“The Invention of the Jewish People” is a new book written by Shlomo Sand, a professor of contemporary history at Tel Aviv University; its' content completely invalidates the ethnic foundations and biblical myths, upon which the Zionist ideologists rely to justify the creation of Israel. The book's thesis is based on material that is encountered, on a daily basis, by any professor of history, as explained by Sand who says that he has not uncovered any new material, because the information is already available, and some of it even dates back to historians and intellectuals from the nineteenth century. In fact, Sand maintains that Zionist historians have ignored many books, historical research and conference findings, which all spoke of the Jewish Khazar kingdom in the Caucasus, established between the eighth and the thirteenth centuries AD. At the time, local tribes converted to Judaism to escape the pressure from nearby Muslim and Christian kingdoms. Those Khazari Jews are the ones who then fled to Eastern and Central Europe, and it was from amongst them that Zionism emerged to justify the theft of Palestine. Perhaps, one of the most famous individuals to have ever tackled this subject was Arthur Koestler, author of “The Thirteenth Tribe”, a book about the Khazari Jews, whose title is in fact a variation of the twelve tribes of the biblical Israelites. While Koestler began as a Zionist, he soon became disenchanted with Zionism in protest of settling in the land of other people. He then became a communist, before again starting to attack this trend, as a result of Stalin's crimes. In fact, Sand notes that the Israeli ambassador to London accused Koestler of being part of a Palestinian conspiracy and receiving Palestinian funding. What I remember of those days, at the beginning of my stay in London, is that I requested the book from the Foyles bookstore, and found it in the fiction section, instead of the history one. What quintessentially is a work of fiction that is not based on any historical evidence however, are the biblical myths that speak of the ancient Jewish kingdom, the Israelite prophets, as well as Judea and Samaria, while this kingdom never existed and the Israelite prophets never lived. Since there are many stories about the land of Israel [of Judeo-Christian origin] in the Quran, starting with Surat al-Baqara [the Cow], I asked Muslim scholars in London about this very subject, and they said that the Muslim prophets mentioned in the Quran are not the same Jewish prophets whose storied have been distorted. Meanwhile, the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948 said of the Jews that “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...” This is yet another myth, since the Jews were never expelled from any land, and specifically, the claim that the Romans expelled the Jews from Palestine in 70 AD, destroying the Second Temple of Solomon [is a myth]. Instead, true history tells us that while the Jews were indeed persecuted, they were never expelled, which is what Sand establishes, based on accurate historical sources. Furthermore, I want to add here that the temple itself was never built, simply because the biblical figures of Solomon and David before him never existed, nor did the kingdom mentioned in the first and second books of Samuel, as well as the first and second books of Kings. A simple example of the history, according to the Torah, is the entry into the land of Canaan, which I will elaborate based upon what I studied and read: according to the biblical myth, the Lord dries up the water in the Jordan River, in order for the Jews, led by Joshua, to cross into Jericho; the walls of Jericho then crumble, following the blowing of the trumpets and the people shouting a great shout, by the orders of the Lord. However, the more logical truth is that walls cannot collapse because of trumpets and shouting, while historical truth tells that ancient Jericho was a small village, and had no walls to begin with. There is a sea of true historical information and academic studies, with many having been conducted by Jews, and which controvert the myths of the Torah. While Shlomo Sand must have begun collecting the material for his book years ago, the timing of the publication of the book in Hebrew and of its English translation this year must be linked to the upcoming Knesset elections, and cannot thus be separate from the presence of an extremist right wing government in Israel. This is especially valid, given this government's bids to consider Israel a Jewish state, and given its attempts to force the Palestinians of 1948 to stop commemorating Al-Nakbah [the catastrophe], to celebrate, instead, the establishment of Israel on the ruins of their country, and to chant the Israeli national anthem. Thus, Sand states that Israel cannot claim to be democratic and a state of the Jewish people at the same time, rather than a state for the entire people that lives within its borders; he then continues, excluding the occupied territories. The book starts with images of people who immigrated to Israel, such as a Jew from Poland, who is an irreligious communist, an anarchist revolutionary from Spain, and two gentile girls from France and Siberia who move to Israel to seek a better life. Between this and that, Sand narrates the story of two men, both called Mahmud, from Palestine, and how Israel was established on their land. The second Mahmud, whose full name the author does not mention, is Mahmud Darwish, the famous Palestinian poet who passed away in 2008. The author seems to be a fan of Darwish, and quotes the first few verses of his famous poem: Write down! I am an Arab And my identity card number is fifty thousand I have eight children And the ninth will come after a summer Will you be angry? This poem was translated into Hebrew and many other languages; the author says it inflamed the national sentiments of a whole generation of Palestinians who became full of hope. I will continue tomorrow. [email protected]
