The Jewish Chronicle reports on the ‘controversial’ shortlisting of Shlomo Sand’s The Invention of the Jewish People for the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize 2010. The results will be announced in June.
A controversial book which argues that the idea of a Jewish people descended from the ancient
Israelites is a Zionist myth, has been shortlisted for British Jewry’s main literary award…
…Alan Mendoza, director of the Israel-Diaspora Trust, said: “The cultural, historical and religious roots of the Jewish people are self-evident and Sands’ desire for self-immolation is not shared by Anglo-Jewry. Was this decision motivated by intellectual navel-gazing of the most banal kind, or does it reflect an attempt to appease those viscerally anti-Israel elements within the broader liberal intelligentsia? Either way, this is a pathetic attempt at gesture politics, and one that cheapens the Wingate Prize.”
The Invention of the Jewish People by Tel Aviv University Professor Shlomo Sand is one of four books up for the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Literary Prize.
Read the full article here.
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