Should NYU faculty and their dependent children receive full tuition remission?
Last Friday's monthly Marxist Theory Colloquium featured Tel Aviv University history professor Shlomo Sand. He discussed his controversial book, "The Invention of the Jewish People," which proposes that the majority of accepted Jewish history is incorrect.
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Sand's new book is controversial.
NYU politics professor Bertell Ollman invited Sand to speak at the colloquium after he learned Sand had come to New York to publicize the English edition of his book. While "The Invention of the Jewish People" is not specifically about Marxist theory, Ollman wanted Sand to speak because he said he "found it a marvelous book."
The book has stirred much controversy since its release. In it, Sand said he believes that the Romans did not expel the Jews from Palestine and that today's Palestinians are actually partial descendants of Jews. Sand believes the rest of the Middle Eastern and European Jewish population was converted to Judaism, which directly challenges the Zionist idea that Palestine is the rightful homeland of all Jewish people.
During his lecture, Sand said the Jewish exodus in the first and second centuries did not happen.
"The Romans didn't exile the Jewish — not in 70, not in 135," Sand said.
At one point during his presentation, Sand discussed the origins of hummus, proclaiming, "It's not really Jewish. We steal it from Palestine like we stole the land."
The views Sand expressed in his book and during the lecture provoked anger among some audience members.
Charles Schaeffer, a first-year Steinhardt graduate student, believes Sand is a self-hating Jew.
"You can't be anti-Zionist without being anti-Semitic," Schaeffer said about Sand. "At the end of the day, I would say he's anti-Semitic."
To refute Sand's arguments, Schaeffer brought paper printouts with information claiming there is indeed a genetic component to being Jewish, as well as a book by Sander Gilman titled "Jewish Self-Hatred."
However, when Schaeffer asked Sand if he thought his ideas were rooted in anti-Semitism and Jewish self-hatred, Sand denied the relation.
"It's a shame for a Jew that was born in the 20th century to base his identity on biology," Sand said.
Some attendees found the lecture enlightening.
"It's really relevant today obviously for debating the existence of an Israeli state vs. a Palestinian state," CAS sophomore Jordan Mylet said. "The idea that there's really not much separation between them is really remarkable."
Clara
Oct 19, 2009
5:55 p.m.
http://inventionofthejewishpeople.com/
edith
Oct 20, 2009
6:50 a.m.
I wonder if people realize that being anti-semitic means you are anti-Arab too because Arabs are members of the semitic race as is Arabic,the language Arabs speak.
Look up:Semitic Race and Languages.
Zionism is totally differant.I
It is racist,political doctrine along the same line as Hitler's nazism and that is why they are now refered to zio-nazis
Oliver Sloane
Oct 20, 2009
10:17 a.m.
was a great lecture, very interesting indeed. A very refreshing perpspective on Israel. Charles Shaeffer, if that is the bloke who was wearing the hat asking all the stupid questions (in fact they were not questions, more accusations), missed the whole point of the lecture, and towards the back of the lecture room it was decided 'he was not a bright boy'.
Ali
Oct 20, 2009
5:13 p.m.
Shlomo Sand swears that "Alice in Wonderland" is a true story.
Shlomo Sand reinvented the history of Mars too. He said the planet is a Zionist state watching and waiting for the right time to take over planet Earth.
Shlomo Sand thinks the Earth was created in 7.192 days and not 7 days. He can prove it because he's a good mathmetician.
Shllol Sand thinks Islam is a religion of peace, compassion and tolerance based on the following videos:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/10/uk-muslim-protesters-threaten-geert-wilders-well-have-his-head.html
and:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/10/uk-muslim-protesters-threaten-geert-wilders-well-have-his-head.html
Ali
Oct 20, 2009
5:43 p.m.
It's a good thing Shlomo teaches in Israel instead of in a school if one of the forty Islamic countries (they all do have make-believe schools). For if he taught in one of the Islamic make-believe schools and said similarly derogatory things about Islam he would still have his head it just would no longer be attached to his neck.
Islam is compassionate and tolerant and peaceful as long as you are a Muslim and never question anything.
skeptic
Nov 27, 2009
4 p.m.
Mr. Sand is factually inaccurate. His claims regarding Jewish ancestry are not supported by the evidence. People who believe otherwise need to do their homework. mDNA of Jewish men the world over derives from the fertile crescent, an area that includes Israel.
Also, why do Jews need to prove 100% of their ancestry is from the Middle East? Palestinians, Syrians, Lebananese, etc. are all of mixed ancestry. Greeks, Huns, Crusaders, Africans imported as slaves all have left their marks on Middle East populations. Who tries to claims they aren't "real" Middle Easterners?
Dr Bernard Leeman
Nov 30, 2009
5:15 a.m.
II am a proponent of the Arabian Judah hypothesis, which argues that the Hebrew originated in the volcanic region of northern Yemen and established their states astride the Sabaean trade routes between Taima and Yemen. European Jewish obsession with the Levant as the Promised Land had led to denigration of anything that suggest Western Arabia and to a lesser extent Ethiopia were the location of events described in the Old Testament up until 586 B.C.E. For example I have recently returned from Tigray with photos of the word "Hebrew" listed as subjects of kings and queens of Sheba ca. 800 B.C.E. inscribed on two incense burners but not a single Israeli academic has replied to my emails concerning this. Their arrogance or timidity is disgraceful.
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