On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization

I read all of Murray's books (Yes, including the old ones). This one is once again extremely well written. But it's not a pleasant read whatsoever. It gave me nightmares. However, please read it. I believe it to be one of the most important books about the conflict in Israel.

Douglas Murray trains his intellect and sharp eye on the genocidal atrocities commited by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and the events that followed. The author knows his subject, ( unlike many others who no problem opining and bloviating anyway) and presents an historical perspective which is right on target. He knows what is evil and what is good. He crams a lot into this slender volume, a lot that needs to be said and is now a record.

Douglas Murray presents an important and difficult topic in an easy to read style. Many of us have heard the stories from Oct 7 but to read specific vignettes as Douglas presents them in a rather personal manner makes the reality of Oct 7 and the aftermath that much more difficult to accept. The book also puts into perspective the false narrative surrounding a possible two state solution. I recommend the book - it reads like a novel and is an important read.

A brilliant and important documentary story of the horrors of October 7. Anyone who wants to know in detail what was there, with all the difficulty involved, can get it in the book. Interviews with a large number of survivors, and details about the planning and the shortcomings that occurred there. A must-read.

Sharp, fearless, and deeply thought-provoking. Murray tackles complex moral questions with clarity and conviction. The book confronts the horrors of October 7, exposes the war waged by Iran and its radical proxies on Israel and Western civilization, honors acts of extraordinary heroism, and dissects the dangerous rise of protests that seek to excuse terror. Highly recommend.

For those who have not been able to zoom in on all the events that happened shortly before and after October 7 this is a great read, it glues the many events together from different perspectives and gives a lot of food for thought.However, I live in Israel, I have listened for hours to news and updates and debates on october 7 and afterwards all day long, and read whatever news article I could read.Through the book I relived all the horror of this war and the madness of all the protests and the support for Hamas and Jihad by queers, LBGTQ and young people, from all layers of society. While I believe anti semitism is one of the motivations, and the usual anti-Israel bias and the empathy for the victim regardless of its root cause , I was hoping for a more in depth analysis on this phenomena.Overall, a great read, and Douglas is certainly one of my favorite reporters and authors. This book is a mirror to our society, it shows Israel not as a monster, it doesn't sugarcoat either. My recommendation as complementary read to this book is Ghosts of a Holy War by Yardena Schwartz.

This is a must read. It is incredibly well written. In today’s mixed up, upside down world, Murray separates the moral from the evil.

For anyone who has criticized this book as being pro-Israel propaganda, how about reading the book first and seeing if there is anything you can refute with source-based facts?This is a valuable resource, accessible to everyone. Yes, Murray brings several heartbreaking and disturbing accounts of the attacks on Oct. 7th, but he also gives a brief outline of the modern history of the region and the cultures of the Middle East. He then dives into the proliferation of overt anti-semitism on college campuses and around the world, exploring how Western societies have arrived at a place where harassing fellow classmates and citizens simply because they are Jewish has become acceptable in universities and beyond.Ultimately, this is about the growing number of national skirmishes and international conflicts between democracies and "death cults" and how decades of teaching Western children to despise their own countries is now paying off for those who wish them gone.What happened on Oct. 7, 2023 should have been regarded as another 9/11: a brutal wake-up call to every democracy in the world. Murray's book is just an introduction to the massive tome he could write about this subject. How it will end depends entirely on how many citizens of the West open their eyes to what's really going on.Note: I especially appreciated Murray's personal stories of dinner with friends in Israel, meeting victims of terror attacks, going to Gaza and Ramallah... It is his honesty and humanity that make Douglas Murray exceptional.