Totie Fields would be appalled.
Posted on 08/22/2006 2:51:23 AM PDT by goldstategop
The level of “academic” discourse on the Middle-East reached a new low—quite a feat considering some of the old lows—when the notorious Jewish anti-Semite and Holocaust-justice denier Norman Finkelstein wrote a screed suggesting that I be targeted “for assassination” because of my views on Israel. The obscene article was accompanied by an obscene cartoon drawn by “Latuff”, a frequent accomplice of Finkelstein. The cartoon portrayed me as masturbating in rapturous joy while viewing images of dead Lebanese civilians on a TV set labeled “Israel peep show,” with a Jewish Star of David prominently featured. The cartoon aptly represents the content of Finkelstein’s piece, which accuses me of being a “moral pervert” who “missed the climactic scene of his little peep show.” He also claims quite absurdly that I “sanction mass murder” and “the extermination of the Lebanese people.” (I’m surprised he hasn’t accused me of kicking of puppy dogs, scowling at little children, and parking in handicapped spaces.)
Finkelstein calls me a Nazi not once, but twice, first saying that I subscribe to “Nazi ideology” and then comparing me to Nazi propagandist Julius Streicher, who was prosecuted at Nuremberg by my mentor Telford Taylor.
The peep-show cartoon was even too extreme for the notorious “Counterpunch,” a Stalinist website that glorifies Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist enemies of the U.S. and Israel. Prior to its decision not to run this particular cartoon, Counterpunch seemed to have no standards, but even for them this one was apparently too much (though they kept in the “peep show” reference that inspired the cartoon).
The article itself is typical Finkelstein. He totally distorts my positions, uses quotes out of context, and simply makes things up. He assumes that his readers will not have read the material he criticizes, because if they did, they would not recognize his characterizations of them. Indeed I challenge any reasonable reader to peruse my writings and then Finkelstein’s characterization of them and decide whether his characterizations are even close to what I actually said.
It was President Bush who once famously said, “I don’t do nuance.” Well at least Finkelstein has that much in common with our President. Any effort by a pro-Israel writer to be reasonable, balanced or nuanced is turned by Finkelstein into a justification for genocide.
Finkelstein himself is a well-known Holocaust minimizer and Holocaust-justice denier. He is beloved by full blown Holocaust deniers. Listen to Ernst Zundel, the notorious Hitler lover and Holocaust denier:
"Some people hate it when I pitch Finkelstein and his ‘Holocaust Industry’ yet one more time - because they know, as I know, that what must be for tactical reasons, ‘Stormin' Norman’ doesn't go all the way and says what he must surely have come to realize in his heart: That the "gassing-of-millions" stories of the so-called Holocaust are just a pot of crock.
[…]
That doesn't mean that Finkelstein isn't exceedingly useful to us and to the Revisionist cause. He is making three-fourths of our argument - and making it effectively. Never fret - the rest of the argument is being made by us, and will topple the lie within our lifetime. We would not be making vast inroads in Europe with our outreach program, were it not for his courageous little booklet, "The Holocaust Industry."
Zundel’s wife and fellow Neo-Nazi, Ingrid Rimland, referred to Finkelstein admiringly as the “Jewish David Irving”—a reference to the well known Holocaust denier and admirer of Hitler. Finkelstein himself admires Irving’s “historical” research.
Finkelstein is also an admirer of Hezbollah, having said that his “chief regret is that I wasn’t even more forceful in publicly defending Hezbollah against terrorist intimidation and attack.”
This academic pornographer, who uses “professor” in his byline even when he is spewing unacademic hate, is now up for tenure at DePaul University, a Catholic school in Chicago that recently fired a teacher named Thomas Klocek for offending Arab students during a discussion of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Finkelstein was fired by several universities at which he previously worked for abusing students who disagreed with his bigoted views. The chairman of one department where he taught said he was fired for “incompetence”, “mental instability” and “abuse” of students with politics different from his own. I wonder whether Finkelstein will submit this “assassination” article as part of his tenure portfolio at DePaul. He certainly should, since it is quite representative of his “scholarship”. If he submits it, will it be accompanied by the masturbation cartoon? It should, because the cartoon too personifies Finkelstein’s academic standards.
( No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo!)
How is Norman Finkelstein an "anti-Semite"? He's not a Holocaust denier by any means; even Dershowitz has to acknowledge this by calling him a "Holocaust-justice denier", whatever that means. From what I've seen, this seems like more of the personal grudge-match that's been going on between Finkelstein and Dershowitz. They're both abrasive assholes.
Maybe if the Depaul thing doesn't work out, Noam Chomsky could hire him on as a research assistant.
They've tangled before. There is no love lost between Dersh and der Finkel Tinkle
Not really comparable, imho. Dersh shows flashes of intellectual honesty, but usual catches himself in time.
Finkelstein strikes me as a very petty, nasty individual. A natural academic, iow.
A few facts in A.D.'s piece would've been nice...
...Normanius Finkelsteinus.
Dershowitz talks pro-Israel but his heart and effort goes to the leftists who would destroy Israel by benign neglect. He's worse than useless-Dersh is pernicious because he brings cover to those who would abandon Israel. It's like hearing Spielberg talk about how much he loves Israel--so what? Next week he'll make another anti-Israel movie. So Dersh criticizes Finklestein--so what? Next week he'll be raising money for Hillary.
High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. also
2006israelwar or WOT
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"In an earlier book, Finkelstein described the "holocaust industry" as "an extortion racket", a vehicle "to crush any dissent, any criticism of the State of Israel." Jewish leaders were referred to as "gangsters" and "crooks." Eli Wiesel was depicted as "the resident clown for the Holocaust circus." He challenged the authenticity of survivors, "If everyone who claimed to be a survivor is one, my mother used to say 'Who did Hitler kill then?'" (JPost)
Finkelstein is a venomous an anti-Semite, a self-hating Jew who hurls insults and anti-Semitic tirades that he attempts to legitimize with his own "Jewishness".
I suggest that you read some of his writings before making such a silly comment.
I rest my case. Stormfront is down the hall, 3rd door on the right...
Totie Fields would be appalled.
Wonderful. Anyone who disagrees with leftist liberal Alan Dershowitz is a Nazi. I bet you're also one of those Bushbots who thinks anyone who disagrees with Bush on anything is a liberal. There's a word for this kind of fanatical devotion to "purity".
I am not calling him an anti-Semite for his partially true charges of a Holocaust Industry. I am calling him an anti-Semite for using his thesis to
1. defend Holocaust deniers like Ernst Zundel
2. Create a moral inversion whereby Hizbullah and Hamas are victims because Jews speak up about them
3. Give cover to Shamir and Shahak's anti-Jewish rants.
Finklestein is the epitome of a leftist anti-Semite.
I am not defending Dershowitz's leftist activities. I am taking a look at one of Dershowitz's enemies.
Have you ever thought of looking beyond false dichotomies of neocon-paleocon, and PC and leftist?
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