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The Arab Jews: A Postcolonial Reading of Nationalism, Religion, ana Ethnicity, by Yehouda Shenhav. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006. xiv + 201 pages. Notes to p. 230. SeI. bibl. to p. 248. Index to p. 263. $60.
Reviewed by Ian S. Lustick
Even more sensitive than the issue of Arabs in Israel has been the question of Jews from Muslim countries. Although specialists on Israel in the United States may find that critical analysis of Israel regarding the treatment of Arabs is what inflames audiences most, inside Israel academics know that the most ferocious reactions against challenges to orthodox thinking are reserved for those who raise questions about the treatment or status of the communities variously labeled "edot haMizrah" (communities of the East), "Mizrahim" (Orientals), or "Sephardim." In his book, Arab Jews, Yehouda Shenhav drives directly into the heart of this resistance to insight and analysis.
Seldom does the title of a book tell more about its purpose, technique, and content than this one. No one would blink if a book about Israel or Zionism bore the title The European Jews. Everyone, or at least every Israeli would understand, that in the Israeli context this would be a reference to the Jews who migrated to Israel from Europe, thereby bearing with them one version or another of European culture. So why should it be so difficult to pronounce or even hear the term "Arab Jews" as a reference to Jews who migrated to Israel from the Arab world, thereby bearing with them one version or another of Arab culture?
The answer, of course, is that the Land of...