Hebrew translation of ‘The Israeli Solution’ hits bookstores

In the coming weeks, banners with the message “Annexation Now” (“Sipuach Achshav”) will be going up in Tel Aviv, part of the marketing campaign for the Hebrew translation of the critically acclaimed The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East, by The Jerusalem Post’s senior contributing editor and star columnist, Caroline Glick, in which she outlines a vision for applying Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. The slogan, also the title of the Hebrew translation, is an obvious counterpoint to “Peace Now” (“Shalom Achshav”), the movement and slogan that drives what Glick excoriates as the failed two-state policy. The sale and distribution of the Hebrew book is the next step toward normalizing the idea of annexation in Israeli policy discourse.Glick is optimistic. “The truth is, the discussion started here while I was writing the book. I thought I was a voice in the wilderness,” she told the Post at the book launch at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center on February 24 sponsored by Sella Meir Publishing and the Zionist Foundation for Israel, a fund that seeks to challenge left-wing hegemony of NGOs in the country.Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett was promoting his plan to annex Area C of Judea and Samaria, as part of his 2013 election campaign, just as Glick was writing the book.The Hebrew version comes on the heels of another milestone for Glick’s political influence. The satirical media criticism website she created, Latma, recently debuted as a prime time television show on Channel 1 called Hakol Shafit (which means “We'll be the judge”) – an answer to the left-leaning Eretz Nehederet satire show.Rotem Sella, publisher and founder of Sella Meir Publishing, is handling the bold marketing campaign for Annexation Now, which will also feature a clip of Glick parodying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s humorous “Kindergarten” ad that has Knesset members acting like misbehaving children (and which had been disallowed due to its use of children in a political campaign).Sella rose to prominence in the publishing world with the Israeli bestseller Catch the Jew! by Tuvia Tenenbom, now out in English from Gefen. Sella first discovered Tenenbom after major Israeli publishers rejected, arguably for political reasons, his German bestseller, I Sleep in Hitler’s Room: An American Jew Visits Germany. He seeks to give a platform to conservative voices often shunned by traditional Israeli publishers, but which the public wants to hear. But he wouldn’t have taken on the book had he not seen a business opportunity.“When you’re involved in a war of ideas, commercial success is essential, because it demonstrates that what you have is important, buzz-worthy, and relevant,” Sella told the Post.Since the publication of the English version of her book, Glick has seen encouraging signs that the idea of annexation is gaining traction in policy discourse among American Jewish communities and Republican circles. Interviews with major Israeli media outlets are now being lined up.Glick didn’t expect the Hebrew launch to coincide with an election campaign, another marketing boost. “As I see it,” she said. “It’s lucky that it’s coming out now.”