The "Hidden History of Zionism" turns out to the typical anti-Semitic mixture of half-truths and lies. The author, Ralph Schoenman, seems to have a long-time connection to the Communist Party; he currently spouts a variety of conspiracy theories, stretching from JFK to 911. Ralph Schoenman seems to get a great deal of play from his youthful work with Bertrand Russel; the specifics of which have been the subject of a libel suit or two.

The Balkan Unity site, whose reprinting of the 1988 book is linked to by Yahoo, is apparently connected to the Communist Internationalist League - KDE (trotskyists), according to its anti-Freedom-for-West-Timor page.

(Did I mention that Ralph Schoenman is patronizing to Muslims and Arabs? Isn't that Orientalist conceit at the heart of the consipiracy theories that insist Saudis couldn't destroy the Twin Towers, that such a clever, well-planned act could only be carried out by Jews? I know if I were a member of Al Queida, I'd be deeply insulted by assertions such as those of Ralph Schoeman....)

Schoenman couldn't even get his facts straight or bother to look for more up to date material to confirm the information he presents. For instance, when discussing the Kanster affair Schoenman quotes from the book "Perfidy", by Ben Hecht which was written in 1961. The book "Perfidy" [was] written in the early 60's to smear the Israeli left by a right-wing Zionist. Yet, the book itself has been proven to be inaccurate as historians such as Yoav Gelber, whom spent years in Israeli and German archives, present facts that Ben Hecht didn't even know.

Furthermore, Schoenman recounts the story of Rabbi Weissmandel who accused the Zionist of not giving him funds to save the Jewish people while the Nazis were slaughtering them. However, what Schoenman fails to mention is that the Zionist did in fact try to funnel money to Rabbi Weissmandel; however, the deal was doomed to fail from conception. One reason being that the Jewish people just didn't have the money that the Nazi officer who was making the deal demanded. And more importantly the Nazi officer himself was a swindler who had no intention (or real power for that matter) to save any Jews (Yoav Gelber, "Jews For Sale?").

In addition, Schoenman states that "No Zionist leader supported his [Rabbi Weissmandel's] request, nor did the Western capitalist regimes bomb a single concentration camp." Beside the fact that there were Zionist leaders who did support the Rabbi, Auschwitz was bombed at least once. It is true that the Allied powers could have done more to save Jews; however, it is extremely debatable whether or not bombing the camps would have saved millions. Especially since bombing the camps would have meant killing the Jews inside of them. There is also at least one piece of irony and hypocrisy when Schoenman titles Chapter 8 "Blitzkrieg and Slaughter". In the chapter Schoenman blasts Israel for bombing Lebanon and inflicting high civilian casualties (another bogus claim). The truth is that Israel would drop leaflets on warning the civilian populations and other non-combatants when and where they would commence bombing. The Syrian/Lebanese government told the civilians not to touch the papers because they were poisonous. One should note that apparently Schoenman is in favor of collateral damage when the victims are Jews but apposes it when they are not.

Schoenman seems more content on proving his ignorance when he discusses what he likes to call "Ben Gurion and the final Aim". Though this section should more aptly be titled "Schoenman and his lack of Brains". He quotes Ben Gurion saying a couple of things and links them to a supposed expulsion of Palestinians. The quotes are taken way out of context and show Schoenman's total lack of intellectual integrity...

The book makes many more statements that are of equal stupidity and are far to numerous to recount here...