A review by kari_f
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew by Noa Tishby, Emmanuel Acho

3.5

This book is a good introduction to issues facing Jewish people, especially for someone who isn’t Jewish and doesn’t know much about the historical precedence of prejudice that Jews have faced for centuries. It isn’t a complete resource by any means, but the conversations had by the authors brought up some really good dialogue.

I really wish there was more information about the experiences of Jews of Color worldwide, as well as bringing in stories of those who have converted to Judaism. I also felt that there were some double standards promoted in the book, where the authors discuss not attributing actions or decisions of the Israeli government or military to the Jewish population as a whole, but then they do exactly this when talking about atrocities done against Jewish people at the hands of other people. There were a few other inconsistencies I saw while reading, which felt disappointing.

I think the book did a good job in its effort to combat anti-semitism, and I appreciate that the authors included information about the Palestinian refugee camps that have existed since the 1940s. I also appreciated the dialogue stating full stop that Palestinians and Jewish people all deserve to exist freely in a place that is safe for them. Some of the information specifically concerning more recent disagreements about Israel and Palestine have more nuance than what I felt was presented though, and I would have liked to see some of these tackled in more depth to address these.