‘On Democracies and Death Cults’ is a landmark publication

Douglas Murray’s On Democracies And Death Cults: Israel Hamas And The Future The West is a book of monumental significance – one of the most important books ever written. A painfully honest account of the October 7th massacre, the aftermath that followed, and the atrocity’s impact on the future of the Western world. A stark statement about that which separates those who cherish life from those who worship death.

Throughout the book he raises matters of pivotal importance that fellow commentators fail to recognize, and perhaps more importantly, asks eye-opening questions that provoke thought and often lead to major epiphanies. Questions about the worst atrocity to hit the Jewish people since the Holocaust, the region’s recent and distant history leading up to the massacre, the world’s baffling response to the atrocity, and how Israel’s fate directly impacts the future of the Western world.
As news of the atrocity broke and MSM worldwide began deliberating over Israel’s proportional retaliation to Hamas’s attack, Murray departed from his New York home and headed to the holy land. There he lived for nearly a year and a half – watching, observing and listening to a traumatized nation, slowly rising from the ashes of the massacre.

He talked to survivors and hero rescuers, families of hostages languishing 20 meters underground in the Gaza tunnels, and relatives waiting months on end for the forensic identification of their loved ones. He walked on the burnt earth of the abandoned Otef Kibbutzim where he saw, felt and smelled death, visited the wounded in hospital, met with forensic teams and breathed in the unbearable grief as one funeral followed another.
It is this on-the-ground investigation that granted Murray his rock solid grasp of Israel’s reality.
Murray first tries to understand why Israel was taken by surprise, why civilians in the kibbutzim were not helped for many hours, and how Jewish people ended up being persecuted and feeling unsafe in their own home state.
“Within hours” he explains, “the sheer scale of the assault started to become apparent. The terrorists had come into Israel not just by land vehicles and on foot but by boat and on hang gliders; perhaps as many as six thousand in total. Wherever they arrived they brought death..it would take weeks – in fact months – to identify the number of people killed that day. The final body count was not identified until ten months later. The death toll turned out to be just short of 1,200 people.”

I saw Auschwitz before my eyes

Murray goes on to chart the fate of the 364 Nova attendees “who were slaughtered as they hid or tried to flee”, some playing dead in fields and bomb shelters for many hours. He tells of the petrified Nova escapees who “called their parents – asking for help, asking for advice, or just telling their parents that they loved them”, and the 250 civilians kidnapped to Gaza on the day. We hear how “using GoPro cameras and mobile phones, the terrorists broadcast their acts of violence with pride”, acts including “burning people alive, shooting innocent people, cutting off people’s heads and raping men and women. Sometimes before killing them. Sometimes after.”
It is a heartbreaking account of cruelty so twisted that many Israelis still find it impossible to contain. So why did Murray go through this agonizing experience you might ask? Why would he expose himself to such brutality? The answer is in the Vasily Grossman quote at the very start of the book which reads:

“It is the writer’s duty to tell this terrible truth, and it is the civilian duty of the reader to learn it.”

Murray tells the terrible truth through the voices of survivors, victims’ families and rescuers whose heroism and sacrifice left him stunned. Heroes like Nimrod who braved the apocalyptic October 7th scene where he encountered heavy semiautomatic fire. Not knowing of the Nova festival of the previous night, Nimrod was baffled by the scattered bodies of young people dressed in party clothes on a Sabbath morning in the countryside. “Near the side”of the road” writes Murray, “he found the body of a young woman with her tights and underwear down, and blood off her backside..out of some instinct, Nimrod pulled up the girl’s pants and tights to give her some decency in death.”
It is heroic Nimrod who delivers one of the book’s many epiphanic moments –

“I saw Auschwitz before my eyes” he told Murray, “so many dead bodies, many were mutilated..our army was caught by surprise that day. I now know what happens to the Jewish people when they are without an army even for half a day.

Murray goes outside Israel to expose the terrible truth that lies within the West, most notably its disturbing, even baffling reaction to the massacre. Speaking of the immediate response to the atrocity, Murray tells of the countless anti-Israel demonstrations that sprouted everywhere – from New York and London to Australia, Canada and beyond. Here Murray notes two starkly telling oddities – first, if it is the Israelis who were invaded and attacked – if they are the victims of the massacre, why are the protests against them? It seems like instead of empathy the Jewish October 7th victims prompted protesters’ anger and hostility – why were these Jewish women not deserving of these organizations’ compassion and help?

“Where is the world outcry?”Murray asks, pointing to the fact that”there was not a single major protest against Hamas in any Western city. Not one.” Murray also wondered why women’s organisations were silent.

“Many of the people in the West who had spent recent years saying ‘believe all women’ did not believe the women who said they been violated in the Negev that morning

Murray’s answer is that these anti-Israel sentiments are the current face of the oldest hatred – Jews are again being blamed for their own torment. It is the age-old, lose lose situation for Jews where they are damned if they choose to integrate within greater society, damned if they choose to stick to Jewish quarters, damned if they choose to reside in the diaspora, damned if they reside in the Jewish state.

Red pilling
Murray paints a rich and informative picture of the Jewish mindset, Israeli culture and society – he tells us of the sacred Jewish regard for human life for example, and informs of how well Arab and Druze Israelis live (as reported by ultra leftist Haaretz). He even describes the tranquillity of the kibbutzim as he comments on the mammoth red- pill that hit them on the fateful day – these communities were made of avid peaceniks who advocated for the Palestinian cause, some even volunteered to drive Palestinian children to Israeli hospitals over the years. To them, the cruel massacre brought the bitter realization that no peace partner exists, that the people they helped and fought for, had betrayed them in the cruelest way imaginable -“that shattered reality” notes Murray, “is the one that the people of Israel were thrown into by the events of 7 October, but it is a reality that people in every democracy currently at peace might be thrown into again one day. Possibly soon.”

Sinwar’s surreal death and Yotam’s incredible mom

Murray’s long stay in Israel has provided him with illuminating first-hand insight into the very essence of the Israel Hamas conflict. Examples are too numerous to note here but one that stands out is Ismail Henya’s reaction to news of the death of his three sons, compared to that of Gadi Eizenkot learning that his son died in battle. Another is that of Baruch Goldstein who in 1994 carried out a massacre of Muslim worshipers killing 29 and wounding many – “everyone from the Israeli Prime Minister down condemned Goldstein without caveat” explains Murray, adding that Goldstein’s movement was outlawed and shunned from being a central part of Israeli or Jewish political life. This was is stark contrast to the Palestinian authority which has named streets and squares after terrorists – no street or square was named after Goldstein.

Another telling example is the senior IDF commander Murray met near the abandoned, torched kibbutz Be’eri – “when were you last here?” Murray asked him, “In 2005” he replied, “when I had to pull family friends from their houses.”

In Israel Murray got to meet members of the government as well as opposition leaders, eat with families at the Friday night dinner, meet Israeli refugees – civilians misplaced from their homes for over a year, be with IDF soldiers in Lebanon and more. He got to sit at the very Rafah ruins where Sinwar met his death and hear from soldiers the remarkable story of Yotam’s mom.

28 year old Yotam was one of three hostages killed in a tragic error by IDF soldiers. The incident shocked Israel to the core. Yotam’s mom then did the unimaginable – she sent a message to the IDF soldiers telling them that they are not to blame, that she loves them, that she welcomes them to her home and that if they see a terrorist they should not hesitate – it was this very brigade that months later, brought  Sinwar’s life to an end.

What the West can learn from Israel’s tragedy

In this book Murray shows a misinformed West with regards to Israel, the conflict, the nature and very purpose of war. He reflects on Hollywood actors advocating for Palestine, the ‘Nazi like’ tropes of a Gazan concentration camp and genocide, the Nazi leader who got away – the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, the ICC, UNWRA, UNICEF, the UN and other key global players. Speaking of American university students and young Westerners at large, he cannot help but point to a day-and-night difference between them and their Israeli counterparts.

“Young Israelis do not have the luxury of deciding wether they like war or develop grand ideas such as ‘war doesn’t solve anything’, but that makes them unusual among young Westerners today.” Bottom line is that young Israelis “went about work” in a way that “their contemporaries in the West could never imagine – Israel’s Tik Tok generation rose to the challenge as evidenced by the men and women he has encountered – full of knowledge, purpose and a clear sense of direction.

Like the 23 year old woman soldier who is a an intelligence expert on Yemen, or the group of first year IDF female recruits helping at the Nova aftermath scene – “most of the obvious body parts had already been found” Murray explains, but rabbis instructed experts to use special instruments to make sure that remaining teeth, bones, and dried blood were sucked out of the wreckage, collected into big sacks and then buried – “huge bags of ash” writes Murray, “that was all that was left of these young people.” It was tough and unpleasant but the young girls felt it was an honour to play their part. Finding out the girls’ age (19) nearly floored Murray – these girls were the same age as people in the West “who are treated like and often act like children.”

Here Murray makes a profound realization – these Israeli young people are not burdened by their duty – they are blessed. Unlike their purpose-void Western counterparts, Israel’s young have a clear purpose, a powerful sense of belonging and a cohesive national identity. Here I would note that it is Israel’s fight for survival that grants it this edge.

IDF soldier in Lebanon recognises Murray and salutes him. Photo by Moshe Mizrahi

Can the West win?

In Israel of post October 7th Murray found an answer to a question he has mulled over for almost a quarter of a century – how can the West overcome a movement who welcomed, glorified in, and worshiped death? The answer lies in the love of life. “Choose life” is one of the most important commandments of the Jewish people. It is also one of the fundamental values of the West – they, and all of us, can win in spite of the enemy loving death.”

On Democracies And Death Cults is a fluid, engaging and incredibly wise account of what happened on the brutal day, what has transpired since and what lessons the West can learn from Israel’s tragedy. It is a brilliant stroke of luck that placed Murray’s articulate mind in crucial Israel at a pivotal point in history – Murray is telling the terrible truth – all that is left is for the West to listen.