Born in England to Jewish parents who baptized him at the age of twelve, Benjamin Disraeli went on to become prime minister as well as an accomplished novelist. Although some have held him up as a Jewish hero who often spoke with pride of his ethnic origins, Disraeli’s latest biographer, David Cesarani, argues that he was a cynical opportunist who only used his Jewishness when it suited him. Norman Gelb writes in his review:
Cesarani dismisses Disraeli’s public exaltations of his Jewish origins as a mere affectation, stating that as a politician “he was insensitive or insensible to a range of Jewish issues” and was, at best, inconsistent with regard to Jewish matters. In December of 1837, soon after his first election [to the House of Commons], Disraeli uncharacteristically kept his head down while other MPs heatedly debated whether Sir Moses Montefiore or any other Jew should be allowed to hold political office. And unlike many other British leaders, he remained completely silent during the “Damascus Affair,” a blood-libel charge against a dozen prominent Syrian Jews that resulted in widespread riots against the Jewish community in Damascus and triggered protests around the Jewish world.
Even as prime minister, says Cesarani, Disraeli chose completely to ignore “vicious [verbal] attacks on the Jews” by establishment figures and, in his many travels to Europe and the Middle East, made no effort to seek out Jewish sites or groups.
Read more on Moment: http://www.momentmag.com/book-review-disraeli-novel-politician/