Does ‘My Brothers’ Keeper’ Apply to Israel?

I do not profess to be a scholar of Israeli politics or military strategy. What I do know is that Israel’s safety is constantly threatened by its neighboring Middle Eastern countries along with a countless number of anti-Semitic groups all over the globe. Whether it is groups like Hamas, Hezbollah or the BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] movement, Israel is always on guard. While a work of fiction, Harry D. Stern’s second book, “My Brothers’ Keeper” offers a great story of a coordinated attack globally against Jews all over the world on the holy day of Rosh Hashanah.

The protagonist of the story, Joshua Canaan, a retired 48-year-old Mossad agent, is summoned back into action. Along with his partner, Leora Bargal, they are in pursuit of Canaan’s arch rival, Abu Yusalem, who wants to inflict as much damage to Jews all over the world as he can with coordinated attacks on Rosh Hashanah in Paris, Rome, Birmingham, Ala., and Israel itself. Canaan had been relentless in his pursuit of Yusalem, however the cagey terrorist always managed to elude him.

Harry Stern was director of global development at Kennesaw State University, establishing academic relations with 15 Arab countries. Stern regularly speaks on Middle Eastern politics and Israel policy issues.The story takes us all over the world with the political and military positioning of Israel to thwart this Rosh Hashanah threat. We see the strategies unfold in the impacted cities along with the strategic alliances that need to be forged to try and spoil this threat.

There is never a lull in the action while reading this book. It will keep your interest from start to finish and after reading the book, I am left hoping we can see more of the Canaan character as I don’t think the word retirement is really in his vocabulary. He reminds me of a Mitch Rapp or Jack Reacher type character from the excellent Vince Flynn and Lee Child novels.

One of the main questions in this novel is Israel’s responsibility for protection of Jews in the diaspora, dispersed beyond Israel. It was interesting to hear the opinions of the various Israeli leaders during their discussions on handling the imminent threat and how each leaned on their responsibility to their fellow Jews outside of their immediate homeland of Israel. The title of the book is taken from a biblical passage in Genesis. So what do you think, should Israel be responsible for the safety and security of their Jewish brothers around the world? Should they be their “brothers’ keeper”? ì

“My Brothers’ Keeper,” published in June. is available on Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Harry-D.-Stern/e/B08B8Z2NM9?ref_=dbs_p_ebk_r00_abau_000000