'Israel on Trial': US Judge Roy K. Altman takes on accusations against the Jewish state - review

US Judge Roy K. Altman, a distinguished legal figure, has authored "Israel on Trial: Examining the History, the Evidence, and the Law." In this book, Altman applies rigorous legal methodology to scrutinize six prominent accusations leveled against Israel.

Altman, a graduate of Columbia University and former federal prosecutor, was appointed the youngest district judge for the Southern District of Florida. He subjects allegations such as Jews being colonists, the State of Israel's illegitimate founding, preventing a Palestinian state, occupying Gaza, practicing apartheid, and committing genocide to a forensic examination. He uses factual, historical, archeological, and genealogical evidence to challenge the basis of these charges.

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the legal methodology judges, juries and lawyers have used for centuries.

The book's importance, according to the review, lies in its provision of a fact-based counter-narrative. Altman's conclusions, while potentially not swaying committed anti-Zionists, offer a vital resource for ordinary Jewish individuals facing antisemitic hatred and for the largely uncommitted global population exposed to constant streams of misinformation about Israel.

Altman meticulously dissects the definition of a "colonist" to address the first charge, demonstrating the deep historical and continuous Jewish connection to the Land of Israel predating Islam and Roman rule. The review suggests that "Israel on Trial" serves as an antidote to the pervasive anti-Israel tropes circulating today, offering a clear-eyed examination of the evidence.

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the Jews were living in (and often governing) the Land of Israel thousands of years before Islam existed, hundreds of years before the Roman emperor Hadrian invented the word Palaestina… and long before Arab Muslims first invaded the land in AD 636.