Israel Alone

Bernard-Henri Lévy’s Israel Alone is a passionate and outraged cri-de-coeur, about the loneliness of Israel and the tragedy of October 7, starting with Lévy’s eyewitness account of the pogroms the day after the massacre. Weaving in his 50 years of experience with Israel, this new work analyzes global responses to October 7, the new virulent waves the oldest hatred in the world: anti-Semitism, why Israel is waging this existential war against barbarism alone, and what’s at stake for Israel and the world.

On October 8, 2024, Bernard-Henri Lévy flew to Israel to report for international newspapers and bear witness to the unprecedented pogroms committed by Hamas. Israel Alone begins here and weaves in Lévy’s 50 years of experience on the ground in Israel, from his first trip in 1967, his experiences writing on all the conflicts since, Lévy’s participation in various peace plans and contacts with all the Israeli leaders from Menachem Begin to Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon and Yitzak Rabin.

From his unique philosophical and humanist perspective, Lévy analyzes the ultimate evil unleashed on Israel on October 7 and delves into how the Islamic Republic of Iran, Russia, radical Islamist groups, Turkey and China have played roles and profited from this tragedy.

The book addresses how October 7, though historic in scope, became, within weeks, a ‘detail’ in the global consciousness amid a worldwide eruption of anti-Semitism, cloaked in anti-Zionism.

Lévy deconstructs the arguments of the mobs yelling for “cease-fire now” without the release of all hostages and debunks the arguments of those who demand that October 7 be seen within a greater “context.”

Lévy’s meditation on the soul of Zionism and Israel shows why this war is existential, not only for Israel but for the global West.

And yet, despite the urgency and critical nature of the fight, Israel takes on this war alone.

Lévy analyzes why this is so and why Israel is more alone, than ever.

His 48th book, and his most important to date, Israel Alone is a passionate call from a longtime defender of human rights for a shift in public discourse on Israel and a guide for all rational and free thinkers to combat the greatest barbarism and obscurantism of our time.