The Wall Street Journal had the bad sense and worse taste to print a sloppy kiss to Yossi Klein Halevi’s latest tract (probably paywalled). “Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor”.

Despite the title, the only possible audience for books like these are formed by lefty anti-Israel Jews. The conceit is false from the start. The letters aren’t to the terrorists on the other side, but to Jews unhappy with Israel, who read these as hectoring lectures about Jewish arrogance… aimed at other sorts of Jews.

The absurdity comes to a head with the final paragraph of a review that doesn’t just lick the book’s boots, but cleans off its shoelaces.

“In his “Note to the Reader,” Mr. Halevi writes that his book is being offered in Arabic translation for free downloading. Let us hope that his neighbors on the other side of the wall take him up on it, and that the rest of us whose fate is intertwined with the fate of Israel pay heed to its urgent and heartfelt message.”

In. The. Hopes.

The book’s audience isn’t the Egyptian and Syrian Muslims on the other side. If they were, the book wouldn’t have to be shoved at them like a leaflet on a crowded street. Audiences buy books. The only people buying this will be anti-Israel lefty Jews.

The download is a gimmick that’s a publicity stunt for a book whose audience isn’t “Palestinian”, but already identifies with them. Halevi’s book preaching identification with the Muslim occupiers and settlers is preaching to the choir.