Brave, yes-Laor is a poet-determined, yes-his unmasking of the hypocrisy of Israeli writers such as Amos Oz is irrefutable-modest, yes-he often speaks of his doubts-yet what makes his book so original and urgent is its historical reasoning: a disciple of Herodotus, Laor observes, narrates and questions all the ancient and contemporary half-truths concerning Jews, Europe and colonialism, which have culminated in Israel turning Gaza into a Ghetto! You do not simply read through, you think through this essential book.
- John Berger,
I can find appropriate words for Laor's book: it is a gift, incredible and beautiful, so wonderful that I am sure that the American Zionist community will spurn it.
Electronic Intifada
Israel's most celebrated dissident, and perhaps its greatest living poet.
Harper's Magazine
He argues that through a prism of famous writers like Amos Oz, David Grossman and A.B. Yehoshua, the peace camp has now adopted the European vision of "new Zionism," promoting the fierce Israeli desire to be accepted as part of the West and taking advantage of growing Islamophobia across Europe.
The backdrop to this uneasy relationship is the ever-present shadow of the Holocaust. Laor is merciless as he strips bare the hypocrisies and unarticulated fantasies that lie beneath the love affair between "liberal Zionists" and their European supporters.