"Catch the Jew" - an undercover-investigation in Israel

[DetlefK]

http://jewishtheater.org/Jewish%20Theater/Alone-Among-Jews.htm

Tuvia Tenenbom was born in Israel as the son of a Rabbi but emigrated 33 years ago. Last year he returned undercover as a german tourist named "Tobias" to ask some questions without raising suspicion.

Some of the things he witnessed: (excerpts from a german article about the book)
http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/literatur/tuvia-tenenbom-in-israel-allein-unter-juden-a-1004641.html

- The duplicity of the palestinian leaders: To the public they pretend to be moderate but in private conversations they sympathize with the Nazis: It's too bad that Rommel didn't manage to conquer the land that later became Israel. The Palestinians even have a nickname for Hitler: "Abu Ali".

- His admiration for the Palestinians because they are proud of their culture.

- His disappointment over the Jews for transforming into a culture of self-hatred: Anti-Israelism (including falsification of historic facts!) as a tool for Jews to gain international respect and to overcome century-old antipathies.

- That describing the phenomenon Israel through its occupation and the apartheid is so one-dimensional, that it's almost just a geopolitical counterpart to anti-semitism.

- The european tendency to unquestioningly accept palestinian viewpoints and to reflexively doubt israeli viewpoints.

- The european self-righteousness to split the world into Good and Evil, to favor one side, and then to call it a job well done.

- Tenenbom interviewed the jewish author Amos Oz. The Europeans don't like him because he's an israeli right-winger. The israeli government doesn't like him because he's an israeli left-winger.

- Amos Oz complained that Israel cannot be split into Good and Evil because both sides have completely valid claims to the same land.

- The inspiration for the book-title comes from an observation Tenenbom made: In his youth, the Europeans came to Israel to lie on the beach. Now, they run around, looking for an anecdote about a bad Jew.