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Roy Altman's Israel on Trial forces Westerners to confront the fact that our tradition of trials is fraying faster than we may realize.
Historically, people have believed all kinds of crazy things about Jews—from the medieval blood libel to contemporary about Israel training spy for military purposes. The latest entry in this genre came from New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who lent a patina of respectability to Hamas propaganda by alleging that Israeli prison guards routinely perpetrate sexual violence against Palestinian detainees, including by training dogs to rape them. That lurid accusation traces back to the same propaganda ecosystem—one in particular—that accuses Jews of Palestinians’ organs, , literally their victims, and committing inexplicably inhumane acts. Whatever skepticism Kristof had developed in his long career as a world-traveling opinion writer failed to kick in, and he and his editors credulously shepherded the claims to publication.
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Tal Fortgang is a legal policy fellow at the Manhattan Institute. His interests include law, political theory, religion, ideology, and culture, and his popular writings have appeared in City Journal, Commentary, National Affairs, National Review, and other publications.