[(Re-)translated from my German copy.]

A bit difficult to review a book like this so bear with me as I air out some of my thoughts if you really care what I think. But be aware that I recommend this book either way as I think it does have a lot of good information about the current state of the Palestine-Israel conflict and I'm convinced it is written with good intent, giving equal examination of all parties involved.
I am very confused though as to why there seemingly only exists this German translation but not an English original when Ron Leshem is an Israeli-American author. That seems very odd to me.
But enough about that...

In a later part of the book, Leshem writes about misinformation spread online and radicalization based on untrustworthy, unquestioned sources. "Opinion engineering" is certainly a thing, as becomes more noticeable in the current day of vast digital information. It is important to be aware of the what you read and engage with it critically.
Ironically that's exactly why part of me was slightly cautious/skeptical about the author being an experienced screenwriter and ex-member of Israel's Intelligence Corps when I picked this book up originally. From a cynical point of view, that seemed like a prime concoction for biased narration.
But as I skimmed the book in the store, I did find rather quickly that Leshem is clearly not fully condemning or gloryfing either Israeli or Palestinians but calls out faults and bad actors on all sides of this messy situation. Having read the book in full now, I am glad I didn't let my initial suspicions stop me from giving this book a proper chance.

But let me start with my criticisms, since that aforementioned section of the book about propaganda and disinformation spread through social media, specifically when it comes to the leftist activism of the West, was one of the few sections of the book I did actually have some gripes with.
Not that it isn't fair to critically analyze that sort of thing. But it felt, almost uncharacteristically so compared to the rest of the book, pretty reductive and cynical, missing an attempt to understand and/or argue the rise of radical one-sided Palestine-focused activism and the popular allegations against the Israeli government in a more constructive way. Especially since Leshem himself has clear criticisms against the Israel government and their actions as well. It felt a bit off that there wasn't more engagement there as it's probably also one of the most crucial parts of this conflict from a global point of view.
That part of the book was a bit bumpy since the whole subject of "radicalization through social media" definitely deserves a lot more nuance than I felt it was given there. Thankfully he picks that general subject up again in an even later part of the book and digs a bit deeper that time.

Another nitpicky gripe I had is that I would have liked more information about how the early chapters, which chronicle the events of October 7th 2023, were reconstructed in such a highly detailed way. I understand that the attack is apparently one of the most filmed tragedy in history with cameras carried by soldiers, terrorists, and civilians all around, but some of the details were so minute that I couldn't tell how factual the narration of it was.
At the end of the book, Leshem does say a little bit more about how the information was sourced, but I would have welcomed it earlier and appreciated even more information about that process itself.

All of that being said, I think Leshem does a mostly very good job at making it clear that he isn't blindly loyal to his country of Israel but very much supports the Palestinian civilians that suffer from the conflict just as much as Israelis. He rightfully condemns the devastating attacks by Hamas but also harshly looks at the Israeli government that's veering more and more towards the radical right and has failed its citizens more than once.
Despite how unlikely the realization might seem currently, he also dedicates a later chapter to detailing a potential way of how it could come to a peaceful two-state solution.

But the real meat and potatoes of this book are the conflict itself and how the two opposing sides, steered by increasingly more ruthless leaders, seemingly have caught themselves in an endless spiral towards radicalization.

I think as with all books about a complicated matter like this, you shouldn't take every word for the immediate, solitary truth and interact with it critically. But I do believe, like I said at the beginning, that Leshem is acting with good intent and wrote a generally very informative book.
As always it's best to engage with more than one voice and it goes without saying that learning about the 1948 Nakba deserves its own time as well, but if you'd only read one book about the Palestine-Israel conflict, this one would probably not be a bad pick, especially while it's still up-to-date.