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Yakov M. Rabkin has been Professor of History at the Université de Montréal since 1973. He has also held visiting positions at universities in Australia, France, Israel, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine and the United States. A graduate of the State University of Leningrad, he completed his doctoral thesis in the history of science at the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow. After his emigration from the Soviet Union, Rabkin studied Judaism at religious institutions and in private sessions with rabbis in Montreal, Baltimore, Paris and Jerusalem. His areas of expertise include contemporary Jewish history, international relations, and science and technology policies. He has authored hundreds of articles and several books. His most recent book, Israel In Palestine - Jewish Rejection of Zionism, has been published in French, Japanese and Spanish. Charles W. Freeman, Jr. is an American retired diplomat and writer. He served in the United States Foreign Service, the State and Defense Departments in many different capacities over the course of thirty years. Most notably, he worked as the main interpreter for Richard Nixon during his 1972 China visit and served as the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1989 to 1992. He is a past president of the Middle East Policy Council, co-chair of the U.S. China Policy Foundation and a Lifetime Director of the Atlantic Council.
""Prof. Yakov Rabkin's new book, alongside his earlier outstanding books, offers a powerful, enlightening, and crucial perspective on Zionism and the ideological roots of modern Israel. Rather than being a movement of religious Judaism, Zionism was in many ways a rejection of the rabbinic Judaism from the Talmudic age until the late 19th century. Rabkin explains how the 19th century European ideology of nationalism fueled Zionism to the consternation of a considerable portion of religious Jewry (and much secular Jewry as well). At a time when the global debate rages over the competing claims of Israel and Palestine, and criticisms of Israel are falsely labeled as antisemitic, Rabkin is an essential voice and source for a deep and honest understanding of the Israel-Palestine conflict."" Jeffrey D. Sachs Author, A New Foreign Policy ""This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding contemporary Israel and its relations with both the Palestinians and the wider world. Yakov Rabkin has a deep knowledge of Judaism, Zionism, and the history of the Jewish people, which allows him to explain in fascinating detail how Israel embodies European ethnic nationalism but stands at odds with European liberalism. He makes it manifestly clear that Israel faces a troubled future."" John J. Mearsheimer Co-author, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy ""I have always admired the formidable Jewish intellectual tradition of pursuing the truth and speaking it even when to do so is to risk ostracism. Professor Rabkin exemplifies this tradition and does so with uncommon erudition. This is a book from which the readers will learn much to their benefit."" Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr., Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense, Author, America's Misadventures in the Middle East ""Yakov Rabkin meticulously dissects the contradiction at Israel's core: A state claiming to be Jewish acting opposite to Jewish ethics. With uncompromising precision, he draws parallels between the siege of Gaza and the siege of Leningrad-a tragedy his own family endured-exposing Israel's militarism as a profound abandonment of Judaism's core values."" Robert Wintemute Professor of Human Rights Law, King's College, London ""This book is the ultimate antidote to propaganda. A must-read for anyone cutting through the lies in a conflict that's far simpler to grasp than many want you to believe."" Rachad Antonius Professor of Sociology, UQAM (ret.), Interuniversity Consortium on Arab and Middle East Studies ""A sharp, brilliant essay-short and effortless to read. It reminds us that it was Ben-Gurion himself who declared in 1922 that Palestinians are likely the direct descendants of first-century Jews. That didn't stop him from orchestrating the Nakba-the ethnic cleansing of the very people he acknowledged as indigenous."" Michel Brouyaux Association Belgo-Palestinienne, Wallonie-Bruxelles
