Parallel Roads to Ruin w/ John McHugo

Join John McHugo for a discussion about his latest book, Parallel Roads to Ruin: Islamism, Zionism and the Struggle for Palestine.

About the book

Zionism and Islamism both emerged in response to oppression and injustice, aiming to bring dignity, freedom and security to the downtrodden followers of one of the world’s great religions. Yet both have since created oppression and injustice and used violence to attain their goals, fomenting bitter hatreds. These led directly to the horrifying October 7 attacks and ensuing destruction of Gaza.

John McHugo calls for a radical rethink of these two ideologies. Tracing the problematic relationship of Europe and ‘the West’ with Jews and Muslims, from the Middle Ages to nineteenth-century nationalism to today, he shows how the Israel–Palestine conflict stained both movements indelibly. He focuses on the personalities involved as much as their ideas—from Theodor Herzl, David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin and Benjamin Netanyahu to Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Sayyid Qutb, Shaykh Ahmad Yassin and Osama bin Laden.

Only by confronting the unwelcome facts of this intertwined history can lasting peace and fundamental rights be secured—and the downward spiral towards disaster reversed.

About the author

After studying Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Oxford and the American University in Cairo in the 1970s, John McHugo practised international law in the Middle East, where his work during the 1980s and 1990s concentrated on boundary disputes between sovereign states. In the early 2000s, he turned his attention to studying and writing about the history of the Middle East and Islam. His books include A Concise History of Sunnis and Shi‘is; A Concise History of the Arabs; and Syria: A Recent History.