An incredibly important work that will challenge any progressive or liberal person. This book challenges some of American society's most basic and unaddressed hypocrisies and contradictions, especially as it pertains to Palestine and its liberation struggles.

This book is a good starting place if you don't know much about the history of the occupation of Palestine. The book strikes somewhat of a weird tone because it feels written to not upset liberal sensitivities too much but does expect you to come in with some knowledge of the conflict. A book I would definitely recommend to liberal friends as a starting point for realizing this isn't a fringe issue and that Republicans and Democrats are both complicit.

In four essays, Except for Palestine explores four issues: The Right to Exist, Criminalizing BDS, Trumped-Up Policy, and The Crisis in Gaza, with the overarching point of showing how the United States has continually supported Israel’s occupation, irrespective of the political party of the politicians in office.

I have a lot of conflicting feelings about this book, because I walked away from it with a lot of vocabulary and context that I was missing before, and I am glad I read it when I did. I believe that, as a whole, this provided a good overview of why more Americans should support the Palestinian cause, and how bipartisan support of Israel in the United States is clearly tied to Palestinian suffering. But, it was a frustrating reading experience for me. It did not meet my expectations based on the title and blurb, and it ultimately would have benefited from a clearer audience and purpose, and better organization.

Since it was a book of essays, they were mainly focused on giving just enough context to make the point of each essay. This meant some historical context was glossed over for later essays, even when I think the reader would have benefited from having that information at an earlier time.

Though the organization of information was unconventional, I think the main issue I had with the book was their attempt to frame this as a call for moral righteousness for liberals. Near the end, they make a claim that “our overwhelming silence is a betrayal of the noble, definitive ideals that liberals and progressives profess to hold dear.” Personally, I think this is speaking too highly of liberals (who are supporting American colonialism & imperialism in many ways!!!). And by lumping together progressives and liberals in this way, it made their claim less clear.

The book also did not go so far as to claim that we should have a internationalist approach in general. I figured a book called Except for Palestine would spend more time proving that Palestine was the exception, especially since I think it is, unfortunately, one of many examples of how people exclude other countries’ struggles based on lack of information, or unquestioning trust in the narratives we’ve been told.

My review is here https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/amp/society/2021/2/11/except-for-palestine-the-limits-of-progressive-politics

An incredibly well researched text exploring the hypocritical view of liberals against freeing Palestine. While non-academic readers may find this topic tone hard to adjust to, I do think the direct and succinct argument and page count will appeal to readers wanting more on this topic.

Hill and Plitnick dive headfirst into discussions of human rights, the concept of peace, and the state of liberals. This book is a lively, encouraging call to action without feeling performative. I am always trying to purchase timely, nuanced discussions like this for my library's non-fiction section. This book is focused, intelligent, and leaves you in your head. I'm excited to recommend this to readers at my library!

Marc Lamont Hill is such a strong person for standing up for Palestine and the Palestinian people. He put his own career on the line to stand up for the truth, and I appreciate the work he put into this book. We need more people like him.

‘Except for Palestine’ is a well written and thought-provoking book.

It looks at the one-sidedness of the US’ policies with regards to Israel and Palestine.

The authors state that while Trump’s actions might seem unpredictable, his favoring of right-wing Israeli policies is not an anomaly. He and his team are simply acting on the policies long held by both liberal and conservative US governments. For example, when Trump decided to move US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, cut off UNRWA aid to Palestine, stop 25 million in aid to hospitals in East Jerusalem, recognize the illegally captured Golan Heights as belonging to Israel and to support Pompeo’s claim that occupied land in West Bank was ‘legal.’

According to the authors, US presidents, both Republican and Democrat have followed this path of hypocrisy - one policy for everyone else and another for Palestine.

The authors support their argument by giving examples such as, 2014, when over a thousand Palestinian civilians were killed in Operation Cast Lead, the US Congress cited Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’ and the Obama government helped to bury the damning Goldstone report. Also in 2018, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer were silent when over 700 Palestinians were shot in the peaceful Great March of Return.

There are many people who, for personal gain or ideology, have done more than just stood by and are more culpable, but the authors chose to shine the spotlight on liberals who claim the moral high ground. As they pointed out even Obama despite his soaring rhetoric, did little to correct injustices in Palestine and rewarded Israel with the largest ever amount of military aid ever given to another country, 38 billion USD.

Thanks to NetGallery for providing this e-book in exchange for an unbiased review.

This was a wonderful read. It was also refreshing to read that a book that proves Palestine is constantly turned away. We are in a world that demands justice until Palestine is mentioned. It’s frustrating

I had the chance to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to #netgalley and I'm so thankful I did. The book is so well researched, straight to the point and asks the most daring of questions; why is it that the liberals of the US, both private citizens and public officials alike, call for justice and peace everywhere in the world "Except for Palestine". Why is it that when it comes to the lives and basic human rights of Palestinians does the world suddenly turn a blind eye? My personal opinion is that Israel can give master classes in spinning realities and controlling the public narrative but after reading the book you may have your own opinions on the subject but one thing is for sure, it won't leave you indifferent to the topic. This book forms a bold call to action, a wake up call of sorts, to the realities of people who were made into refugees on their own land. Hats off to Marc and Mitchell on this work!