-4l-0.7-5.2c-0.8-5.99-5.1-9.79-14.89-11.39 c18.88-0.8,23.68-9.39,23.68-17.48c0-9.89-5.69-18.08-22.18-18.08h-63.04v14.49h11.99v40.96h-11.99v14.49h48.46V60.44h-12.29V43.86 h10.59c4.79,0,5.99,1.7,6.09,6.19l0.3,9.89C848.2,67.84,851.7,76.13,868.48,76.13 M698.84,74.93h33.87V63.44h-4.9v-5.89l5.69-4.3 l7.09,10.19h-5.3v11.49h33.97V63.44h-5.09l-14.49-20.58l9.39-6.39h9.19V24.98h-35.47v11.49H742l-14.19,10.29V4.99h-28.97v11.49 h8.99v46.96h-8.99V74.93z M641.39,74.93h44.16V63.44h-14.89V47.56c0-9.59,2.9-12.19,5.79-12.19c3.4,0,4.1,5.09,3.1,12.39h17.98 c3.7-14.69-0.7-23.78-11.09-23.78c-6.99,0-12.29,3.8-16.28,12.99V24.98h-28.77v11.49h9.29v26.97h-9.29V74.93z M600.73,49.95 c0-10.49,2.4-14.59,7.79-14.59s7.79,4.1,7.79,14.59c0,10.39-2.4,14.69-7.79,14.69S600.73,60.34,600.73,49.95 M608.53,75.93 c16.38,0,28.77-10.79,28.77-25.98c0-14.99-12.39-25.98-28.77-25.98c-16.38,0-28.77,10.99-28.77,25.98 C579.75,65.14,592.14,75.93,608.53,75.93 M518.21,74.93h54.15V60.44h-14.99V49.35l23.98-29.87h8.99V5h-35.87v14.49h8.69 l-12.99,16.88l-13.39-16.88h10.69V5h-47.26v14.49h8.99l23.98,29.87v11.09h-14.99V74.93z M411.11,74.93h17.58l8.09-22.28l8.29,22.28 h17.58l13.29-38.46h6.99V24.98h-23.98v11.49h5.2l-7.09,21.78l-7.59-21.78h5.49V24.98H426.8v11.49h5l-7.49,21.78l-6.99-21.78h5.49 V24.98h-31.97v11.49h6.99L411.11,74.93z M355.56,44.96c0.4-5.79,2.9-9.49,7.19-9.49c4.3,0,6.79,2.4,6.89,9.49H355.56z M363.56,75.93c13.89,0,25.18-6.39,26.58-20.08h-13.99c-1.2,4.9-4.2,8.39-10.49,8.39c-6.49,0-10.09-3.9-10.19-11.79h34.57v-1.9 c0-15.99-10.39-26.57-27.27-26.57c-15.88,0-28.67,9.39-28.67,26.37C334.08,67.34,346.67,75.93,363.56,75.93 M241.17,74.93h46.46 V60.44h-16.98V29.47l36.37,45.46h19.48V19.48h11.99V5h-39.96v14.49h10.99v21.38L281.33,5h-40.16v14.49h11.99v40.96h-11.99V74.93z M179.93,44.96c0.4-5.79,2.9-9.49,7.19-9.49c4.3,0,6.79,2.4,6.89,9.49H179.93z M187.92,75.93c13.89,0,25.18-6.39,26.58-20.08 h-13.99c-1.2,4.9-4.2,8.39-10.49,8.39c-6.49,0-10.09-3.9-10.19-11.79h34.57v-1.9c0-15.99-10.39-26.57-27.27-26.57 c-15.88,0-28.67,9.39-28.67,26.37C158.45,67.34,171.04,75.93,187.92,75.93 M88.82,74.93h33.27V63.44h-4.3V47.96 c0-8.79,3.3-12.29,7.29-12.29c1.9,0,4.1,0.9,4.1,4.6v23.18h-4.5v11.49h32.47V63.44h-7.99V36.27c0-7.09-5.2-12.29-13.99-12.29 c-8.89,0-13.39,4.59-17.88,14.19V4.99H88.82v11.49h8.99v46.96h-8.99V74.93z M14.09,74.93h56.75V60.44H54.55V19.48h10.99v16.48 h19.38V5H0v30.97h19.38V19.48h10.99v40.96H14.09V74.93z"/> </g> </svg> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="rule-light-blue"></div> <div class="mobile-nav bg-yellow"> <div class="container-xl"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12"> <div class="d-flex justify-content-between pt-xs-4"> <div class="mobile-close hover-cursor"> <svg width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M9.85752 12.21L2.29256 19.7172L0 17.4422L7.56496 9.93495L0.131114 2.55785L2.42368 0.282783L9.85752 7.65988L17.5763 0L19.8689 2.27506L12.1501 9.93495L20 17.7249L17.7074 20L9.85752 12.21Z" fill="#990101"/> </svg> </div> <div class="pt-lg-3 text-xs"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/account/signin/?current_page=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Farticles%2F2024%2F05%2F09%2Fisrael-the-way-out-david-shulman%2F" class="font-giza mr-xs-3 color-ny-red">Sign In</a> <a href="https://subscribe.nybooks.com/ecom/nyb/app/live/subscriptions?org=NYB&publ=NY&key_code=EPLXWWW&type=S" class="button font-giza bg-ny-red color-yellow hover-text-yellow hover-expand"><span>Subscribe</span></a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="col-12"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com" class="d-block mt-xs-8 mb-xs-8 fill-ny-red" > <span class="sr-only">Site logo</span> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <svg version="1.1" preserveAspectRatio="xMinYMin meet" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" viewBox="0 0 1729.18 197.28" style="enable-background:new 0 0 1729.18 197.28;" xml:space="preserve"> <path d="M1626.6,107h25.11l11.56-31.81l11.84,31.81h25.11l18.97-54.92h9.99V35.67h-34.24v16.41h7.42l-10.13,31.1l-10.84-31.1h7.85 V35.67H1649v16.41h7.13l-10.7,31.1l-9.99-31.1h7.85V35.67h-45.65v16.41h9.99L1626.6,107z M1547.29,64.2 c0.57-8.27,4.14-13.55,10.27-13.55c6.13,0,9.7,3.42,9.84,13.55H1547.29z M1558.7,108.42c19.83,0,35.95-9.13,37.95-28.67h-19.97 c-1.71,6.99-5.99,11.98-14.98,11.98c-9.27,0-14.41-5.56-14.55-16.83h49.36v-2.71c0-22.83-14.84-37.95-38.95-37.95 c-22.68,0-40.94,13.41-40.94,37.66C1516.61,96.15,1534.59,108.42,1558.7,108.42 M1470.96,15.55c0,9.13,6.56,15.69,15.98,15.69 c9.42,0,15.98-6.56,15.98-15.69S1496.36,0,1486.94,0C1477.52,0,1470.96,6.42,1470.96,15.55 M1459.84,107h55.35V90.59h-13.41V35.67 h-41.94v16.41h13.41v38.52h-13.41V107z M1359.97,52.07h10.98l24.68,54.92h23.68L1444,52.07h11.13V35.67h-37.81v16.41h9.27 l-12.13,28.82l-12.55-28.82h9.7V35.67h-51.64V52.07z M1309.9,64.2c0.57-8.27,4.14-13.55,10.27-13.55c6.13,0,9.7,3.42,9.84,13.55 H1309.9z M1321.31,108.42c19.83,0,35.95-9.13,37.95-28.67h-19.97c-1.71,6.99-5.99,11.98-14.98,11.98c-9.27,0-14.41-5.56-14.55-16.83 h49.36v-2.71c0-22.83-14.84-37.95-38.95-37.95c-22.68,0-40.94,13.41-40.94,37.66C1279.23,96.15,1297.2,108.42,1321.31,108.42 M1186.64,48.36V27.82h22.26c8.56,0,11.7,4.85,11.7,10.56c0,5.85-3.14,9.99-11.7,9.99H1186.64z M1240.14,108.71 c32.38,0,37.66-20.11,32.81-43.65h-18.4c0.29,2.71,0.71,10.27,0.71,14.41c0,5.85-1.86,7.85-5.14,7.85c-3,0-4.42-1.86-4.99-5.71 l-1-7.42c-1.14-8.56-7.28-13.98-21.26-16.26c26.96-1.14,33.81-13.41,33.81-24.97c0-14.12-8.13-25.82-31.67-25.82H1135v20.69h17.12 v58.49H1135V107h69.19V86.31h-17.55V62.63h15.12c6.85,0,8.56,2.43,8.7,8.84l0.43,14.12C1211.18,96.87,1216.18,108.71,1240.14,108.71 M997.91,107h48.36V90.59h-6.99v-8.42l8.13-6.13l10.13,14.55h-7.56V107h48.51V90.59h-7.27l-20.69-29.39l13.41-9.13h13.13V35.67 h-50.64v16.41h13.13l-20.26,14.69V7.13h-41.37v16.41h12.84v67.05h-12.84V107z M915.88,107h63.06V90.59h-21.26V67.91 c0-13.7,4.14-17.4,8.27-17.4c4.85,0,5.85,7.27,4.42,17.69h25.68c5.28-20.97-1-33.95-15.84-33.95c-9.99,0-17.55,5.42-23.25,18.54 V35.67h-41.09v16.41h13.27v38.52h-13.27V107z M857.81,71.33c0-14.98,3.42-20.83,11.13-20.83c7.7,0,11.13,5.85,11.13,20.83 c0,14.84-3.42,20.97-11.13,20.97C861.24,92.3,857.81,86.17,857.81,71.33 M868.94,108.42c23.4,0,41.09-15.41,41.09-37.09 c0-21.4-17.69-37.09-41.09-37.09c-23.4,0-41.09,15.69-41.09,37.09C827.85,93.01,845.54,108.42,868.94,108.42 M739.98,107h77.32 V86.31h-21.4V70.47l34.24-42.66h12.84V7.13h-51.21v20.69h12.41l-18.55,24.11l-19.12-24.11h15.27V7.13H714.3v20.69h12.84l34.24,42.66 v15.84h-21.4V107z M587.04,107h25.11l11.56-31.81L635.55,107h25.11l18.97-54.92h9.99V35.67h-34.24v16.41h7.42l-10.13,31.1 l-10.84-31.1h7.85V35.67h-40.23v16.41h7.13l-10.7,31.1l-9.99-31.1h7.84V35.67h-45.65v16.41h9.99L587.04,107z M507.73,64.2 c0.57-8.27,4.14-13.55,10.27-13.55c6.13,0,9.7,3.42,9.84,13.55H507.73z M519.14,108.42c19.83,0,35.95-9.13,37.95-28.67h-19.97 c-1.71,6.99-5.99,11.98-14.98,11.98c-9.27,0-14.41-5.56-14.55-16.83h49.36v-2.71c0-22.83-14.84-37.95-38.95-37.95 c-22.68,0-40.94,13.41-40.94,37.66C477.05,96.15,495.03,108.42,519.14,108.42 M344.38,107h66.34V86.31h-24.25V42.08L438.39,107 h27.82V27.82h17.12V7.13h-57.06v20.69h15.69v30.53L401.73,7.13h-57.35v20.69h17.12v58.49h-17.12V107z M256.93,64.2 c0.57-8.27,4.14-13.55,10.27-13.55c6.13,0,9.7,3.42,9.84,13.55H256.93z M268.34,108.42c19.83,0,35.95-9.13,37.95-28.67h-19.97 c-1.71,6.99-5.99,11.98-14.98,11.98c-9.27,0-14.41-5.56-14.55-16.83h49.36v-2.71c0-22.83-14.84-37.95-38.95-37.95 c-22.68,0-40.94,13.41-40.94,37.66C226.26,96.15,244.23,108.42,268.34,108.42 M126.82,107h47.51V90.59h-6.13V68.48 c0-12.55,4.71-17.55,10.41-17.55c2.71,0,5.85,1.28,5.85,6.56v33.1h-6.42V107h46.37V90.59h-11.41v-38.8 c0-10.13-7.42-17.55-19.97-17.55c-12.7,0-19.12,6.56-25.54,20.26V7.13h-40.66v16.41h12.84v67.05h-12.84V107z M20.12,107h81.03V86.31 H77.89V27.82h15.69v23.54h27.68V7.13H0v44.23h27.68V27.82h15.69v58.49H20.12V107z"/> <path d="M1019.73,197.28c9.49,0,13.91-5.28,13.91-11.91c0-7.92-4.42-11.06-12.91-12.27l-8.35-1.21c-2.43-0.36-3.14-1.5-3.14-2.64 c0-1.21,0.78-2.85,4.49-2.85c5.35,0,7.28,3,8.13,5.63h8.49V160.9h-9.2v5.71c-1.85-3.57-5.92-6.42-11.63-6.42 c-8.84,0-12.91,5.49-12.91,11.13c0,5.56,2.71,9.77,11.06,11.06l8.06,1.21c3.07,0.43,4.14,1.35,4.14,3.28c0,1.71-1.21,3.21-4.92,3.21 c-5.06,0-7.78-2.85-9.77-6.99h-8.06v13.48h9.27v-7.56C1008.18,192.86,1012.45,197.28,1019.73,197.28 M942.48,196.57h24.18v-8.2 h-3.49v-4.21l4.07-3.07l5.06,7.28h-3.78v8.2h24.25v-8.2h-3.64l-10.34-14.7l6.7-4.57h6.56v-8.2h-25.32v8.2h6.56l-10.13,7.35V144.5 h-20.69v8.2h6.42v35.67h-6.42V196.57z M915.16,178.73c0-7.49,1.71-10.41,5.56-10.41c3.85,0,5.56,2.92,5.56,10.41 c0,7.42-1.71,10.49-5.56,10.49C916.87,189.22,915.16,186.15,915.16,178.73 M920.72,197.28c11.7,0,20.54-7.7,20.54-18.55 c0-10.7-8.85-18.54-20.54-18.54c-11.7,0-20.54,7.85-20.54,18.54C900.18,189.58,909.03,197.28,920.72,197.28 M870.93,178.73 c0-7.49,1.71-10.41,5.56-10.41s5.56,2.92,5.56,10.41c0,7.42-1.71,10.49-5.56,10.49S870.93,186.15,870.93,178.73 M876.5,197.28 c11.7,0,20.54-7.7,20.54-18.55c0-10.7-8.84-18.54-20.54-18.54s-20.54,7.85-20.54,18.54C855.96,189.58,864.8,197.28,876.5,197.28 M818.22,166.89v-9.92h7.92c3.85,0,5.71,1.85,5.71,4.99c0,3.21-1.93,4.92-5.78,4.92H818.22z M818.22,186.22v-11.27h9.27 c4.57,0,6.63,2.43,6.63,5.64s-2.07,5.63-6.63,5.63H818.22z M791.69,196.57h41.51c14.19,0,19.69-5.85,19.69-13.62 c0-7.7-5.63-11.77-14.27-12.34c6.13-0.93,11.41-4.92,11.41-11.06c0-7.49-4.78-12.91-18.26-12.91h-40.09v10.34h9.27v29.24h-9.27 V196.57z M739.55,196.57h28.32v-8.2h-7.42V169.1h8.63v-8.2h-8.63v-4.57c0-2.14,1-3.85,4.14-3.85c2.92,0,3.99,1.78,3.71,4.78h11.77 c0.36-7.35-2.28-14.2-15.69-14.2c-11.48,0-18.19,4.92-18.19,14.05v3.78h-6.63v8.2h6.63v19.26h-6.63V196.57z M710.52,178.73 c0-7.49,1.71-10.41,5.56-10.41c3.85,0,5.56,2.92,5.56,10.41c0,7.42-1.71,10.49-5.56,10.49 C712.23,189.22,710.52,186.15,710.52,178.73 M716.08,197.28c11.7,0,20.54-7.7,20.54-18.55c0-10.7-8.84-18.54-20.54-18.54 c-11.7,0-20.54,7.85-20.54,18.54C695.54,189.58,704.38,197.28,716.08,197.28"/> </svg> </a> </div> <div class="col-12"> <div class="header_search position-relative mb-xs-8"> <form method="get" action="/search/"> <div class="input-append"> <input class="w-100 pr-xs-10 st-default-search-input" id="mobile-search" name="s" type="text" placeholder="Search" title="search"> <button title="Search" type="submit" class="pl-xs-3 pr-xs-3"> <svg width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M17.7666 20.0001C17.2909 20.0001 16.8152 19.8178 16.4514 19.4533L13.3802 16.376C12.6526 15.647 12.6526 14.4694 13.3802 13.7474C14.1077 13.0254 15.2831 13.0184 16.0036 13.7474L19.0749 16.8247C19.8024 17.5537 19.8024 18.7313 19.0749 19.4533C18.7181 19.8178 18.2423 20.0001 17.7666 20.0001Z" fill="#990101"/> <path d="M14.6955 15.8155C14.4996 15.8155 14.3108 15.7384 14.1638 15.5912L9.88932 11.3083C9.59549 11.0138 9.59549 10.5372 9.88932 10.2428C10.1831 9.94837 10.6589 9.94837 10.9527 10.2428L15.2272 14.5257C15.5211 14.8201 15.5211 15.2968 15.2272 15.5912C15.0803 15.7454 14.8844 15.8155 14.6955 15.8155Z" fill="#990101"/> <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M14 7C14 10.866 10.866 14 7 14C3.13401 14 0 10.866 0 7C0 3.13401 3.13401 0 7 0C10.866 0 14 3.13401 14 7ZM7.00733 11.0949C9.26485 11.0949 11.0949 9.2648 11.0949 7.00727C11.0949 4.74975 9.26485 2.91967 7.00733 2.91967C4.74981 2.91967 2.91972 4.74975 2.91972 7.00727C2.91972 9.2648 4.74981 11.0949 7.00733 11.0949Z" fill="#990101"/> </svg> </button> </div> </form> </div> </div> <div class="col-12"> <div class="menu-item mb-xs-6"> <div class="d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/politics/" class="font-giza color-ny-red mb-0 pt-xs-1 h3 hover-text-ny-red hover-border-ny-red">Politics</a> <a class="font-giza color-ny-red mb-0" data-toggle="collapse" href="#collapse-politics" role="button" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="collapse-politics"> <span class="sr-only">Collapse</span> <svg width="35" height="35" viewBox="0 0 35 35" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M34.03 17.0541C34.03 25.8955 26.6613 33.1082 17.515 33.1082C8.36871 33.1082 1 25.8955 1 17.0541C1 8.21263 8.36871 1 17.515 1C26.6613 1 34.03 8.21263 34.03 17.0541Z" stroke="black" stroke-width="2"/> <path d="M10.5839 12.3416L17.9512 19.3916L25.3184 12.3416L26.927 13.8502L17.9512 22.4395L8.97534 13.8502L10.5839 12.3416Z" fill="black"/> </svg> </a> </div> <div class="collapse pl-xs-4" id="collapse-politics"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/politics/us-politics/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">United States</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/politics/international/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">International</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/politics/human-rights/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Human Rights</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/politics/climate-change/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Climate Change</a> </div> </div> <div class="menu-item mb-xs-6"> <div class="d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/literature/" class="font-giza color-ny-red mb-0 pt-xs-1 h3 hover-text-ny-red hover-border-ny-red">Literature</a> <a class="font-giza color-ny-red mb-0" data-toggle="collapse" href="#collapse-literature" role="button" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="collapse-literature"> <span class="sr-only">Collapse</span> <svg width="35" height="35" viewBox="0 0 35 35" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M34.03 17.0541C34.03 25.8955 26.6613 33.1082 17.515 33.1082C8.36871 33.1082 1 25.8955 1 17.0541C1 8.21263 8.36871 1 17.515 1C26.6613 1 34.03 8.21263 34.03 17.0541Z" stroke="black" stroke-width="2"/> <path d="M10.5839 12.3416L17.9512 19.3916L25.3184 12.3416L26.927 13.8502L17.9512 22.4395L8.97534 13.8502L10.5839 12.3416Z" fill="black"/> </svg> </a> </div> <div class="collapse pl-xs-4" id="collapse-literature"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/literature/fiction/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Fiction</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/literature/poetry/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Poetry</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/literature/biography-memoir/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Biography & Memoir</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/literature/in-translation/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">In Translation</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/literature/essays/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Essays</a> </div> </div> <div class="menu-item mb-xs-6"> <div class="d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/arts/" class="font-giza color-ny-red mb-0 pt-xs-1 h3 hover-text-ny-red hover-border-ny-red">Arts</a> <a class="font-giza color-ny-red mb-0" data-toggle="collapse" href="#collapse-arts" role="button" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="collapse-arts"> <span class="sr-only">Collapse</span> <svg width="35" height="35" viewBox="0 0 35 35" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M34.03 17.0541C34.03 25.8955 26.6613 33.1082 17.515 33.1082C8.36871 33.1082 1 25.8955 1 17.0541C1 8.21263 8.36871 1 17.515 1C26.6613 1 34.03 8.21263 34.03 17.0541Z" stroke="black" stroke-width="2"/> <path d="M10.5839 12.3416L17.9512 19.3916L25.3184 12.3416L26.927 13.8502L17.9512 22.4395L8.97534 13.8502L10.5839 12.3416Z" fill="black"/> </svg> </a> </div> <div class="collapse pl-xs-4" id="collapse-arts"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/arts/visual-arts/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Visual Arts</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/arts/performing-arts/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Performing Arts</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/arts/film-television/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Film & Television</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/arts/music/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Music</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/arts/society-culture/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Society & Culture</a> </div> </div> <div class="menu-item mb-xs-6"> <div class="d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/ideas/" class="font-giza color-ny-red mb-0 pt-xs-1 h3 hover-text-ny-red hover-border-ny-red">Ideas</a> <a class="font-giza color-ny-red mb-0" data-toggle="collapse" href="#collapse-ideas" role="button" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="collapse-ideas"> <span class="sr-only">Collapse</span> <svg width="35" height="35" viewBox="0 0 35 35" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M34.03 17.0541C34.03 25.8955 26.6613 33.1082 17.515 33.1082C8.36871 33.1082 1 25.8955 1 17.0541C1 8.21263 8.36871 1 17.515 1C26.6613 1 34.03 8.21263 34.03 17.0541Z" stroke="black" stroke-width="2"/> <path d="M10.5839 12.3416L17.9512 19.3916L25.3184 12.3416L26.927 13.8502L17.9512 22.4395L8.97534 13.8502L10.5839 12.3416Z" fill="black"/> </svg> </a> </div> <div class="collapse pl-xs-4" id="collapse-ideas"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/ideas/history/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">History</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/ideas/economics/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Economics</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/ideas/science-technology/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Science & Technology</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/ideas/law/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Law</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/ideas/philosophy-religion/" class="color-black font-giza mt-xs-3 d-block hover-text-black hover-border-black">Philosophy & Religion</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="container-xl bg-ny-red pt-xs-3 pb-xs-3"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-5 col-md-3"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/issues/2025/02/27/"> <span class="sr-only">Current Issue</span> <img src="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/nyrb022725.jpg?w=652" srcset="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/nyrb022725.jpg?w=142 142w, https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/nyrb022725.jpg?w=284 284w,, https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/nyrb022725.jpg?w=652 652w, https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/nyrb022725.jpg?w=1304 1304w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 142px, 652px" class="mw-100" alt="" > </a> </div> <div class="col-7 col-md-9"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/issues/2025/02/27/" class="text-decoration-none"> <div class="d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center h-100"> <div class="text-center w-100"> <p class="color-yellow text-small mb-0"></p> <p class="color-white h5 mb-0">Current Issue</p> </div> </div> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="container-xl bg-white pt-xs-5 pb-xs-3"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12"> <p class="color-ny-red mb-xs-4 h5">More from the Review</p> </div> <div class="col-6"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/events/" class="hover-text-black color-black font-giza mb-xs-4 d-block">Events</a> <a href="/issues/" class="hover-text-black color-black font-giza mb-xs-4 d-block">All Issues</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/about/" class="hover-text-black color-black font-giza mb-xs-4 d-block">About Us</a> </div> <div class="col-6"> <a href="https://shop.nybooks.com/" target="_blank" class="hover-text-black color-black font-giza mb-xs-4 d-block "> <span>Shop Literary Gifts</span> </a> <a href="http://www.nyrb.com/" target="_blank" class="hover-text-black color-black font-giza mb-xs-4 d-block "> <span>Shop NYRB Classics</span> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <header class="article-header position-relative mb-xs-8" data-keen-page-type="article"> <div class="color-block-content bg-green pt-xs-6 pt-lg-16 pb-lg-12"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12 col-md-10 offset-md-1"> <h1 class="text-center mb-xs-2 color-white">Israel: The Way Out</h1> <div class="author text-center dek color-light-blue font-giza"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/david-shulman/" class="dek color-light-blue font-giza hover-border-light-blue hover-text-light-blue text-decoration-none"><span class="dek color-light-blue font-giza hover-border-light-blue hover-text-light-blue text-decoration-none"><strong>David Shulman</strong></span></a> </div> </div> <div class="col-12 col-md-10 offset-md-1 col-lg-6 offset-lg-3 color-white "> <div class="dek mt-xs-6 mb-xs-2 text-center wrapped-link-light-blue"> If Israel is to survive, physically and spiritually, it needs to undergo, collectively, a sea change in its vision of reality and face some unpleasant though obvious facts. </div> <div class="text-center"> <time> <p class="color-white text-label mb-xs-6 mb-lg-0"> <a class="color-white hover-text-white hover-underline" href="https://www.nybooks.com/issues/2024/05/09/"><span>May 9, 2024 issue</span></a> </p> </time> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="color-block-wrapper position-relative"> <div class="header-color-block bg-green"></div> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12 col-md-10 offset-md-1"> <img src="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/shulman_1-050924.jpg?w=1140" srcset="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/shulman_1-050924.jpg?w=384 384w, https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/shulman_1-050924.jpg?w=768 768w, https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/shulman_1-050924.jpg?w=1140 1140w, https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/shulman_1-050924.jpg?w=2280 2280w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 384px, 1140px" class="w-100 h-auto" alt="Gaza City, April 3, 2024" > <p class="color-gray mb-0 text-label-sm text-center mt-xs-2">Mahmoud Issa/Reuters</p> <p class="color-gray mb-0 text-small text-center mt-xs-1 img-caption">Gaza City, April 3, 2024</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <section class="article-body"> <article class="article" data-post-id="1543664"> <div class="container"> <div class="row position-relative"> <div class="social-desktop d-none d-lg-block"> <div class="article-social"> <div class="d-flex flex-lg-column justify-content-center align-items-lg-end"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Farticles%2F2024%2F05%2F09%2Fisrael-the-way-out-david-shulman%2F" data-share="facebook" class="social-icon d-flex bg-light-blue justify-content-center align-items-center mb-lg-4 fill-green"> <span class="sr-only">Facebook</span> <div class="author-social__icon"> <svg width="8" height="16" viewBox="0 0 8 16" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M5.5 3H8V0H5.5C3.57 0 2 1.57 2 3.5V5H0V8H2V16H5V8H7.5L8 5H5V3.5C5 3.229 5.229 3 5.5 3Z" fill="#990101"/> </svg> </div> </a> <a href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Israel%3A%20The%20Way%20Out&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Farticles%2F2024%2F05%2F09%2Fisrael-the-way-out-david-shulman%2F&via=nybooks" data-share="twitter" class="social-icon d-flex ml-xs-3 mr-xs-3 mr-lg-0 bg-light-blue justify-content-center align-items-center mb-lg-4 fill-green"> <span class="sr-only">Twitter</span> <div class="author-social__icon"> <svg width="1200" height="1227" viewBox="0 0 1200 1227" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M714.163 519.284L1160.89 0H1055.03L667.137 450.887L357.328 0H0L468.492 681.821L0 1226.37H105.866L515.491 750.218L842.672 1226.37H1200L714.137 519.284H714.163ZM569.165 687.828L521.697 619.934L144.011 79.6944H306.615L611.412 515.685L658.88 583.579L1055.08 1150.3H892.476L569.165 687.854V687.828Z" fill="white"/> </svg> </div> </a> <a href="https:///www.threads.net/intent/post?text=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Farticles%2F2024%2F05%2F09%2Fisrael-the-way-out-david-shulman%2F" data-share="threads" class="social-icon d-flex bg-light-blue justify-content-center align-items-center mb-lg-4 fill-green"> <span class="sr-only">Threads</span> <div class="author-social__icon"> <svg version="1.1" id="Layer_1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" viewBox="0 0 878 1000"> <style type="text/css"> .st0{fill:currentColor;} </style> <g> <path class="st0" d="M446.7,1000h-0.3c-149.2-1-263.9-50.2-341-146.2C36.9,768.3,1.5,649.4,0.3,500.4v-0.7 c1.2-149.1,36.6-267.9,105.2-353.4C182.5,50.2,297.3,1,446.4,0h0.3h0.3c114.4,0.8,210.1,30.2,284.4,87.4 c69.9,53.8,119.1,130.4,146.2,227.8l-85,23.7c-46-165-162.4-249.3-346-250.6c-121.2,0.9-212.9,39-272.5,113.2 C118.4,271,89.6,371.4,88.5,500c1.1,128.6,29.9,229,85.7,298.5c59.6,74.3,151.3,112.4,272.5,113.2c109.3-0.8,181.6-26.3,241.7-85.2 c68.6-67.2,67.4-149.7,45.4-199.9c-12.9-29.6-36.4-54.2-68.1-72.9c-8,56.3-25.9,101.9-53.5,136.3c-36.9,45.9-89.2,71-155.4,74.6 c-50.1,2.7-98.4-9.1-135.8-33.4c-44.3-28.7-70.2-72.5-73-123.5c-2.7-49.6,17-95.2,55.4-128.4c36.7-31.7,88.3-50.3,149.3-53.8 c44.9-2.5,87-0.5,125.8,5.9c-5.2-30.9-15.6-55.5-31.2-73.2c-21.4-24.4-54.5-36.8-98.3-37.1c-0.4,0-0.8,0-1.2,0 c-35.2,0-83,9.7-113.4,55L261.2,327c40.8-60.6,107-94,186.6-94c0.6,0,1.2,0,1.8,0c133.1,0.8,212.4,82.3,220.3,224.5 c4.5,1.9,9,3.9,13.4,5.9c62.1,29.2,107.5,73.4,131.4,127.9c33.2,75.9,36.3,199.6-64.5,298.3C673.1,965,579.6,999.1,447,1000 L446.7,1000L446.7,1000z M488.5,512.9c-10.1,0-20.3,0.3-30.8,0.9c-76.5,4.3-124.2,39.4-121.5,89.3c2.8,52.3,60.5,76.6,116,73.6 c51-2.7,117.4-22.6,128.6-154.6C552.6,516,521.7,512.9,488.5,512.9z"/> </g> </svg> </div> </a> <a href="https://bsky.app/intent/compose?text=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Farticles%2F2024%2F05%2F09%2Fisrael-the-way-out-david-shulman%2F" data-share="bluesky" class="social-icon d-flex bg-light-blue justify-content-center align-items-center mb-lg-4 fill-green"> <span class="sr-only">Bluesky</span> <div class="author-social__icon"> <svg width="568" height="501" viewBox="0 0 568 501" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M123.121 33.6637C188.241 82.5526 258.281 181.681 284 234.873C309.719 181.681 379.759 82.5526 444.879 33.6637C491.866 -1.61183 568 -28.9064 568 57.9464C568 75.2916 558.055 203.659 552.222 224.501C531.947 296.954 458.067 315.434 392.347 304.249C507.222 323.8 536.444 388.56 473.333 453.32C353.473 576.312 301.061 422.461 287.631 383.039C285.169 375.812 284.017 372.431 284 375.306C283.983 372.431 282.831 375.812 280.369 383.039C266.939 422.461 214.527 576.312 94.6667 453.32C31.5556 388.56 60.7778 323.8 175.653 304.249C109.933 315.434 36.0535 296.954 15.7778 224.501C9.94525 203.659 0 75.2916 0 57.9464C0 -28.9064 76.1345 -1.61183 123.121 33.6637Z" fill="black"/> </svg> </div> </a> <a href="mailto:?subject=Israel%3A%20The%20Way%20Out by David Shulman&body=From The New York Review of Books%0D%0A%0D%0AIsrael%3A%20The%20Way%20Out%0D%0A%0D%0AIf%20Israel%20is%20to%20survive%2C%20physically%20and%20spiritually%2C%20it%20needs%20to%20undergo%2C%20collectively%2C%20a%20sea%20change%20in%20its%20vision%20of%20reality%20and%20face%20some%20unpleasant%20though%20obvious%20facts.%0A%0D%0A%0D%0Ahttps://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/%3Futm_source%3Dnybooks%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Demail-share" class="social-icon d-flex bg-light-blue justify-content-center align-items-center position-relative fill-green" > <span class="sr-only">Mail to</span> <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="34" height="34" viewBox="0 0 34 34"> <path d="M24.7,14.9c0.1-0.1,0.3,0,0.3,0.2v6.9c0,0.9-0.7,1.6-1.5,1.6h-13c-0.8,0-1.5-0.7-1.5-1.6V15 c0-0.2,0.2-0.3,0.3-0.2c0.7,0.6,1.6,1.3,4.8,3.8c0.7,0.5,1.8,1.6,2.9,1.6c1.1,0,2.2-1.1,2.9-1.6C23.1,16.2,24,15.5,24.7,14.9z M17,19c0.7,0,1.8-1,2.3-1.4c4.1-3.2,4.5-3.5,5.4-4.3c0.2-0.2,0.3-0.4,0.3-0.6v-0.6c0-0.9-0.7-1.6-1.5-1.6h-13 c-0.8,0-1.5,0.7-1.5,1.6v0.6c0,0.2,0.1,0.5,0.3,0.6c1,0.8,1.3,1.1,5.4,4.3C15.2,18.1,16.3,19,17,19z"/> </svg> </a> <a href="?printpage=true" class="social-icon d-flex ml-xs-3 mr-xs-3 mr-lg-0 bg-light-blue justify-content-center align-items-center mt-lg-4 hover-text-green color-green fill-green" target="_blank"> <span class="sr-only">Print page</span> <svg width="34" height="34" viewBox="0 0 34 34" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <circle cx="17" cy="17" r="17" fill="transparent"/> <path d="M13 11H21V13H13V11Z"/> <path d="M24 14H10C9.4 14 9 14.5 9 15V20C9 20.6 9.4 21 10 21H13V25H21V21H24C24.6 21 25 20.6 25 20V15C25 14.5 24.6 14 24 14ZM11 17C10.4 17 10 16.6 10 16C10 15.4 10.4 15 11 15C11.6 15 12 15.4 12 16C12 16.6 11.6 17 11 17ZM20 24H14V19H20V24Z"/> </svg> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="submit-letter sidebar-item text-xs left-border-lg mr-auto d-none d-lg-block hide-on-paywall"> <div class="pl-xs-2"> <p class="mb-xs-2">Submit a letter:</p> <p class="mb-0">Email us <a href="mailto:letters@nybooks.com">letters@nybooks.com</a></p> </div> </div> <div class="col-12"> <div class="article-col article-main-content paywall-article has-tombstone "> <p>Most eyes are focused now on Gaza, for good reason. The catastrophe is there for all to see. But I want to begin with the Palestinian village of Mu‘arrajat, in the Jordan Valley on the occupied West Bank. In mid-March I stayed overnight there with other activists, in what we call “protective presence”—a concerted effort to protect Palestinian villagers from the rampages of armed Israeli settlers who are terrorizing them day and night. Mu‘arrajat now has two settler outposts at its throat, one deep in the grazing grounds of the Palestinian shepherds (forbidden territory for them since the war in Gaza began) and another on the hill above the village. In October settlers from these outposts were stopping Palestinians’ cars on the highway and telling their occupants that they had twenty-four hours to leave their homes and that they would be killed if they refused. A few weeks ago these settlers came into the village and dug a row of empty graves near the school—a sign of what they want to do to the people of Mu‘arrajat.</p><p>Violent intrusions by masked, heavily armed settlers, often together with soldiers, are by now routine. The honorific term “soldiers” in the Jordan Valley and the South Hebron Hills really refers to paramilitary units, in uniform, made up of settlers who have been armed by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the convicted criminal and Jewish supremacist whom Benjamin Netanyahu appointed minister of national security in November 2022. They are a law unto themselves.</p><p>The settlers’ mantra—“Get out or we will kill you”—has been repeated in nearly all the villages in the Jordan Valley and the South Hebron Hills. Most of our friends in the villages have heard it. Usually it is uttered in the course of attacks on Palestinian homes, sheep pens, food supplies, water tanks and wells, wind turbines, and anything else the invaders can wreck. Sometimes these settlers shoot at the villagers and kill sheep and goats. We know of at least sixteen Palestinian villages that have been evacuated over the last few months because of ceaseless settler violence backed by the army; many more are barely hanging on. International pressure has had some meaningful impact on the situation, but for the most part the settlers are winning this miniwar. They tend to be fanatical men or adolescent boys, brainwashed, apocalyptic, and messianic, who have emerged from the dark and brutal undercurrents of religious Zionism. They want to rid the West Bank of all non-Jews (and maybe some secular Jews as well) in order to hasten the arrival of the Messiah, who is scheduled to turn up as soon as this campaign of ethnic cleansing is completed. But the ideological motivation is only part of the story; we who have seen these people in action, who have met them in the field, can confirm that many of them are driven by sheer sadistic pleasure.<sup id="fnr-1"><a href="#fn-1">1</a></sup></p><p>Is it even possible today to imagine an end to the occupation and to the settlement enterprise on the West Bank? Maybe not. The entire political system, with the exception of the tiny constituency on the far left, is mortgaged to that project. But none of this happened in a vacuum. Palestinians have to examine their own acts just as Israelis must examine theirs. The suicide bombers of the second intifada (2000–2005) more or less destroyed the Israeli peace camp—by far the Palestinians’ most important ally in the 1990s—and the atrocities of Hamas on October 7 probably wiped out most of the remaining pockets of moderation and hope in Israel.</p><p>Maybe when, or if, the Gaza war ends, this mood will change. But the present government and the man who heads it see the Gaza war, with its unthinkable losses and devastation, as instrumental in the long-term goal of maintaining Israel’s occupation. Netanyahu and his ministers are disconnected from reality; they live comfortably enough with the humanitarian disaster of Gaza, and they are incapable of conceiving of a viable future for the state of Israel. They are in denial when it comes to the very real possibility that Israel, under their direction, is on the fast track to self-destruction.</p><p class="has-drop-cap">Reading the news these days is like watching a horror film, with the nontrivial difference that the horror ends when the film is over. For the last fifteen months, since this government was sworn in, we have watched the accelerating disintegration of the state and its institutions. No one, not even the most optimistic of our enemies, could have predicted this swift decline. We have a prime minister whose main talent is to contrive ever more unscrupulous schemes for his own political survival; an army bogged down in the dust and mud of Gaza with no exit strategy and subject to constant attack by Hamas guerrillas; a society hovering on the brink of civil war; a sick economy impoverished by unimaginably vast transfers of citizens’ tax money to the ultrareligious factions and their yeshivas; a civil service that has been gutted by the appointment of political hacks and sycophants in place of professionals; a legal system, once more or less functional, in danger of being destroyed by the minister of (in)justice, Yariv Levin; the once-banned, violent Kahanist extremists, relegitimized by Netanyahu, in the Knesset and high-ranking positions in the government; and in the occupied territories, the marauding gangs of Jewish settlers. This is the short list. I won’t ruin your day with the long one.</p><div id="article-p1" class="inline-ad"><p class="text-label-sm mb-xs-2 mt-xs-2 color-gray text-center">Advertisement</p><div id="div-gpt-ad-1561395340865-0" style="height: 250px; width: 300px; margin: 0 auto;"></div></div><p>Were he not so incompetent, and if he had at least an iota of integrity, Netanyahu could almost be a tragic figure—an intelligent or at least cunning man who sold his soul to the devil. In a sense, he is a sinister accident of history. He had no business being in politics. At first his one credential was being the brother of Yoni Netanyahu, who was killed in the 1976 raid on Entebbe, in which Israeli commandos freed the hostages who had been hijacked to Uganda by Palestinian and German terrorists. In his six terms and more than sixteen years as prime minister, his record is, in a word, abysmal. His singular achievement has been resuscitating the existential threat to the state that had more or less disappeared since the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan decades ago. But he has won several elections with a noxious blend of antidemocratic, racist-supremacist, and ultranationalist populism; it’s clearly a winning formula. Over a million Israelis voted for him in the last election in 2022, enabling him to cobble together the present government of thugs and thieves. At least a quarter of the electorate are “Bibists,” hypnotized by Netanyahu, whom they think of as a king; and they are filled with hatred for the secular liberals they see as a privileged elite.</p><p>By now there is no need to rehearse Netanyahu’s failings. They are evident to anyone with eyes. It is, however, relevant to the current debacle to state clearly that he bears responsibility for what has happened, and that he characteristically refuses to acknowledge that responsibility. He fomented profound internal divisions in Israel with his attempt to undermine the supreme court and, in effect, the entire legal system, which provoked mass protests and created the conditions for the Hamas attack—since Hamas correctly noted that Israeli society was unraveling. Netanyahu also chose to ignore urgent warnings from the highest echelons of the army and the security forces that such an attack was imminent.</p><p>He is now pursuing a deadly war that probably cannot be won, and there is good reason to think that every decision he makes—including in the negotiations for an agreement to release the Israeli hostages in Gaza—is tainted by his personal interests, namely his survival in power and his ability to evade the criminal charges he is facing. According to recent polls, roughly half the Israeli population thinks he is prolonging the war because of those interests. To make matters worse, he has bonded with Ben-Gvir, whose very presence in the government is the most shameful appointment in the entire history of the state. It is as if the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan had been appointed head of the <abbr>FBI</abbr>. But although deposing Netanyahu is a matter of utmost urgency, he is not the only problem we have. We need to look deeper.</p><p>If Israel is to survive, physically and spiritually, it needs to undergo, collectively, a sea change in its vision of reality—a change on the order of what the South African apartheid regime experienced, with much bloodshed, as it began to collapse. Israelis will have to face unpleasant though rather obvious facts:</p><p>Palestinians are human beings, no different from the Jews or anyone else. (They have a rotten political system, but so do we.)</p><p>They are not going anywhere.</p><p>There are two national movements in the territory west of the Jordan River, with their own legitimate claims and bloody record of atrocities; the two populations are now equal in size, some seven million each.</p><p>Israel cannot suppress Palestinian and other Arab resistance by force alone. (The foundational axiom of the Israeli polity has always been that only brute force works.)</p><p>Survival depends on sharing the land between these two peoples.</p><p>The settlement project in the West Bank has to end.</p><p>The barbarian extremists on both sides, as if colluding together, will, given half a chance, kill us all.</p><p>God, if there is a god, is unlikely to save us from ourselves.</p><p>None of these points is going to be easy for Israelis to swallow. I can attest that most people find it easier to sacrifice the lives of their spouses, siblings, and children in a futile cause than to change how they feel and how they understand the world.</p><div id="article-p2" class="inline-ad"><p class="text-label-sm mb-xs-2 mt-xs-2 color-gray text-center">Advertisement</p><div id="div-gpt-ad-1600977546587-0" style="height: 250px; width: 300px; margin: 0 auto;"></div></div><p class="has-drop-cap">We have wasted several blood-soaked decades on the obscene dream of annexing the territories and expelling the Palestinian population there. Israel steadfastly refused to make peace on the basis of the Saudi Initiative of 2002, unanimously endorsed by the Arab League, which could and should have led to a normalization of Israel’s relations with much of the Arab-Islamic world. The Saudi Initiative, also called the Arab Peace Initiative, offered an end to the Arab–Israeli conflict if Israel would withdraw from all the occupied territories (with minor territorial adjustments to be negotiated), a settlement of the Palestinian refugee problem on the basis of UN Resolution 194, and the creation of a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem.</p><p>The Palestinian Authority accepted the plan immediately, as did the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, with its fifty-seven member states. (It describes itself as “the collective voice of the Muslim world.”)<sup id="fnr-2"><a href="#fn-2">2</a></sup> There was never a good reason to reject that plan as the starting point for negotiations on final status—that is, peace. Instead, the right-wing governments of Ariel Sharon and later Netanyahu have done whatever they could to undermine the plan (this includes Netanyahu’s persistent funding for Hamas, via Qatar, as a way to divide Gaza from the West Bank, thus precluding the possibility of a Palestinian state). It’s not so hard to prevent peace from breaking out.</p><p>There is only one way out of the current morass. As it happens, it’s a good way and, in theory, feasible if we had a minimally rational government capable of articulating a way forward for the people of Israel. What we now call the Biden plan would revolutionize Israel’s place in the Middle East and in the world at large; at the very least it would reverse the present murderous escalation. Its guiding idea is that Israel would become part of a regional system bound together by ties of normalization and full diplomatic relations between it and each of the moderate Sunni states, thus creating a bulwark against Iran and its proxies; the new configuration would necessarily include, indeed depend upon, some acceptable solution to the Palestinian thirst for freedom. That means a demilitarized Palestinian state and the dismantling of the occupation. In the absence of some such systemic solution, Israel will continue to fight recurrent, catastrophic wars.</p><p>In the end, the state will be overwhelmed. That, in fact, is the Hamas plan, with Iranian backing. The Iranians think they can destroy Israel by 2040, if not earlier.<sup id="fnr-3"><a href="#fn-3">3</a></sup> The most effective, perhaps the only antidote to that plan is for Israel to make a decent peace with those who share the land with us.</p><p>The irony is that Netanyahu, and the Israeli right in general, are the greatest allies of Hamas in this doomsday scenario. Netanyahu likes to say that there is no difference between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority: both have the same goal of destroying Israel. This politically convenient and utterly anachronistic excuse lumps together all Palestinians as a murderous (though nonexistent) nation. I suppose Netanyahu has no direct experience with living Palestinians, and I think he has no more than rudimentary Arabic. In any case, he remains locked in his idée fixe that a Palestinian state must be prevented at all costs. If he manages to survive in power until the next Israeli election, he will undoubtedly run on a platform built around this false premise. He may win, though only 15 percent of Israelis say they want him to remain as prime minister, according to polls from January.</p><p>Hardly anyone believes a word Netanyahu says. But I do believe him when he says that he will never allow Palestinians to have anything even remotely like a state—that is, some political framework that embodies their national aspirations, as the state of Israel does for the Jews. If he gets his way, we can expect the imminent Hamasification of the West Bank. Already Hamas is riding high in the Arab world and, according to the wartime polls, to some extent on the West Bank; it clearly aims at taking over the Palestinian national movement. Nothing would enhance its chances of doing that as much as a continuing Israeli refusal to make peace with the Palestinian mainstream, or whatever is left of it.</p><p>We will be lucky if this government doesn’t precipitate a full-scale war in Lebanon or beyond. So far it lacks any intelligible plan to end the fighting in Gaza and any political goal of some positive import. Even worse, from the start it has been playing into the hands of Hamas’s leader, Yahya Sinwar: first draw the Israeli army into Gaza, then turn it into sitting ducks in a guerrilla war that can continue indefinitely; let Israel kill enough Gazans and wreak enough destruction to turn international opinion against it, while Hamas hangs out safely in the tunnels it has created until the Israelis go away, with nothing to show for their sacrifices. Wars are won only when they have an attainable political goal.</p><p>Meanwhile, Israel is well on its way to becoming a pariah state. The wave of anti-Israel feeling that is engulfing large numbers of people in the Western world has emerged not merely from the Gaza war, with its unbearable civilian casualties and now mass starvation. What that wave reflects, more profoundly, is the justified disgust with the ongoing occupation, its seemingly eternal and ever more brutal continuation, and the policies of massive theft and apartheid that are its very essence. It remains to be seen if the people of Israel and of Palestine have the resources, and enough remnants of the classical humanistic values of both Judaism and Islam, to extricate themselves from today’s terminal process of self-destruction.</p><p>There is another glimmer of light in this darkness. We have a new generation of committed Israeli activists in the territories. They embody the best of human virtues, including a nonchalant, ethically grounded courage. And there are the ordinary Israelis whom we meet in the antigovernment protests, week after week. They are sick of Netanyahu’s lies and capable of articulating the dream of equality, honesty, moderation, peace. They will fight for those goals. Little by little, recognition of the moral corruption of the occupation and of the need to put an end to it has seeped into these mainstream demonstrations. It is possible that they will slowly swell, like the demonstrations that nearly unseated Netanyahu a year ago, until millions join us in the streets.</p><p><i>—April 11, 2024</i></p> </div> <div class="sidebar-item mb-xs-6 to-position"> <div class="current-issue-desktop d-none d-lg-block"> <section class="current-issue"> <p class="font-giza color-ny-red mb-0">This Issue</p> <p class="font-giza color-black mb-xs-2">May 9, 2024</p> <div class="sidebar-issue d-block mb-xs-3 border-light-gray"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/issues/2024/05/09/" class="cover"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/nyrb050924.jpg?w=165" srcset="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/nyrb050924.jpg?w=165 165w, https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/nyrb050924.jpg?w=330 330w" sizes="(max-width: 165px) 165px, 330px" class="mw-50 shadow-hover" alt="Image of the May 9, 2024 issue cover." > </a> </div> <article> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/toms-men-tom-of-finland/" class="article-card"> <div class="text-small mb-0"> <span class="text-small color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"><strong>Jarrett Earnest</strong></span> </div> <div class="text-small semi-bold mb-xs-3"> <p class="color-black card-title-ny-red">Tom’s Men</p> </div> </a> </article> <article> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/who-shall-describe-beauty-harlem-renaissance-and-transatlantic-modernism/" class="article-card"> <div class="text-small mb-0"> <span class="text-small color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"><strong>Darryl Pinckney</strong></span> </div> <div class="text-small semi-bold mb-xs-3"> <p class="color-black card-title-ny-red">‘Who Shall Describe Beauty?’</p> </div> </a> </article> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/issues/2024/05/09/" class="text-small semi-bold color-ny-red hover-border-ny-red hover-text-ny-red"> <span>All Contents</span> </a> </section> </div> </div> <div class="article-newsletter-signup to-position has-position sidebar-item mt-0 mb-xs-8"> <div class="sidebar-sign-up"> <p class="newsletter-title font-giza mb-xs-2">Subscribe to our Newsletters</p> <p class="mb-xs-2 text-xs">Best of The New York Review, plus books, events, and other items of interest</p> <div class="sidebar-newsletter mb-xs-6" data-form-source="Article Sidebar"> <form class="newsletter-trigger"> <div class="newsletter-trigger__wrapper"> <label for="email" class="sr-only">Email Address</label> <input type="email" class="newsletter-trigger__input bg-transparent w-100 pl-xs-2 pr-2 pt-2 pb-2" id="email"> <div class="newsletter-trigger__submit mt-xs-2"> <button type="submit" class="button">Continue</button> </div> </div> </form> </div> </div> </div> <div class="sidebar-author to-position has-position d-none d-lg-block"> <div class="author-module mb-xs-6"> <p class="sidebar-title font-giza color-green mb-xs-2">More by David Shulman</p> <article> <div class="text-small semi-bold mb-xs-1"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2025/01/16/a-deadly-apathy-israel-palestine-shulman/" class="color-black hover-text-green text-deocration-none">A Deadly Apathy <span class="sr-only"> January 16, 2025 issue </span></a> </div> <p class="text-xs mb-xs-1">A blank indifference to cruelty and atrocity as a normative mode of waging war has infected Israel’s collective conscience. </p> <p class="text-label color-gray mb-xs-3"> January 16, 2025 issue </p> </article> <article> <div class="text-small semi-bold mb-xs-1"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/09/19/an-unlawful-presence-israel-international-court-of-justice/" class="color-black hover-text-green text-deocration-none">An ‘Unlawful Presence’ <span class="sr-only"> September 19, 2024 issue </span></a> </div> <p class="text-xs mb-xs-1">The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is illegal, yet this will do little to reduce the settlers’ savage violence against Palestinians or force Israelis to become conscious of it. </p> <p class="text-label color-gray mb-xs-3"> September 19, 2024 issue </p> </article> <article> <div class="text-small semi-bold mb-xs-1"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2023/12/21/a-bitter-season-in-the-west-bank-david-shulman/" class="color-black hover-text-green text-deocration-none">A Bitter Season in the West Bank <span class="sr-only"> December 21, 2023 issue </span></a> </div> <p class="text-xs mb-xs-1">The war in Gaza has provided Israeli settlers fresh opportunity and impunity. I see entire villages fleeing in panic. </p> <p class="text-label color-gray mb-xs-3"> December 21, 2023 issue </p> </article> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12"> <div class="article-bottom article-col hide-on-paywall mb-xs-6"> <div class="social-bottom d-lg-none mb-xs-12"> <div class="article-social"> <div class="d-flex flex-lg-column justify-content-center align-items-lg-end"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Farticles%2F2024%2F05%2F09%2Fisrael-the-way-out-david-shulman%2F" data-share="facebook" class="social-icon d-flex bg-light-blue justify-content-center align-items-center mb-lg-4 fill-green"> <span class="sr-only">Facebook</span> <div class="author-social__icon"> <svg width="8" height="16" viewBox="0 0 8 16" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M5.5 3H8V0H5.5C3.57 0 2 1.57 2 3.5V5H0V8H2V16H5V8H7.5L8 5H5V3.5C5 3.229 5.229 3 5.5 3Z" fill="#990101"/> </svg> </div> </a> <a href="https://twitter.com/share?text=Israel%3A%20The%20Way%20Out&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Farticles%2F2024%2F05%2F09%2Fisrael-the-way-out-david-shulman%2F&via=nybooks" data-share="twitter" class="social-icon d-flex ml-xs-3 mr-xs-3 mr-lg-0 bg-light-blue justify-content-center align-items-center mb-lg-4 fill-green"> <span class="sr-only">Twitter</span> <div class="author-social__icon"> <svg width="1200" height="1227" viewBox="0 0 1200 1227" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M714.163 519.284L1160.89 0H1055.03L667.137 450.887L357.328 0H0L468.492 681.821L0 1226.37H105.866L515.491 750.218L842.672 1226.37H1200L714.137 519.284H714.163ZM569.165 687.828L521.697 619.934L144.011 79.6944H306.615L611.412 515.685L658.88 583.579L1055.08 1150.3H892.476L569.165 687.854V687.828Z" fill="white"/> </svg> </div> </a> <a href="https:///www.threads.net/intent/post?text=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Farticles%2F2024%2F05%2F09%2Fisrael-the-way-out-david-shulman%2F" data-share="threads" class="social-icon d-flex bg-light-blue justify-content-center align-items-center mb-lg-4 fill-green"> <span class="sr-only">Threads</span> <div class="author-social__icon"> <svg version="1.1" id="Layer_1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" viewBox="0 0 878 1000"> <style type="text/css"> .st0{fill:currentColor;} </style> <g> <path class="st0" d="M446.7,1000h-0.3c-149.2-1-263.9-50.2-341-146.2C36.9,768.3,1.5,649.4,0.3,500.4v-0.7 c1.2-149.1,36.6-267.9,105.2-353.4C182.5,50.2,297.3,1,446.4,0h0.3h0.3c114.4,0.8,210.1,30.2,284.4,87.4 c69.9,53.8,119.1,130.4,146.2,227.8l-85,23.7c-46-165-162.4-249.3-346-250.6c-121.2,0.9-212.9,39-272.5,113.2 C118.4,271,89.6,371.4,88.5,500c1.1,128.6,29.9,229,85.7,298.5c59.6,74.3,151.3,112.4,272.5,113.2c109.3-0.8,181.6-26.3,241.7-85.2 c68.6-67.2,67.4-149.7,45.4-199.9c-12.9-29.6-36.4-54.2-68.1-72.9c-8,56.3-25.9,101.9-53.5,136.3c-36.9,45.9-89.2,71-155.4,74.6 c-50.1,2.7-98.4-9.1-135.8-33.4c-44.3-28.7-70.2-72.5-73-123.5c-2.7-49.6,17-95.2,55.4-128.4c36.7-31.7,88.3-50.3,149.3-53.8 c44.9-2.5,87-0.5,125.8,5.9c-5.2-30.9-15.6-55.5-31.2-73.2c-21.4-24.4-54.5-36.8-98.3-37.1c-0.4,0-0.8,0-1.2,0 c-35.2,0-83,9.7-113.4,55L261.2,327c40.8-60.6,107-94,186.6-94c0.6,0,1.2,0,1.8,0c133.1,0.8,212.4,82.3,220.3,224.5 c4.5,1.9,9,3.9,13.4,5.9c62.1,29.2,107.5,73.4,131.4,127.9c33.2,75.9,36.3,199.6-64.5,298.3C673.1,965,579.6,999.1,447,1000 L446.7,1000L446.7,1000z M488.5,512.9c-10.1,0-20.3,0.3-30.8,0.9c-76.5,4.3-124.2,39.4-121.5,89.3c2.8,52.3,60.5,76.6,116,73.6 c51-2.7,117.4-22.6,128.6-154.6C552.6,516,521.7,512.9,488.5,512.9z"/> </g> </svg> </div> </a> <a href="https://bsky.app/intent/compose?text=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Farticles%2F2024%2F05%2F09%2Fisrael-the-way-out-david-shulman%2F" data-share="bluesky" class="social-icon d-flex bg-light-blue justify-content-center align-items-center mb-lg-4 fill-green"> <span class="sr-only">Bluesky</span> <div class="author-social__icon"> <svg width="568" height="501" viewBox="0 0 568 501" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path d="M123.121 33.6637C188.241 82.5526 258.281 181.681 284 234.873C309.719 181.681 379.759 82.5526 444.879 33.6637C491.866 -1.61183 568 -28.9064 568 57.9464C568 75.2916 558.055 203.659 552.222 224.501C531.947 296.954 458.067 315.434 392.347 304.249C507.222 323.8 536.444 388.56 473.333 453.32C353.473 576.312 301.061 422.461 287.631 383.039C285.169 375.812 284.017 372.431 284 375.306C283.983 372.431 282.831 375.812 280.369 383.039C266.939 422.461 214.527 576.312 94.6667 453.32C31.5556 388.56 60.7778 323.8 175.653 304.249C109.933 315.434 36.0535 296.954 15.7778 224.501C9.94525 203.659 0 75.2916 0 57.9464C0 -28.9064 76.1345 -1.61183 123.121 33.6637Z" fill="black"/> </svg> </div> </a> <a href="mailto:?subject=Israel%3A%20The%20Way%20Out by David Shulman&body=From The New York Review of Books%0D%0A%0D%0AIsrael%3A%20The%20Way%20Out%0D%0A%0D%0AIf%20Israel%20is%20to%20survive%2C%20physically%20and%20spiritually%2C%20it%20needs%20to%20undergo%2C%20collectively%2C%20a%20sea%20change%20in%20its%20vision%20of%20reality%20and%20face%20some%20unpleasant%20though%20obvious%20facts.%0A%0D%0A%0D%0Ahttps://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/israel-the-way-out-david-shulman/%3Futm_source%3Dnybooks%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Demail-share" class="social-icon d-flex bg-light-blue justify-content-center align-items-center position-relative fill-green" > <span class="sr-only">Mail to</span> <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="34" height="34" viewBox="0 0 34 34"> <path d="M24.7,14.9c0.1-0.1,0.3,0,0.3,0.2v6.9c0,0.9-0.7,1.6-1.5,1.6h-13c-0.8,0-1.5-0.7-1.5-1.6V15 c0-0.2,0.2-0.3,0.3-0.2c0.7,0.6,1.6,1.3,4.8,3.8c0.7,0.5,1.8,1.6,2.9,1.6c1.1,0,2.2-1.1,2.9-1.6C23.1,16.2,24,15.5,24.7,14.9z M17,19c0.7,0,1.8-1,2.3-1.4c4.1-3.2,4.5-3.5,5.4-4.3c0.2-0.2,0.3-0.4,0.3-0.6v-0.6c0-0.9-0.7-1.6-1.5-1.6h-13 c-0.8,0-1.5,0.7-1.5,1.6v0.6c0,0.2,0.1,0.5,0.3,0.6c1,0.8,1.3,1.1,5.4,4.3C15.2,18.1,16.3,19,17,19z"/> </svg> </a> <a href="?printpage=true" class="social-icon d-flex ml-xs-3 mr-xs-3 mr-lg-0 bg-light-blue justify-content-center align-items-center mt-lg-4 hover-text-green color-green fill-green" target="_blank"> <span class="sr-only">Print page</span> <svg width="34" height="34" viewBox="0 0 34 34" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <circle cx="17" cy="17" r="17" fill="transparent"/> <path d="M13 11H21V13H13V11Z"/> <path d="M24 14H10C9.4 14 9 14.5 9 15V20C9 20.6 9.4 21 10 21H13V25H21V21H24C24.6 21 25 20.6 25 20V15C25 14.5 24.6 14 24 14ZM11 17C10.4 17 10 16.6 10 16C10 15.4 10.4 15 11 15C11.6 15 12 15.4 12 16C12 16.6 11.6 17 11 17ZM20 24H14V19H20V24Z"/> </svg> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12"> <div class="article-col"> <div class="sidebar-author d-lg-none"> <div class="author-module mb-xs-6"> <p class="sidebar-title font-giza color-green mb-xs-2">More by David Shulman</p> <article> <div class="text-small semi-bold mb-xs-1"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2025/01/16/a-deadly-apathy-israel-palestine-shulman/" class="color-black hover-text-green text-deocration-none">A Deadly Apathy <span class="sr-only"> January 16, 2025 issue </span></a> </div> <p class="text-xs mb-xs-1">A blank indifference to cruelty and atrocity as a normative mode of waging war has infected Israel’s collective conscience. </p> <p class="text-label color-gray mb-xs-3"> January 16, 2025 issue </p> </article> <article> <div class="text-small semi-bold mb-xs-1"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/09/19/an-unlawful-presence-israel-international-court-of-justice/" class="color-black hover-text-green text-deocration-none">An ‘Unlawful Presence’ <span class="sr-only"> September 19, 2024 issue </span></a> </div> <p class="text-xs mb-xs-1">The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is illegal, yet this will do little to reduce the settlers’ savage violence against Palestinians or force Israelis to become conscious of it. </p> <p class="text-label color-gray mb-xs-3"> September 19, 2024 issue </p> </article> <article> <div class="text-small semi-bold mb-xs-1"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2023/12/21/a-bitter-season-in-the-west-bank-david-shulman/" class="color-black hover-text-green text-deocration-none">A Bitter Season in the West Bank <span class="sr-only"> December 21, 2023 issue </span></a> </div> <p class="text-xs mb-xs-1">The war in Gaza has provided Israeli settlers fresh opportunity and impunity. I see entire villages fleeing in panic. </p> <p class="text-label color-gray mb-xs-3"> December 21, 2023 issue </p> </article> </div> </div> <div class="mb-xs-12"> <div class="author-block bg-green pt-xs-3 pl-xs-3 pr-xs-3 pt-lg-6 pl-lg-6 pr-lg-6 mb-xs-6"> <div class="d-flex"> <div class="author-info wrapped-link-light-blue"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/david-shulman/" class="d-inline-block hover-border-light-blue text-decoration-none text-xs-22 font-giza mb-xs-2"><span>David Shulman</span></a> <p class="text-xs-16 mb-xs-4 color-white">David Shulman is the author of <i>Tamil: A Biography</i>, among other books. He is Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was awarded the Israel Prize for Religious Studies in 2016. He is a longtime activist with Ta’ayush, the Arab–Jewish Partnership, in the occupied Palestinian territories. (January 2025) </p> <div class="mb-xs-3 mb-lg-6"></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="current-issue-mobile d-lg-none mb-xs-14"> <section class="current-issue"> <p class="font-giza color-ny-red mb-0">This Issue</p> <p class="font-giza color-black mb-xs-2">May 9, 2024</p> <div class="sidebar-issue d-block mb-xs-3 border-light-gray"> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/issues/2024/05/09/" class="cover"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/nyrb050924.jpg?w=165" srcset="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/nyrb050924.jpg?w=165 165w, https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/nyrb050924.jpg?w=330 330w" sizes="(max-width: 165px) 165px, 330px" class="mw-50 shadow-hover" alt="Image of the May 9, 2024 issue cover." > </a> </div> <article> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/toms-men-tom-of-finland/" class="article-card"> <div class="text-small mb-0"> <span class="text-small color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"><strong>Jarrett Earnest</strong></span> </div> <div class="text-small semi-bold mb-xs-3"> <p class="color-black card-title-ny-red">Tom’s Men</p> </div> </a> </article> <article> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/09/who-shall-describe-beauty-harlem-renaissance-and-transatlantic-modernism/" class="article-card"> <div class="text-small mb-0"> <span class="text-small color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"><strong>Darryl Pinckney</strong></span> </div> <div class="text-small semi-bold mb-xs-3"> <p class="color-black card-title-ny-red">‘Who Shall Describe Beauty?’</p> </div> </a> </article> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/issues/2024/05/09/" class="text-small semi-bold color-ny-red hover-border-ny-red hover-text-ny-red"> <span>All Contents</span> </a> </section> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="pagination foot"></div> <div class="footnotes d-none print-only"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12 article-col"> <ol> <li id="fn-1" class=""> <span class="marker">1</span> <p>See my “A Bitter Season in the West Bank,” <i>The New York Review</i>, December 21, 2023. <a href="#fnr-1" class="footnoteBackLink" title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text">↩</a></p> </li> <li id="fn-2" class=""> <span class="marker">2</span> <p>For a detailed account of the Saudi Initiative and Israel’s negative response to it, see Matti Steinberg, “The Arab Peace Initiative, Its Significance and Implications,” Israeli European Peace Network, July 2010; and his <i>In Search of Modern Palestinian Nationhood</i> (Moshe Dayan Center, 2016), which I reviewed in these pages (“Israel’s Irrational Rationality,” June 22, 2017). Steinberg, for many years the adviser on Palestinian matters to the Israeli government, is the most insightful and authoritative of the Israeli Palestine experts. <a href="#fnr-2" class="footnoteBackLink" title="Jump back to footnote 2 in the text">↩</a></p> </li> <li id="fn-3" class=""> <span class="marker">3</span> <p>See Thomas Erdbrink, “Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Israel Will Not Exist in 25 Years,” <i>The New York Times</i>, September 9, 2015. This prophecy has been reiterated many times. <a href="#fnr-3" class="footnoteBackLink" title="Jump back to footnote 3 in the text">↩</a></p> </li> </ol> </div> </div> </div> </div> <section class="related-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12 text-center"> <p class="color-ny-red text-center mb-xs-5 mb-lg-12 border-yellow border-bottom-3 d-inline-block text-xs-30 text-lg-42 font-giza">Read Next</p> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12 col-lg-3 mb-xs-3 mb-lg-12"> <article class=""> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1989/05/18/israel-and-the-occupied-territories-an-urgent-appe/" class="article-card"> <div class="text-small mb-xs-1 color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"> <span class="color-ny-red text-small hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"><strong>Gail Pressberg</strong></span> </div> <p class="h4 d-block mb-xs-1 card-title card-title-ny-red">Israel and the Occupied Territories: An Urgent Appeal by the ICRC</p> <p class="text-small mb-xs-1 article-card-excerpt"></p> <p class="text-label color-gray"> May 18, 1989 issue </p> </a> <div class="rule-article d-lg-none"></div> </article> </div> <div class="col-12 col-lg-3 left-border-lg mb-xs-3 mb-lg-12"> <article class=""> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1979/10/11/amnesty-international-on-argentina/" class="article-card"> <div class="text-small mb-xs-1 color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"> <span class="color-ny-red text-small hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"><strong>Amnesty International</strong></span> </div> <p class="h4 d-block mb-xs-1 card-title card-title-ny-red">Amnesty International on Argentina</p> <p class="text-small mb-xs-1 article-card-excerpt"></p> <p class="text-label color-gray"> October 11, 1979 issue </p> </a> <div class="rule-article d-lg-none"></div> </article> </div> <div class="col-12 col-lg-3 left-border-lg mb-xs-3 mb-lg-12"> <article class=""> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/11/10/on-bombing-aleppo/" class="article-card"> <div class="text-small mb-xs-1 color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"> <span class="color-ny-red text-small hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"><strong>George Soros</strong></span> </div> <p class="h4 d-block mb-xs-1 card-title card-title-ny-red">On the Bombing of Aleppo</p> <p class="text-small mb-xs-1 article-card-excerpt">The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe of historic proportions.</p> <p class="text-label color-gray"> November 10, 2016 issue </p> </a> <div class="rule-article d-lg-none"></div> </article> </div> <div class="col-12 col-lg-3 left-border-lg mb-xs-3 mb-lg-12"> <article class=""> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1985/11/21/to-a-western-peace-activist/" class="article-card"> <div class="text-small mb-xs-1 color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"> <span class="color-ny-red text-small hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"><strong>V. H.</strong></span> </div> <p class="h4 d-block mb-xs-1 card-title card-title-ny-red">To a Western Peace Activist</p> <p class="text-small mb-xs-1 article-card-excerpt"></p> <p class="text-label color-gray"> November 21, 1985 issue </p> </a> <div class="rule-article d-lg-none"></div> </article> </div> <div class="col-12 col-lg-3 mb-xs-3 mb-lg-12"> <article class=""> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1989/12/21/the-czech-party/" class="article-card"> <div class="text-small mb-xs-1 color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"> <span class="color-ny-red text-small hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"><strong>Ludvik Vaculik</strong></span>, translated by <span class="color-ny-red text-small hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"><strong>Barbara Day</strong></span> </div> <p class="h4 d-block mb-xs-1 card-title card-title-ny-red">The Czech Party</p> <p class="text-small mb-xs-1 article-card-excerpt"></p> <p class="text-label color-gray"> December 21, 1989 issue </p> </a> <div class="rule-article d-lg-none"></div> </article> </div> <div class="col-12 col-lg-3 left-border-lg mb-xs-3 mb-lg-12"> <article class=""> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1979/08/16/how-it-works/" class="article-card"> <div class="text-small mb-xs-1 color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"> <span class="color-ny-red text-small hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"><strong>Jean-Francis Held</strong></span> </div> <p class="h4 d-block mb-xs-1 card-title card-title-ny-red">How It Works</p> <p class="text-small mb-xs-1 article-card-excerpt"></p> <p class="text-label color-gray"> August 16, 1979 issue </p> </a> <div class="rule-article d-lg-none"></div> </article> </div> <div class="col-12 col-lg-3 left-border-lg mb-xs-3 mb-lg-12"> <article class=""> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1973/11/29/a-statement-by-valery-panov/" class="article-card"> <div class="text-small mb-xs-1 color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"> <span class="color-ny-red text-small hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"><strong>Valery Panov</strong></span> </div> <p class="h4 d-block mb-xs-1 card-title card-title-ny-red">A Statement By Valery Panov</p> <p class="text-small mb-xs-1 article-card-excerpt"></p> <p class="text-label color-gray"> November 29, 1973 issue </p> </a> <div class="rule-article d-lg-none"></div> </article> </div> <div class="col-12 col-lg-3 left-border-lg mb-xs-3 mb-lg-12"> <article class=""> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/09/21/a-letter-of-resignation/" class="article-card"> <div class="text-small mb-xs-1 color-ny-red hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"> <span class="color-ny-red text-small hover-text-ny-red semi-bold"><strong>Tadeusz Mazowiecki</strong></span> </div> <p class="h4 d-block mb-xs-1 card-title card-title-ny-red">A Letter of Resignation</p> <p class="text-small mb-xs-1 article-card-excerpt"></p> <p class="text-label color-gray"> September 21, 1995 issue </p> </a> </article> </div> </div> </div> </section> </article> </section> <div class="toast-cta w-100 bg-white shadow to-activate"> <div class="pb-xs-3 pt-xs-3 position-relative"> <div class="toast-close"> <svg width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M9.85752 12.21L2.29256 19.7172L0 17.4422L7.56496 9.93495L0.131114 2.55785L2.42368 0.282783L9.85752 7.65988L17.5763 0L19.8689 2.27506L12.1501 9.93495L20 17.7249L17.7074 20L9.85752 12.21Z" fill="#990101"/> </svg> </div> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12"> <div class="short-width mx-auto position-relative"> <img class="toast-img" src="https://www.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Sub_PrintDigital_11062022-72ppi.jpg" alt="New York Review in various formats"> <p class="font-giza mb-xs-3 color-ny-red text-xs-22 pr-xs-10">Subscribe and save 50%!</p> <p class="text-xs-16">Get immediate access to the current issue and over 25,000 articles from the archives, plus the NYR App.</p> <div class="text-xs pr-xs-6 z-index-10 d-flex align-items-center"> <a href="https://subscribe.nybooks.com/ecom/nyb/app/live/subscriptions?org=NYB&publ=NY&key_code=EPLXWWT&type=S" class="button font-giza bg-ny-red color-white hover-text-white hover-expand sign-in-subscribe text-xs-16 mr-xs-3"><span>See offers</span></a> <p class="text-label mb-0 color-gray"><span class="mr-xs-1">Already a subscriber?</span> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/account/signin/?current_page=?current_page=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nybooks.com%2Farticles%2F2024%2F05%2F09%2Fisrael-the-way-out-david-shulman%2F" class="color-gray">Sign in</a></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <footer class="bg-black color-white pt-xs-6 pt-lg-10"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12 col-lg-6"> <p class="text-xs-24 text-lg-30 font-giza mb-xs-3">Subscribe to our Newsletters</p> </div> <div class="col-12 col-lg-6"> <div class="mb-xs-6 mb-lg-3 text-xs-16 text-lg-20 footer-newsletter-text"><p>Best of <em>The New York Review</em>, plus books, events, and other items of interest. Or, see all newsletter options <a href="/newsletter/">here</a>.</p> </div> <div class="menu-newsletter mb-xs-6" data-form-source="Footer Signup"> <form class="newsletter-trigger"> <div class="newsletter-trigger__wrapper"> <label for="email" class="sr-only">Email Address</label> <input type="email" class="newsletter-trigger__input bg-transparent w-100 pt-xs-3 pb-xs-3" id="email" placeholder="Enter your email address"> <div class="newsletter-trigger__submit"> <button type="submit" class="button">Continue</button> </div> </div> </form> </div> </div> <div class="col-12"> <div class="rule-white mb-xs-6"></div> </div> <div class="col-12 d-none d-lg-block"> <div class="d-flex justify-content-between font-giza text-small"> <div class="footer-left-links"> <a class="pl-0 pr-lg-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-border-white d-inline-block" href="https://www.nybooks.com/about/" title=""> <span>About Us</span> </a> <a class=" pr-lg-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-border-white d-inline-block" href="https://www.nybooks.com/archive/" title=""> <span>Archive</span> </a> <a class=" pr-lg-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-border-white d-inline-block" href="https://www.nybooks.com/classifieds/" title=""> <span>Classifieds</span> </a> <a class=" pr-lg-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-border-white d-inline-block" href="https://www.nybooks.com/about/advertising/" title=""> <span>Advertising</span> </a> <a class=" pr-lg-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-border-white d-inline-block" href="https://www.nybooks.com/about/faq/" title=""> <span>Help/FAQ</span> </a> <a class=" pr-lg-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-border-white d-inline-block" href="https://www.nybooks.com/newsletter/" title=""> <span>Newsletters</span> </a> <a class="pr-lg-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-border-white d-inline-block d-lg-none" href="https://shop.nybooks.com/" target="blank"> <span>Shop Literary Gifts</span> </a> <a class=" mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-border-white d-inline-block d-lg-none" href="http://www.nyrb.com/" target="blank"> <span>Shop NYRB Classics</span> </a> </div> <div class="footer-right-links"> <a class="mr-xs-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-border-white d-none d-lg-inline-block" href="https://shop.nybooks.com/" target="blank"> <span>Shop Literary Gifts</span> </a> <a class=" mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-border-white d-none d-lg-inline-block" href="http://www.nyrb.com/" target="blank"> <span>Shop NYRB Classics</span> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="col-12 d-lg-none"> <div class="row no-gutters"> <div class="col-6"> <a class="pr-lg-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-underline d-block font-giza text-small" href="https://www.nybooks.com/about/" title="">About Us</a> <a class="pr-lg-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-underline d-block font-giza text-small" href="https://www.nybooks.com/archive/" title="">Archive</a> <a class="pr-lg-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-underline d-block font-giza text-small" href="https://www.nybooks.com/classifieds/" title="">Classifieds</a> <a class="pr-lg-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-underline d-block font-giza text-small" href="https://www.nybooks.com/about/advertising/" title="">Advertising</a> </div> <div class="col-6"> <a class="pr-lg-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-underline d-block font-giza text-small" href="https://www.nybooks.com/about/faq/" title="">Help/FAQ</a> <a class="pr-lg-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white hover-underline d-block font-giza text-small" href="https://www.nybooks.com/newsletter/" title="">Newsletters</a> <a class="mr-xs-6 mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white d-block font-giza text-small d-lg-none" href="https://shop.nybooks.com/" target="_blank"> <span class="color-white hover-underline">Shop Literary Gifts</span> </a> <a class=" mb-xs-5 mb-lg-6 hover-text-white d-block font-giza text-small d-lg-none" href="http://www.nyrb.com/" target="_blank"> <span class="color-white hover-underline">Shop NYRB Classics</span> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="col-12 pb-xs-6"> <div class="rule-white mb-xs-4"></div> <p class="text-label color-gray d-lg-inline-block mr-lg-6 mb-0">© 1963-2025 NYREV, Inc. All rights reserved.</p> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/about/terms-of-service/" class="mr-xs-6 text-label color-gray hover-text-white">Terms of Service</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/privacy/" class="mr-xs-6 text-label color-gray hover-text-white">Privacy Statement</a> <a href="https://subscribe.nybooks.com/ecom/nyb/app/live/subcustserv?org=NYB&publ=NY&php=y" class="mr-xs-6 text-label color-gray hover-text-white">Subscription Customer Service</a> <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/accessibility-statement/" class="mr-xs-6 text-label color-gray hover-text-white">Accessibility Statement</a> <span class="text-label color-gray float-lg-right d-block d-lg-inline-block mt-xs-1 mt-lg-0">Site by <a href="http://athleticsnyc.com/" target="_blank" class="text-label color-gray hover-text-white text-underline">Athletics</a></span> </div> </div> </div> </footer>  <div id="teads"></div> <script> var NYRBSearch = { "nonce": "5f5f374356" }; </script> <div id="search-dev-tools-portal"></div> <style> .single .paywall-article { display: none; } </style><script type="text/javascript" id="leaky_paywall_cookie_js-js-extra"> /* <![CDATA[ */ var leaky_paywall_cookie_ajax = {"ajaxurl":"\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php","post_container":".paywall-article","page_container":".page-content","lead_in_elements":"5"}; /* ]]> */ </script> <script type="text/javascript" id="leaky_paywall_validate-js-extra"> /* <![CDATA[ */ var leaky_paywall_validate_ajax = {"ajaxurl":"\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php","register_nonce":"8fec8c739b"}; /* ]]> */ </script> <script type="text/javascript" id="leaky_paywall_script-js-extra"> /* <![CDATA[ */ var leaky_paywall_script_ajax = {"ajaxurl":"\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php","stripe_pk":"","apple_pay":"no"}; /* ]]> */ </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.nybooks.com/_static/??-eJydkM0KwjAQhF/IdtMG6Ul8FFnTRTfNH9nUkrc3etNTFeY0fB8DA1vqTAyFQoHk1hsHAUe41C5h3dA5sNLSmLgw9VYOsMf4KH6VPZscfZzR9Z7Dn5sPdDxj2b8qJnMq33i5kyeBUPP1MqpRAYpQeV3y7hp+9qdh0pM6aq0G+wTTjnzg" ></script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://stats.wp.com/e-202508.js" id="jetpack-stats-js" data-wp-strategy="defer"></script> <script type="text/javascript" id="jetpack-stats-js-after"> /* <![CDATA[ */ _stq = window._stq || []; _stq.push([ "view", JSON.parse("{\"v\":\"ext\",\"blog\":\"195950105\",\"post\":\"1543664\",\"tz\":\"-5\",\"srv\":\"www.nybooks.com\",\"hp\":\"vip\",\"j\":\"1:14.2.1\"}") ]); _stq.push([ "clickTrackerInit", "195950105", "1543664" ]); /* ]]> */ </script> </body> </html>

CINXE.COM

Israel: The Way Out | David Shulman | The New York Review of Books