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History Upside Down
History Upside Down: The Roots of Palestinian Fascism and the Myth of Israeli Aggression, is a book by David Meir-Levi, professor of archaeology, Near Eastern history, and Middle Eastern history at San Jose State University[1][2] about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Meir-Levi argues that Israel and Zionism have become the targets of antisemitic historical negationism by Arabic and Muslim bigots. ContentHistory Upside Down is divided into two sections. The first provides a history of the Arab-Israeli conflict and contemporary Middle Eastern antisemitism, including the collaboration of Amin al-Husseini and the Muslim Brotherhood with Nazi Germany, the post-war rise of antisemitic jihadists like Sayyid Qutb, and the establishment of Hamas. Meir-Levi examines the influence of unifying identities such as Islamic extremism and pan-Arabism as antisemitic motivators, as well as international relationships to the Axis Powers and Soviet Union. Meir-Levi argues that Soviet Union propaganda transformed the image of Israel from an underdog into a perceived colonial oppressor.[3] The second half of the book is dedicated to "dissect[ing] the myths [Palestinian fascism] has created to justify this long aggression."[4] These chapters address and reject the common understanding of events relating to Israeli settlement, the Nakba, and the Deir Yassin massacre. ReceptionThe work had a mixed reception. Political commentator and Middle East historian Asaf Romirowsky wrote in the Middle East Quarterly journal that History Upside Down "provides a valuable guide for those who wish to understand one important aspect of the Arab-Israeli conflict—the battle over the conflict's historical narrative," and that "Meir-Levi's book attempts to unearth the historical root problems of defending Israel; he shows how doing so has become increasingly difficult as a result of the intellectualization of the debate."[5] Writing for the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, George L. Simpson, professor of history at High Point University, offered a mixed review of the book. Simpson contends that Meir Levi's argument is persuasive that the Arab-Israeli conflict is an existential conflict not constrained to modern political definitions. However, Simpson argues that Meir-Levi could have used more scholarly sourcing and painted the topic with more nuance.[6] In a 2008 review by Book News, which summarizes scholarly works, the book is outlined as "presenting a highly selective portrait of the history of Palestinian nationalism that highlights any connections to Nazism, Communism, and/or Islamism" and in an effort to deflect criticism of Israel and blame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on "irrational Palestinian anti-Semitism", while "denying any genuine Palestinian political, social, and economic grievances".[7] According to Richard Kemp, Meir-Levi argues that propaganda of the Soviet Union transformed the image of Israel from an underdog into a perceived colonial oppressor. Further, Meir-Levi claims that the Palestinian movement is the "only national movement for political self-determination in the entire world, and across all of world history, to have the destruction of a sovereign state and the genocide of a people".[8][why?] References
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