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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Controversial best-seller in Israel but not that interesting if you're not an Israeli?
The author's main point is that Israel treats its non-Jewish citizens unfairly. All the stuff about the history of the Jewish nation is really only included to make that point. Basically, he argues that historically Jews were a religious/cultural group - that in the 19th century they started to see themselves as an ethnic/national group - that their supposed ethnicity was used to justify the creation of Israel - and that the Palestinians (who are probably descended from the biblical Jews and Israelites) got a raw deal.
No doubt a lot of what the author says is true. I don't have a lot of difficulty believing that Israel has been bad for the Palestinians, or that some of the arguments that were used to motivate the creation of Israel were dubious.
On the other hand, there seems to be a lot of dubious stuff presented as though it was fact. The author suggests that Eastern European Jews probably descended from Khazar converts to Judaism, that DNA evidence has been widely misrepresented - it reads a bit like a conspiracy theory.
I didn't find it very interesting or informative. It's clearly and consistently biased against Israel and it's creation. It also seems like it could really only be of interest to Jewish Israelis. Although it's anti-Israel it's a book about Jews written for Jews by a Jew.
A book complaining about Israel written by a non-Jewish Israeli or a Palestinian could be a lot more interesting.
The author's main point is that Israel treats its non-Jewish citizens unfairly. All the stuff about the history of the Jewish nation is really only included to make that point. Basically, he argues that historically Jews were a religious/cultural group - that in the 19th century they started to see themselves as an ethnic/national group - that their supposed ethnicity was used to justify the creation of Israel - and that the Palestinians (who are probably descended from the biblical Jews and Israelites) got a raw deal.
No doubt a lot of what the author says is true. I don't have a lot of difficulty believing that Israel has been bad for the Palestinians, or that some of the arguments that were used to motivate the creation of Israel were dubious.
On the other hand, there seems to be a lot of dubious stuff presented as though it was fact. The author suggests that Eastern European Jews probably descended from Khazar converts to Judaism, that DNA evidence has been widely misrepresented - it reads a bit like a conspiracy theory.
I didn't find it very interesting or informative. It's clearly and consistently biased against Israel and it's creation. It also seems like it could really only be of interest to Jewish Israelis. Although it's anti-Israel it's a book about Jews written for Jews by a Jew.
A book complaining about Israel written by a non-Jewish Israeli or a Palestinian could be a lot more interesting.
Absolutely fascinating. Informative without being dry - and at times amusing. I'm not hugely familiar with the Jewish tradition so had to look things up here and there, but that's understandable as this was pitched to a Jewish/Israeli audience.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
El sionismo, como cualquier otro movimiento nacionalista, comienza con la creacion del concepto de "nación" a finales del siglo XVIII y comienzos del XIX. Esta obra trata de aclarar la historia del concepto "pueblo judío", y revela los problemas de su aplicación. Por ultimo, se pregunta por qué en Israel se ha preferido, años después de la creación del estado, seguir manejando el concepto "nacionalidad judía", cuando se ha construido con esfuerzo una "nacionalidad israelí".
Content Warnings
Minor: Genocide, Racism, Religious bigotry
There are some references to the Holocaust (but not negationism). There are also mentions of racialization of the jews and prohibition of interethnic marriage. Finally, there are mentions of facts that could disturb to current israeli citizens (such as the negation of the shared ancestry of all jews), but were accepted by the founders of modern Israel.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I learnt a lot about historiography and nation-building in Israel. I would have liked to have read a bit more about some more of the external factors that influenced the development of the national consciousness, as well as the attitudes of ‘ordinary’ people (there is more of that later in the book than at the beginning and in the middle), but it was a really fascinating read nonetheless.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
The combination of the writing, which is pretty dense and the content, which requires a stronger familiarity with the Old Testament, results in me not taking almost any information in while reading. So it's counterproductive for me to keep on reading further.
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Very informative about Jewish history and how the idea of a nation for the Jews is built from history and myths. While it’s talking about the Jewish nationalism, it makes you wonder about all kinds of myths for all the nations. Absolute must read if you’re interested in Jewish history, the middle east and Palestine/Israel conflict.
Pretty academic book that analyzes what a 'people' is. Turns out there might be some widely accepted misconceptions about certain groups of folks. I'll leave it at that. Interesting.
Viele, die dieses Buch gelesen haben, finden es entweder zu gut oder sind einfach nur zutiefst antizionistisch und freuen sich, dass ihnen Shlomo Sand vermeintlich wissenschaftliche Argumente liefert. Shlomo Sands Argumentation ist durchaus faszinierend und auch nachvollziehbar (bis zu einem gewissen Grad). Außerdem kann er im Gegensatz zu manch Anderen, die in der Wissenschaft arbeiten, schreiben. Das heißt aber noch lange nicht, dass er immer Recht hat. Teilweise generalisiert er genauso sehr, wie die Leute, die er als Rassisten bezeichnet. Ihm scheint manchmal nicht einzufallen, dass seine Argumente gefährlicherweise dazu genutzt werden könnten, Israel das Existenzrecht abzusprechen. Ein interessantes Buch, ein gutes Buch, in sehr unreflektierten Händen, jedoch ein sehr sehr gefährliches Buch. Kein Wunder, dass es so polarisierte.