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The Invention of the Jewish People Paperback – 1 June 2010
by Shlomo Sand (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,225)
A historical tour de force, The Invention of the Jewish People offers a groundbreaking account of Jewish and Israeli history.
Exploding the myth that there was a forced Jewish exile in the first century at the hands of the Romans, Israeli historian Shlomo Sand argues that most modern Jews descend from converts, whose native lands were scattered across the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
In this iconoclastic work, which spent nineteen weeks on the Israeli bestseller list and won the coveted Aujourd'hui Award in France, Sand provides the intellectual foundations for a new vision of Israel's future.
'Sand's questions about how Israel's democracy can be liberalized and stabilized are thought-provoking and deserve serious discussion.' Haaretz
'Perhaps books combining passion and erudition don't change political situations, but if they did, this one would count as a landmark.'
Eric Hobsbawm, Observer ' Sand's quiet earthquake of a book is shaking historical faith in the link between Judaism and Israel.' Rafael Behr, Observer
'Anyone interested in understanding the contemporary Middle East should read this book.' Tony Judt
'Extravagantly denounced and praised.' New York Times
Print length 344 pages
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Review
Sand's questions about how Israel's democracy can be liberalized and stabilized are thought-provoking and deserve serious discussion. ― Haaretz
Perhaps books combining passion and erudition don't change political situations, but if they did, this one would count as a landmark. -- Eric Hobsbawm ― Observer
[Sand's] quiet earthquake of a book is shaking historical faith in the link between Judaism and Israel. -- Rafael Behr ― Observer
Anyone interested in understanding the contemporary Middle East should read this book. -- Tony Judt
Extravagantly denounced and praised. ― New York Times
No discussion of the region any longer seems complete without acknowledgement of this book. ― Independent on Sunday, Best History Books of 2009
A radical dismantling of a national myth. ― Guardian
Almost too baseless to debunk. ― Jewish Journal
Book Description
Bestselling new analysis of Jewish history by a leading Israeli historian.
About the Author
Shlomo Sand studied history at the University of Tel Aviv and at the Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales, in Paris. He currently teaches contemporary history at the University of Tel Aviv. His books include The Invention of the Jewish People and On the Nation and the Jewish People.
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The Invention of the Jewish People
The Invention of the Jewish People
byShlomo Sand
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From Australia
Peter
5.0 out of 5 stars great explanation of how pressures to survive and thrive have driven the Jewish story
Reviewed in Australia on 20 January 2026
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I will be reading more and with greater understanding of the power of and risks inherent in Zionism for Palestine and Israel.
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Johnno
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read if you are interested in modern Middle East history
Reviewed in Australia on 28 December 2025
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The truth about Israel and it's history by a Jewish author who does not agree with the Zionist agenda
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Vasiliki Mazis
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read
Reviewed in Australia on 16 November 2025
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The tragedy of this is that the horrific suffering of the Palestinian people has been justified because of myths and historical fabrications. Sands work is brave and extremely relevant in light of the horror of Gaza and the descent into barbarism of the ghastly Zionist project.
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Nicola
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant. Very well researched.
Reviewed in Australia on 21 September 2022
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Invaluable book on the subject matter. Thank you
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5.0 out of 5 stars Quite simply brilliant. If you are looking to read an enlightening ...
Reviewed in Australia on 6 March 2016
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Quite simply brilliant. If you are looking to read an enlightening book by an extremely intelligent, sensitive and informed person on a subject that is utterly diffuse and full of misinformation that has plagued the world for centuries then read this book. You will become one of the enlightened and informed few.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Open Your Eyes and Mind.
Reviewed in Australia on 27 August 2016
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A "Must Read" book for everyone, especially the ones who turn blind eye to the politics of the Zionist..
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Mack Taylor
1.0 out of 5 stars Cover was scratched
Reviewed in Australia on 4 March 2026
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Cover was scratched
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Bernard Bayon de Noyer
4.0 out of 5 stars Good and interesting book, well documented.
Reviewed in France on 16 August 2017
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Good and interesting book, well written and well documented. Not that easy to read, the work of a great scholar.
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Rogelio Rivera-Melo
5.0 out of 5 stars The history of the Jewish People very well explained.
Reviewed in Mexico on 10 December 2025
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An excellent book.
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PleaseWait...
5.0 out of 5 stars Who Could Have Known?
Reviewed in the United States on 3 March 2026
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As a man with limited formal education I first off admit to being no critic of books of history nor books of books of history.
My interest in The Invention of the Jewish People is a logical progression from reading the King James Old Testament in its entirety (I'm on the second go), The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy - by John Mearesheimer and Stephen Walt, The Middle East in World Affairs by George Lenczowski, A History of the Modern Middle East by William Cleveland and Martin Bunton, Theologico and Political Treatise, and Political Treatise both by Benedict de Spinoza, and Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence.
Through this limited collection of sources it became apparent to me there was much more to zionism than I would be able to read about in one book. That is until I read The Invention of the Jewish People. Whatever your takeaway from this book, I as a heritage Christian highly recommend The Invention of the Jewish People to those church-goers who subscribe to the fantastical notion put forth by many evangelical congregations.
The book is tough sledding in some spots, particularly the first chapter which sets out to define nationalism, the purpose of which is to ground the investigations and conclusions put forth by Professor Sand. But man doesn't progress by reading down but only by reading up. It is important to realize students in Israel are not even permitted to read some of the sources Prof. Sand cites in this thorough and enlightening book so that I urge anyone interested in having a deeper perspective of our current bloody posture in the Middle East to read Professor Sand's book.
I appreciate Professor Sand's book so much and look forward to The Invention of the Land of Israel. It is becoming more and more apparent to me that the Zionist movement is not so much about religion and promises the Hebrew God made to a long past tribe, as it is money and the effete lust for power.
P.S. And with the newly initiated war Israel and the U.S. vehemently deny is happening, this book is even more pertinent to understanding our irrational and immoral attachment to the political machine of zionism, camouflaged as a religion.
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Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars must read
Reviewed in Germany on 3 April 2026
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What a beautiful book. It destroys all the myths we used to hear. It invites to look at history from totally different angles. Well written and researched.
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alexandre feldman
5.0 out of 5 stars É verdade, mas todas as comunidades são invenção. Portanto, é tudo mentira e todas as culturas são ficticias.
Reviewed in Brazil on 27 July 2014
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Livro muito bom. Reflete não apenas sobre a formação de uma consciência judaica, mas também sobre transformações dessa consciência por meio de narrativas e ideologias ao longo de diversos períodos históricos. Concordando ou discordando do autor, o leitor, certamente, terá um momento de reflexão e amadurecimento. Verá que, ao final, não somente o povo judeu teve sua invenção, mas que, na linha de B. Anderson, todas as comunidades são imaginadas, criadas, recriadas, narradas e o sentido coletivo é uma construção narrativa ficcional com carga histórico-ideológica que é dotada do valor quase que dogmático de verdade em toda e qualquer nação ou comunidade. Assim, o sentido de pertencimento, sempre será daqueles que se adequarem à visão dominante e sua "narrativa verdadeira". Mas, o leitor crítico, expandirá o estudo e verá que não apenas todas as comunidades são imaginadas, todas as narrativas são fictícias como, e mais importante, no final, tudo é literatura ou mentira, conforme o prisma que se usa para tratar de qualquer cultura ou comunidade.
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Hephaestos
5.0 out of 5 stars A timely setting right of the historical record concerning the myth of the Jewish Nation
Reviewed in Canada on 23 August 2013
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This is an exceptionally well written (particularly in the Hebrew original) and bluntly presented exposition. While one may disagree with the political perspective that underlies this compilation, and its more recent companion "The Invention of the Land of Israel", the historical analysis on which it is based is beyond reproach. Incidentally, the correct translation of the respective titles is "When and How was the Jewish People/ Land of Israel Invented" which better reflects the historical perspective of these myths, which is the main focus and interest of these works. The main myth on which the concept of the "Jewish People" is based is, of course the Old Testament. One of the main points that Sand eloquently and systematically demonstrates is that, while being an amazing compilation in its own right, the Old Testament is not a historical document, as some would have us believe. Another myth that Sand attempts to shatter is the direct link of persons currently identifying themselves as belonging to the "Jewish People" to the original inhabitants of the "Land of Israel" (Itself being largely a myth). According to Sand, based on extensive historical analysis, the widespread dispersal of people of the Jewish faith is due not to exile of such people from Judea/ Palestine, an exile for which there is no historical evidence, but to mass conversions to Judaism which took place at certain periods.
Themes of a more political flavour relate to the Zionist national movement's claims for a "Jewish Nation State" in "The Land of Israel", claims which are largely based on the myths of the "Jewish Nation" and its connection to the "Land of Israel". As Sand point out, the whole concept of nationality, as a basis for the so-called "Nation State" is a rather modern one, and one that is often based on myths in an attempt to give these new inventions a historical foundation. In the case of Judaism, there is clearly no basis for such interpretation, not only on historical but on simple logical grounds - one cannot be a Jewish Christian, for instance, or an atheist, for that matter. Clearly Judaism is a religion, first and foremost, which does not exclude some common cultural and historical background for persons identifying themselves as belonging to the "Jewish People". Whether such justification is at all needed, especially in view of the Holocaust and persecution of Jews, not just as a religion but as a presumed ethnic group, is a matter for debate.
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匿名
5.0 out of 5 stars Jewish people The problem in this world.
Reviewed in Japan on 17 July 2019
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the problem between israel and palestine is the most dangerous o ne in this world I think. whats the cause is what is jewish people. this book answer the question. This English translation is good, easy to read.
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H Abu
5.0 out of 5 stars A Groundbreaking Work That Shatters Historical Orthodoxy
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 April 2025
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Shlomo Sand’s The Invention of the Jewish People is a bold and revolutionary work that challenges long-held assumptions with intellectual fearlessness and historical precision. In this meticulously researched masterpiece, Sand takes readers on a provocative journey through the myths and constructions of national identity, daring to ask the question so few have had the courage to voice: What if the story of a unified Jewish people, exiled and then miraculously returned, is more legend than fact?
Sand doesn’t merely poke holes in the official narrative, he deconstructs it with scholarly depth and a profound moral compass. From tracing the complex origins of Jewish communities around the world to exposing the 19th-century nationalist frameworks that shaped modern Zionist ideology, Sand reveals how history has been bent to serve political ends.
What makes this book extraordinary is not only its academic weight, but its clarity and accessibility. It opens a space for honest conversation about identity, diaspora, and historical memory, not as tools for division, but as windows into our shared humanity.
Courageous, unsettling, and essential, The Invention of the Jewish People is a literary and intellectual earthquake. It is a must-read for anyone who believes that truth matters more than dogma, and that history must be examined, not weaponised.
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G. V. Rodriguez
5.0 out of 5 stars INTERESANTE, ROMPEDOR
Reviewed in Spain on 15 March 2025
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El libro plantea una cuestión no extensamente conocida relativa a sucesivas integraciones masivas en la comunidad "jewish" de otros diversos grupos étnicos ajenos, desde algún siglo antes de Cristo hasta épocas posteriores o muy posteriores. Reflexiona también sobre la necesidad de reconciliarse con estos hechos.
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Dioniso
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfetto
Reviewed in Italy on 27 September 2024
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Perfetto
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KAZRENOIR
5.0 out of 5 stars Is it possible from within?
Reviewed in Japan on 25 January 2018
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If some people fully armed suddenly came to your house and said, "Get out! This is our land God has promised us!", it would be obvious to any reasonble eye that they are totally insane. Not only insane but also extremely dangerous if they actually implemented the idea. So when the crazy idea came out in 19th century, it naturally was out in the cold among Jewish societies. But the insane and extremely dangerous idea became real power some 70 years ago in Israel. Since then, good and evil in the world have been totally upside down. If we oversight this, the world will meet a consequent catastrophe. And we are most likely going toward it. When insanety has prevailed the country and the world, how is it possible to obstain a good commonsense and straighten things out from wihtin?
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Michael T. Ballard
5.0 out of 5 stars The invention of bourgeois nationalism, Zionist style....
Reviewed in the United States on 25 November 2010
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Schlomo Sand is employed as a professor of contemporary history at the University of Tel Aviv. The Invention of the Jewish People was originally published in Hebrew in Israel. Translations of his work are now being published throughout the world in many languages, including English.
Sand is the son of a World War II era veteran of the Polish Communist Party. He is also the son-in-law of a Spanish anarchist who fought Franco nationalists in the streets of Barcelona during the Civil War/Revolution. Professor Sand would probably describe himself as an apple, fallen somewhat distant from those trees, perhaps as a cosmopolitan liberal. His view of Israel is that it would better off giving up being an `ethnocracy'--Sand's term for the ethno-biologically defined Jewish political State. Professor Sand's preference is for Israel to become a garden variety, secular capitalist democracy like France or the United States of America.
Dr. Sand gives his readers many insights into the general intellectual foundations of the modern era's nationalist ideological project and of Zionist nationalist project in particular. In this reviewer's opinion, The Invention of the Jewish People is worth reading for these critical observations alone, as nationalism has been and continues to be a strong ideological force in our time.
Sand makes the case that class societies up until the 18th century were made up mostly of sedentary peasants and nomadic herdsmen. Sand effectively argues that there was no official ideology of nationalism embedded in the consciousness of the people who lived within these pre-industrial societies. Historically speaking, these agrarian formations were dominated by classes of aristocrats, landlords and slave owners. The nomadic and peasant majorities of this ancient world had no notion of being part of a nation. Comprehending this insight is fundamental to grasping Sand's arguments about how nationalism, and in particular Jewish nationalism, was an ideological invention. As opposed to modern day nationalist conscious, based on self-regulated `patriotism' , schooled with `pledges of allegiance', ubiquitous posters of `our fearless leader' and `hats off at the sports match in honour of the national anthem', ancient rulers relied on keeping the mostly peasant producers of wealth in a constant state of fear of the absolute power of the sovereign. There was no sense of being a part of a national political State amongst the general populace. At best, the sovereign only had to, "secure the loyalty of the state's administration in order to preserve the continuity and stability of the government, but the peasants were required simply to pass along the surplus agricultural produce and sometimes to provide the monarchy and nobility with soldiers. Taxes were of course collected by force, or at any rate by its constant implicit threat, rather than by persuasion or efforts at consensus." (p.26)
Capitalist rule erupted out of political revolutions against these ancient expressions of absolutism. The revolutions of modernity (from Cromwell's Puritans in the mid 17th century to Colonial America's yeoman farmers and private property owners, to the overthrow of monarchism in France by its citizens and in country after country well into the 19th and 20th centuries) all resulted in the establishment of national political States. All nationalisms were political expressions of the rapidly changing social relations of the producers of wealth. From peasant subjects, to wage-labouring citizens, the producing classes were united, after nationalist revolt, as citizens with the ruling capitalist and landlord classes in one big political State. These conditions were accompanied by new political notions, primary amongst them, the rule of law and the classless identity politics which proclaimed that sovereignty was no long the king's; but for the `people' of the nation. From these material circumstances sprang a need by the ruling class for the legitimation of their system of political dominance thus, the impetus for public intellectuals to invent and spread the gospel of the various and sundry nationalist brands. One of the first tasks these amplified intellectual voices had to confront was to define who `the people' were.
Sand contends that modern public intellectuals invented all nationalist ideologies thus, all `peoples'. Most of these intellectuals mixed history with cultural myths in order to fashion their nationalist ideologies. Sand calls these nationalist ideologies passing for history, `mythistory'. More than a few of these nationalist mythistories were combined with the pseudo-scientific invention of `race', an ideology originating in the 18th century. "In the nineteenth century, national cultures often tied the soft term, `people', to the rigid and problematic `race,' and many regarded the two words as intersecting, supporting, or complimentary. The homogeneous collective origin of `the people'--always, of course, superior and unique, if not actually pure--became a kind of insurance against the risks represented by fragmentary, though persistent, sub identities that continued to swarm beneath the unifying modernity. The imagined origin also served as an efficient filter against undesirable mixing with hostile neighbouring nations." (p.27)
However, by 1945, the horror of the Nazi holocaust, most especially its connection with `Ayrian' racist mythhistory, prompted world leaders and public intellectuals to officially renounce `race' as having any scientifically based, genetic substance. UNESCO statements on race in the early 1950s explained `race' as a social myth and the 1998 American Anthropological Association statement on `race' proclaimed it to be a pseudo-scientific concept. Still, the `commonsense' notion that there are `races' has persisted and is present to this day in public discourse even though, as Sand observes, pre-WWII notions of `race' have more and more morphed into the bourgeois intellectually acceptable concept of `ethnicity'. To be sure, the oppressive force of racism persists. Not only that but, it is often legitmised, Sand would argue, by continuing to legitimate an ethno-biological linkage with nationalist ideological concepts defining, `the people'.
That the Nazi extermination of `inferior races' during WWII, threw a spanner in the ideological works of those attempting to link `race' with `nation', is true. However, as Sand points out, it was particularly problematic for Zionist ideologists. Since its inception in the mid-19th century, its legitimacy was based on the notion of a genetic connection between ancient and modern peoples of the Jewish faith and culture. According to this mythistory, modern day Jews were genetically linked to those people who inhabited that portion of the Middle East known as Israel, Judea and Palestine in the early 1st century CE. A fusing of Biblical stories with actual history had long become part of the Zionist ideological project. As the nationalist ideological story goes (Sand writes a much more detailed account in a chapter he titles, `Mythistory'), the Jewish people were deported from their homeland after much of Jerusalem, along with the Second Temple, was destroyed in 70CE by the Roman soldiers under the command of Titus. As the story went, this came as punishment for an unsuccessful revolt against the Roman Empire by the Jewish people. According to this mythical tale, the whole of this Jewish people then wandered the Earth in exile from their homeland. The Zionist nationalist project was designed to bring the Jewish people home to "Eretz Israel" from their long exile.
What Sand demonstrates, in his meticulously researched book, is that great mass of the people who lived in what was then the Roman province of Palestine in 70CE were not exiled. As he conclusively shows, conquerors of that era, including the Babylonian conquerors related in the Biblical story of the destruction of the First Temple and the Romans who destroyed the Second Temple, never exiled whole peoples because those peoples were the peasant producers of wealth and obtaining that wealth, along with the power that goes with it, is what being a ruling class is all about. Peasants are generally tied to their land and most people living in Roman Palestine were peasants. Peasants don't move around. They're sedentary. Ancient ruling classes always liked it that way. As Sand points out, conquering rulers of ancient times would routinely enslave defeated elites from the ruling class whom they had conquered but, they would leave the great mass of the people (mostly peasant farmers) on the land, to continue to produce wealth, as these peasants had done for various other ruling classes for centuries before. The implications of this revelation for the current relation between peoples identifying themselves as Palestinians and those identifying themselves as Jews both inside and outside the immediate borders of Israel are pretty obvious in this reviewer's opinion. The classless nationalist identity politics, which keep rank and file Palestinian and Israeli workers at each other's throats, is based on a series of invented fictions. Of course, this is true for all the world's nationalisms, for all are ideological inventions which assume that the working class and the employing class have interests in common.
So, where do most of the people of the Jewish faith in the world come from, if not from an ethno-biologically connected people who were exiled from their homeland by the Romans in 70 CE?
Sand's answer is that most come from "proselytising". Sand demonstrates that the first great monotheistic religion, Judaism, was spread to eager pagan converts throughout the Mediterranean basin a long time before the competing monotheistic religions of Christianity and Islam arose.
The question which came to this reviewer's mind was, "Why would polytheists find this monotheistic religion, with its invisible deity so attractive?" Shorter work time is one of Sand's fascinating insights. The weekly day of rest, the Sabbath, turned the practice of Judaism into a way of legitimising free time, much to the consternation of the slave owning ruling classes of the ancient, polytheistic world.
As Sand relates, a great victory for the proselytisers of the Jewish faith came with the conversion of the Punics. Punic Carthage was not a Hebrew speaking city state. It was located in what is today the political State of Tunisia. After the defeat of Carthage by the Roman Republic in 146 BCE, the Jewish religion continued to be practiced amongst the peasant people of this region. The faith also spread to nearby nomadic Berbers, who were later to accompany the Arabic Muslim conquerors of Spain as soldiers in 711 CE. The implications here are enormous, especially considering what happened to Jews who refused to convert to Christianity during Ferdinand and Isabella's reign in Spain, circa 1492CE.
Sand presents historically documented evidence of the many other conversions to Judaism within the confines of the heavily used trading routes of Mediterranean, in the late BCE and the early CE of the Roman Empire. He shows that this proselytising tendency was more or less suppressed with the rise of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 2nd century CE and of Islam after the 8th century CE.
"Proselytizing Jews were driven from the arena of rival monotheisms, Christianity or Islam, to the land of paganism, with immigrants who convinced the pagans that their faith was preferable. The great mass proselytizing campaign that began in the second century BCE, with the rise of the Hasmonean kingdom, reached its climax in Khazaria in the eighth century CE." (p. 220)
As Sand shows, the conversion of the Kagan of Khazaria, a kingdom located above the Black Sea, helped create a great mass of people of the Jewish faith. Many of these Jewish religionists spread out into what is now Eastern Europe after Khazaria was overrun by the Mongols under Genghis Khan in the early 13th century CE. Sand writes, "The Khazars were a coalition of strong Turkic or Hunnic-Bulgar clans who, as they began to settle down, mingled with the Scythians who had inhabited these mountains and steppes between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, which was known for a long time as the Khazar Sea. At its peak, the kingdom encompassed an assortment of tribes and linguistic groups, Alans and Bulgars, Magyars and Slavs. The Khazars collected taxes from them all and ruled over a vast landmass, stretching from Kiev in the northwest to the Crimean Peninsula in the south, and from the upper Volga to present-day Georgia." (p.214)
As Sand demonstrates time and again, actual history profoundly conflicts with the `mythistory' of the BIBLE which forms the very foundation on which Israeli nationalist ideology and ultimately, the Israeli political State rests. For example, the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, 1948: "After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom." (p.129)
The Invention of the Jewish People is a work which will be useful to any reader interested in making sense of the social relations of power and current political conflicts arising from them in the modern day Middle East. Doctor Sand's work should be helpful to those eager to grasp the conceptual intricacies of nationalist ideology and how it has come to distort political judgements amongst and between workers of the world today.
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Shannon
5.0 out of 5 stars History of Israel explained
Reviewed in Canada on 25 December 2025
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Interesting book, I learned a lot.
Shlomo Sand takes a fair perspective outside of the religious dogma that dominates the boomer generation in Jewish and evangelical Christian zio circles.
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Amazon Kunde
5.0 out of 5 stars higly worth reading
Reviewed in Germany on 27 May 2018
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I highly recommend this comprehensive and very well written book by Shlomo Sand. For people interested in why politics drives into certain directions and leads to path dependency, into apparently ineluctable stable constellations, Sand recapitulates modern instruments in historical sciences since the 1980ies, that is to say the reality of constructivism in its consequences, and comes back to the politics of normative definition, decisive in politics. Worthwile view on the concept of "nation" and and "nationalism" in the modern age adapted to the specific subject matter.
If one is interested in humanities: An interesting and important lens for the wish to understand the sociopolitical situation in the middle-east. Moreover: Very well written.
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Germinal
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting challenge to both Zionism and antisemitism.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 October 2009
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Shlomo Sand's `The Invention of the Jewish People' is fascinating. It is a wide ranging study that is well written, well translated and easily read. It is about how, when, why and by whom the notion of the Jews as a people was invented and the consequences of this invention.
Sand starts with an exploration of theoretical understandings of nationalism and references such authors as Ernest Gellner and Benedict Anderson. I found this chapter a little bit scatter-gun and readers don't really need to read chapter 1. Nevertheless, Sand makes his case that nations are the product of nationalism - not the other way around.
Chapter 2 launches straight into what Sand calls `Mythistory'. Here he examines the evolution of historiography of the Jews and how this has been distorted by both the Bible and by nationalist and racial ideologies. When was the Old Testament written? By whom? Why? Sand then goes on to show that philological and archaeological research has undermined the notion that the Old Testament is older than the Persian and Hellenistic periods and that events such as the arrival of the Patriarchs and the Exodus did probably not occur.
Sand then tackles the myth of exile. The fact that Jews were not exiled from Judea in 71 CE upon the destruction of the Temple. Nor were they exiled after the Bar Kochba revolt some 80 years later. Sand follows the Zionist historiography as it tries to settle on it's third choice of when exile occurred after the 7th century Arab conquest. Here Sand is a little weak, I feel, in that he doesn't make the obvious link in Zionist ideology between the concept of Arab dispossession and the later justification of the dispossession of Arabs in 1948. Sand also points out that the idea of exile was initially a Christian idea that was adopted by Jews.
As Sand points out, the logical conclusion for the disappearance of Jews in Palestine after the Arab conquest was that they converted to Islam and that today's Palestinian are the descendents of these converts. Such was recognized by Zionists such as Ben-Gurion, although here Sand again fudges somewhat as he seeks to blame Palestinian resistance to Zionist colonisation for the fact that Zionist and Palestinian societies did not merge in the Mandate period and ignores the inbuilt urge to ethnic cleansing in Zionism as something which would always have precluded such a merging. It's a failing which runs through Sand book that he sees Zionism as simply a nationalist movement rather than appreciaiting it's inherent racism and colonialism.
Sand points out and amply illustrates the rise of Jewish proselytism from Hasmonean times onwards as Judaism merges with Hellenism to form a dynamic monotheistic religion that spreads throughout Judea and then beyond into the Greek and then Roman world. Sand takes us through the spread of Judaism to the kingdom of Himyar in Yemen, the conversion of the Berbers in N.Africa and the origins of the great Jewish society in Spain - all of these the product of proselytisation rather than emigration. Sand then moves on to the Khazar Kaganate in S.Russia/Caucasus, itself also the product of proselytisation, and the relationship between this society and the emergence of the E.European Ashkenazi Jewish society and Yiddish civilization. The evidence here is not quite so clear cut, but Sand makes a good case that Yiddish civilization owes a great deal to the Khazars.
Sand next tackles modern controversies and handles well the attempts by Zionists to bring genetics to the rescue of the failing notion that Jews are a race-nation. He points to contradictory findings, dubious sampling techniques and the financing of research by interested organizations to cast doubt on the validity of this approach.
Sand concludes with a chapter on Israeli politics and, essentially, a plea to create a secular democratic state for all the people rather than a Jewish democratic state which, as Sands rightly points out, is an oxymoron.
Very little of what Sand says is actually new. What Sand does is draw together all the diverse scholarly objections from, for example, history, philology and archaeology to the notion that Jews are a distinct race/nation/people into a coherent synthesis.
Essential reading for the debate around Zionism and racism.
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jonathan moises
5.0 out of 5 stars Regalo
Reviewed in Mexico on 19 April 2020
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Buen libro y excelente el tiempo de envio para regalo
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Pele Sahota
4.0 out of 5 stars Well worth reading.
Reviewed in Germany on 30 March 2013
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Excellently written, this book is well worth exploring for those bemused by the 'historical right' that is frequently evoked.
More work could have been given to the genetic 'evidence' of a Jewish race that seem to be too easily found on the internet.
Sand, works methodically and accessibly to provide and clear and coherent portrait of how we have got this bizarre point of accepting 'historical rights' to land and how problematic the very concept of 'Jew' is. Simply defining it as a religious group would solve many problems. Certainly it's racial component is simply unsustainable and the use of the bible has a title deed to land is shown to be utterly fruitless and groundless. It seems so obvious, one can only despair that academics have to write such hefty tomes to state the obvious.
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Joseph Ryan
4.0 out of 5 stars Useful Confirmation of Under Reported Information
Reviewed in the United States on 13 December 2009
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ADDENDUM NO. 2: June 2011
On re-reading Sand's book, I see that like so many other readers I was caught up in the history that was new to me.
The book, however, is not a history -- it's historiography, a book about the evolution of historical writing: who the authors were, the historians' backgrounds, historical environments, and purposes, their relations with one another and how they based their works on previous histories.
Sand's historiographic study concludes that Jewish history, like history of many other subjects, comes in two flavors: a canon that serves nationalism and adjusts to political exigencies, and scientific history that evolves along with the availability of documentary and physical evidence, as well as with changes in professional techniques.
Sand gives several examples of politically motivated changes in the canonical history of the Jews. Most of the changes originated from the rise of "ethnic" nationalism in the late 1800s in Eastern Europe (as contrasted with the earlier "citizenship" nationalism of the early 1800s in Western Europe -- see pages 46-54). This political movement in the region where most Jews lived led Jewish nationalist historians to re-define Jewish identity as ethnic, rather than religious.
For example:
-- The existence of other ethnic communities that had converted to Judaism was progressively ignored as ethnic identity was emphasized.
-- Racialist theories about Jews were promoted in the late 1800s when such analysis was fashionable but dropped after the Nazi episode put it in a bad odor, only to be revived after the 1967 conquest of the West Bank once again put a premium on distinguishing Jews from their neighbors inside the same borders.
-- While historians, including David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, knew and wrote that Palestinian fellahin were by-and-large descended from Judean Jews, the anti-colonial Palestinian revolt of 1929 led Jewish history to cease mentioning it.
The most important lesson of Sand's book is that modern nation-states reward an historical canon that serves nationalism, and they combat scientific history where it contradicts the canonical history. This is an important lesson because political pressure can affect other sciences as well.
The public in the main only knows canon history thanks to government schools and political festivals. Sand recounts some scientific history not only because it appeals to him but because he wants the public to be more aware of the existence of scientific history.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Shlomo Sand argues that the Jewish religion was a huge success in gaining converts -- so much so that the number of Jews in ancient times (around 4 million) was vastly more than the imaginable number of exiles from the Judean population.
This made the Jewish people cosmopolitan, not simply a Judean group. The "invention" in Sand's title is the subsequent claim that Jews were "essentially" all Judean exiles.
Sand points out that exiling whole countries was physically impossible. In Judea's case, he says there is no evidence that more than a few thousand elite would have been forced to leave. The Jewish society, farmers and shepherds in its majority, continued.
Alexander the Great and then the Romans conquered many nations, and Sand says that the scope for international interchange within the Hellenistic and Roman Empires tempted many people from nations like Judea to re-locate, especially to attractive metropoles like Alexandria and Rome. This would have been interesting mainly to elites and intellectuals, and it was these elite Judeans who were so successful in attracting pagans to convert to Judaism.
One response to these findings that one hears is that they're true but that they don't change the "essential truth" that Jews were "exiled" from Judea, propelled by a change in the Jews' sense of themselves. Sand's book frequently refers to "essentialist" arguments like this, and evidently he does not agree.
It's very useful to have these points made in a prominent way. Sand's book also contains some intricate and interesting discussions of nationhood in the abstract. He can over-talk a subject, however, and the last chapter about democracy in modern Israel seems like almost a change in subject.
ADDENDUM NO. 1:
I characterized Sand's book as a "useful confirmation of under-reported information." Prof. Tony Judt is in a better position to judge, so I was gratified to read this section from his review in The Financial Times:
"His [Sand's] contribution, critics assert, is at best redundant. For the last century, specialists have been perfectly familiar with the sources he cites and the arguments he makes. From a purely scholarly perspective, I have no quarrel with this. Even I, dependent for the most part on second-hand information about the earlier millennia of Jewish history, can see that Prof Sand - for example in his emphasis upon the conversions and ethnic mixing that characterise the Jews in earlier times - is telling us nothing we do not already know.
"The question is, who are "we"? Certainly in the US, the overwhelming majority of Jews (and perhaps non-Jews) have absolutely no acquaintance with the story Prof Sand tells. They will never have heard of most of his protagonists, but they are all too approvingly familiar with the caricatured version of Jewish history that he is seeking to discredit. If Prof Sand's popularising work does nothing more than provoke reflection and further reading among such a constituency, it will have been worthwhile." Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
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Jose Carlos Barcelo Fernandez
4.0 out of 5 stars Leer con cuidado
Reviewed in Mexico on 6 July 2025
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Más barato que la versión en español que cuesta tres veces más. Interesante pero no deja de ser una conjetura no explica por qué el Yidish tiene raíces germánica y no turquicas. En fin
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Rafael Midugno
4.0 out of 5 stars Letra miúda
Reviewed in Brazil on 26 August 2024
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Edição com capa brochura e letra miúda.
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E. Clarke
4.0 out of 5 stars but where do go from here?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 February 2011
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What I particularly liked about this book is that Sand takes a lot of time to give his potential oppenents a run for their money. It is a very impressive work of scholarship - the reading list is amazing - though there is certainly no sense of laboured prose in the sprightly English translation. All national and communal self images are exercises in imagination - I'm a Scot, so I know - so criticing them in the light of scholarly research is pretty easy, and can cause offense. This does not invalidate the scholarship, and Sands takes us through not only the history of Jewish communities, but the history of the development of the idea of a special type of biological/racial community, calling themselves Jews. He is pretty convincing that this is an implausible idea, based on the Christian myth of the wandering Jew (punished for murdering God) amd married to 19th Century German racial theories. I doubt if a dispassionate observer would be able to demolish this thesis, at least so long as they are not living in the Middle East. But if you are a Jew living in Israel, it is hard to see how you can give up the current myths in favour of others, unless you can see some security for the future, and it is not obvious how this can be done. It is hard to think of Palistinian "Israelis" happily becoming full citizen "Israelis" - the name would not endure, or Jewish Israelis giving up the idea of Israel. Still, it is a step forward to do away with, or at least question, the more obviously racist forms of Zionism, and this book is a formidable challenge to that idea. Maybe there is some value in the idea of a "Jewish Democracy" (I live happily in a Monarchical democracy, with Republicanism as a respectable weekend pursuit). Great book, but no real road map anywhere at present, so perhaps it is meant only to ginger up intenal Israeli debates.
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JOHN ISH ISHMAEL
4.0 out of 5 stars DID SEPARATIST, ELITIST JUDEO-ZIONIST LITERATURE OF THE ERA INVIGORATE THE ARYAN SUPER RACE IDEOLOGY OF THE 193Os?
Reviewed in Canada on 30 September 2017
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Professor Shlomo Sand, an ISraeli historian, published The Invention of The Jewish People. Its bibliography also provided a stunning, insight into the Jewish, #Selfchosen arrogance in Germany and Europe. I am unaware if any reviewer has done what I have in the past:
1) Emphasised Sand's bibliography as essential to his message
2) Commented on his indirect, essential theme that Judeo-Zionist messages to Germanic people of Jews superior DNA and to Jews were that they must preserve this (Jewish) God selected, gene pool from contamination by intermarriage with lesser Goyim races.
Professor Sand illustrates the flooding of Germanic national consciousness with these racist, Apartheid appeals and hints that the reaction was a coalescence of a new German psyche, mirroring that of the Judeo-Zionist invention of this fake history twinned with Genocidal themed Old Testament, of the Creation of The (Special) Jewish People, ready to acquire Palestine (or other area) after firming up financial control of Goyim Germany.
Of course the author, though a respected Jewish ISraeli historian, dared not directly link the Judeo-Zionist elitist, racist incitement to the rise of the #Aryan Super Race of Hitler's movement. But, except to the casual reader, his warning is clear. And ignored, even in the understanding, by the ISraeli, expansionist Light into the Goyim, leaders as they incite the lesser Goyim.
This rabid, existential threat to most of humanity may yet prevail over a largely Zionist infected world leadership.
I imagined such "success" in my futuristic #ChosenWorldOurWarOnIslamAndOurOwnFreedoms.
Be safe, be well. My hugs. #ISH.
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Mark William
5.0 out of 5 stars Erfindung des Judenten als Volk
Reviewed in Germany on 20 June 2010
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Ich habe einige Male die englische Übersetzung des Buches gelesen. Ich weiß nicht, ob der Autor die Wahrheit erzählt, aber mir scheint, dass er in einigen Fällen keine Belege hat. Man sollte das Buch dennoch lesen,um einen Teil der Wahrheit über das Judentum zu erfahren. Der Autor sagt, daß die Vertreibung der Juden nie stattgefunden hat. Das ist nur ein Märchen, die ein jüdischer Historiker, Heinrich Graetz im 1860 verbreitet worden ist und die Zionisten auf diesen Märchen den Zionismus aufgebaut haben. Viele Veröffenlichtung von Heinrich Graetz wären nur Märchen. Kaufen Sie das Buch. Das Buch dennoch ein Schatz. Das ist sehr empfehlenswert.
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Alfonso L.opez Juarez
2.0 out of 5 stars Variegated and repetitive
Reviewed in Mexico on 20 September 2023
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Too much historiography. The central thesis could be contained in a 30-page article instead of the 300 in this mess
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Roberto Cavalcanti
3.0 out of 5 stars GOOD BOOK
Reviewed in Brazil on 29 April 2024
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The final two chapters are the book's highlight, even though it promotes cultural enrichment on the subject. In my opinion, the author fails to confuse “concept” with “definition”. A concept does not necessarily express a definition, but a definition does so unquestionably. Hence, he denies “race” and “nation” because they can express themselves in a heterogeneous (indefinite) way, and narratives follow that end up misleading the reader.
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danT
5.0 out of 5 stars saigon
Reviewed in the United States on 11 February 2011
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also read: Evron's JEWISH STATE OR ISRAELI NATION?
Sands is a scholar's scholar. I think any Arab or Palestinian who decides to take revenge on Israel and kill all the Jews should first spend a year at an Israeli university. There you find truly beautiful minds with giant hearts. There you find the real Jewish Ethic struggling with the Zionist Myth. There you find thinking, debating, talking and delving into complexity as you find nowhere else.
If you think we need another Holocaust to rid the world of Jews,then write down your reasons on a paper, put it in your pocket, and go to any Israeli university. There you will see that your reasons apply to no one there. You will see that Jewish intellect-- even Israeli intellect-- cannot be characterized in any generality as Jewish/Israeli intellect is always: SIX OF THE WORLD'S BEST MINDS ARGUING ENDLESSLY OVER SEVEN OPINIONS. So how could you have a reason to love them, to hate them, to be neutral towards them....IT IS AN ENDLESS ROLLERCOSTER RIDE!!!! Their intellect cannot be pinned down to this and that. All you can say is that Israelis/Jews are divers. They love to dive into the darkness of complexity and bring back to the light of understanding to the surface. Then, only then, ask yourself if you really want to destroy these monuments to human evolution.
Israel is not where you find perfection. But it is where you find endless contemplation. Israelis are *SECRETLY* constantly searching their souls asking: WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? They have been over-propagandized with the HOLOCAUST and think it is an INEVITABLE fate, like a Sword of Damocles, hanging over their heads. They are scared that 1) Diaspora Jews will abandon them; b) that their past lack of mensch-hood will come to haunt them and cause them to become victims again and; 3) that everyone hates them because they think they are miserable people. Well, my father was just like an Israeli Jew. That is because he is an East European. We are not very easy to take. Me, I'm far more traveled than my dad and never felt compelled to prove myself to others or to compete in order to survive. But East Euros are all like that. I'm more like my mom-- East Euro women are wonderful, like Asian women. They are everything the men are not. Well, Sands, like Boas Evron, is trying to tell you that, when you strip the Zionist myths of some sort of blood line identity, what you've got is the best of Eastern Europe because the Jews who "came back to the Holy Land" are really East Euros from a long line of converts. You see, Judaism spread north far, far faster than it could through reproduction and migration. Like Christianity, it was Middle Eastern monotheist mysticism that got right to the heart of East Euros.
Unfortunately, Israel is really East Euros who rightly despised how they were treated by their fellow East Euros so they moved to Palestine and there are treating the Arabs exactly as they were treated. Hey, no one is perfect!
These two books-- Evron and Sands-- are hard to read. Afterall, guys who learn European languages think like European in complex sentences. None of the American type: "Jack and Jill went up the hill. Jack turned to Jill. Jill said "what?" Jack jumped her bones. Jill loved it...." No, it's more like: "Jack, step by step, Jill's right hand in his left--eyes fixed on her small (nevertheless succulent cleavage"-- and those ankles...Lord God, how did you think of making such ankles...so gracefully walking up the hill-- made love fire up his brain and desire burn in his loins....." Get what I mean?
But don't be put off by that, nor by the small print. When you read them both, you are left wondering: my God, from afar Israelis all seem like Zionazis. Yet, there they go, producing such deep introspection. Everyone of these books that you would imagine would produce a scandal about Zionism and surely would be suppressed by American Zionists, labeling them "anti-Semitic," in fact, are common fare in Israel and create quite a discussion. Why? Because Israelis are the sabra children of East Euro's best intellectuals. Sabra is a prickly plant and that they are indeed, but they are the BEST minds of a Europe that may have been primitive and wild but, nevertheless, regarded its intellectuals as gifts from God. It is unfortunate that they so mistreated their Jews. But you see, East Euros ALWAYS HURT THE ONE THEY LOVE and live the rest of their lives in tragedy. I'd say the main problem is that we're kind of paranoid and, therefore, extremely jealous. Take Stalin, he came to love Jews as his mentors and teachers as he moved from the path of an Eastern Orthodox monk to that of a Communist revolutionary. But as soon as he saw Golda Meyer come to Moscow as Israel's ambassador and how Jews bowed to her in admiration as a rep from the world's first Jewish State, he got jealous and began the Doctors' Plot. Everything is a lot more complicated to be sure, but there's truth in what I say. Jews in East Europe are OF US so they are like us....That's why no one likes them as no one likes us: because we're perpetual drama queens. But go to Israel and see how--even the wrong headed and the hasbara liars-- they produce such marvelous thinking and have such kind hearts (though they have an inferiority complex, are paranoid and very jealous types) that you leave wondering: HOW THE HELL COULD ANYONE HATE THESE PEOPLE. Well, then read BLOODLANDS to see what a murderous place East Euro was through the 1930s and 40s. I can't believe that I'm still alive. Perhaps, the East Euro Israelis should intermarry with the Italian ones to soften their edges. But, be that as it may, these two books: Sands and Evron will make you understand and see what BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE ISRAELIS ARE and what victims they are of insecurity, fearing betrayal by their kin in Diaspora-- that's what they think will bring about their Holocaust. Yet, when you get Israeli Jews and Arabs together, invariably you realize: Wow, these guys are family...it just clicks perfectly.
So read about Israeli Jews and Arabs and East Euro too and you'll see that, though a pain in the ass, they are well worth putting up with and trying to keep up with their genius because beneath it all is the best heart of mankind. I would love nothing more than to end my days as a goy olim making my aliyah to Israel where I'd be on their turf and nobody there would tell me: "you can't talk about that because if you question in any way Zionist exceptionalism, you're an anti-Semite. No way, in Israel you've got brilliant intellectuals who-- if they're not doing brilliant science-- are disemboweling all their myths subjecting them to philosophical inquiry.
In conclusion, what I'm saying is read anything an Israeli writes introspectively because you know it is profound, in no way self-sparing (even brutal) and will make you think, think, think. In America that's exactly what we need to do to avoid waking up one morning and realizing that we're nothing but a bunch of chimps who can only say: "SAVE ME JESUS!"
Reading Jewish self-criticism or inteospection is the best way to immunize yourself against anti-Semitsm and to see what a wonderful home for your mind is an Israeli cafe. As soon as Arabs realize that, there will be wonderful family gatherings between the two....all it takes is tweeking Israeli's East Euro craziness. Sands is a perfect example of mensch-hood with limitless intellectual courage. But the fine print and torturous Englsih syntax...oy!
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Klaas Brobbel
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking.
Reviewed in Canada on 20 March 2025
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An thought provoking book.
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Daniel Currie
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for students of nationalism and Jewish history
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 November 2014
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First a criticism of this edition, which is unusually poor even by the low standards of Kindle editions. Full of typos and minor omissions! That said...
Whether you are interested in Jewish history or the politics of Israel, this book is essential reading. It traces the development of different historical narratives about Jewishness, and relates them to the constitution and predicament of modern-day Israel.
Sand is a historian of nationality, and clearly states that he did not intend to write a new history of Jewish people. For me however, and I suspect many general readers, the fascination of this book lies in the revelation of a different history of Jewishness from the one which is widely accepted.
The well-known narrative describes Jewish people as a homogenous ethnic group who were expelled from their homeland by the Romans, and later returned to it in large numbers in the twentieth century. Sand shows how historians and politicians developed this version of events during the twentieth century, in order to support the creation of modern-day Israel.
At the same time he reveals a much more interesting and seemingly accurate historical narrative. Almost all of this has been recorded previously, but much of it has been suppressed for political reasons. This narrative has two key elements. First, Biblical-era Jews were not expelled in large numbers from the Roman province of Palestine. Indeed, many of their descendants are probably among the present-day Palestinian population. Second, millions of Jewish people who lived in Europe throughout recorded history were the descendants of local populations who converted to Judaism in two waves. The first wave took place between 100 BCE and 200 CE in the Mediterranean, the second in the eighth century CE in the Khazar kingdom between the Caspian and Black Seas.
This book reshaped my understanding of key chapters in world history, and as such gets a rare five stars.
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Fernando Vaz
4.0 out of 5 stars Actually a radical book
Reviewed in Brazil on 25 May 2014
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A radical book in the sense it begins in the roots of the matter in order to show how it has developed until now. Easy reading due to clear and simple language without excesses of erudition or lack of historical method. Quite useful for all that want to have a brief and clear overview of the issue. I must say that it shows the other side's vision too.
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Francisco
1.0 out of 5 stars Buen contenido pero llego en muy mal estado
Reviewed in Mexico on 21 September 2024
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Parece como si este libro fuera rehusado. Todo doblado y mugroso.
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Ben Franklin
5.0 out of 5 stars The Invention of Biological Markers and a European Colony
Reviewed in the United States on 9 October 2010
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A fascinating history of how a political movement has turned the world's most diverse, morally-correct culture into an ethno-centric blood-creed of cultural imperialism.
It is written by a secular Jewish professor of History, who worked in France and now teaches in Tel Aviv University.
This book is a history book. The first 100 pages or so beyond the introduction (which is beautiful) is very dry history or European Nationalism. It is tedious reading for the lay person but it sets the stage for the rest of the book.
This book is monumental in its insight, research and revelation. The only shortcoming is that some of the sentences are structurally complex and must be read slowly. This could have been caused by the difficulties is translating from Hebrew to English.
You might have noticed that the reviewers of this book either loved it or hated it, as evidenced by 5 Star and 1 star review rating numbers are much more than 2, 3, or 4 star ratings.
There an obvious reason for that. Sand makes a simple case, based on solid history and references, that the "Jewish race" is an invention of European elitists, driven by the perceived need to nationalize a morally correct, religious, mystical culture. Zionism turned the historic character of this culture on its head.
Shlomo simply shows that the tribal perception that all Jews are related by blood, has been exploited to the maximum, and Sand proves this "Jewish" association to be totally false. Judaism is/was a religious ethnic group/culture through most of its history, and only recently has been remodeled primarily as a blood-identity ethnic group.
Many Palestinians could have more of the original tribal "Jewish blood" than do the Eastern European converts that now oppress them. Few rural Jewish farmers were ever "driven into exile" and may well have converted to Islam centuries ago to keep their farms, and to keep his/her family from scattering into abject poverty and/or homelessness in the wilderness, either of which could have been literally life-threatening.
The great coversions to Judaism in Eastern Europe, North of the Black Sea, in the 700-1000 CE centuries were never recognized by the Zionist, as they rallied Jewish people to believe they were all "bloodline" inheritors of the holy land. This ignoring of historical conversions was essential for the tribal consciousness required to justify the Zionists terrorists seizing farms from indigenous people of former Palestine.
The first 100 pages of the text is difficult reading, as Sand teaches us about the world race towards nationalism in the 20th and 19th century, of which Nazi Germany was the most notorious example. There were rediculous myths and stories of nations' blood line identities in many countries and ethnic groups. The European Jewish people were no different and started the Zionist movement around the turn of the century.
After the first 100 pages or so, the book becomes very interesting. There are footnotes at the bottom of each page, and a robust index.
The book ends declaring that one true democratic State (not a two-state solution; and not an exclusive "Jewish State") of all Israelis, and a right of return for both the indigenous Palestinians as well as Jews, is the only way to peace in Israel.
That's why this book is so contraversial.
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kennywenny
5.0 out of 5 stars Invention of Jewish People Review
Reviewed in Canada on 1 June 2012
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The book delivers some cutting edge research on the racial origin(s) of Jewish people around the world today. The author dispels the myth that the majority of Jewish people today are racially derived from the same stock as those who peopled the ancient land of Canaan. In fact, due to extensive proselytizing under the fertile conditions of the Hellenistic conquests of Alexander the Great and later, the Roman Empire, Judaism spread far and wide throughout the Mediterranean basin, into the Arabian Peninsula (before Mohammed), and even into the Khazar Kingdom in West Asia. The author disputes that the Jewish people were ever exiled by the Romans after the destruction of the Second Temple and fills in 2000 years of Jewish history since the end of the chronicles of the Old Testament. A very interesting read, indeed!
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Gerald Watts
5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for understanding the ongoing conflict.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 December 2023
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I bought and read this book in Kindle form after the outbreak of yet another military Israel-Palestine conflict with terrible consequences for civilians. I thought that I had a reasonably good grasp of the history of the conflict but Shlomo Sand has proven me wrong with his masterful book.
The emphasis of the book is on identity and the concepts of ‘people’ and ‘nation’, as applied to the state of Israel. He sets the scene in the first chapter, where he explains that in the Israeli university system there is a complete separation between departments of ‘History’ and ‘Jewish History’, the latter being where the Biblical myths of Jewish origin, exile and the Chosen People are preserved and disseminated within the school education system.
One reason why I was attracted to this book was that back in the seventies I read Arthur Koestler’s book The Thirteenth Tribe about the Khazar kingdom, which converted en masse to Judaism during the so-called ‘dark ages’ (I had also read Koestler’s excellent Thieves in the Night about the early post-war Palestine during the British Mandate).
Shlomo Sand provides a convincing historical context for the Khazar conversion by considering it in the context of many other accounts of conversion to Judaism across North Africa and in the Arabian peninsula, all of which are denied or ignored by the Jewish History establishment.
I finished the book this morning by reading the Afterword, in which Shlomo reflects in depth on the issues raised in the book and the angry criticism that it has generated in some quarters, before discussing the global trends that he sees as challenging for the current Israeli state and the identity myths that it conserves and propagates. As I write this review, some of his predictions seem to be borne out by a shift in global sentiment. Thank you for such a powerful educational experience, Shlomo!
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Ferri
5.0 out of 5 stars Erfrischend, mal was anderes
Reviewed in Germany on 18 December 2011
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Wenn Professor Sand Recht hat, sind wir alle verführt worden und wissen es nicht.
Da ich kein Historiker bin, kann ich nicht beurteilen wessen Darstellung richtig ist oder wer absichtlich die Unwahrheit erzählt. Was ich aber sehr wohl beurteilen kann ist, dass dieses Buch eine neue Perspektive anbietet, die mit vielen Fakten untermauert ist. Das Material ist sehr umfangreich, aber auch sehr interessant und verständlich dargeboten.
Die Übersetzung, des ursprünglich in Hebräisch geschriebenen Buchs, ins Englische ist hervorragend.
Es war ein Genuss dieses Buch zu lesen, kann ich nur empfehlen.
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Ron
5.0 out of 5 stars Einfach lesen.
Reviewed in Germany on 31 January 2020
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Einfach lesen.
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Frank
5.0 out of 5 stars I can see why ethnic Jews might not like being told the truth about themselves
Reviewed in Canada on 26 August 2017
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an interesting book. I can see why ethnic Jews might not like being told the truth about themselves.
A difficult read though from a language point of view -- long sentences with an abundance of difficult terms. I frequently had to reread sentences because their meaning got lost by the end of the line.
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Heidi
5.0 out of 5 stars Paradigm Shift: The emperor has no clothes !!!
Reviewed in the United States on 27 November 2009
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In short, this book is a LANDMARK book. No doubt, it will cause a new tectonic movement shift in opinions regarding Jews and Israel in the entire world.
What the author has done is to organize existing materials into their proper context (there is no new research in the book). No longer is the Jewish history discussed in isolation. When the Old Testament stories are discussed in proper world historical and archaeological contexts, virtually ALL the stories fall apart as historical facts (Exodus, Joshua's fight, where the term Israel originated from, marginal existence of the kingdoms of Solomon and David, the fall and exile in 70 CE, etc. etc.).
Secondly, the author reviews and devastatingly demolishes the notion that the current global Jewish populations are connected to the Land of Israel, in any significant manner. Once again, he argues using historical documents regarding conversion to Judaism in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds as significant sources of Jews. In short, it's like having Christians in all corners of the world; they were converted, not descendants of the people of ancient Israel/Palestine. It is again presented in the context of world history. It is a grand history encompassing all the way from the Berbers of North Africa to the Volga and the Don in present-day Ukraine. The more one knows of world history, the more the author's narrative makes sense. It is powerfully and logically presented so that the main conclusions are inescapable; the present global Jewish population originated from multiple stocks--and are primarily the results of conversion.
Thirdly, the author extensively documents the changing historical narratives the European Zionists concocted for political ends. This is wonderfully presented, once again, in the context of modern European history. He further shows
how "expert" individuals and scholars were repeated co-opted to support the "prevailing" winds; similar to Stalinist Soviet Union and even the Nazis under Hitler. National histories were invented to make a point--that is Chosen people of the Old Testament, whose descendants are returning to their Homeland. Reading this book, absolutely convinces you how absurd this Jewish Israeli narrative is.
Lastly, he reviews the attempts of modern science to prove the connection of modern Jewish population to the ancient ones. Here, the Zionists' attempts are pathetic and patently racially-motivated. I almost fell off my chair when the author mentioned Prof. Karl Skorecki's involvement on p. 277. Karl and I used to be good friends and he even came to my wedding thirty years ago!! What a shame that such a brilliant physician ended up doing such marginal and pseudo-science. I am terribly saddened.
There is much, much more in this book that I cannot cover adequately here. It is a profound book that needs to be read carefully--I read it twice before I decided to write a review. It is the equivalent of the introduction of Copernicus' heliocentric universe. The earth-centered model could survive as long as there was no better model to explain, even though there were lots of inconsistencies. But once a better explanation is made widely known to the public, there is no going backwards. The Israel Myth is now shown to be totally bogus at the most fundamental levels. (The detractors, of course, claim that there is nothing new here. The significance is that now the world is going to know the story, that's NEW!!) Given the current awareness of the nature of Israeli actions (Occupation, Gaza War, Lebanon War, Apartheid policy, Settlements etc. etc.) and the near universal condemnation of its policies, the impact of this book will be nothing short of revolutionary in the long run.
Shlomo Sand is a man of courage above all. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know the truth. (This will be my Christmas gift to all my friends and family this year!!!. THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORDS.
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Newman
5.0 out of 5 stars Very well researched
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 May 2025
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Sand takes a long time carefully setting out his stall, as to what is meant by words such as "nation", "people", "culture".
He steadily takes a scalpel to the myths that surround the exile en masse of the Jewish nation, the spread of Judaism throughout Arabia, North Africa and Eastern Europe. He also documents the efforts of zionist historians to erase or at least diminish the spread of Judaism through conversion, and refute some of their own original conclusions including that the majority of the indigenous Palestinian population are direct descendants of the ancient jewish people.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A Confused Nation Pretending to be a Wandering People
Reviewed in the United States on 5 October 2009
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Although he never mentions the "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in "The Invention of the Jewish People" Israeli historian Shlomo Sand implicitly rejects it in favor of what has come to be called the "one-state solution":
"The ideal project for solving the century-long conflict...would be the creation of a democratic binational state between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River." (p. 311)
Sand, however, is deeply pessimistic concerning the likelihood of any solution being reached at all. Implicitly he takes the position that the possibility of peace rests not so much on the Palestinians, or on the Arabs in general, as on the Israeli Jews themselves. They must somehow come to understand that the Israeli policy of apartheid (Sand's term, p. 309), and the false notion that Israel can be a "Jewish state" and yet a democracy at the same time, doom the chances of peace. But is it possible that the Israelis will ever come to believe that they must share the land on an equal basis with the Palestinian non-Jews?
Sand identifies two major factors - two associated myths -- which stand in the way. These have served the Zionist cause well but they are historically false: the myth of the Jewish "people" and the myth of the "exile" of this people from the land of Israel. If essentially there is no Jewish people -- rather only a Jewish religion; and if the Jewish diaspora was driven not by forced exile -- rather by the impulse to proselytize, then the Zionist-sponsored "return" of the Jewish "people" to the land of Israel in the mid twentieth century has lost its entire theoretical framework.
Sand is a scholar and in style the book is a scholarly work. The general reader may be put off at first. I suggest the book may be more approachable if you begin by reading Chapter 2, "Mythhistory: In the Beginning God Created the People". The first chapter "Making Nations" is a bit difficult to get through, and might be dispensed with. The Introduction contains four personal histories whose relevance is at first obscure. I suggest you read the Introduction after you finish the rest of the book, not before. For only then is the point of these personal stories, which are quite moving, readily understood.
According to Sand Zionism's traditional discrimination against non-Jews ("gentiles") has rested upon and required the false notion that Jews constitute a distinct biologically-grounded race. This idea originated and first thrived amidst the nineteenth century obsession with "nations". Political Zionism grew up in the atmosphere of that obsession. But the history of Judaism undercuts it. In three cases in particular Sand demonstrates that gentile populations found the religion attractive enough to adopt it en masse. Thus there is no racial or biological distinction between Jews and gentiles. These are the case of the Himyarites in what is now Yemen, the Berbers in northwest Africa and the Khazars who lived in what is now southern Russia. Zionist historians, for whom Sand has special scorn, have downplayed or ignored the facts surrounding this history.
If proselytizing Jews have spread Judaism to gentile populations, it could still be true that the movement of Jews into gentile lands in the first place was due to their having been expelled long ago from the land of Israel. According to traditional Jewish thinking, this expulsion happened after the Roman emperor Titus destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem in the year 70AD - or, perhaps it was after 135AD when the Bar Kochba revolt was put down by the Romans. Or again, perhaps the forced exile of the Jews occurred in the 7th century after the Muslims took ownership of Palestine. In fact the historical record contains no evidence of any forced exile of Jews from Palestine - ever -- according to Sand. He believes that a significant portion of the Arab population in Palestine is probably descended from early Jewish inhabitants of that land - who were never expelled but who were eventually converted to Christianity or to Islam in later centuries. Sand points out that some of the early Zionists, including Ben-Gurion himself, believed the same thing (until it eventually became inconvenient for them to do so.)
Unsurprisingly "The Invention of the Jewish People" has aroused controversy well before its publication in English translation. That will only increase now. The fact that it is the work of an Israeli academic will make it so much harder for Zionists in America to ridicule or ignore it.
(The title of this review comes from p. 13 of the book.)
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5.0 out of 5 stars Informative
Reviewed in Canada on 18 December 2023
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A great read
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Mrs H
3.0 out of 5 stars CONTENTS NOT WHAT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 October 2020
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The content of this book is not what I imagined it would be. I couldn't make up my mind whether or not I should return or keep it but felt quite justified once I let it go.
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Sweetbabygrace1
3.0 out of 5 stars Very small print
Reviewed in Canada on 25 February 2025
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Disappointed, print is very small
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Brenda Allen
3.0 out of 5 stars Book form your own opinion
Reviewed in the United States on 28 February 2026
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Interesting read!
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H. A. Weedon
5.0 out of 5 stars Lucid Revelations
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 December 2011
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This erudite work lucidly reveals the true history of the Jewish people and, as it does so, proves admirably the old adage: 'truth is stranger than fiction.' As one reads the carefully researched truths revealed by this dedicated author one can only wonder what a different place the world might have been had Christianity, almost from its inception, not set out to harass and persecute the Jews. Modern Israel would not have been necessary and the current Middle East crisis would not have happened.
The author supports the well substantiated discovery that the people now known as Jews are descended from pigless Canaanites living in the hill country north and south of where Jerusalem now is. He provides convincing, well substantiated, evidence that the Patriarchs, Moses and Joshua never existed and that the exile in and exodus from Eqypt never happened. There never was a united kingdom ruled over by David and then Solomon. He agrees with such Jewish archaeologists as Finkelstein and Silberman who provide the proof for all of this. Quite clearly, it's religion and not race that sets the Jewish people apart.
It's difficult for people to let go of deeply engrained, long held beliefs. However, in the end, the truth is always the best. My belief is that works such as this book provide the accurate information, through which misconceptions and old wounds may be healed to the benefit of all peoples everywhere. This book may not always be easy reading, but it's certainly worth the effort. Shlomo Sand is to be congratulated for having the courage to set out the true facts. He deserves a wide readership. Well done!
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W. Willers
5.0 out of 5 stars Book Review
Reviewed in the United States on 30 March 2011
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The following is a book review that was published on OpEnNews in February, 2011
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Book Review: The Invention of the Jewish People by Shlomo Sand. 2009. Verso Books, London and New York. English translation from the Hebrew by Yael Lotan.
by Bill Willers
Justification for the Zionist venture that has displaced Palestinians and resulted in the nation of Israel hinges on the story of a Semitic ethnic group exiled from its homeland in 70 CE, thereafter to wander during a two-millennium "Diaspora". In this book, Shlomo Sand, an historian at Israel's University of Tel Aviv, and part of a "post-Zionist" movement contesting this "imagined universe" with its "mythological kingdom of David", accuses rabbinical Judaism of avoiding its own history. He is firm in challenging "the nationalization of the Bible and its transformation into a reliable history book" and its basis for "the sacred trinity of Bible-Nation-Land of Israel".
Nowhere within Rome's detailed records is there documentation of an expulsion from Judea that could be a basis for an "Exile" and a "Diaspora". Rather, Judaism's history has been one of converting non-Semitic peoples. Judaism was historically evangelistic, and within officially polytheistic Rome, itself struggling with hedonism and corruption, the monotheistic religion offered moral grounding for converts. From there Judaism spread throughout the Empire, only to slow in the fourth century when a repressive Christianity, having become differentiated from its Judaic root, became official state religion.
Proselytizing and conversion to Judaism was widespread in the Mediterranean and north into the Caucasus. In particular, the now vanished empire of Khazaria, which extended from the Black and Caspian seas well into Russia, underwent massive conversion to Judaism in the eight century, thereafter to become the primary source of Jewry in Eastern Europe. This was an accepted history among scholars until the 1970s, when it became condemned as anti-Semitic by what Sand refers to disparagingly as "Israel's establishment historians ". occupied in inventing the eternal history of the "people of Israel' ". Sand writes that the "Exile", in fact a creation of early Christians, was ultimately accepted by Jews and evolved into "truth engraved in history".
Zionists have concealed the historical conversions to Judaism, adopted the Old Testament as the "storehouse of national memory" and created a "metanarrative" of contemporary Jews as stemming from the Jews of the Bible. Sand refers to this ethnic identity as "wholly fictitious [but] discriminatory" and portrays Jews as "a heterogeneous mosaic of human populations" emanating from "a great variety of cultural-linguistic groups, each with a distinctive origin" and no more a race than Christians are. But "[W]ithout the Old Testament in its hand and the "exile of the Jewish people' in its memory, it would have no justification for annexing Arab Jerusalem and establishing settlements in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and even the Sinai Peninsula."
Meanwhile, periodic emigrations out of Judea through history were voluntary, not forced. Also, in the seventh century there was an invasion by Arabs leading to a mass conversion of Judeans to Islam due to an imposed tax system exempting Muslims. Until the rise of contemporary Palestinian nationalism, it was widely accepted that Palestinians were descended from original Judeans, with admixtures of other bloods. However this view is now condemned, as it is obviously inconsistent with the Zionist mission.
Sand describes Judaism as "a major religious culture" in which, over time, "communal isolation " eventually became their distinguishing mark." The nationalistic Zionism seen now on the world stage arose in 19th century Europe not through religion but within a secular and separatist Yiddish culture unlike Jewish communities elsewhere that were inclined toward association with surrounding cultures. It is this distinctly Yiddish brand of Judaism that has yielded an Israeli nationalism that "explicitly and culturally segregates the majority from the minority [and that] promises eternal proprietary rights to an even greater human mass that does not choose to live in it."
A distinct Israeli culture has now developed in which privilege is reserved not only for the Jewish majority within Israel but also for the world's Jews. As the old Yiddish culture has waned, Israel has been able to consolidate substantial political power through its worldwide Zionist network. But although overseas Zionist Jews who live close to the "centers of power and communications" of Western democracies may see Israel as a potential "reserve home", they prefer to remain in the "rich, liberal, comfortable "diaspora' ". Sand points out that emigration now exceeds immigration in Israel, and he warns that Jewish Israeli society will endure only if it can "cease isolating itself in the name of a fanciful history and dubious biology and excluding the "other' from its midst." Support for Zionism among Jews of the world is now found primarily in those over 60, but it is waning among the young, and mixed marriages are on the increase.
The scenario of people largely of Euro-Russian blood, armed with myth and a religious book, displacing in the name of "return" the people genetically best representing original Judeans, is irony of colossal proportion. Still, understanding the events coming out of what Sand calls a "surgically improved" Jewish history is important for all Americans wanting to understand current events. America's global reputation is due, in no small way, to her lead in creating and maintaining the state of Israel and, by extension, in the assault on a blameless people -- facts carefully sidestepped in U.S. news coverage but nevertheless at the heart of much rage in the world that is directed at the U.S.
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Book Shark
4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating History
Reviewed in the United States on 1 April 2011
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The Invention of the Jewish People by Shlomo Sand
"The Invention of the Jewish People" is an interesting yet controversial scholarly book about Jewish history through the eyes of leading historian Shlomo Sand. What makes this book controversial is the fact that the author denies such a thing as a Jewish "race" that were descendents of the first exiles with everything that it entails. This 344-page book is composed of the following five major chapters: 1. Making Nations: Sovereignty and Equality, 2. Mythistory: In the Beginning, God Created the People, 3. The Invention of the Exile: Proselytism and Conversion, 4. Realms of Silence: In Search of Lost (Jewish) Time, and 5. The Distinction: Identity Politics in Israel.
Positives:
1. A well written, well researched book that will take you deep into the fascinating Jewish history.
2. Professor Sand provides a lot of eye-opening arguments in support of his views.
3. A thought-provoking and enlightening book.
4. Professor Sand does not hold back. He says what he has to say and has conviction and passion behind his words while providing compelling arguments in defense of his theories.
5. A good history lesson on nationalism.
6. A fascinating look at Zionism.
7. A myth buster of a book. Including the exile...
8. The impact of Darwin's grand theory of evolution.
9. A controversial look at the Old Testament and how the Bible became a decisive starting point of the Jewish past.
10. The impact of archaeology. Exiles? Legendary kings? Great flood?
11. Polytheism to monotheism.
12. Jewish genealogy...The DNA findings controversy.
13. The fascinating history of proselytizing Jews. Berber Judaization...and the fascinating story of the Judaized queen. Khazars...
14. The importance of religious identity.
15. Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and Arabian Jews.
16. Understanding the Law of Return and the concept of "ethnocracy".
17. Fascinating conclusions.
18. Links worked great.
19. Excellent notes.
20. Great afterword.
Negatives:
1. As a non-Jew, I found myself looking up the proper pronunciation of many people, places and Jewish traditions. It's not a strike against the author more so a limitation for any potential reader who is not familiar with Jewish terms.
2. Once again, as a non-Jew I have no cultural ties to the Jewish community but I can see where the issues brought up by Professor Sand can and has stir up a hornet's nest. In other words, the issues brought forth will and has upset Jewish people.
3. The initial chapter was a bit obscure until "revelations" were made.
4. My skeptical nature keeps me from accepting everything at face value despite the compelling arguments. There is so much information in this book it makes me wonder what is truly historically accurate and what is not, so it will entail further reading and research on my part. Ones beliefs should be based on the best evidence possible but one must not also jump to conclusions.
5. It was bit repetitive.
6. Illustrations and or charts could have added value to the book.
In summary, "The Invention of the Jewish People" is one of the most interesting, enlightening books you will ever read. My skeptical nature and my limited knowledge of Jewish history keeps me from accepting all the assertions at face value but at the very least Professor Sand has kindled my curiosity enough to pursue more research. I highly recommend reading this book with some noted observations.
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Gioiello Tognoni
5.0 out of 5 stars Shalom between Croce and Machiavelli
Reviewed in the United States on 5 December 2009
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The Invention of the Jewish People of Shlomo Sand is certainly one of the most important work in historiography in this beginning of the 21st century. Being he able to master Hebrew beside the most important European languages, he has given a complete and deep picture of the question. Following the recent methodological theories on the non neutrality of the research (every result is determined more by the project than by the data, which are used to demonstrate that and not the contrary as it should be, and he has had the kindness to recognize that the Italian philosopher and historian Benedetto Croce had already theorized this by his theory of the "contemporaneity" of historiography), he has been able to reveal all the assumptions of many knots of the Jewish history. There are no proof that Jewish history began with Abraham in 19th century BC and probably neither that Jewish history began in the 13th century BC after the Sea Peoples invasion and the fall of Hittite Empire, which is the theory currently followed on the history books. And there are no proof either of the kings around the 10th century. No Saul, no David, no Salomon. No temple. Jewish history (and the writing of the Bible) began in the 6th century, after the Exile. From there Jewish history is a mix of facts and theories, used for demonstrating political agendas. The book is very rich of these episodes till the present. First of all the theory of a Jewish race that descends directly from Abraham and that justifies the theory of the aliyah, the return to "promised land" for the Zionists. The proofs have never supported these theories: neither archeology nor genetics. Not only the Jewish communities in the world are genetically linked to the peoples among them they are living (Ashkenazim are autosomally Europeans, etc.), but, in spite of the funds generously given to the most famous Jewish scholars, they have failed (no Cohen Modal Haplotype, etc.). Every people has born from the fusion during many thousands of years of different supplies. If the law that forbids weddings of Jews with other people will be maintained, after some thousands of years also Jews of Israel will be a "people", genetically determined. The same happened to Ashkenazim, which are the result of a thousand years of inbreeding of not more than 25,000 individuals of different origin, mostly Italians, Germans of the Rhine Valley, East Europeans, Khazarians and perhaps someone who escaped from Middle East.
But also Sand, as every researcher, has his agenda, and it is the present that urges him: "The ideal project for solving the century-long conflict and sustaining the closely woven existence of Jews and Arabs would be the creation of a democratic binational state between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River" (p. 311).
But we must see if this is possible, i.e. if the Arab fundamentalism will accept this helping hand. Beside Croce I would quote another Italian historian (and politician): "Perché uno uomo che voglia fare in tutte le parte professione di buono conviene ruini infra tanti che non sono buoni" (Il Principe).
(Gioiello Tognoni)
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Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Apple carts are turned over
Reviewed in the United States on 26 September 2024
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For me the first chapter or two of this book were not of real interest. The first chapter discusses the definition of a state, and a people. It reads a bit like an anthropology textbook. The second chapter begins to delve into the beginnings of what Dr. Sands refers to as the myth of a Jewish ethnicity and the first seeds of Zionism in 19th century Europe. But the book really picks up after that.
I first heard of the Khazars years ago, and upon looking further into it was informed that this is an antisemitic myth. Well, Dr. Sands verifies it’s certainly not a myth. There are several chapters in this book on how ancient Judaism was a proselytizing religion, and several groups existed, and some still exist, that are the result of this ancient effort including the Khazars. I didn’t know about these groups and found this all interesting. As a Christian I knew that Jesus made an intriguing accusation toward the Pharisees in Matthew 23:15 - “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to win one convert and when he is won, you make him twice the son of hell you are.” Wait, cross land and sea to win a convert? The Pharisees?
The book is mostly of interest to Israelis as it has much discussion of national laws and policies. But many other people like me who are just interested in a deeper dive into a certain topic of history -the creation, rise, and results of 19th and early 20th century Zionism related to ethnic claims -will enjoy this book. Dr. Sands seems to have really upset some apple carts here!
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Richard G.
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book
Reviewed in the United States on 29 January 2026
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Alberto S.
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and important book
Reviewed in the United States on 10 August 2013
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I like Sand's style: serious, rigorous, somewhat ironic and very entertaining if your are interested in the subject matter, which is Jewish identity. The first chapter about the concept of nation is a little dry, and I suggest skipping it in the first reading. The rest of the book is thrilling, even though Sand himself acknowledges that he is not writing 'anything new', and that everything that he writes about is already known, at least to the specialists. I dispute this claim: I considered myself rather knowledgeable in Jewish history, having studied it as a young boy and being interested in it my whole life. Despite that fact, I've learned some very important facts,which includes the following concepts:
- The Jewish Bible as Mythistory: even though there are no evidences for most of the histories told in the Bible, and the invocation of God is pervasive in it, Jews in general and Israelis in particular read and teach the Bible as a history text. Thus, Jewish identity is based on myth rather than on historical facts.
- Jewish proselytism from about 200 B.C to 400 A.D: even though we consider the Jewish religion as a "non proselytist religion", in contrast with the Christian religion, that was not the case in that period. Proselytism is the origin of the Jews in Europe, in North Africa, in the Caucasus and in Asia.
- The exile of the Jews, Jewish Diaspora. Galut : this is perhaps the most important and recurrent myth in both jews and gentiles alike. There was no Exile during the Roman period, and this fact is widely known in history experts circles. However, most Jews believe that they are the 'historical descendents' of the Hebrew people that inhabited Canaan (or Palestine) duringthe biblical times,and that the were exiled by force.
- The origin of the Ashkenazim and Sefaradim : the Sefaradim are probably descendents of the tribes from North Africa that invaded Spain in the 8th century, which converted to Judaism before the invasion. The Ashkenazim probably descend from the Khazars, a reign in the Caucasus that converted to Judaism in the 8th century to reject islam civilization and retain political independence, This point is very well developed in the book, as it is so important for current Jewish identity.
- Zionism and history manipulation: the ups and down in Zionism ideology, how Zionism selects and rejects historical facts to create a coherent narrative of the Jews in order to support its own goals and agenda.
In summary, even though the facts may be known to some history experts, they do not constitute the 'popular wisdom' of the masses, both in and outside Israel. The consequences to the Jewish identity if these facts were more widely known, debated and discussed would be enormous. A delicious read, an important and brave contribution, all I can say is: Bravo Shlomo ! And many thanks.
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Woman Inside Water
5.0 out of 5 stars insightful and engrossing
Reviewed in the United States on 13 September 2011
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First of all, I was drawn in by the author's style of writing. I felt like I was actually there, in the scenarios he described.
Second, perhaps some people will be confused and wonder about secular vs. religious Jews, and how they relate to Zionism. Not all Zionists are Jews, but some Jews are Zionists. Christians largely support Israel/Zionism. Religious Jews make out as if they generally don't, due to a belief that the time for Israel has passed and they disobeyed God. But really, there is both a secular-political and political-religious agenda, since Judaism allows for dissent (what Muslims call fitna). And according to author Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis), 2 things that can unite people are religion and nationalism. Israel has both.
Jews don't need their version of the EDL - they have the ADL, and also leaders speaking for the EDL like Rabbi Nachum Shifren (look him up on youtube, including "Freudian slip"). Recently, they have been wanting their own parliament in Europe. In several countries there, it is illegal to criticize or question the Holocaust or the number of people that were killed, nevermind that it wasn't a wholly Jewish massacre. Pretty powerful for less than 1% of the population.
Israel does not recognize atheism as a religious category, nor marriage between Jews and Gentiles. The so-called "God's chosen people" wield a belief in intrinsic value of blood even over other Jews; sticking to matrilineal heritage and the state favoring Ashkenazim over Sephardim.
Israel also does not have an official constitution, and is called a "democratic regime." Instead, it goes by "The Basic Laws of Israel." In a (true) democracy, it is the majority that wins. Not to be confused with the US, which is a republic or representative democracy. So many people confuse "democratic values" (which comprise the principles of the American government) in this way. And this is why perhaps, those that support Israel are not very aware of what is going on. Zionists are elitists, but will gladly take any and all the help they can get.
I also recommend reading,"Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel," "The Holocaust Industry: The Exploitation of Jewish Suffering," Jack Bernstein's "The Life of An American Jew in Racist Marxist Israel" and "My Farewell to Israel." The first is almost never heard of, because it's toned-down; the second I think people are too busy joining in a mass cryfest to realize. A group that is successful and smart does not exclude the possibility of having bigots and victim card-players in their midst.
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Lionel(Bo)
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Reviewed in the United States on 3 January 2026
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Glad I purchased this book for my collection. Great information. Knowledge is power.
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Isaac
3.0 out of 5 stars Who are the authentic Jews?
Reviewed in the United States on 17 February 2010
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Who are the authentic Jews?
By Rami Yelda
Professor Sand's book is a scholarly tribute to Judaism but as one with
European ancestry and schooling, he has ignored the Middle Eastern Jews
and the contributions of the old Middle Eastern religions such as
Zoroastrianism, (the old religion of Persia) and the Mesopotamian epics
that had helped form Judaism.
Jews used to live in the vast Persian and Assyrian Empires long before being
exiled to Babylon. After their liberation by Cyrus (a confessed Zoroastrian), some returned to Judea but many stayed behind. After centuries of contact with Zoroastrians, Sumerians, and Babylonians, Jews adopted many
of their hosts' religious beliefs and practices that became the foundations of Judaism that later influenced Christianity and Islam. Zoroaster (Zarathustra), an Aryan-Persian priest, assumed to having lived from 1200-600 BC in Eastern Eurasia (southern Russia) was the first to mention in his holy book, the Avesta, an invisible, powerful and single holy spirit called Ahura Mazda. According to Zoroaster, Ahura Mazda, " created the world, mankind and all the good things in it." Modern scholars call Zoroastrianism "the mother of all Middle Eastern, monotheist faiths."
Later, Ahura Mazda morphed as: Alohim, Yahweh, El and Allah. According
to those who have studied Zoroastrianism and Judaism (like Jewish
rabbinical scholars, Schorr, Kohut and the Christian theologian Stave) the
influences of Zoroastrianism on Judaism are indisputable. For example,
female hygiene customs and mikvah, (the ritual bath), bar mitzvah, (coming
of age), mitzvah, (good deeds), daily prayer schedules are still
practiced by the dwindling Zoroastrian communities in Iran and India.
When Abraham led his people out of Ur (today's southern Iraq) and
migrated to Canaan, along with their belongings and herds, his
followers carried some of the well-known local narratives that were
chiseled in cuneiform script on clay tablets. These were the Hammurrabi
Laws, Gilgamesh (the narrative of the flood) Enuma Elish, (the story of
creation), and Atrahasis (more about the flood.) Later, these epics and some of the laws were entered into Genesis, at times verbatim.
The author, while wondering who "invented" the Jewish People has gone to
great lengths searching the ethnic background of various later converts into
Judaism such as Ashkenazics, Sephardics, Ethiopian Beta Israel (Falashas)
and Yemenite Jews. The author, except citing the Palestinians as true Jews, has failed to mention other Eastern Jews such as Persians, Iraqis and the still Aramaic--speaking Kurdish Jews in Israel (the Yahudat Kurdistan). These Jews, although much reduced in numbers following the formation of the State of
Israel in 1948 and the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979, are the true children of Zion who during millennia of abuse and discrimination by their neighbors and rulers had kept the faith. They are the authentic and mostly forgotten Jews who were never "invented."
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Jimmie Kellyman
3.0 out of 5 stars Print is to small
Reviewed in the United States on 26 January 2026
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Not an easy read.
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Jay Hubbell
5.0 out of 5 stars Israel: the myths of Zionism
Reviewed in the United States on 7 January 2011
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Israel is a state in denial about its foundational myths and its racist Eurocentric hegemony. The author and historian, Shlomo Sand has in The Invention of the Jewish People debunked Zionism and what amounts to the mother of all urban legends with compelling research and rational reasons. Zionism is a political ideology that has used ancient myths about "wandering Jews" to preach a latter day crusade in order to invade and "re-take" the so-called Holy Land from the Palestinians. Under the guise of creating a homeland for the "Jewish People", Zionism has established a Eurocentric colony that is neither democratic nor a viable "Jewish" state.
Sand makes the case that few Jews carry the racial seed of Judeans because most Jews are descendents of Judaized converts from various periods and places of conversion and proselytization such as the Berbers of North Africa, the Romans of Spain and Italy and the Khazars and Slavs of Eastern Europe. Ironically, the Palestinians are the probable bearers of the seed of the ancient Judeans and Samaritans who converted to Christianity and Islam in ages past.
Sand is pessimistic that Israel will continue to exist. He posits that as a Zionist state it will fall even from behind the protection of its apartheid wall and massive draconian police and military because it is not a real nation that serves the interests of all of its citizens. Twenty five percent of Israel's citizens are not labeled "Jewish" on their blue identity cards. Since 2007 the Jewish population of Israel has been diminishing due to repatriation even as the higher birthrate of Palestinians has swelled their indigenous numbers behind the 1967 border.
Judaism has survived for millennia because it was a proselytizing religion. It is not a single coherent culture or race as the Zionist myth makers would have us believe. Shlomo Sand makes his case like a prosecuting attorney who skillfully and adroitly debunks the foundational myths and criminal fraud of Eurocentric Zionism.
Will the truth of history as revealed by Shlomo Sand help set the people of Palestine free of their colonizing oppressors? Will the truth of history help set the followers of Judaism, the religion, free of the racist political ideology of Zionism that resorts to the desperate use of junk science and junk history to make a case for the supposed Jewish gene of the wandering super race?
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John Pena
5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the best book on history/current events I have read in years
Reviewed in the United States on 14 March 2012
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I very much appreciated Schlomo Sand's explanation of how present-day concepts of Jewish national identity first developed and matured in the fervor of awakening European nationalisms, a process that accelerated in the 19th and 20th centuries. I learned a new perspective to apply to my own family history, which has been entangled in conflicts on the German-Polish border.
I am saddened by the bald attemps of some reviewers, both on Wikipedia and on Amazon, to discredit Mr. Sand by ad-hominem attacks, calling him a Jewish anti-semite, and worse. Some reviewers cited some recent genetic studies to refute Sand's statements, and after reading these studies myself, I was shocked to see the length's to which some of Sand's detractors would go in misrepresenting the sources they quoted.
For example, a closer reading of the 2010 Ostrer study shows that it actually opens the door for more questioning of some established notions of Jewish origins, of the same sort that Sand did in his book. The paper actually states that " ... besides Southern European groups, the closest genetic neighbors to most Jewish populations are the Palestinians, Bedouins, and Druze." The paper also states that among the populations in this study, there was a " ... high degree of European admixture (30-60%) amongst Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Italian, and Syrian Jews ...." These genetics results were imputed by the study to "... individuals who converted to Judaism during Hellenistic and Hasmonean times, when proselytism was a common Jewish practice."
In addition, some other studies have shown that paternal gene pools of Jewish communities and the Middle East (including Lebanese and Palestinians) descended from a common Middle Eastern ancestral population, with a high frequency of Y-DAN haplogroup J. Ritte et. al. (1993) "... found that genetic distances among Jewish communities and Israeli Arabs were comparable to those found among five globally dispersed populations, with Ethiopian Jews more as an outgroup than Israeli Arabs. "
Having lived in the metro New York City area for many years, I have grown to love the intellectual contributions of my Jewish fellow citizens, in government, academica, and business. Mr. Sand's book is an extremely fine addition to those traditions.
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Tough Nut
3.0 out of 5 stars Controlled Opposition
Reviewed in the United States on 28 April 2025
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While The Invention of the Jewish People offers a partial deconstruction of Zionist myths, it ultimately reinforces them by retaining the linguistic and conceptual anachronism that equates ancient Judeans with modern Jews. Despite its radical appearance, it preserves the deeper falsehood, functioning more as controlled opposition than true historical correction.
The irony is striking: a book intended to dismantle the myth of Jewish identity ends up reinforcing it by quietly bypassing the critical etymology and accepting the invented category of a “Jewish people.” Sand deserves credit for questioning some Zionist narratives, but his refusal to dismantle the foundational fiction exposes the limits of his critique. The Invention of the Jewish People is useful for exposing early layers of propaganda, but readers must be aware that it ultimately protects the core myth it claims to challenge.
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S. Goldfield
5.0 out of 5 stars Review: The Invention of the Jewish People
Reviewed in the United States on 25 October 2009
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This book is a skillful review of much of the literature both on the meaning of nation, ethnicity, people, etc. and of the study of such terms in relation to Jews. The author shows that there has been fairly deliberate sweeping under the rug of much of what is known and not very controversial in the scholarly world so that this knowledge has penetrated little, if at all, into popular knowledge. The essence of what he shows is that there is not and has not been any entity which could be described as a Jewish nation or people for two millennia. The vast majority of those who consider themselves to be Jews in Spain and North Africa are probably descended from Berber converts, in Eastern Europe from Khazars, and in Yemen from a kingdom which converted long ago. In fact, there never was a massive exile of Jews from Palestine and the largest group of people with a strong claim to be descended from the ancient Jews of that place are likely Palestinians, who are mostly Muslim and Christian but had a very small Jewish component, as well. These diverse centers of Jewish culture had little in common aside from the religion, which has given way to secular Jewish culture for quite a long time. The author, who is an Israeli history professor, draws many conclusions about the nature of Israel, too many to go into here. I will mention only two quibbles I had. First, I saw no mention of the work of Abram Leon, who wrote "The Jewish Question," which touches on some of the same themes before he died in the Warsaw Ghetto. Second, Sand describes Israel as an "ethnocracy" while describing Israel's rule over the West Bank and Gaza as apartheid. If you compare the position of Palestinian-Israelis (in this translation, Palestinian citizens of Israel are annoyingly called Palestino-Israelis for some strange reason) to that of Coloureds in South Africa, then apartheid is exactly the precise term to describe Israeli society. Despite these nuanced flaws, this book is a tremendous contribution to the debate over the state of Israel and its dangerous and inaccurate claim to be the "state of the Jewish people." In fact, it shows that the number of states in historic Palestine is not the issue. The issue is their nature.
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Farhang Jahanpour
4.0 out of 5 stars An invented people justifying an invented state
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 March 2014
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Like all other people, the Jewish people is an invented concept. Although for long the Jews have been forced to live apart from the rest of the society and as a result there has been a great deal of intermarriage and therefore genetic similarity among them, this has not been the case throughout the history. The Jews have mingled with other races and people and there is plenty evidence to show that the Palestinians have a closer genetic link to the original Palestinians and Hebrews who inhabited Palestine than many of the modern Jews do. The concepts of mass migration, the exodus from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea and all the stories about Abraham, Joseph, Moses, etc, are literary myths similar to Arthurian legends or many other myths beloved by many other nations about their ancestors. That such unsubstantiated myths should form the basis of bringing millions of East Europeans, Russians and other Jews to Palestine, to displace the original inhabitants and to continue occupying their lands and resources is totally abhorrent. The Jews may claim that they need a national home in order to live in peace and safety, but it also means that they should recognise the rights of the Palestinians who have lived in that land from time immemorial and who being severely oppressed. This book should be read by Netanyahu and all other ultra-nationalist and ultra-fanatical Jews who believe that they have a historical and God-given right to occupy other people's territory and oppress them.
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Jerrod A. Young
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome.
Reviewed in the United States on 4 November 2025
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Haven’t gotten to read yet, but I’m sure it will be interesting and educational.
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Ray V
4.0 out of 5 stars A Book about History, Historiography and Politics
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 September 2013
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Until recently I naively assumed that if you were Jewish you were directly descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This book pointed out what I should have realised already, that in the ancient world Judaism was a missionary religion that was embraced by many people who were not ethnically Jewish. It also made me aware of a side of history I knew nothing about - the existence of Jewish kingdoms in the early Middle Ages. In particular, there was the quite powerful and long-lasting Khazar kingdom in the northern Caucasus and along the Volga River, which the author claims could account for the huge number of Jews with an Eastern European background.
This book deals not just with Jewish history but also in great detail with the way Jewish history has been written. The author claims that much of the history has been suppressed as it is inconvenient to the claim that all Jews have a right to live in Israel because it is their ancestral home. The book is also directly and controversially political, with observations about the present State of Israel.
It is very long, and I must confess I skipped many of the details, especially those about other historians. However, it is very informative and thought-provoking, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in history.
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Roy Martin
5.0 out of 5 stars Difficult but Worthwhile Read
Reviewed in the United States on 2 March 2022
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As one of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, I feel this book worthy of tremendous respect. The aspect of Ashkenazi culture I most admire is it's commitment to seeking truth, and Sand is very much a son of that tradition. Sometimes the truth is painful. It can be difficult for Jews to acknowledge the colonialist and racist underpinnings that gave rise to the state of Israel and that continue to animate it to this day. But do not mistake it for antisemitic. He does not advocate for the dismantling of the state or the return of the land to the people from whom it was taken. Rather, he advocates for an Israeli future that integrates all of its people, regardless of religion or ethnic origin, in a healthy democratic structure that provides each citizen of the state true equality under law.
My only criticism of the book is that it's more scholarly tome than accessible read. Thus, many of the people who most need this information will remain cut off from it. I don't know how this reads in Hebrew, but the English version is not well written. Following Sands' lines of thoughts requires focus, not because the ideas are complex but because they are frequently laid out in complex ways. When ideas are made unnecessarily complex, the reader is cut off from what the author is trying to say and denied the pleasure of a good read.
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Tony Uriah Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 KJV.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 August 2025
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Prophecy fulfilling before our eyes.as to who the real Israelites are!
Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26 KJV
Deuteronomy 7 6-7, 14:2,.1st Peter 2:9
Jeremiah 14:2 KJV..the list is endless as to who were are! All Twelve Tribes are African!
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Paulo
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read
Reviewed in the United States on 14 March 2025
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Every person in the western democracies needs to read this book especially those that's follow Judaism . If more people could read this book the middle east issues between Israel and the rest of the countries in the area could likely be resolved. One of the best history books I have ever read. Spoiler alert, the Palestinians are the original Hebrews and the Exile never happened. Just amazing look on how real history can be twisted to create a narrative or in this case a people. You won't regret reading this book.
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A. Shahadah
5.0 out of 5 stars More book like this
Reviewed in the United States on 8 February 2012
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What a joy to read. I traditional have no special interest in European Jewish people (beyond natural human curiosity). In other words it is not my area of work or study. I am into Africa. So why did I read and love this book.
1. Because you see the arguments he is making "National myth" also apply to me and every other person who, by the default of this racialized world, are put into "nations." I keep making parallels to my own "nation" realizing if Jews were a myth then so was the notion of Africaness. This doesnt mean it is not valid, but we must also appreciate the fallacies in the notion of this transhistorical identity and transhistorical claims "My ancestors built this and that"
2. I was also interested in the fate of the Palestinian people and how do people come from Europe come and file a 2000 year claim of right to return. Let us be honest beyond taking sides (which is hard) but the logic never made sense and I fear that out of greed and conquest someone is trying to bend reality, time and space to force impossible conclusions. Had these conclusions been exercised on the moon, I wouldn't care. Unfortunately they are exercised at the serious expense of another persons human rights.
3.And my last (but certainly not least) area of interest (closer to home) is the Ethiopian African Jews and how they are being caught up in this, often they end up on the front-lines of these wars as canon fodder.
All of these issues make me find great comfort in the boldness and courage it takes to write a book like that. Every time I read a line I say this man must not worry about his future. I cannot believe the heat he must get living in Israel. The peace process must start with the truth process.
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Breton Clovis
3.0 out of 5 stars The Jews are not the Jews: they are the Jews
Reviewed in the United States on 16 December 2009
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The central theme of this book is that the modern Jews are not the physical but the ideological descendants of Old Testament Israel particularly as restored under Ezra, and including large inputs from Babylon, Egypt and elsewhere. This idea is supported by much evidence but misses the main point about the Jews.
Another related theme is to trace some of the cultural and racial elements that go to make up modern Jewry.
Interesting though this book is on its own terms it misses the most important fact about the Jews.
Each time Israel has renewed itself it has split into a lively vibrant new movement and a declining in-turned remnant. The Jewish religion and "race" represents the remnant left when Jewish believers started out on Israel's greatest reformation under Jesus Christ and the early church.
Later developments included the persecuted church which in its later decline provided the central lands of the Islamic movement, the church of the Roman Empire which in its decline produced the so called Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, the European or Roman Catholic Church which in its energy and vibrancy outdid all previous churches till it too declined and was replaced. Then finally (until this time at least), the North Atlantic (Protestant) Church emerged and has now swelled out to fill the whole world. It has fought many battles in the past and is now fighting again in Iraq and Afghanistan to reduce the remnants of past churches into denominations within the Protestant Church system.
The correct way to see the Jewish religion is as one of these remnants of a once great spiritual movement which have maintained their cultural identity while losing their spiritual vibrancy. It is fascinating how each of these once great movements has dealt with its decline while still maintaining the cultural descendants of its once fervent believers. Modern Jews therefore need to be compared and contrasted with Islam, the Orthodox Church, and the Catholic Church to understand the Jewish movement properly. One feature of the modern Jewish movement, and part of the reason for its success, is the ease with which it has accepted a position as a denomination within the Protestant Church system particularly in North America.
Perhaps in the future the Protestant Church too will be replaced by a new and more vibrant spiritual successor.
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RZ
5.0 out of 5 stars A very important book
Reviewed in the United States on 17 September 2024
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Shlomo Sand’s The Invention of the Jewish People sheds light on numerous myths embedded in traditional Jewish histories, particularly the idea of a mass diaspora after the Bar Kokhba revolt. Sand challenges these long-held narratives by exploring how Jewish identity and history have been constructed over centuries. His research questions the widely accepted notion of a unified, ancient Jewish people dispersed from a homeland and reconstituted in modern times. Instead, Sand argues that Jewish identity has evolved through conversions and cultural exchanges. This book is a provocative and thought-provoking read that invites a reevaluation of deeply ingrained historical myths.
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Smith Juliancharles
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and well-researched but overstates its case
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 July 2016
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Interesting and well-researched. He might have overstated his case a little. The basic idea is that the Jews were mostly religious communities and are not really an ethnic group. There wasn't really much of an exodus of Jews after the fall of the second temple or Muslim conquest of Eretz Israel/Palestine. Those arguments seem reasonable enough. The description of the current state of Israel as an ethnocracy goes too far for my liking. It is possible, if difficult, to convert to Judaism, so it's something of a mix of an ethnic group and a religious group. But which religious group isn't? If your parents are members of one religion, the chances of you being a member of the same religion must surely be much higher. Israel identifies itself as a Jewish state, but other countries identify themselves as states by their main religion too. Life is pretty tough in many countries for members not from the main religious group in that state.
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T. Hutton
5.0 out of 5 stars Of Course That's What Happened
Reviewed in the United States on 11 May 2013
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Shlomo Sand deserves the Nobel Prize for his courage in writing this honest, deeply researched, and provocative book. But one has to be careful about what they say about it, lest they be labeled anti-semitic or a self-hating Jew. Labels quickly pasted onto anyone who questions Zionist philosophy, which the nation of Israel increasingly relies upon for its existence.
Much of what he says really wouldn't take any research at all. It's just common sense. Over thousands of years people move around, ideas are exchanged, some join in, some leave, people interbreed. To think that any ethnic group could remain racially pure over that length of time is obviously foolish. The remarkable thing is that the idea survived.
But that's not what Israel seems to found itself upon now. Instead, it dwells on race. And Sand offers example after example of how foolish that is. Many who are now called Palestinian Arabs may be from Judean ancestors who stayed in the Holy Land, converting to the faiths of those who occupied it. Many, like the Ashkenazi's, may have no Jewish blood at all. Their ancestors were just attracted to the religion.
This all makes indisputable sense. But what do we do with it? Why has race become so important, especially over the last 150 years or so? The attempt to answer that will take another book, or more. And it will have to expand beyond a study of the Jews to all of us.
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kikeo58
4.0 out of 5 stars Mixed bag of useful and slanted information
Reviewed in the United States on 22 March 2022
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I don't recommend the book except that there are some things that bear further investigation. Possibly some of it is useful merely because it opens up questions where they might have been overlooked. For example, conventional notions of a single event Jewish Diaspora from the first century are too simplistic. The dispersal of Jews throughout the Mediterranean seems to go back centuries before the Roman-Jewish wars. Nor did it end with Bar Kokhba. And there are questions that bear examinations about the lineage of the Ashkenazi though I would not agree they are entirely conversions. Honest efforts to identify the history of the people that call themselves Jews are welcome. I don't care if they are purely one DNA family or not. Certainly such considerations didn't stop those that would persecute anybody labeled as a Jew.
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ibnsubhi
5.0 out of 5 stars Challenges Zionist versions of Jewish History
Reviewed in the United States on 12 June 2019
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Thinking back about this great book, the first thing that comes to mind is the unfortunate title, which many people who haven't read this book miscontrue as meaning there is no Jewish history. Far from it, Sand attempts to show that indeed there is a history, but not the one told by the Zionist ashkenazi version it is usually narrated through. In its place, he illustrates a more nuanced version that places the diverse history of Jews within their localized Afro-Arab context, which refuses to fall under the dominance of an ashkenazi version. Under his masterful guidance, Arab, Ethiopian, Iraqi, Russian, Iranian, and Palestinian Jewish history are allowed to emerge outside of the Zionist narrative that silences these Arab-African-Iranian-Yemenite experiences and refuses to fall in line with a colonizing racial project. The latter version tends to discipline these experiences into a flattened and condescending version. In this sense, this important book recreates a political identity that has the narrative power to reconstitute Jewish identity and make it re-emerge in a manner that permits a One-State solution. In this sense it is a tour de force in offering a new vision for the future of this state now called Israel.
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Thoughtworks
5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone Should Understand the Truths Within This Book
Reviewed in the United States on 5 April 2017
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I am not "anti-Semitic." Half the books I read are written by wonderful "Jewish" minds. But there is this horrible confusion in the world today that the people running Israel (and have been stealing from and murdering Arab people for decades) are "Jewish" by blood. They aren't. Almost all people in the Western, modern world today who are regarded as Jews are, for the most part, Russian/Khazarian. That's not a crime. That's fine. But we don't call Irish people "Catholic," simply because many practice the Catholic religion. Worse yet, the original inhabitants of the Old Testament lands were Semitic...Arab/Phoenician, etc. They are brown or black-skinned (a fact mentioned in the Bible). This very well-written book, written by a Khazarian "Jew," addresses this confusion. Israel, and America's support of it, is the fault-line of the world. These misconceptions, and the Israeli lobby in America, are going to get us all killed. But not if we understood the details of Shlomo Sand's book. I am very grateful for having read it.
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Geoffrey Lambert
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Argument
Reviewed in the United States on 22 August 2010
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Even though it is a detailed academic study, it is a pleasure to read. The language is crisp (some of the plaudits here must go to the translator). But what I found particularly enjoyable was the progressive building of the argument, citing source after source, evaluating them as adding (or not) to the tower of knowledge he constructs.
What is a 'nation'? Is there (was there ever?) a Jewish nation? The constuction of myths cast as history, such as the invention of the exile of the Jews.There was no exile, he argues. How Zionist historians often glossed over inconvenient history (including archeological finds) in their deire to 'prove' the existence of a Jewish Nation.
Sand is Jewish and teaches at Tel Aviv University so this is no antisemitic treatise. For anyone interested in the Middle East and Israel's position in it this should be compulsory reading. Not everyone will agree with his conclusions, however the clarity of his writing and the logic of the argument make it a book hard to dismiss.
Geoffrey Lambert - author of "The Morozov Inheritance"
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Shark Face
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read for part of your educational process
Reviewed in the United States on 14 April 2025
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This is a good read it points out a lot of information about Israel and the Arabs so you can understand both sides better
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Bakaralph
4.0 out of 5 stars Tour de Force
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 October 2013
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An important book that shows the forced Jewish exile from the land that today is called Israel to be nothing more than a myth. Unfortunately, this myth is being exploited by the present day authorities in Israel and by their supporters in the West. The book argues conclusively that the original people of the Holy Land are, in fact, the Palestinians. According to the book, the Jewish immigrants to Israel are mostly people who converted to the Jewish religion from parts of Eastern Europe, plus some immigrants originally from North Africa, again who converted to Judaism. I wish, however, that the book was better written. The writer has a somewhat ponderous writing style, and would have benefitted from a good editor. It is my guess that between 30 to 40% of the text could have been cut without losing the book's basic message.
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Mr. R. S. Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and challenging
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 December 2009
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Sand's book is a major historical work, quite academic, fully referenced, so it is for people happy to read scholarly studies. However, once you get used to the style it is quite a page turner for anyone interested in history, religion and the Middle East. It is very challenging to the beliefs of fundamentalist Jews, Christians and Moslems. It undermines all theories of racial identity and purity. And it implies that the tragedy of the holocaust was inflicted by Nazis, who falsely believed that they belonged to a unique and superior race called Arians, on Jews who falsely believed that they were a unique race chosen by God. And in the present it argues that most of the Jews now living in Israel are less likely to be descended from the Jews who lived there in the First Century CE than are the Palestinians.
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Jose Luis Saavedra
4.0 out of 5 stars Great product
Reviewed in the United States on 11 November 2024
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Good book
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Tony LeMesma
5.0 out of 5 stars An alternative explanation of Israel!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 April 2020
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The premis of this book is that the Jewish people were not exiled from lands in the Middle East 2000 years ago and, so, there is no proper claim or right to re-occupy those lands in contemporary times. Jews never exiled after the fall of Jerusalem and they never harboured a desire to ‘return’; this was a fiction invented by Zionism in the 20th century. The presence of Jews around the world is not due to descendants of those exiled (so there is no modern-day DNA link with 2000 years ago) but due simply to the conversion of local peoples as the religion spread. The Jewish religion always having been an evangelical movement spreading the word first around the Mediterranean and then further afield.
A controversial and entertaining idea and fascinating reading for anyone interested in modern history and the ME. An academic work, heavily footnoted, referenced and with a huge index. 5 Stars for the chutzpah.
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che handala
4.0 out of 5 stars A BOOK THAT CHALLENGES ONES VIEWS ABOUT JEWISH DIASPORA
Reviewed in the United States on 12 March 2012
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When I first learned about this this book i was intrigued. But since i did not read Hebrew or had a desire to learn to read Hebrew i had to wait until the english version came out. Here it is and i am enthralled and challenged in my old views and what i've been taught since i was young about who and what Jews were. Then we come to the myth of the diaspora and the zionist claim upon the land. It was a lie,a germ intended to confuse and misinform others about the fact that the vast majority of jews never left, the Romans never sent the bulk of them via a one-way ticket away to live in other lands. That the jews actually stayed and many became christian or muslim. The reasoning behind the variance of so many jews scattered throughout the world was one of conversion nothing else. Fascinating.
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Komododragon
4.0 out of 5 stars The Invention of the Jewish People
Reviewed in the United States on 14 December 2009
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The Invention of the Jewish People by Shlomo Sand is primarily a compilation of historical materials about proselytizing at various times in Jewish History. Sand is interested in refuting the idea that all Jews are connected genetically. While this information is not new, apparently this is a controversial idea in Israel today. In the first chapter of the book, Sand reviews some of the recent thinking about the growth of nationalism. This chapter is not so easy to read, but the content is worth the effort. He sets the growth of the Zionist movement in the context of the growth of nationalism in Europe. The historical chapters are lively and written in more colloquial language They contained information from historical sources that is not readily available today. His interpretations are interesting and would certainly provide for a lively discussion. The book is well footnoted, but oddly there is no bibliography. It is definitely worth reading.
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P.J. Gibbons
5.0 out of 5 stars The invention of the Jewish people
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 September 2012
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It is a book that uses irrefutable evidence to show that the Zionist State is based on fraud. There is no Jewish race and the Zionists are at best the children of converts, both voluntary and involuntary. Many people became Jews in the time of the Hasmoneans who spread their faith by the sword. Most Askenazim are people with ancestors from the Khazar Empire in Russia. The idea that they are of the seed of Abraham is ridiculous. Even Jesus speaks of how Rabbis travelled the world to find converts. Shlomo Sand was very courageous to publish his book and surprisingly it became a best seller even in Israel. Khazariah was a large and powerful empire in Southern Russia with a Jewish convert population. So why would any one want to deny a tremendous heritage like that in order to steal Arab land in the Middle East to create a racist apartheid state and give it a fake history?
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Like new
Reviewed in the United States on 18 May 2025
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Excellent condition
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JJ: the particular consumer
5.0 out of 5 stars stimulating provocative and easy to read
Reviewed in the United States on 15 October 2023
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Professor Sand writes an engrossing book that transformed the way I view ethnicity.
The scope of the book covers much more than Jewish people and Jewish self-identity but puts that identity into a larger global context.
I highly recommend this book to any student of history. I don't share all of Professor Sand's speculations about the origins of Azhkenazi populations, but I respect his provocative arguments.
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