Coates, deputy national security advisor in the Trump administration, brings extensive practical experience to The Battle for the Jewish State. Among other accomplishments, she played a key role in moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and devising the Abraham Accords.

Her book offers a short, passionate, and urgent defense of the U.S.-Israel partnership post-October 7. Coates argues that the war on Israel is not just about politics or land but part of a larger attack on Western values. She observes a profound culture shift in antisemitism on American college campuses and, more generally, in left-wing politics, blaming much of it on Critical Race Theory—a school of thought that holds that racism is deeply rooted in legal and social systems, and divides the world into “oppressors” and “oppressed.” In this framework, Jews and Israel are cast as colonizers, while Palestinians are ascribed victim status. Coates argues that this interpretation spreads sympathy for Hamas while weakening American support for Israel.

In response, she offers sensible policy recommendations: stop U.S. funding of UNRWA, enforce sanctions on Hamas and Iran, increase U.S.-Israel trade, and strengthen regional security ties.

That said, the book focuses mostly on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, hardly mentioning, for example, how Türkiye, Iran, Qatar, Russia, and China fund and spread anti-Israel and anti-American messages. It also does not explore broader economic and global power struggles. Unfortunately, this narrow view limits the analysis of “how Israel—and America—can win.”

In all, while Coates eloquently defends Israel, a broader analytical lens would have made her book even more powerful.