r/JewsOfConscience • u/Jche98 Jewish Anti-Zionist • 3d ago

Discussion - Flaired Users Only What book to give a Zionist?

My cousin is a Zionist. He made Aliyah and has served in the IDF in Gaza and Lebanon. He was in the brigade that responded to Oct 7 and lost one of his best friends to a Hamas bullet that day. I've spoken with him and he's open to learning more. I'm looking for a book to give him which is a very GENTLE introduction to an alternative viewpoint from Zionism, something that won't scare him. Can anyone recommend something.

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u/malachamavet Excessively Communist Jew 2d ago edited 2d ago

Matzpen could be a great starting point - they were also Israeli Jews, some of whom even served in combat, who wound up categorically rejecting Zionism and embraced solidarity.

I haven't read it myself, but Matzpen: A History of Israeli Dissidence by Lutz Fiedler might be good. Shaul Magid reviewed it positively.

That's the only in-depth thing I could find in English/German, but the Hebrew wiki has a lot more listed in Hebrew

https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%A6%D7%A4%D7%9F_(%D7%90%D7%A8%D7%92%D7%95%D7%9F)#%D7%9C%D7%A7%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%90%D7%94_%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%AA

There's also an excellent documentary