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

I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us.Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us.That is Eric Hoffer, not Douglas Murray, but it states a prominent theme of Murray’s book, “On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel And The Future Of Civilization.”Murray sees Israel as being on the front line of the struggle between Islamism and Western values. In its tyrannical ambitions and barbaric actions – if not yet, thank God, in its threatening power -- Murray warns that Islamism is the full equal of Nazism and Stalinism. Its obscurantism allows not a mite of compassion and humanity. It hangs homosexuals from cranes and murders women and girls who allow a bit of their hair to be visible. It prescribes one punishment for those who can no longer abide its totalitarian belief system: death.Having gone to Israel in the immediate aftermath of October 7, Murray powerfully shows us the stakes in this war. He paints a harrowing picture of the atrocities committed by Hamas, its terrorist allies and Gazan civilians on October 7. I’ve read many accounts of the October 7 aftermath, but nothing compares, in detail and vividness, with the one provided by Murray.It’s not easy reading, as Murray omits no detail of the perpetrators’ limitless sadism. But these are necessary details that serve to remind us of what we have fought and what the Israelis are now fighting as unrecognized champions of civilization and the West.Murray clearly rejects the oft-repeated bromide that terrorism cannot be defeated militarily. In its response to the Second Intifada, Israel showed that it can be. In so doing, Israel answered the question that Murray says had bothered him for years: Whether a “feeble, sybaritic” West can defeat a movement that constantly and fiercely proclaims its preference for death over life.Israel’s soldiers, he says, fight not in the love of death, “but exactly because they love life.” They fight for the survival of their families, their nation, and their people, and for their own chance to live meaningful lives, which they know would be forfeit absent their willingness to fight for it.On the other side of the equation, as discussed above, is the enemy’s motivation. Is the morale of Islamist fanatics who claim to aspire to death subject to diminution? Though devoid of humanity, Islamists are still human beings, so I believe it is.Death is more easily subject to ideological philosophizing when it is not in immediate prospect than when it threatens nearby. I’m skeptical of Islamist claims to be indifferent to death when it hovers imminently.That leads me to think that the at some point, consistent and catastrophic military defeat will lessen Islamists’ thirst for jihad. But whether or not that effect is achieved, it would appear to be in the manifest interest of non-terrorist states that Israel prevails in its war with Hamas.That raises the question of the almost incomprehensible lack of support for Israel from western publics and institutions, to which Murray devotes a major portion of his book. Especially shocking are the demonstrations and statements of support for Hamas from students at many of our supposedly “elite” colleges and universities.What is wrong with these students? How can young people who have grown up with every conceivable privilege, and done well enough in school to have been winners in the college admissions derby, have failed to absorb the simplest of distinctions between right and wrong? It’s a puzzling question and one whose answer is of great importance to our society’s future. Whie documenting the dismaying extent of this phenomenon, Murray does not offer any thoughts as to its possible causes.Surprisingly, Murray’s year of involvement with the October 7 atrocity did not leave him entirely devoid of optimism. As noted, he was inspired by the response of the Israeli public.I have often marveled at the ability of our country during the Second World War to so quickly turn a nation of peaceful men leading ordinary lives into the powerful fighting force of United States Army. Could we do it again? Let’s hope that in the event the reaction of our people is the same as that of the Israeli public.

This book is precisely what one should expect from journalists with a strong moral compass. It is well-researched and presented in a way that is easy to read and understand. Since October 7th, I've listened to many interviews and podcasts featuring Douglas Murray, including the ones promoting this book. So I didn't have many "aha" moments while reading. Still, much new information brought home many of the points he has spent almost 600 days making, especially regarding the responses to these attacks by the 18-24 demographic in the West.It's also very refreshing to read a book written by someone who has been to the region and has spent time with both the Palestinians and Israelis, before the attacks on October 7th.If I had any criticism, it is that I wanted more; I wanted to hear some more about the people he met while researching for this book. Not the vague 2-page non-interview with Bibi Netanyahu, but the people he broke bread with in the Druze community, the members of the Christian Arab communities, the Palestinians from Hebron and Ramallah, the Israeli people on the left, center, and right, the soldiers and survivors, and the returned hostages and their families. He has access that many people do not have; it would be nice to hear more about the people embroiled in this horrific conflict, especially those who don't have a platform for their voices to be heard.

2025 isn't half over, but I doubt it will bring us another book as compelling as On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization. It was written in haste, so we have the terrorists coming in on "hand gliders", monsters that "pray" upon their victims, several sentences repeated, and some that seem to make no sense on first reading. No matter. It will be a best-seller, and it should be.Douglas Murray was English-born and -educated, and he published his first book in his second year at Oxford. (However, he identifies himself as a New Yorker in this one.) He flew to Israel on October 8, 2023, the day after the atrocities in <I>kibbutzim</I> on Israel's border with Gaza, when some two thousand people were shot, stabbed, raped, and burned alive by Hamas soldiers and Gazan civilians who gleefully posted the videos online, using the victims' phones and social media accounts. The glee of the assassins was too often echoed by college professors and students in the US and Europe, even before Israel retaliated on Gaza, a war that Murray (and I) believe is perfectly justified. I downloaded the Kindle edition at ten o'clock in the morning and finished the book before I went to bed. It's hypnotic. Read it!