Friendly Fire
How Israel Became Its Own Worst Enemy and the Hope for Its Future
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Narrated by:
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Rich Miller
About this listen
In this deeply personal journey of discovery, Ami Ayalon seeks input and perspective from Palestinians and Israelis whose experiences differ from his own. As head of the Shin Bet security agency, he gained empathy for "the enemy" and learned that when Israel carries out anti-terrorist operations in a political context of hopelessness, the Palestinian public will support violence, because they have nothing to lose.
Researching and writing Friendly Fire, he came to understand that his patriotic life had blinded him to the self-defeating nature of policies that have undermined Israel's civil society while heaping humiliation upon its Palestinian neighbors. "If Israel becomes an Orwellian dystopia," Ayalon writes, "it won't be thanks to a handful of theologians dragging us into the dark past. The secular majority will lead us there motivated by fear and propelled by silence."
Ayalon is a realist, not an idealist, and many who consider themselves Zionists will regard as radical his conclusions about what Israel must do to achieve relative peace and security and to sustain itself as a Jewish homeland and a liberal democracy.
©2020 Ami Ayalon (P)2020 SteerforthListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"[Ayalon’s] aims and accomplishments are . . . undeniably impressive . . . Hope finds a prominent presence in what so many think is a hopeless, endless conflict.” —Kirkus Reviews
"How can a staunch Zionist who was raised on one of Israel's earliest settlements and trained as a kill-or-be-killed elite commando spearhead a campaign for peace with his enemies? The answer, in Ami Ayalon's captivating narrative, is an eye-opener for Palestinians and Israelis alike." —Sari Nusseibeh, author of Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life, former president of the Al-Quds University and former Palestinian National Authority representative in Jerusalem
"Ami Ayalon discusses how he came to see a two-state solution with the Palestinians as the best way to ensure Israel’s security, not just through analyzing numbers and statistics, but through a humanistic approach. He discusses...how his humanist paradigm not only allowed him to see how the Palestinians’ grievances and aspirations are intertwined with Israel’s security, but also how he still acknowledges and sympathizes with the narratives of those in Israel whom he may disagree with.” —Jonah Naghi, in The Times of Israel
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A Fascinating Look at a Troubled Country
- By Dipam on 07-11-21
By: Declan Walsh
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Erdogan Rising
- The Battle for the Soul of Turkey
- By: Hannah Lucinda Smith
- Narrated by: Hannah Lucinda Smith
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Everyone has heard of Erdogan: Turkey’s bullish, mercurial president is the original postmodern populist. Around the world, other strongmen are now following the path that he has blazed. For the first time, Erdogan Rising tells the inside story of how a democracy on the fringe of Europe has succumbed to dictatorship. Hannah Lucinda Smith, Turkey correspondent with The Times of London, has witnessed all that has befallen Turkey and the wider region since the onset of the Arab Spring.
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Overall fascinating profile of Erdogan’s Turkey
- By Saul M on 09-18-20
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Truth Worth Telling
- By: Scott Pelley
- Narrated by: Scott Pelley
- Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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A 60 Minutes correspondent and former anchor of the CBS Evening News, Scott Pelley writes as a witness to events that changed our world. In moving, detailed prose, he stands with firefighters at the collapsing World Trade Center on 9/11, advances with American troops in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, and reveals private moments with presidents (and would-be presidents) he’s known for decades. Pelley also offers a resounding defense of free speech and a free press as the rights that guarantee all others.
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A great listen... worth your time
- By Christina on 05-26-19
By: Scott Pelley
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Che Guevara
- A Revolutionary Life
- By: Jon Lee Anderson
- Narrated by: Armando Durán
- Length: 36 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Che Guevara was a dashing rebel whose epic dream was to end poverty and injustice in Latin America and the developing world through armed revolution. Jon Lee Anderson traces Che's extraordinary life from his comfortable Argentine upbringing to the battlefields of the Cuban revolution, from the halls of power in Castro's government to his failed campaign in the Congo and his assassination in the Bolivian jungle.
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Encompassing and Fair Look at an Historical Man
- By Matt on 08-10-11
By: Jon Lee Anderson
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Killing a King
- The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel
- By: Dan Ephron
- Narrated by: Assaf Cohen
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin remains the single most consequential event in Israel's recent history and one that fundamentally altered the trajectory for both Israel and the Palestinians. Killing a King relates the parallel stories of Rabin and his stalker, Yigal Amir, over the two years leading up to the assassination, as one of them planned political deals he hoped would lead to peace - and the other plotted murder.
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Tragic history well presented.
- By Mmday on 02-28-16
By: Dan Ephron
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Say Nothing
- A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Matthew Blaney
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Jean McConville's abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress--with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes.
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On a par with I'll Be Gone in the Dark, plus...
- By Grace O'Malley on 03-01-19
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The Shining Path
- Love, Madness, and Revolution in the Andes
- By: Orin Starn, Miguel La Serna
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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On May 17, 1980, on the eve of Peru's presidential election, five masked men stormed a small town. They set election ballots ablaze and vanished, but not before planting a red hammer-and-sickle banner in the town square. The lone man arrested the next morning later swore allegiance to a group called Shining Path. Described by a US State Department cable as "cold-blooded and bestial", Shining Path orchestrated bombings, assassinations, and massacres across the cities, countryside, and jungles of Peru in a murderous campaign to seize power and impose a Communist government.
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Understanding my wife
- By Eugene on 06-10-22
By: Orin Starn, and others
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A Rage for Order
- The Middle East in Turmoil, from Tahrir Square to ISIS
- By: Robert Worth
- Narrated by: Will Damron, Robert Worth
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2011 a wave of revolution spread through the Middle East as protesters demanded an end to tyranny, corruption, and economic decay. From Egypt to Yemen, a generation of young Arabs insisted on a new ethos of common citizenship. Five years later their utopian aspirations have taken on a darker cast as old divides reemerge and deepen. In one country after another, brutal terrorists and dictators have risen to the top.
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What a mess!
- By Art Guzman on 01-19-17
By: Robert Worth
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The Long Hangover
- Putin’s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past
- By: Shaun Walker
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Long Hangover, Shaun Walker provides new insight into contemporary Russia and its search for a new identity, telling the story through the country's troubled relationship with its Soviet past. Walker not only explains Vladimir Putin's goals and the government's official manipulations of history, but also focuses on ordinary Russians and their motivations. He charts how Putin raised victory in World War II to the status of a national founding myth in the search for a unifying force to heal a divided country, and shows how dangerous the ramifications of this have been.
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Fascinating and fair book on Putin's Russia
- By MyPublicName on 02-16-18
By: Shaun Walker
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Our Last Best Chance
- The Pursuit of Peace in a Time of Peril
- By: King Abdullah II of Jordan
- Narrated by: Nadim Sawalha
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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A news-breaking memoir revealing the secret, high level negotiations that could soon transform the map of the Middle East. Why would a sitting head of state choose to write about the most explosive issues he faces? King Abdullah does so now because he believes we face a moment of truth: a last chance for peace in the Middle East. The prize is enormous; the cost of failure far greater than we dare imagine.
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Meet the fourth King of Jordan ,
- By katie on 06-29-16
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The Road to Fatima Gate
- The Beirut Spring, the Rise of Hezbollah, and the Iranian War against Israel
- By: Michael J. Totten
- Narrated by: Steven Roy Grimsley
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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The Road to Fatima Gate is a first-person narrative account of revolution, terrorism, and war during history's violent return to Lebanon after 15 years of quiet. Michael J. Totten's version of events in one of the most volatile countries in the world's most volatile region is one part war correspondence, one part memoir, and one part road movie.
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Excellent
- By Coach Mark on 03-13-15
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The Fifth Act
- America's End in Afghanistan
- By: Elliot Ackerman
- Narrated by: Elliot Ackerman
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Elliot Ackerman left the American military ten years ago, but his time in Afghanistan and Iraq with the Marines and later as a CIA paramilitary officer marked him indelibly. When the Taliban began to close in on Kabul in August 2021 and the Afghan regime began its death spiral, he found himself pulled back into the conflict. Afghan nationals who had worked closely with the American military and intelligence communities for years now faced brutal reprisal and sought frantically to flee the country with their families.
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A painful but necessary read
- By Tom Hanks on 08-22-22
By: Elliot Ackerman
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Black Flags
- The Rise of ISIS
- By: Joby Warrick
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In a thrilling dramatic narrative, awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, Joby Warrick traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents.
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So much learned
- By mike flavin on 02-11-16
By: Joby Warrick
What listeners say about Friendly Fire
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Bill Drummy
- 02-04-24
Insightful and fair-minded
This book was a revelation: captivating, balanced and clear-sighted about the present and the future.
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- Julien L.
- 04-03-21
Must read. A soldiers perspective is better than a politician.
In such a complex conflict, let’s listen more to soldiers than to politicians. The former know the cost of war. The latter just want to stay in power. Ami is brave and humaine.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-31-21
Getting in touch with reality
I have appreciated this book for uncovering a logical path from Zionism to reality. Infusing a stark logic to the need to let our humanity drive our politics rather than fear. Even if here and there there may be embellishments, I don’t find them distracting. I sense a guarded optimism for Israel future given that this utopian Prime minister Ami described, will be elected and supported to bring us back to our”promised land”. I am haunted though by the saying ( paraphrase) “ , who that controls the narrative of the present will control the future “,
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- LEONARDO SANTARELLI
- 02-21-24
There is hope
I loved the author’s journey from being convinced that he held the truth, to understanding the point of view of his adversaries, without giving up what is important for Israel.
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