Many arguments about Israel rest on three contested claims: that Jews lack a historical connection to the land, that Israel is not a liberal democracy, and that anti-Zionism can be separated from antisemitism. Strauss tests each claim against the historical record, beginning with Jewish life and sovereignty in the region from antiquity to the rise of modern Zionism. This broader history draws a crucial distinction between criticizing Israel’s government and denying the legitimacy of Israel itself.
Barry Strauss
Books
How can we make better decisions—especially when the stakes are highest? In Judgment Calls, historian Zachary Shore tackles this timeless puzzle with intellectual daring and uncommon range.
November 1, 2026
Articles
The world breathed a sigh of relief when, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month—November 11, 1918—the guns fell silent. The Great War, as World War One was then known, was over in Europe.
November 11, 2026
Articles
This Monday marks thirty-six years since the beginning of the end of the Cold War. In the excerpt below from Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World, I recall watching the Iron Curtain part while serving in the Second Armored Cavalry Regiment, a unit charged with border surveillance and control along the East-West German border and the West Germany-Czechoslovakia border.
November 10, 2026