Holiday From History: The West's Peacetime Delusion and the Resurgence of Jew Hatred
A Call to Confront History
October 7, 2023, shattered the West’s illusion that history had ended. Hamas’s massacre — the deadliest against Jews since the Holocaust — met not universal outrage but equivocation and celebration in Western streets.
Holiday From History: The West's Peacetime Delusion and the Resurgence of Jew Hatred demands we reject this peacetime fantasy. Drawing on my journey through 9/11’s chaos, London’s 7/7 bombings, and wartime volunteering in Israel, I call for shmirah: guardianship and resilience. Releasing October 2025, this book urges Jews and the West to confront threats with clarity, not denial.
About the Book
Holiday From History: The West's Peacetime Delusion and the Resurgence of Jew Hatred traces the West’s post-Cold War delusion that peace was inevitable, exposing how it left Jews vulnerable to resurgent antisemitism, masked as “anti-Zionism.” Through historical analysis and policy critique, it dissects key moments: the Oslo Accords’ false hopes, 9/11’s fleeting clarity, the mainstreaming of Jew-hatred via NGOs and campuses, and October 7 and its fallout as a mirror of civilizational decline. Israel’s resilience stands as the West’s vanguard, urging a return to moral courage against emboldened adversaries like Russia, China, and Iran.
Available October 2025 in paperback, ebook, and hardcover wherever books are sold.
Early Praise
“Zehavi’s voice cuts through delusion with precision — a vital call to action.”
— Cheryl Dorchinsky, Executive Director, AIC
Excerpts
Selected from Chapter 9: October 7: The End of Illusion
The West, sedated by post-Cold War illusions, abandoned moral clarity. “Resistance” masked massacre; “Never Again” crumbled into selective amnesia.
On October 7, 2023, Simchat Torah broke under a rocket barrage, heralding an incursion Israeli leaders never anticipated. Yahya Sinwar, seizing Iran’s playbook, unleashed Hamas with ruthless audacity. Gunmen, some descending on paragliders, others crashing through breached borders in pickup trucks, ravaged Israel’s south with a savagery that surpassed the pogroms of old.
At the Nova music festival, young dancers scattered across fields, hunted like prey; in kibbutzim like Be’eri, families burned in their homes or vanished into captivity.
…
Before Israel could respond, condemnation rained down. While hostages were still being abducted and bodies were still smoldering, Western capitals erupted in celebration. In London, where I endured 7/7’s chaos, crowds waved flags and chanted for Israel’s destruction as the attack unfolded.
In New York, my former home scarred by 9/11, university statements cloaked horror in “context,” equivocating before the blood dried.
About the Author
Uri Zehavi, raised in New York’s Hudson Valley and relocated to Atlanta at eleven, witnessed history’s ruptures: 9/11’s devastation in New York, London’s 7/7 bombings, and Israel’s grief after October 7, 2023, where Zehavi volunteered in the relief efforts.
These events drive Holiday From History, a book exposing the West’s peacetime illusions and resurgent antisemitism. Formerly an analyst and ghostwriter shaping others’ arguments, Zehavi now writes unfiltered as a Senior Fellow with the Atlanta Israel Coalition, confronting denial with clarity.
Preparing for aliyah with husband Modi, a fine art photographer, and their pets, Zehavi is building Magen HaDerekh, training protection dogs for Israeli families—a tangible act of shmirah. History’s lessons hit hard, but Jews adapt swiftly.
For more about Uri, see his About page.