Noa Tishby - Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth

NOA TISHBY

ISRAEL

This is not your Bubbies history book. BILL MAHER, host of Real Time with Bill Maher

A SIMPLE GUIDE TO THE MOST MISUNDERSTOOD COUNTRY ON EARTH

In a funny, surprising, and straightforward voice, Noa Tishby rolls the entire history of Israel into a blunt and insightful read. The perfect anti-textbook for anyone who slept through class, this is not your Bubbies history book.

Bill Maher, host of Real Time with Bill Maher

Noa Tishby writes with wit and authority. This is a fascinatingand very movingbook that should be read by anyone for whom Israel is a mystery.

Aaron Sorkin, award-winning screenwriter of The West Wing and The Social Network

With passion, humor, and deep intimacy, Noa Tishby reveals the real Israel that continually eludes even many so-called experts. Refreshingly straightforward, Tishby manages to be simple but not simplistic. She knows that real love requires honesty, and so she confronts Israel in its sometimes maddening complexity.

Yossi Klein Halevi, senior fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and author of the New York Times bestseller Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor

In this book Noa does what she does best, rising to the challenge of expressing a rooted, spirited, and often personal defense of her homeland when so many others have shied away. Good people like Noa do not remain silent when all else around them is failing. They speak up. Now that we have her toolkit, so must we.

Maajid Nawaz, author of Radical and coauthor of Islam and the Future of Tolerance

Noa Tishbys contemporary examination of Israels past, present, and future is the book weve been waiting for. With insight, intelligence, levity, and humor, she reintroduces us to a place we thought we knew so well. I found myself educated, inspired, and ultimately moved to tears as she reclaims this complicated state in the name of its daughters and fights to restore its reputation for the next generation.

Sarah Treem, writer, director, Golden Globe winner, and creator of The Affair

Noa Tishby bravely provides a guide to understanding Israel through the personal story of her family. More than anything, this is a hopeful book that calls for a peaceful tomorrow through a courageous look at the past.

Gideon Raff, creator of Prisoners of War and The Spy and Emmy-winning screenwriter and executive producer of Homeland

Noa Tishby is whip-smart, charming, funny, frank, and fearless. So is her book. Here is the real story of Israel told by a natural storyteller. Touching and captivating.

Rabbi David Wolpe, author of David: The Divided Heart

Everything to do with this subject is controversial, but Noa Tishby doesnt shy away. In fact, she leans into it with conviction (and good writing), making the book an engaging and provocative invitation to debate.

Rodrigo Garcia, screenwriter and director

Heartfelt, funny, and genuinefor anyone confused by the furious debates about Israel, time spent with Noa Tishbys book feels less like a college class than like drinks with a smart and passionate friend.

Matti Friedman, New York Times op-ed contributor and author of Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel.

Noa Tishbys book is a powerful antidote to the widespread misunderstanding and willful misrepresentation that often obscures the truth about Israel. Much like the book itself, Noa is a fearless truth teller in an age of fashionable lies.

Congressman Ritchie Torres (D, NY15)

A timely and significant work, Tishbys Israel is essential reading for Arabs, Jews, Americans, and the rest of the world. As an Arab reader, I am a son of that region, and yet reading the book I learned a lot about my birthplace and saw the other side of the paradox that was invisible to me. This book is supported by hard factsnot for the purpose of argument or debate but, rather, to build bridges between the Jewish and Arab worlds. The result is a beautiful and inspiring human journey that allowed me to learn more about my birthplace, my precious Jewish neighbors, and our homeland.

Mosab Hassan Yousef, bestselling author of Son of Hamas and star of the documentary The Green Prince

Having lived in Jerusalem for two years, I can assure the outsider that it is not possible to understand the modern Jewish state without an insider to guide you. Noa Tishby has written this book from that perspective to update our understanding of Israel for the twenty-first century. This is an important book by an essential voice working to find the hidden order within the balagan (Hebrew for chaos) that is the common linchpin of the worlds 3.8 billion Abrahamic adherents.

Eric Weinstein, mathematician, managing director of Thiel Capital, and host of The Portal

Free Press

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Copyright 2021 by Noa Tishby

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Free Press Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Free Press hardcover edition April 2021

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Jacket design by Yoav Gati

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Tishby, Noa, 1977 author.

Title: Israel : a simple guide to the most misunderstood country on earth / Noa Tishby.

Description: New York : Free Press, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020045327 (print) | LCCN 2020045328 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982144937 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781982144944 (paperback) | ISBN 9781982144951 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Tishby, Noa, 1977 | IsraelHistory.

Classification: LCC DS117 .T57 2021 (print) | LCC DS117 (ebook) | DDC 956.94dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020045327

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020045328

ISBN 978-1-9821-4493-7

ISBN 978-1-9821-4495-1 (ebook)

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