Is D’Souza’s book anti-Israel? Piatak and Wolfe disagree

Tom Piatak, whose review of Dinesh D’Souza’s book in The American Conservative I discussed a couple of weeks ago, informs me that, contrary to what Alan Wolfe writes in his own review of D’Souza in the New York Times (discussed at VFR yesterday), the book “is not anti-Israel and does not call for America to ally itself with Moslem states against Israel. The reviewer in the New York Times is simply wrong.” Mr. Piatak continues:

In fact, D’Souza writes, at p. 283 of the review copy, that we should not equivocate to Moslems about US support for Israel and to instead tell them forthrightly that “Yes, we are on Israel’s side, and there are reasons for it,” including the fact that Israel is a democracy, that Americans are much more comfortable with Jews than with Moslems, and that Israel has a potent lobby working on its behalf.

I wrote back:

Well, that is just amazing. First, I hope you realize that every assertion I made about D’Souza’s supposed anti-Israel position I stated in a tentative fashion, saying that it was “apparently” so, and that it’s only a “partial paraphrase” and still must be confirmed, and so on. I was also amazed that Wolfe would report such a bombshell without commenting on it. I wrote to him about it …

Here is my e-mail to Alan Wolfe sent yesterday, the 17th:

Dear Prof. Wolfe

I just read your review of D’Souza for the NYT. I had previously seen some quotes from the book which I had discussed at my website, but some of his positions that you mention are even wackier than what I had seen. Align with Muslims against Israel? As soon as I saw that, I thought: Has D’Souza left AEI?

So I just went to the AEI website, and D’Souza is no longer listed among its scholars and fellows. Incredible.

However, that is such an incredible position for him to take that I wish you had provided the full original quote, as well as commented on how amazing it is for a neocon to say something like this….

Alan Wolfe wrote back:

Thanks for writing. D’Souza’s advice, if followed, would be far more dangerous to the existence of the state of Israel than anything written by Tony Judt or Walt and Mearsheimer. I do not see how any neo-conservative supportive of the state of Israel could endorse anything this man has written, and I look forward to attacks on this book from honest voices among them.

Today, the 18th, I forwarded Mr. Piatak’s remarks to Mr. Wolfe and requested that he provide the complete passage from the D’Souza book from which he derived his characterization of D’Souza’s position:

… We should drop our alliance with decadent Europe and “should openly ally” with “governments that reflect Muslim interests, not … Israeli interests.”

Mr. Wolfe replied:

I am afraid that Tom Piatak is quite wrong. D’Souza argues (1) that we should support traditional Muslims states; (2) that in doing so, we should form an alliance with them in just the way bin Laden, in his warped view, has formed one with the American left: (3) that, yes, these Muslims states are hostile to Israel, but (4) we should just be candid with them.

Piatak evidently takes D’Souza’s comments about being forthright and candid seriously. I find it a shabby way in which D’Souza, recognizing that his recommendations, if followed, would lead to the destruction of Israel, simply backpaddles in a totally unconvincing manner.

This book is much more hostile to Israel than anything written by Israel’s leftist critics. Read the book and see for yourself.

I wrote back to Mr. Wolfe:

Thank you. Very interesting. Your account makes sense. But clearly, since DD himself seems to be ambiguous or contradictory, and since this is a matter of the implied consequences of his recommendations rather than of any explicit recommendation (such as his recommendation that we ally ourselves with traditional Muslims, about which there is no ambiguity), this is a matter of interpretation and anyone who wants to form an opinion on this point will have to read the book for himself.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 18, 2007 01:35 PM | Send