Democracies and Death Cults Douglas Murray emerges as Israel’s fiercest non-Jewish defender. by Mark Tapson
https://www.frontpagemag.com/democracies-and-death-cults/
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.
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