India and Israel Against Islamic Terror: Old Nations, New Leaders

From the title of this book and the introduction, it is clear to the reader that the author has performed a comparative analysis of Islamic terrorism against India and Israel (for example, see pages 9 and 17). The fact that the author served in Indian army as an officer gives additional hope to the reader that this book sheds some light into the handling of three wars with Pakistan by Nehru and his daughter Mrs. Gandhi. I read this book with the hope that this is a comparative study of Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism, followed by an examination of the two cultures stressing the similarities of two civilizations, and finally describing the impact of Islamic terrorism in the history of these two nations. If you read this book with this thought, I bet you would be disappointed. The book lacks focus; the narratives are too diffused. The reader expects the author to start with a brief history of Indian religions and culture since the author is born and grew up in India, but he chooses to start the book with the history of Jewish culture. Chapter 2-15 rambles, and reads like an essay written by a high school student on Jewish history. Sentences using simple words instead bombastic language would have attracted more readers. In many instances the reader would be confused since book focuses on Christian and Jewish conflicts (for example, see pages 62-63, 84, 98-99, 115, 120, 130, 136-138, 160 and 163). A very brief discussion on Israel's three wars with Egypt including the 1973 Yom Kippur war known for its military prowess and superiority of Israeli military logistics could have been compared with the three wars of India with Pakistan (pages 109, and 170-173, 175-179, 286). This could have emerged as an interesting chapter by itself. The second part; chapters 16 - 19 describes the history and culture of India. Brief references to the common features of Hinduism and Judaism are found in few paragraphs but fails to expand this into useful discussion (see page 81-82. 194-195, 208-209, 305). The author clearly wants to focus on the destruction brought about by Islamists on India and Israel, but key historical points have not been used in an advantageous way. Sometimes the author shifts focus from paragraph to paragraph. Buddhism was completely decimated by Islamic invaders of India, and Sikhism suffered significantly during 18 and 19 century India, but vague references if ever have been made about these two faiths. In light of these observations, the statement about Mohammed is confounding (see page 305); no expert of Islamic terrorism has found anything positive about the teachings of this Prophet. Chapter 19 -21 are perhaps well written sections of the book that summarizes the impact of growing autocracy of Islamic population around the globe. The comparative analysis of India and Israel are fairly presented in chapter 20 and 21.

Bangladesh is known for being one of the poorest economies and also a nation on the list of emerging terrorist nations (pages 286-289). Refugees and illegal immigrants from Bangladesh could be problematic as they threaten the security and integrity of India (page 324). Similarly the return of Palestinian refugees from Arab countries could threaten Israel, and hence Israel unequivocally opposes any increase in Palestinian population. The author could have compared these future problems facing India and Israel. The leftists, liberals, apologists, surrender-prone activists, and losers are legitimizing Islamic terrorism not only in India and Israel but also in Western Europe and North America. The author has made a reasonable presentation of this problem in India, but ignored similar problems that exist in Israel (see pages 214, 278, 294-295, 329).

On a lesser note; the historical dates of Hindu epics and civilizations of ancient India presented in this book are not widely accepted in academic circles since they lack rigorous support by academic research in related disciplines (see pages 216, 228, 249, 269-277). Similarly Indo-European language is the mother of all languages and Sanskrit is one of the offspring; this is widely accepted in academics as it is supported by research in linguistics and related disciplines (page 261). The Aryan invasion theory supported by Max Muller and other Vedic experts is a direct product of the conservative environment that existed in 19 century Europe (page 246-247). Many references cited at the end of the book are incomplete; name of the author, publication info etc., are not cited (pages 341-343).

For readers who are interested in comparative analysis of Hinduism and Judaism, I recommend; Veda and Torah: Transcending the Textuality of Scripture by Barbara A. Holdrege; and Between Jerusalem and Benares: Comparative Studies in Judaism and Hinduism by Hananya Goodman, and of course Frontpagemag.com, a daily internet newspaper that focuses on conservative values and threat of Islamic terrorism to civilization. Many interesting articles and news stories about Israel and India are published in this newspaper by academics and professional journalists.

In spite of many instances of deficiencies found in this book, this is still the only work that addresses this rather important aspect of Islamic terrorism. One last note; the front cover picture is a misrepresentation; the Indian and Israeli flags should have been NE and NW of Islamic flag respectively.