In this book, as in all his other works, Ilan Pappe subjects Zionism to rigorous critical analysis. He argues that it was not a national liberation movement for the Jews, but rather a settler-colonial project imposed on the Palestinians by force, with the support of Western powers. Based on this understanding, Pappe concludes that the legitimacy of the State of Israel does not exist even within its original borders, let alone those expanded after 1967. In short, the establishment of Israel is linked to a grave injustice perpetrated against the Palestinians. To rectify this injustice, Pappe calls for a peaceful, humane, and socialist alternative to the Zionist ideology: the establishment of a binational state that guarantees equal rights for all its citizens, regardless of religion or ethnicity.

This book was written in the wake of the bloody events unfolding in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, attack. It concludes with a chapter that examines this event within its historical and moral context, emphasizing that it did not occur in a vacuum, but rather as a reaction to a century of Zionist settler colonialism supported by Western imperialism. According to the logic of settler colonialism, its ultimate goal is the removal of the indigenous population—an idea underscored by Noam Chomsky, who co-authored a book on Gaza with Pappe, when he described settler colonialism as “the most extreme and brutal form of imperialism.” From this perspective, the devastating Israeli attack on Gaza is not an isolated event, but rather an extension and continuation of a systematic policy of ethnic cleansing. Pappe argues that, in the case of Gaza specifically, Israel has not only committed ethnic cleansing but has gone further, perpetrating genocide, the most heinous of all crimes. As the Arabic proverb says, "What begins crooked remains crooked."

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