Shlomo Sand Quotes & Sayings

If certain Jewish communities had distinctive qualities, they were due to history, not biology. — Shlomo Sand

I don't think books can change the world, but when the world begins to change, it searches for different books. — Shlomo Sand

the term "Land of Israel" was a later Christian and rabbinical invention that was theological, and by no means political in nature. Indeed, we can cautiously posit that the name first appeared in the New Testament in the Gospel of Matthew. — Shlomo Sand

I believe neither in the past existence of a Jewish people, exiled from its land, nor in the premise that the Jews are originally descended from the ancient land of Judea. — Shlomo Sand

Peoples, populations, native populaces, tribes and religious communities are not nations, even though they are often spoken of as such. — Shlomo Sand

Only in the early twentieth century, after years in the Protestant melting pot, was the theological concept of "Land of Israel" finally converted and refined into a clearly geonational concept. Settlement Zionism borrowed the term from the rabbinical tradition in part to displace the term "Palestine, — Shlomo Sand

The construction of a new body of knowledge always bears direct connection to the ideology in which it operates. Historical insights that diverge from the narrative laid down at the inception of the nation can be accepted only when consternation about their implications is abated. This can happen when the current collective identity begins to be taken for granted and ceases to be something anxiously and nostalgically clings to a mythical past, when identity becomes the basis for living and not its purpose - that is when historiographic change can take place. — Shlomo Sand

One of the secrets of the Muslim army's power was its relatively liberal attitude toward the religions of the defeated people-provided they were monoththeists, of course. Muhammad's commandment to treat Jews and Christians as "People of The book" gave them legal protection. — Shlomo Sand

In no text or archaeological finding do we find the term "Land of Israel" used to refer to a defined geographic region. This — Shlomo Sand

History can be ironic, particularly with regard to the invention of traditions in general and traditions of language in particular. Few people have noticed, or are willing to acknowledge, that the Land of Israel of biblical texts did not include Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem, or their surrounding areas, but rather only Samaria and a number of adjacent areas - in other words, the land of the northern kingdom of Israel. Because — Shlomo Sand

To the dismay of anti-Semites, the Jews were never a foreign "ethnos" of invaders from afar but rather an autochthonous population whose ancestors, for the most part, converted to Judaism before the arrival of Christianity or Islam.17 — Shlomo Sand

Behind every act in Israel's identity politics stretches, like a long black shadow, the idea of an eternal power and race. — Shlomo Sand

My main goal in this book is to deconstruct the concept of the Jewish "historical right" to the Land of Israel and its associated nationalist narratives, whose only purpose was to establish moral legitimacy for the appropriation of territory. — Shlomo Sand

Names of regions and countries change over time, and it is sometimes common to refer to ancient lands using names assigned to them later in history. However, this linguistic custom has typically been practiced only in the absence of other known and acceptable names for the places in question. — Shlomo Sand