Josh Hammer’s Israel and Civilisation is a forceful and timely intervention into the moral and political debates shaping both the West and the Jewish world today. In an age when many liberal democracies appear uncertain of their purpose, Hammer makes the case that Israel stands as a model of national strength, cultural confidence, and civilisational coherence.
Rather than framing Israel narrowly through the lens of security or diplomacy, Hammer roots his argument in the deeper soil of tradition, philosophy, and moral clarity. Drawing on thinkers such as Leo Strauss and Edmund Burke, he presents Israel not simply as a geopolitical actor, but as the embodiment of a covenantal ideal — a nation deriving its legitimacy from history, law, and faith.
Hammer’s book is unapologetically conservative in its orientation. He critiques the decline of civilisational confidence in the West and contrasts it with Israel’s proud assertion of its identity as the Jewish nation-state. Whether discussing the Abraham Accords, judicial reform, or the existential threat of Iranian aggression, Hammer writes with a clarity and conviction often missing from mainstream discourse.
His chapter on Israel’s role in the Middle East is particularly compelling, portraying the Jewish state not as an isolated outpost, but as an increasingly vital civilisational ally to nations that reject Islamist extremism and embrace ordered liberty. Hammer argues that the Abraham Accords were not an aberration, but the natural outcome of a realignment based on shared values and interests — a realignment that liberal internationalists failed to foresee precisely because they misunderstood the nature of civilisation itself.
While the book may challenge readers accustomed to more diplomatic or academic treatments of Israeli affairs, his bold and challenging approach is deliberate. Hammer is not writing to reassure; he is writing to awaken. His message is clear: Israel’s survival and flourishing are not anomalies in a crumbling world order — they are signs of what civilisational renewal might look like.
For readers in New Zealand and beyond, Israel and Civilisation offers a compelling reminder of what is at stake — and what is possible — when a people refuses to surrender its history, identity, or destiny. At a time when antisemitism, historical revisionism, and ideological confusion abound, Hammer’s book is both a defence and a call to action.
