Defending Israel: The Story of My Relationship with My Most Challenging Client

Lawyer Dershowitz (The Case Against BDS: Why Singling Out Israel for Boycott Is Anti-Semitic and Anti-Peace) clunkily combines memoir and advocacy for the state of Israel in this look at his decades as a highly visible defender of the country. He starts in 1948, when he was 10 and the modern state of Israel declared its independence, and continues through the April 2019 Israeli elections. While he doesn’t shy away from criticizing Israeli policies, such as the building of settlements in the West Bank, he acidly rebuts criticisms of the Jewish state, noting that, contrary to accusations, Israel has made repeated and rejected peace proposals that would have returned most of the occupied territories to the Palestinians. The other strain of the book recounts personal experience, much of it with big names; Dershowitz recounts being asked by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu if O.J. Simpson was really guilty, answering his cellphone while meeting with Barack Obama in the Oval Office, and playing basketball with Ralph Lauren. He sometimes assumes knowledge about Israel’s history that not all readers will have, and those who do have it may be put off by the focus on anecdotes about famous people. To achieve Dershowitz’s advocacy goals, an update of his 2003 book The Case for Israel might have been more effective. (Sept.)