History /
Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]
There were kings in Polish history that Poles are proud of and there were kings that Poles are ashamed of.
You've convinced me to some extent: Even if in some periods many segments of Polish society were less than friendly to Jews, it is a good thing that Poles today take pride in the acceptance Polish Kings showed to Jews. The things we take pride in reflect our values.
Your points about Jews mistreating Palestinians are a different matter. It's a whole different discussion and I think you're misinformed. I agree that we're not victims anymore. But just because we're not victims doesn't mean that we're perpetrators. In any case, that's a discussion that has nothing to do with Polish-Jewish history. If you brought it up to point out that Jews aren't perfect and now that we have sovereignty we're sometimes nasty - I'll agree to that. We're only human and under a lot of pressure. But the Israel - Arab conflict is a long complex process, and the Israeli-Palestinian aspect of it can't be looked at as a separate issue of majority vs minority. It's much more complex because in the region Israel is by far the minority. If you want a serious discussion of Israel-Arab relations this isn't the right forum.
After all jewishness as any other nationhood is a historical construct and a very recent one.
From the book by prof Shlomo Sand: The Invention of the Jewish People:
His thesis is so ridiculous that it can't be taken seriously by anyone with any knowledge of Jewish history. The Jews considered themselves a People in the Biblical period (read the Bible. It's everywhere), in the Greek period (the Hasmonean wars against the Hellenists) Roman period (revolution against Rome), in the Talmudic period (it's full of references to "Israel" as a nation) and throughout the middle ages. It would be ludicrous to think that Jews saw themselves as Germans or Frenchmen when they came to those lands before there was such a thing as German or French nationhood. The Jews never considered themselves anything but a nation in exile until modern times.
If anything is a recent development it's the idea that Jews are not a nation but just a religion followed by random people around the world (as in "Germans of the Mosaic Faith") That was the modern invention that only started in the 19th century. The national identity of Israel (the word referred to the People before it referred to the state) is older and more established than that of any nation except maybe the Chinese and the Greeks. Shlomo Sand is an idiot with an agenda.