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

John McHugo calls for a radical rethink of these two ideologies. He traces the problematic relationship of Europe and ‘the West’ with Jews and Muslims from the Middle Ages to nineteenth century nationalism and the Israel–Palestine conflict. He focuses on the personalities involved as much as their ideology—from Theodor Herzl, Chaim Weizmann, David Ben-Gurion and Ze’ev Jabotinsky to Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Rashid Rida, Izz al-Din al-Qassam and Hajj Amin al Husseini; and from Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir, Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu to Hassan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, Usama bin Laden and Shaykh Ahmad Yassin.

Wrestling with the unwelcome facts of this intertwined history is a precondition for reaching a settlement respecting the rights of all, and for securing lasting peace. Parallel Roads to Ruin makes these essential truths plain.