Israel Shahak was a remarkable man. Born in the Warsaw ghetto and a survivor of Belsen, Shahak arrived in Israel in 1945. Brought up under Jewish Orthodoxy and Hebrew culture, he consistently opposed the expansion of the borders of Israel from 1967.

In this extraordinary and highly acclaimed book, Shahak embarks on a provocative study of the extent to which the secular state of Israel has been shaped by religious orthodoxies of an invidious and potentially lethal nature. Drawing on the Talmud and rabbinical laws, Shahak argues that the roots of Jewish chauvinism and religious fanaticism must be understood before it is too late.

Written from a humanitarian viewpoint by a Jewish scholar, this is a rare and highly controversial criticism of Israel that will both excite and disturb readers worldwide.

In this controversial work, acclaimed Israeli writer and human rights campaigner Israel Shahak, and American scholar Norton Mezvinsky, examine the history and consequences of Jewish fundamentalism in Israel. This new edition, fully updated throughout with new chapters and a new introduction, is aimed at anyone who wants a full understanding of the way religious extremism has affected the political development of the modern Israeli state. Jewish fundamentalism in Israel, as shown in the activities of religious settlers, is of great political importance. The authors trace its history and development, examining the various different strains, and identify the messianic tendency as the most dangerous. Shahak and Mezvinsky place the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin in the context of what the authors see as a tradition of punishments and killings of those Jews perceived to be heretics. The authors argue that Jewish fundamentalism is essentially hostile to democracy because it opposes equality for all citizens and therefore it poses a considerable threat to democracy in Israel.

Israel's foreign policy is perceived to be essentially a defensive one by the international community. Why then is it the only nuclear power which refuses to sign the Non-Poliferation Treaty? What are its true foreign and nuclear policies?;Using the Hebrew press as his main source, veteran human rights campaigner Israel Shahak reveals Israel's strategic foreign policy as presented through its own domestic media: ie what other Israeli Jews are told. He argues that the Israeli government, with the support of the US Jewish lobby, are conducting a global policy aiming to control virtually the whole of the Middle East for their own purposes.