Pre-release Praise

"This remarkable work – part history, part psychology, part sociology, part burning prophecy – has the salubrious, cleansing, and transformative power to shame. It should shame Jews, it should shame Gentiles; it should shame Europe, America, and the Arab world. It should shame every individual and every nation that pretends to own a conscience or claims an instinct for honest insight. In these extraordinary pages, Kenneth Levin writes – with uncommon clarity and brilliance – not so much about the great outer wilderness of anti-Jewish perfidy as about the internal self-mystifications and self-denials that annihilate Jewish dignity and Jewish independence. The Oslo Syndrome may be the most important manifesto of our generation, an indispensable analysis that explains the present and may yet save the future."

— Cynthia Ozick


"That Arafat would honor what he undertook to do in the Oslo accords is but one false belief referenced in the commanding title of Kenneth Levin's new book. Levin traces many others, several influential throughout Jewish history, that are heir to the overarching delusion, namely, that Jews can control their destiny by behaving as their besiegers demand of them. It is this oxymoron, flowing through centuries of Jewish political theory, that Levin outlines so deftly. Levin's credentials are evident throughout this treatise; he is both an accomplished historian and a highly regarded psychiatrist. This is a scholarly and well-written work, appropriately provocative, that will inform those who are undecided, and encourage those it criticizes to rethink their assumptions."

— Fred Frankel, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School


"Part political history of Israel and part study of the relationship of Jews to the Jewish state of Israel, this hugely interesting, highly informed, and very timely work is a must read for all those looking to understand the self-loathing that exists among some Jews when it comes to attitudes to Israel and wider Jewish issues."

— Professor Efraim Karsh, Head, Mediterranean Studies Programme, King's College, University of London

"Controversial and hard-hitting while avoiding rhetorical excess, The Oslo Syndrome is an indispensible contribution to understanding the roots of the Oslo process. With loving exasperation, Kenneth Levin helps us understand why some Jews, both in Israel and the Diaspora, are incapable of identifying and resisting the current war against Jewish legitimacy. Whether or not one agrees with all its premises, this is a book that anyone who cares about Israel should read and re-read."

— Yossi Klein Halevi, Senior Fellow, the Shalem Center, and Israel correspondent for The New Republic

"As citizens of a country under perpetual siege, Israelis live with more stress than most and, like others subjected to chronic abuse, could benefit from the attention of an able and caring analyst. Dr. Kenneth Levin, who holds advanced degrees in both history and psychiatry, offers such scrutiny in THE OSLO SYNDROME, a broad-ranging study of Jewish responses to life under conditions of marginalization, denigration, and endless assault. The author's focus on delusional, self-denying thinking as a dominant Israeli response to the aggression directed against them will not win him friends everywhere, but no one interested in the welfare of the Jewish state should forego the challenge of this well-informed, forcefully argued, and highly provocative book."

— Alvin H. Rosenfeld, Professor of English and Jewish Studies and Director of the Institute for Jewish Culture and the Arts, Indiana University

"Ken Levin explains why so many Jews and Israelis delude themselves about the malevolent intentions of their enemies. His analysis is persuasive, insightful, illuminating. Readers of the Oslo Syndrome will better know how to prevent the recurrence of a perilous political process that endangered Israel and the world."

- Ruth Wisse, Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard University