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As faux historians, faux conservatives, and former MMA tough guys vie with each other to be the biggest antisemitic influencers in the dank sewer known as social media, one pundit stands out as the fiercest, most visible non-Jew defender of Israel’s right to exist.
Bestselling author and journalist Douglas Murray, known for his incisive observations on the embattled West, his fearlessly pro-Israel stance, and his withering verbal takedowns of Jew-hating opponents, recently released a new book: On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization. It is both emotionally searing and intellectually rigorous, a meticulously reported deep dive into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, centered on the atrocities of October 7, 2023, and their broader implications for Western democracies. The book draws from Murray’s extensive on-the-ground reporting in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon, offering a firsthand account of the horrors perpetrated by the terror group Hamas and a trenchant critique of the West’s largely sickening response to the conflict.
Arguably the book’s greatest value is that it underscores the clash between a thriving democracy that celebrates life, and a savage ideology obsessed with death and with the eradication of Jews and their tiny Middle East state. Murray’s ability to convey the shocking horror of Palestinian brutality with understated language, combined with his warning about the dangers of the West’s perverse sympathy for Hamas, makes On Democracies and Death Cults a vital contribution to the discourse on democracy, morality, and the future of civilization.
Murray’s restrained prose manages to amplify the visceral impact of his reporting. Rather than resorting to sensationalism, he lets the grim facts of October 7 speak for themselves. The massacre, which saw Hamas terrorists and Palestinian civilians murder, rape, and abduct over 1200 Israelis in a meticulously planned assault, is recounted through the voices of survivors, victims’ families, and even captured perpetrators. Murray’s descriptions are spare yet haunting: a mother burned alive in her home, a child witnessing unspeakable brutality, a terrorist exulting in his murderous deeds.
Murray recounts his interactions with young Israeli soldiers tasked with identifying victims from body parts, a duty that forces them to confront the hellish reality of the October 7 aftermath in a way that privileged youth in other Western countries, attending $50,000-a-year universities that teach them Israel is an oppressive apartheid state, never experience. Murray also describes walking through the burnt-out remains of kibbutzim near the Gaza border, where he saw, felt, and smelled death. These passages are haunting, yet Murray never indulges in gratuitous detail.
The book’s emotional impact is matched by its intellectual clarity. Murray frames the Israeli-Palestinian conflict not as a simplistic narrative of oppressor versus oppressed—a trope he argues is perpetuated by the “campus left and international establishment”—but as a fundamental clash between life-affirming democratic values and a death cult that revels in destruction. Israel, he rightly contends, embodies Western principles of capitalism, individual rights, democracy, and reason, making it a beacon of progress in a region plagued by authoritarianism and medieval intolerance.
By contrast, Hamas’ Islamic supremacism, which “openly proclaims its love of death over life,” is antithetical to these values. Murray’s reporting from Gaza and Lebanon emphasizes this dichotomy — revealing, for example, Hamas’ deliberate funneling of resources into tunnels and weapons rather than toward the welfare of its people. His encounters with terrorists, whom he describes as “high on the thrill of death,” further illustrate the group’s nihilistic worldview.
Central to Murray’s argument is the warning that misplaced Western sympathy for Hamas risks emboldening forces that seek to demolish democratic values and perpetuate this culture of violent bigotry. He documents how, even as the October 7 massacre was still underway, Western campuses and city streets erupted in demonstrations celebrating Hamas’ atrocities against Israeli innocents. This reaction, Murray argues, stems from a toxic blend of moral relativism, ideological tribalism, and resurgent antisemitism, and is symptomatic of a deeper ideological rot in the West, where terrorist organizations are framed as victims rather than perpetrators. He cites the hypocrisy of those who demand “restraint and proportionality” from Israel while giving a pass to Hamas’ openly genocidal intent.
Murray’s analysis of antisemitism is particularly incisive, drawing on Vasily Grossman’s observation: “Tell me what you accuse the Jews of – I’ll tell you what you’re guilty of.” He traces the shape-shifting nature of this hatred, from historical pogroms to modern campus chants of “Globalize the intifada,” arguing that it distorts the moral lens through which the conflict is viewed.
Murray’s critique extends to the broader implications for Western civilization. He posits that our failure to recognize and confront evil of the sort embodied by Hamas threatens the foundational principles of democracy. He challenges readers to confront this moral failing, asking whether they will “turn their faces from evil or explicitly confront it.” This question, posed repeatedly throughout the text, underlines the urgency of his message: silence is complicity.
Murray’s historical contextualization adds further weight to his argument. He traces the roots of radical Islam to events like the 1979 Iranian Revolution, situating Hamas within the broader ideological struggle of Islam against the democratic West.
The book’s mere 197 pages are dense with insight, yet its brevity makes it an accessible (albeit intense) read. Murray’s ability to weave personal narratives—such as those of young Israeli soldiers and grieving families—with geopolitical analysis creates a narrative that is both intimate and expansive.
For anyone seeking to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its urgent implications for the West, Douglas Murray’s
On Democracies and Death Cults is an indispensable warning that combines harrowing reportage with a clarion call to defend the democratic values inherent in the West. His central question – “What can people who value life do in the face of those who worship death?” – lingers long after the final page, compelling readers to choose life, confront evil, and safeguard the principles that undergird our civilization.
Follow Mark Tapson at Culture Warrior
I hope this book lives up to the wonderful interview of Douglas Murray by Hugh Hewitt at a few weeks back.
Douglas Murray is amazing. Whether speaking about world affairs or just about anything else, he nails it every time. He is a gift beyond all measure.
The irony. Democracy is what the Left wants. Democracy means majority rule which means mob rule. Democracy is just another form of collectivism and tyranny.
Democratic socialism makes sense, democratic capitalism is a contradiction in terms.
“ The American system is not a democracy. It is a constitutional republic. A democracy, if you attach meaning to terms, is a system of unlimited majority rule; the classic example is ancient Athens. And the symbol of it is the fate of Socrates, who was put to death legally, because the majority didn’t like what he was saying, although he had initiated no force and had violated no one’s rights.
Democracy, in short, is a form of collectivism, which denies individual rights: the majority can do whatever it wants with no restrictions. In principle, the democratic government is all-powerful. Democracy is a totalitarian manifestation; it is not a form of freedom . . . .
The American system is a constitutionally limited republic, restricted to the protection of individual rights. In such a system, majority rule is applicable only to lesser details, such as the selection of certain personnel. But the majority has no say over the basic principles governing the government. It has no power to ask for or gain the infringement of individual rights.” – Leonard Peikoff
Do you ever have a thought that is your own instead of the recycled gobbledegook by your collection of verbose Objectivist frauds?
Here’s entry #2 so that readers can decide if Intrepid has any credibility when it comes to his laughable, desperate, lame claim that I am a liberal.
“If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today.”
Where would you put such a statement on the Liberalometer?
We’re still waiting for your critique of my Tea Party speech available on YouTube. Please direct us to yours…
There is no “we’re still waiting” for the big reveal on your Tea Party speeches. Who’s “we” anyway? And no one cares if I call you a liberal. There’s only “little ole” you. I would say that, at least on the upvote/downvote-o-meter, the choice is made. Keep racking up those down votes and add your boyfriend’s downvotes to the total. He likes to say they are his badge of honor. What’s your excuse for losing?
I have noticed that almost all of your comments are self-directed back at you, including the novel you wrote to your boyfriend about some essay….as if you have some compulsive, narcissistic, desperate need to brag about yourself, all the while teaching at a dink college that no one ever heard of before you decided to grace us with your presence.
So who’s in who’s head anyway? And don’t you have some term papers to grade. Good puppy. “Woof woof!”
Well Ritchie, as much as I’m fascinated by your ruminations, I’m off to the range. Creedmores and .45s. Then I’m dropping my Mauser rebuild off at the gunsmith’s. There are a couple of things only a great gunsmith can do properly. It’s gonna be a good day. Ta-ta.
watchu talkin bout Willis?
Arnold, go finish your homework!
I appreciated the essay “Assault from the Ivory Tower: The Professors’ War Against America.” Thank you. When I taught an “Econ capstone” course, I assigned Francisco’s Money Speech. One of my former, now very successful students from Bangladesh, has a bumper sticker that states “Who is John Galt?” Being from poor Bangladesh, he, like so many immigrants, appreciates the rewards to those willing to put in the effort in the U.S.
If you want a very funny and telling hoax that summarizes how absurd much of academia has gotten, read the essay “Human reactions to rape culture and queer
performativity at urban dog parks in Portland.” The paper was published in Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography., but then retracted after it was exposed as a hoax intended to mock postmodern research. In the paper, the authors state something close to “we admit that at times we had difficulty determining if a humped dog had given consent.”
When one of my daughter’s was a freshman she was assigned the book “The Bookseller of Kabul.” During a class discussion, the professor asserted that women in the U.S. make 82 cents for the same work for which a man receives one dollar.” My daughters, while seniors in high school, having taken Principles of Economics taught by me at the local college, knew this was nonsense as I had assigned an essay by Thomas Sowell dealing with the wage gap. My daughter challenged the professor whose response was “you’re just wrong. Look at the evidence.” Unfortunately, the professor for the course couldn’t concede how much better women in the U.S. have it compared to old wife #2 in Islamic Republics.
I’m glad you enjoyed the essay Professor!
I know you so much better now, Mr. Dandy Lion.
Sounds like the two of you just can’t wait to shmooze together on the couch with a glass of chardonnay, while sharing pseudo intellectual moments together.
Ah yes, the “born to be mild” world of academe.
Exactly which country on planet Earth is a democracy?
I don’t remember voting for the Supreme Court, presidential cabinets and other presidential appointees, the vast majority of judges, any parasite in the state or federal government bureaucracy, my local dog Cather’s, my Pastor and on and on. There’s no such thing as a democracy and never has been, not even ancient Athens, which had MUCH stricter voter restrictions that America……and that was on their books! I guarantee Athens didn’t allow non citizens, dead people, Healots, people known to be stupid, women or slaves to vote.
Other than that, you wrote an excellent article.
“Exactly which country on planet Earth is a democracy?” – you have a point there professor.
There are sprinkles of democracy to make us feel better. We waged democracy to overwhelm the cheat in the 2024 election.
Inflation has done such damage to the nuclear family and the biggest cause of divorce with the stress it causes with the choice of food or mortgage and bills. Continual stress and lack of proper nutrition takes its toll especially on developing humans -aka- children.
This has long been the ploy of the globalist oligarchies to destroy the family with this economic stress and then the sovereign nation they are citizens of. This heat was turned up during the manufactured pLandemic and the draconian shut downs of everything including socialization skills of developing humans – aka – children, all the while the main sleaze media keeps painting rosy pictures of gaslighting and censorship making the exhausted humans believe their democracy is intact.
We are a Constitutional Republic at best and at total.
The Statesman Benjamin Franklin said it best. We have a republic if we can keep it after the completion of our USA Constitution.
You like Murray because he’s pro Israel. Is Murray an expert on the Middle East? Murray is a Brit who has a degree in English. Murray believes Israel can annihilate innocent Palestinian women and children in the goal of eliminating Hamas.
Murray (who I do like) considers himself a “credentialed” expert on this topic because he stayed at a 5 star hotel and spoke to some Israeli officials for a few weeks. For someone who considers himself such an authority Murray got taken to the woodshed in his debate against Dave Smith that went viral.
The overwhelming majority of comments had Dave winning the debate and had Murray coming off as a snobbish elitist.
Murray is in the pocket of AIPAC which is was this Brit will say anything AIPAC tell him to.
Don’t tell me about credentialed experts. We’ve seen these “experts” in action with COVID, intelligence officials claiming Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation, etc.
Anyone who wants an unbiased narrative of this conflict should look to Dave Smith and Norman Finklestein.
Anyone who is pro Israel and dissects the globalists’ agendas like Murray has my attention!
What the flying A do you think an expert is? A drip under pressure?
President Trump may not be a highly degreed head up the ass intellectual and so called expert, but he is moving nations and stirring up the American peoples as well as global citizens while making America Great and Powerful and Sovereign and Wealthy Again and he has so much wisdom and intuition and a genius, that POTUS Cabinet 47 is not back stabbers like POTUS 45 cabinet.
An expert is one who survived the Tough Cookies School of Hard Knocks and comes back stronger.
Douglas Murray sounds like and expert to me.
Murray sounds like an expert to you because there are some Americans that thinks an “expert” that speaks with a British accent has a higher IQ. “ Who declared Murray an expert? Yet, Murray dismissed Dave Smith as a non expert and Dave cleaned his clock in a debate.
Being blindly pro Israel doesn’t make you an expert. It makes you biased and wrong.
Unfortunately, gullible and naive people like you fall for his line of BS
What arrogance. Attacking the character of those who may disagree with you sounds like something I would expect from a Progressive Democrat.
You cite the comments tally in the Smith-Murray debate as though it is a confirmation of your “rightthink.” How’s your tally looking right now?
Hey SFB. I always love it when you post your Jew hating nonsense. It just seems to get more ridiculous over time.
But guess what. Hamas won’t be impressed and next time they will probably take you hostage.
Guess what, we still have our female pastor and the building is still standing. You could always tell me what blasphemy this is since you aren’t “gullible and naive” at all.
It was the worship of death that ultimately turned Mosab Hassan Yousef against his own father’s Hamas organization.
The unprecedented global and domestic tsunami of antisemitism that has become fashionable and vogue to the lunatic left who have nothing tangible and intrinsically valuable to hold onto and ride the wakes of life to calmer seas and truer paths are deadheading the left lunatic fringe that has become unhinged to the antichrist.
Yeshua Messiah Lord Jesus Christ was a conservative. HE taught this valuable economic MINDSET to his apostles when HE instructed them to fish off the RIGHT side of the boat and there you will bring in your bounty!
John 21:6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. (KJV)
He told them to fish from the right side because He knew that’s where the fish were going to be by the time they got their nets wet. That does not make the “right side” anything special any other time.
but then, coming from someone whoso grossly misunderstands the biblical term “antichrist” that’s not so surprising.
Go and read what John he evangelist says about “antichrist”.. the ONLY three places where the term appears in the entire bible.
Love it when Murray is on the Gutfeld show. Read all his books and he is always right on in a understated way. BTW wish that so many ppl posting did not get personal. We conservatives are out numbered so we should not get boged down in the weeds over whose more pure.
Thanks a lot! He’s a great intellectual. I bought the Kindle version now.