On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization

• Author: Douglas Murray
• Genre: Nonfiction
• Publication Date: January 1, 2025
• Publisher: HarperCollins

In his travels through Israel and Gaza, #1 International Bestselling author Douglas Murray has seen the best and the worst humanity has to offer, and he has no trouble choosing a side.

Murray is not Jewish and before October 7, he had never lived in Israel. However, he objects to being lied to, and Israel has been on the receiving end of the biggest, deepest, longest lies in history. 

Israel’s commitment to fundamental Western values—capitalism, individual rights, democracy, and reason—has made it a beacon of progress in a region dominated by authoritarianism and extremism. Israel’s principles vividly contrast with the ideology of Hamas, which openly proclaims its love of death over life. With incisive moral clarity, On Democracies and Death Cults exposes how the campus left and international establishment confuse this conflict by:

• Calling on Israel for restraint and proportionality, while Hamas commits genocide.
• Slandering Israelis as white colonialists, while only a third of Israelis are Jews of European ancestry.
• Framing the conflict as oppressor vs. oppressed, when it is really between a thriving multi-ethnic democracy and a death cult bent on its annihilation. 

Drawing from intensive on-the-ground reporting in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon, Douglas Murray places the latest violence in its proper historical context. He takes readers on a harrowing journey through the aftermath of the October 7 massacre, piecing together the exclusive accounts from victims, survivors, and even the terrorists responsible for the atrocities. If left unchecked, misplaced sympathy could embolden forces that seek to undermine not only Israel, but all of Western civilization.

October 7th fundamentally altered the lives of Israelis, and ripple effects quickly spread around the world. Since we’re such a small population, it often only takes us two or three degrees of separation to find something or someone in common. 

For me, it only took one degree of separation to be connected to what happened at the Nova Peace rave—my family has known an Israeli family for four generations, and they’ve become chosen family. The young woman that I’m closest with was at the rave, and her brother is completing his compulsory military service. She was able to escape safely, but she had three friends that she was with taken hostage into Gaza, two of which were released in November of 2023, and the final one released last month just before the ceasefire broke down.

The impact of these events were and still are compounded by the way it feels like the world turned against the Israeli and Jewish victims before the dust had cleared, before all of the bodies were identified and tallied (that took ten months, BTW), and well in advance of any retaliation by Israel. Furthermore, I can’t help but think that if all the world leaders managed to stand up against terrorism, maybe that could have pressured Hamas to release the hostages. Instead, world leaders propped up antisemitism at every level.

Before October 7th, I had never heard of Douglas Murray, but he quickly became a familiar household name. I would catch snatches of him on news segments being posted all over social media, and he stands out as a wonderfully clear-eyed, ethical, and balanced journalist amidst a sea of misinformation. 

Murray is not Jewish or Israeli, and had no connection to any aspect of this conflict. He reveals that he has really done his historical and factual research when it comes to the various elements that comprise the Israel/Palestine/Hamas/Iranian proxies situation. Murray doesn’t shy away from sharing his visceral reaction to the events of October 7th, when he arrived in Israel to cover the war, yet still manages to provide dignity to the victims of this massacre.

The prevailing feeling that I got from this book was outrage, and I was glad to finally see non-Jews being able to see what we’ve been saying all along. Murray shares his professional outrage—at Hamas terrorists for being able to conceive of so much evil, at the world for not rising to support the victims of this massacre and rallying to get the hostages released. Hostages who have been held in inhumane conditions for 563 days with no contact with humanitarian organizations. Murray shares his own outrage at the media for the extensive disinformation and misinformation that has occurred. But he explores all of the ways in which the blatant media bias against Israelis and Jews has led to the immense gaslighting, misinformation, and increased violent attacks on Jews around the world.

This is the kind of book that everyone should read. The audiobook is narrated by Murray himself, and his emotional reaction to these horrific events comes through loud and clear. I highly recommend this book to everyone who is looking for more balanced and factual information than what mainstream media is offering us. And Murray has distinguished himself as a true ally, not just to Israelis and Jews, but on the side of democracy. He debunks common claims that aren’t based in any facts, and explores how Israel is a bastion of democracy in a sea of theocratic or authoritarian regimes. We should all be concerned about the fate of Israel, because it ties into the fate of Western democracy.

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