Book Review
When the Stones Speak by Doron Spielman
304 pages │ Center Street │ May 2025
Doron Spielman’s When the Stones Speak: The Remarkable Discovery of the City of David and What Israel’s Enemies Don’t Want You to Know (Center Street, 304 pages) is a timely, compelling, and deeply personal account of one of the most consequential archaeological sites in the world, and the international campaign to erase its meaning. Released on May 13, 2025, Spielman’s book is already stirring debate for its candid revelations about the Obama administration and UNESCO’s behind-the-scenes efforts to halt the City of David excavations in Jerusalem.
Spielman, a soldier-scholar and one of the leading figures behind the City of David Foundation, offers readers a front-row seat to the ideological and political war waged not just with words and resolutions, but with bulldozers, legal threats, and diplomatic arm-twisting. At the heart of the book is the battle over historical truth: the City of David, lying just south of Jerusalem’s Old City walls, has yielded a treasure trove of evidence, palatial ruins, ancient inscriptions, and ritual artifacts, proving the Jewish people’s three-millennia-old connection to the land.
But as Spielman reveals, these discoveries threatened a powerful narrative championed by certain Arab leaders and, crucially, by international bodies like UNESCO. The book’s most explosive chapters detail how, during Barack Obama’s presidency, U.S. diplomats worked in concert with UNESCO to pressure Israel into halting or restricting archaeological work at the site. Spielman recounts closed-door meetings, diplomatic cables, and public campaigns designed to cast doubt on the Jewish roots of Jerusalem and to delegitimize Israel’s sovereignty over its capital.
Spielman is unsparing in his criticism of what he calls “historical denialism,” a campaign not just to rewrite history, but to erase it. He draws a direct line from these diplomatic maneuvers to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, arguing that the war against Israel is as much ideological as it is physical. The book is rich with firsthand anecdotes, from tense encounters with UNESCO officials to moments of triumph as each new artifact is unearthed. Spielman’s narrative is bolstered by endorsements from figures like Ben Shapiro, David Friedman, and Michael Oren, who hail the book as both a riveting story and a vital corrective to global misinformation.
What sets When the Stones Speak apart is its insistence that archaeology is not just about the past; it is a battleground for the present and future of Israel. Spielman’s passion for the City of David is infectious, and his call to let “the stones speak” is a challenge to readers and policymakers alike: Will we listen to the evidence, or allow political pressure to silence history?
For anyone interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the politics of UNESCO, or the enduring power of Jerusalem, Spielman’s book is essential reading. It is a sweeping, accessible, and urgent reminder that in the struggle for truth, sometimes the oldest voices-the stones themselves-are the most important of all.