Review of B. Netanyahu's Fighting Terrorism

Benjamin Netanyahu's Fighting Terrorism in not as packed with insight as I had hoped. The book was written in 1995 and reissued in 2001, after 9/11. The post-9/11 part of the book was confined to reproducing a speech he gave, which I recall seeing on TV. The book severely need updating, to the extent that I would say that it was irresponsible to have reissued it without adding stuff. The book reads like ancient history. In the beginning of the book there is talk about an impending "moment of truth" that the US has not yet faced vis-a-vis terrorism. That moment came, and everything is different. The book is old.

That having been said, in the book Netanyahu did predict Afghanistan, and he also called the Iran problem, which if he is right will only get worse. He also has a few good lines about the Soviet connection to terrorism during the cold war.

He has a decent chapter about terrorism and defense and civil rights. He makes the argument that states have the obligation to protect, and that citizens have the right to protection. The citizens also have certain civil liberties. Moreover the infringements of civil rights will likely only effect a few people, wheras the right to protection extends to many. Therefore, the duty to protect, and the right to protection of the many outweigh the civil liberties that will effect the few.

Also, the book annoyingly has no index.

Otherwise the book looks like it was meant to convince some people to take terrorism seriously. It looks like it did not succeed. Now we of course do not need his warning.