Book Review - Gaza: An Inquest Into Its Martyrdom by Norman Finkelstein
Published 2018
If you have been following the recent events in the middle east, I urge you to read this book. Though published in 2018, it’s still very very relevant. If you’ve ever wondered why people shout “Free Palestine!” at the top of their lungs I urge you to read this book.
This is one of the most tragic and heartbreaking things I’ve ever read in my life. I’m happy to have read it because it is so empowering, cutting through the vapid cliches and slogans that form so much of modern media.
Finkelstein prefaces by saying “this book is not about Gaza. It is about what has been done to Gaza.” He quotes David Cameron’s statement that Gaza is an “open-air prison”. He tells us “Gaza is about a Big Lie composed of a thousand, often seemingly abstruse and arcane, little lies.”
“The objective of this book is to refute that Big Lie by exposing each of the little lies.”
“It has not been a labor of love. On the contrary, it has been a painstaking, fastidious undertaking born of a visceral detestation of falsehood, in particular when it is put in the service of power and human life hangs in the balance.” (page xiii)
Finkelstein asks us for “infinite patience”. In terms of abundance of content, this book is huge. It could be, and it feels like, a thousand pages long.
The Wikipedia page for this book tells us that Charles Glass (ABC News’s chief Middle East correspondent from 1983 to 1993) said in his review in The Intercept that "No one who ventures an opinion on Gaza ... is entitled to do so without taking into account the evidence in this book." I’ll stop short of 100% agreement, but I do feel as if I’m far more knowledgeable thanks to Professor Finkelstein’s prosecution-style and quite cerebral parsing of a huge amount of documentation.
The book looks at Israel’s horrific treatment of Gaza over a roughly 6-year period from 2008 to 2014 (while not ignoring relevant history prior), and the world’s indifference to it – though indifference is too weak a word, for there are situations presented wherein Israel has been fully favoured, yet is still presented to the public as victim… which is then used to justify further brutality and violence against Palestinian civilians.
The book is comprised of five parts – the first detailing common lies used by people who want the conflict / occupation / blockade to continue, the second on the famous report by Richard Goldstone about the military operation “Cast Lead”, the third on Israel’s attack against naval vessel The Mavi Marmara, and the fourth, and most powerful I thought, on the murderous operation “Pillar of Defense” and the way the UN and Amnesty International reports were not even-handed in their criticism. In these two reports, it was taken for granted that Hamas were terrorists, and the IDF not, even though the IDF killed far more civilians, had more precise weapons, and dropped thousand-pound bombs into residential areas that were blatantly more lethal than Hamas’s rockets.
The fifth part, an appendix, addresses the question “is the blockade legal?”; the case of South Africa’s occupation of Namibia is juxtaposed against Israel’s occupation and blockade of Palestine.
Gaza: An Inquest Into Its Martyrdom is the third book I’ve read by Jewish-American Political Science Professor Norman Finkelstein, the other two being The Holocaust Industry and Method and Madness, both of which I think are excellent, though Method… is quite short. I think Gaza: An Inquest… is the most powerful and painful. It is heavy on facts and analysis, and very meticulously written, which sadly will be off-putting for those who prefer things simple and sloganistic. It becomes obvious to us how shallow and lazy are much of our media talking heads, how they actively avoid unpleasing details in favour of slogans and cliches.
For a person relatively new to the Israel-Palestine conflict, it is fascinating to look back in time to 2008 and see the same arguments that are used nowadays, with no mention of them being used previously, as if Israel wants us all living in some kind of Groundhog Day. Four pages into the first chapter which is titled “Self Defense” Finkelstein quotes Israeli historian Benny Morris regarding ‘the first intifada’ in 1987:
“A large proportion of the Palestinian dead were not shot in life-threatening situations, and a great many of these were children”; “Only a small minority of [IDF] malefactors were brought to book by the army’s legal machinery – and were almost always let off with ludicrously light sentences.” (page 6)
The number of children murdered by the IDF are a recurring feature. In every one of these operations, there are more Palestinian dead than Israeli, with staggering, grotesque ratios.
Even during the early part of this book, the amount of detail is overwhelming. By the end I was emotionally exhausted, partly by the sharp and precise referencing but more so by the content, which forms the weight of a metaphorical blade. The heaviness with which it cuts lies in the unfairness with which the Palestinian people are treated. It’s repetitive and crushing, but due to its breadth, Finkelstein isn’t just repeating things. However he does point us to previous chapters throughout, he doesn’t want his audience to take the easy way out and say he has no source for his claims, or let us forget anything. The referencing is meticulous.
I can’t imagine how the Gazans feel.
Finkelstein must have read throngs and throngs of material to have made this. The book is huge, it feels much longer than 400 pages, I think simply because of its breadth and voluminous sources.
This is one of the most powerful and memorable books I have read in the last ten years of my life, and I would not be surprised if it stays with me far into the future. I want to re-read it to clarify the generalities I’ve made in my mind, but it’s such a painfully sad book. We see the Palestinians betrayed again and again and again.
Pages 1 and 2 of the preface:
(All pictures in this review are from the book Gaza: An Inquest Into Its Martyrdom unless otherwise specified.)
A ceasefire in January 2008 most likely happened because Obama didn’t want publicity distracting from his inauguration (Israeli invasions create bad publicity, even with their massive PR apparatus.) The Oslo II Accord gave only half a page to “’Release of Palestinian Prisoners and Detainees’ who numbered in the many thousands.” (page 20)
Early on, we realize how grotesque is the claim that “Israel is the only democracy in the middle east”, and how banal are those that shout it so loud. Israel & America consistently vote against a peaceful resolution to the Palestine Question at the UN.
(page 28)
When Hamas were democratically elected; “Israel immediately tightened its siege, and ‘economic activity in Gaza came to a standstill, moving into survival mode’” as a result of Hamas joining the electoral contest, even though “the Islamic movement ‘was evolving and could evolve still more.’” (page 22). Evidence emerged of Hillary Clinton wishing the USA had done “something to determine who was going to win.”
If Israel cared for democracy, what a strange bedfellow is the USA to keep! A wall has been constructed, nothing goes through to Gaza without Israeli permission. While Israeli citizens may live similar to those in the west, the Palestinians are disrespectfully dominated in what is basically a concentration camp.
The wall gets a mention again in the appendix, and we see why some people get confused – we can hear conflicting things depending on who we listen to:
The two chapters on the Goldstone Report are quite amazing. We see the power of Israel’s PR machine. Richard Goldstone was an impeccably credentialed judge, yet authored a report stating that Israel’s three-week “Operation” Cast Lead, was a
“disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability.”
You can obtain a copy of the 3-part Goldstone Report here (scroll down to the ‘Documentation’ section). Pages 5 and 6 of the 3rd Part of the Goldstone Report (Advance 2) are shown:
The second chapter on Goldstone discusses his ‘withdrawing’ of his critique which was supposedly based on “new evidence”; this withdrawal Israel of course publicised, yet Finkelstein points to the facts that 1) Goldstone’s two co-authors did not recant the report and that 2) no “new evidence” was ever forthcoming. Possible pressures on Goldstone are discussed.
Israel’s lies - or perhaps political pressures and connections - feel like a flood, an avalanche. After Operation Cast Lead, the UN, Amnesty International etc, investigated the carnage, and according to Finkelstein, found no evidence that Hamas had used Palestinian civilians as human shields. I am amazed I’ve never heard this discussed in all the claims around the assault on Gaza post-October 7th. If Israel had lied before, would this not be relevant?
The Amnesty International Report on Cast Lead is available here. (A two-page summary is also available.) Pictured here is a part of page 83:
Chapter four, ‘Human Shields’ begins by stating that 1,400 Palestinians were killed in Cast Lead, about 80% civilians and 350 children. To support this statement, Finkelstein’s citation takes him to the next page.
I’ve been told, and heard people say, the UN, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International etc, are anti-semitic. The two chapters I found most powerful in this book took these claims to task, and showed that two reports authored by the UN and Amnesty were hopelessly biased in their favour towards Israel.
A chapter is devoted to each. Finkelstein sent Amnesty his writing prior to publication and he has included their rejoinder. Pictured here are pages 240 and 241:
The chapter about the UN report on Protective Edge is also very powerful. We see the bias inherent in much reporting - if Hamas kills a civilian, this is terrorism. Fair enough, it makes perfect sense. If Israel kills a civilian, this is collateral damage, Hamas used them as a human shield, this happens in a war, it was necessary to get at the evil Hamas, the real terrorists, Israel actually wants peace, etc, etc. Note that the human shield claim can be made (and believed, and reiterated) without evidence. Yet the UN report stops short of claiming the IDF are terrorists, even though they killed 550 Palestinian children in Protective Edge (compared to Hamas killing 1 Israeli child).
The chapter contains details on the bombing inflicted on residential areas.
The UN report stated the use of this type of bomb in a residential area is “extremely questionable” - Finkelstein asks “Pray tell, what questions remained?”
One can only wonder what the world (or at least the west) would say if someone dropped bombs like this on London, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney… but we know what happens. I’m brought back to Herman and Chomsky’s talks on worthy and unworthy victims…
Finkelstein points to so many double standards it is just awful. What are we to make of Israel, America and the western media in general? Their hypocrisy, their cowardice, their laziness, their complicity in endless murder…? Their constant fawning and bending over backwards to help Israel wallow in greed and bloodlust…?
Appalling behaviours are also seen in the IDF testimonies. These are difficult to read, but they bring light to the claim that Israel is “only going after Hamas” which we’ve heard so frequently.
Presumably for space issues, Finkelstein doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about the reasons why the tragic situation exists. He points to evidence that Israel wants to maintain a “deterrence capacity” - which basically means the surrounding nations need to be too scared to attack it. But one can’t help one’s mind from wandering. It must be about more than simply punishing Gazans to eventually get rid of Hamas… ? Israel was humiliating and murdering Palestinians long before Hamas existed. Does the USA care so much about such a tiny strip of land it needs a different government in there? Is there some other motive beyond taking the land? Is there oil under Gaza? What percentage of the Israeli economy depends on the importing of all of these weapons and bombs? Do they sell them after use? What the hell is the reason for all the endless murder and harassment? There are discussions around the political situation, and about the careerism and opportunism. But I find myself so sad, it seems much of the suffering is unnecessary, but caused because leadership in USA & Israel hates to tell the truth, hates to be blamed for anything that might cause them to lose an election, an argument, a reputation drop in the polls.
The conclusion explains why the 7th October attacks happened, though it’s written years before. Again I’m amazed they didn’t occur in 2015 or even earlier. Finkelstein begins his conclusion by discussing a 2012 UN Report on the question of whether Gaza will be a “liveable place” in 2020… (At the time of writing) about 50% of the population were unemployed… 70% were food insecure…
Of the blockade, we read that “… benefits to Israeli security are hard to identify.” (page 361) While the UN may have been hopelessly biased towards Israel (and I would encourage you to check Finkelstein’s work with the report in your other hand), it did call on Israel to “lift the blockade ‘immediately and unconditionally.’” (pages 360) Israeli newspaper Haaretz “scoffed at the notion that the blockade provided security - it hasn’t prevented missiles from being fired at Israel” or “caused the hoped-for public uprising against the Hamas government.” (page 361)
“And it constitutes an incubator for the development of despair and cycles of violence that have made the lives of residents of southern Israel intolerable…”
“This Palestinian ghetto must be opened.” (page 361)
It becomes blatantly obvious that the 7th October, 2023 attacks were caused - or were in response to - the blockade, the occupation, the punishment for voting the wrong way in a free election, the huge loss of land with no compensation or reparation, and the horrific terrorism waged against Gazans by the IDF.
I believe the best recent talk on this is Finkelstein’s Gaza Gala speech.
I desperately want you all to read this, and feel the weight of his conclusion. Finkelstein mentions Helen Hunt Jackson’s book A Century Of Dishonor about the Cherokee, how they had been slowly exterminated by willful, deliberate government policy. He likens the plight of Gazans to the Cherokee, how they too are being exterminated by “cupidity and corruption, careerism and cynicism, cravenness and cowardice of mortal man.”
“NEVER AGAIN” say people about the Nazi Holocaust. But it’s been happening again for a long time.
This small review has been difficult to write, and I don’t believe it has done this book much justice. I am hoping a wide readership of Finkelstein’s book(s) will lead the perpetrators to face a courtroom, eventually.
You can obtain a copy of Professor Finkelstein’s work at Mighty Ape, ebay and from University of California Press. His website is here.
Thank you for reading.