Mr Shlomo Sand’s profound and interesting question of Zionist Israel and the Jewish ****************************************************************************************** * Mr Shlomo Sand’s profound and interesting question of Zionist Israel and the Jewish Peop ****************************************************************************************** Did the Exodus really happen?  Was there ever another homeland? Does a historical claim th carry any weight? Are Jews who support Israel without exception hypocritical? On the 26th November Charles University’s Faculty of Arts hosted a lecture given by the ch Shlomo Sand. Born in Austria, Mr Sand moved to live in Israel later and attained a BA in H Aviv University. During the 1980s Mr Sand lived in France, attempting to separate himself but later he returned to teach at Tel Aviv University and has since had a number of books of his most recognised works include ‘The Invention of the Jewish People’ (2008) and ‘How a Jew’ (2013). Mr Sand raised new questions and formed strong arguments in both of these b subsequently generated heated controversy due to their challenging of long held beliefs an In the lecture, Mr Sand summarised some of the key points from his books. Mr Sand’s lecture begun with a thought provoking, and often forgotten point, that the stor Bible do not necessarily have any historically factual basis. This point was focused on th the Jews from Judea. What Mr Sand, a History professor, claims is that there are no histor which prove this exile. Instead, the ‘evidence’ is only shown in theological works and as is of the opinion that the exile of the Jews in the Bible did not actually occur. Rather t Sand’s solidly argued belief explaining the decrease in the Jewish population of the area conversion. Christianity simply appealed to more people as it was a ‘friendlier’ religion Mr Sand and later in the 7th century when Islam was born, many more Jews converted, thus a population. If it is true many Jews converted to Islam in the area of Judea, then today’s highly likely to be the closest descendants to the Bible’s Jews; an interesting thought. J did not die out, as many Jews chose not to convert and many lived in kingdoms like the Has renowned for its aggressive policies towards non-Jews, as well as general attempts of conv Judaism. Another fascinating point Mr Sand raised was the Kingdom of Khazaria which existed within modern day Russia and Ukraine. The Khazar royalty, nobility, and people converted to Judai century. Therefore, Khazaria was another (other than Judea), more recent, Jewish homeland. Mr Sand, until the 1960s Khazaria was used by Zionists to explain the high population of J Europe when compared to western Europe. Following the Six-Day War in 1967, the Khazars app disappeared from Zionist history as it would have undermined the Jewish historical claim t of today’s Israel. This point was contested by some members of the audience, exhibiting th surrounding the issue of historical claims. Mr Sand finished his lecture by attempting to express the primary focus of his latest book which questioned the modernity and righteousness of Israel as a state. Mr Sand argued that theory, one of the key principles of a modern democracy is to care for each and every citi something he argues is clear that Israel does not do, due to the Jewish privileges there. to note however that there is a strong argument that a plethora of modern, democratic stat this. It can be conceded however that Israel actively fails to do this. Although arguably precisely pinpoint, there are definitely examples of forms of institutionalised racism by state. In Israel, it is prohibited for people of different religions to get married, meani cannot marry a non-Jew. Although this law is general to all religions, it is possible to s somewhat targets non-Jews within Israel, as well as ensuring that the Jewish people in Isr numbers do not decrease. Also, through some research of my own, it became clear that the i in Israel greatly affects education too. As recent as 2009, a report from the Hebrew Unive of Education showed that Arab Israeli students were provided with far less financial suppo students. Also, the Follow-Up Committee for Arab Education claimed that the Israeli govern considerable average of $1,100 per Jewish student compared to an average of only $192 per student. Assuming that these statistics are credible, there lies a striking resemblance to seen in 1960s America. This leads directly onto Mr Sand’s central question; how can non-Is families suffered oppression for centuries and even genocide, support a state which he arg similar elements of those oppressive regimes, targeting non-Jews? Whilst Mr Sand maintains that he does not agree that a religious claim gives any historica land, he still supports the existence of Israel as a state today. In a quote difficult to he stated once that his support for Israel’s existence is “not because of historical right of the fact that it exists today and any effort to destroy it will bring new tragedies”. W Mr Sand’s argument regarding historical rights compelling, I remain on the fence regarding historical right due to my own lack of educated research on the topic. Of course, we must most peaceful solution can be found regarding Israel and Palestine, which would require fa between all, regardless of race and/or religious affiliation. Therefore pragmatically furt expansion cannot be supported, nor can the destruction of Israeli lands. Unfortunately, th faultless solution, and the topic remains a volatile one. Will Chamberlain studies BA History at the University of Essex, UK, and is currently study Charles University for an academic year. Originally from London, he enjoys travel, sport, well as this, he enjoys writing and photography which led to his interest in journalism an to gain experience and improve his skills in journalism, as well as meet other aspiring wr