01 Nov
2012 November-December, Book Review, History, Israel

Book Review // The Invention of the Land of Israel: From Holy Land to Homeland

Pillars of Sand The Invention of the Land of Israel: From Holy Land to Homeland Shlomo Sand Verso Books 2012, $26.95, pp. 304 Shlomo Sand’s latest critique of Jewish identity focuses on the land of Israel. Just as his last book sought to uncover the Invention of the Jewish People, as was its title, the current book proposes to do the same with the physical territory that millions of Jews today, including Sand himself, call home. This is a daring goal: The connection to the land is the ideological basis not just for the West Bank settlement movement, which Sand despises, but for much of Zionism. To assert its ephemerality is halfway to making the whole thing go away. Rarely does a scholar lay his motives so bare. In his introduction, Sand warns us that the “emotional foundation of intellectual...

Continue reading

31 Mar
2012 May/June, International, Israel, Issues, Opinion, Topics

David Hazony: Israel Catches a “Flytilla” with (Serious) Satire

First off, let me be clear that I do not condone Israel’s official use of sarcasm, wit or anything else that could be construed as more entertaining than the turgid pronouncements of native English-speaking governments. Since my childhood I have been told that government and humor don’t mix. But in mid-April, when dozens of would-be “flytilla” protesters descending on Ben Gurion Airport from England, France, Belgium and other European countries were handed a letter on official stationery, written in an English that sounded an awful lot like that of the prime minister, few expected that their heartfelt protests would be so summarily, efficiently quashed. Most Israelis were more interested in the letter than in the protest itself, and with good reason. It was a lot more clever. “Dear activist,” the letter teased. “We appreciate your choosing to...

Continue reading