Last summer, you might remember the street protests, the op-eds, the academic denunciations, the UN statements all rebuking Israel’s retaliation against Hamas-controlled Gaza. Rewind a couple of years to an earlier Israel-Hamas war, and the international reaction was similarly vociferous. Going back many years, the pattern holds firm. But if you go back far enough, the picture is radically different. Before about 1967, international opinion largely favored Israel. People marched in the streets not to denounce, but to endorse Israel’s self-defense against its militant Arab neighbors. Editorials in major publications voiced their backing, and so did leading intellectuals. So what happened since then to bring about this sea change?

In a perceptive new book, Making David Into Goliath, Joshua Muravchik retraces how international opinion turned so sharply against Israel. My review of that book appears in the Journal of International Security Affairs. Also, in a new podcast episode, I talked with Dr. Muravchik about his new book.

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