As these things go, Israeli and Jewish publications have been arguing furiously over a... history book. Shlomo Sand's The Invention of the Jewish People alleges that a historical "Jewish people" does not exist and that the bulk of Jewry today descends from converts, rather than from the inhabitants of pre-Roman Judea.

Sand, in writing the book, has placed himself in a proud tradition of Jewish contrarians. Given that us Jews are the most self-mythologizing and status-quo doubting people this side of the Irish, it's not a real surprise.

Every ten or so years, after all, there is another intellectual who sparks eager fights among university professors and journalists through a new reading of the historical record. Norman Finkelstein's potshots at "the Holocaust industry" in the nineties. Benny Morris' deconstruction of the Israeli War of Independence in the 1980s. Before that, Arthur Koestler's Khazar hypothesis (which Sand resurrects) and Immanuel Velikovsky's attempt to reconcile Biblical events with the space race. Some of these writers, of course, were much more successful than others.

As an unrepentant history geek, I wanted to read the book when the English edition — translated ably by Yael Lotan from the original Hebrew — was released in late 2009. The press trail was intriguing. Among others, the New York Times, Times of London, Guardian, BBC and al-Jazeera English all featured the book, along with the usual blogosphere suspects. Then there was the fact that Tony Judt, Simon Schama, Tom Segev and other prominent historians had all taken the time recently to weigh in on Sand's book, whether pro or con.

So I put an order in to Amazon. My book arrived.

I was disappointed.

Here's the thing. Sand, a professor of modern French history at Tel Aviv University, could have written four very good books. Unfortunately, he mashed them all together into one ungainly mess of an incediary device.

Continue reading...

Israel's top politicians are up in arms after the catering for cabinet meetings was switched for healthy cuisine. Starting this week, pastries and cakes were removed from the menu at daily conferences:

Government ministers were shocked last Sunday to discover that their usual cabinet meeting breakfast of burekas puff pastries, rugelach and croissants was replaced with granola, vegetables and yogurts. Juices were also replaced for water.

The person responsible for the new diet, which caused an uproar among the ministers, is Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser, who said he got the idea from Yona Bar-Tal, the President's Residence's deputy director-general.

"I reached the conclusion that the ministers should have a healthy menu with as little dough and fat as possible. Currently they are accustomed to get burekas puff pastries, sandwiches and cakes.

"We did away with juices and replaced them with water. We completely removed the burekas, rugelach and cakes. We put in yogurts with granola, fruits, vegetables, whole wheat bread, low-fat cheeses and other healthy foods," he said.

(Note: The East Coasters among us know what rugelach is - sugar filled deliciousness. Burekas are Ottoman-descended puff pastries stuffed with cheese or savories that came to the country via Turkish Jews. For obvious reasons, Israelis are not generally big fans of bacon and ham at breakfast.)

All this would just be a funny quirky story if not for the fact that most of Israel's Hebrew-language dailies ran a paper on the story today. That's because several cabinet members essentially used the change of menus as an excuse to troll for votes:

Several ministers welcomed the change for obvious health considerations. Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon noted, "Finally we have a cabinet secretary who recognizes the true value of Israeli agriculture and the land of milk and honey."

The eating habits of politicians are fair scrutiny for the Israeli media. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke in 2006 that left him in a semi-vegetative state. His legendary love of unhealthy food is believed to have been a contributing factor.

This post originally appeared on True/Slant and is reprinted with permission.

Terrorist organizations have to spread their ideology somehow.

Enter the strange, fascinating world of... al-Qaeda's magazines.

For the past few years, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has published the magazines Sada al-Malahim (The Echo of Battle) and Sada al-Jihad (The Echo of Jihad).

Al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula is a branch of al-Qaeda that operates primarily in Saudi Arabia; they are the charming folks responsible for the kidnapping and murder of New Jersey helicopter engineer Paul Johnson in 2004. Johnson was executed live on camera as three men held him down and one jihadi beheaded him with a sword.

According to intelligence experts, the group was also responsible for the 2004 massacre of American, European, South African, Sri Lankan, Indian and Filipino expats in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. However, they are also perfectly happy to work outside of Saudi; the group engineered a bombing in Qatar in 2005.

Issue 11 of Sada al-Malahim started appearing on jihadi online forums a few days back in PDF form ready-to-print. A copy may be obtained here, complete with a charming cover showing a beaker and a hand grenade. It’s a dense little bastard of a magazine, clocking in at 73 pages of text, graphics and basic-Pagemaker design. As one might expect; al-Qaeda magazines don’t include such kuffar innovations as advertising.

Read the rest of this story on true/slant. 

I was going to write a post about how American students and expats in Beersheva were dealing with being under rocket attack. But apparently, a Grad landed behind my apartment complex a few hours ago.

It makes me happy that I decided to head up the road to Tel Aviv a few days back - which in retrospect was a damn good decision.

This is what I found on my Facebook wall (If 'Nam was televised, this crap is microblogged) when I came "home" a few hours ago, courtesy of one of my classmates and friends, who lives in the same apartment complex as I do:

“woo did you miss action. A rocket hit the fence next to your building. Very loud. Lots of security people walking and people with huge cameras running after them. I wonder if we will ever learn again? B”S is deserted. There are still some people in the dorms, but the university is empty. Hope your Israel tour is going well! I’m calling it a tour to make it sound exciting.”

Writing anything under these circumstances... fuggedaboutit. Glad I decided to stay in Tel Aviv and didn't go into missile range today. Let's just hope the suicide bombers don't start again anytime soon.

I put up some more about this at Negev Rock City; as for me, I'm just reflecting on the irony that my MA will be in "Middle Eastern Studies." Yeah, this is some Middle Eastern study.

UPDATE: A student at Ben Gurion University captured the rocket attack on my building on video: