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According to Shlaim, most Israeli governments – left and right – adopted the same doctrine and did not make peace a central objective. Exceptions, he says, were Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Rabin. "Israel never really wanted to belong to the Middle East. It sees itself as a Western-European country," Shlaim says. "Mizrahi Jews could have been a bridge between Israel and the Arab world, but Zionist leaders never wanted that bridge. Herzl imagined the Jewish state in contrast to Eastern barbarism. Jabotinsky saw the state as part of imperialism in the Middle East. The same applies to Ben-Gurion and Netanyahu, who embody alienation and a refusal to be part of the region – and a lack of interest in coexistence." His second book, "Lion of Jordan: The Political Biography of King Hussein," outlines what Shlaim sees as missed opportunities for peace in the region.