The surprise attack by Hamas on Israel on 7 October 2023 sparked a devastating war in Gaza, with the world remaining divided in its support of Israel or Palestine as the death toll continues to rise. The proposal for a ‘new Middle East’ by the US, supported internationally, has been overshadowed by doubt due to the ongoing war, despite the recent normalization of ties with Israel by four Arab countries in the Abraham Accords of 2020. Stanly Johny’s thorough research on the roots of the conflict in West Asia sheds light on India’s evolving policies and current interests in the region, making Original Sin a must-read for those seeking to grasp the complexities of the ongoing war.
The book explores the longstanding conflict between Israel and Palestine, focusing on the people’s experiences in the region. The book highlights the devastating war Israel has been fighting in Gaza since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, with no clear end in sight. The Palestinian suffering is unimaginable, and the international community seems helpless or unwilling to do anything more than share verbal concerns.
Hamas broke the status quo of the occupation without consequences on 7 October but brought the fury of Israel’s state on the people of Palestine. Israel appears belligerent and cares little about Palestinian lives, but it doesn’t seem to have an endgame. Hezbollah poses a potent challenge to Israel from southern Lebanon, and the Houthis have attacked Tel Aviv using drones, a sign of what is to come. The book also discusses the looming hot and cold war between Israel and Iran, with an Indian diplomat stating that “war is the reality in West Asia. Peace is just a promise.”
Published by HarperCollins India, ‘Original Sin’ will be released on 20 December on SoftCover, ThePrint’s online platform for launching non-fiction books.
Stanly Johny is the International Affairs editor with The Hindu. He has a PhD in international studies from the Centre for West Asian Studies, JNU, New Delhi. He has been writing on geopolitics and Indian foreign policy for over a decade and has reported from different parts of the world. He is a visiting professor at KREA University, Sri City, Andhra Pradesh; an adjunct faculty member at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai; and a visiting fellow at Kerala University, Thiruvananthapuram. He is the author of The ISIS Caliphate: From Syria to the Doorsteps of India (2018), and co-author of The Comrades and the Mullahs: China, Afghanistan and the New Asian Geopolitics (2022).
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