Reviews

The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World by Antony Loewenstein

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jacquesdevilliers's review

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dark informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

swishywashy's review against another edition

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4.0

Such a dense and well-researched book. I found the structure of the book could have been clearer.

veronian's review

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informative fast-paced

3.0

Educational wrt Israeli arms dealing, role in supplying arms to genocides worldwide, and mass surveillance and sales of mass surveillance software. However, considering the title "The Palestine Laboratory" has a clear lack of Palestinian voices and sources in the center and it is uncomfortable to feel the omission. Most of the sources cited are Israeli human rights advocates and Israeli journalists, and especially from a 2024 perspective this just isn't enough.

sl4u's review

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informative fast-paced

2.75

I think the title and description are a bit misleading; instead of being about how Israel uses technologies in occupation, it's more about Israel's defense diplomacy and the various autocratic regimes it sells its expertise to.

I don't think best use was made of the various sources cited in this book, especially the use of quotes. A lot of the ways the quotes were just thrown in there, sort of haphazardly, reminded me of high school essay writing. Repetitive at times. (How many times do I have to read the phrase "Israeli human rights lawyer Eitay Mack"?) Sometimes I felt like the author went on tangents without explicitly connecting them back to the main argument of the book in a meaningful way, like with the parts about social media censorship in other parts of the world / other conflicts.