Worldview Blog

Norman Finkelstein and Academic Freedom
31 January 2008

A conference of academics was held last October, on behalf of Norman Finkelstein and other scholars, who have been denied tenure due to their controversial views. A website containing the audio of speeches by such luminaries as Noam Chomsky, Tony Judt, John Mearsheimer and Finkelstein himself is available on the web:

IN DEFENSE OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM
DePaul Academic Freedom Committee, 12 October 2007

Obviously, the participants were skewed to the left of the political spectrum; the only exception is foreign policy 'realist' John Mearsheimer. And all these speakers have distinguished themselves by criticizing the Israel Lobby in America as well as Israel's behavior in the Occupied Territories. Indeed, Finkelstein's denial of tenure at DePaul University came about through a campaign orchestrated by such zealous advocates of Israel as Alan Dershowitz. I have read enough of Finkelstein to be convinced that he deserves tenure. I agree with his main themes, but I would feel this way, even if I disagreed with him, since he has evidently observed the rules of good scholarship. His peers at DePaul all felt the same way, and he had so eminent a Holocaust scholar as the late Raul Hilberg on his side. His denial of tenure seems rather clearly to have been a travesty — an ugly assault by the power of money on academic freedom.

Even though it should not be necessary, one must reiterate that none of these academics are 'anti-Semitic', nor do they wish to destroy Israel. They are simply critics of Israel's policies, and with good reason. Dershowitz is an unscrupulous attack dog on behalf of the Lobby, but what do you expect from a trial lawyer? His tenure at Harvard Law School attests to his intellect but not to his integrity. Really, what we are witnessing is the power of money and zealous activism over American politics, and increasingly over the academe. This is deplorable and truly threatens the foundations of our civilization.

Wikipedia: Dershowitz-Finkelstein Affair

NYT: A Bitter Spat Over Ideas, Israel and Tenure

Pauline Yearwood: Dershowitz V. Finkelstein

Democracy Now: Dershowitz vs. Finkelstein debate (video)

Frank Menetrez: Dershowitz v. Finkelstein

Norman Finkelstein: Alan Dershowitz Exposed

Norman Finkelstein: An Introduction to the Israel-Palestine Conflict

Alan Dershowitz: Finkelstein's Bigotry

Alan Dershowitz: Why is the UC Press Publishing Bigotry?

Alan Dershowitz: A Case Study in Hate (PDF)

Alan Dershowitz: Neme Gordon can't take criticism

Counterpunch: Dershowitz vs. Menetrez

CAMERA: Norman Finkelstein's Fraudulent Scholarship

Jacob Laskin: What Lies Beyond Chutzpah?

Andrew Sullivan: In wonderful company [Jamie]

Clarifying my position on this vitriolic debate

UPDATE (1 Feb 08): The debate over Finkelstein is vitriolic indeed! So I had better clarify exactly where I stand. First and foremost, Finkelstein is accused of factual inaccuracy. I cannot answer this with confidence without being a scholar myself and going through his writings with a fine-toothed comb. All I can say is that I have read some chapters from Beyond Chutzpah, and they seemed reasonable and well-documented. And I do agree with his main themes, if not all details. For instance, when he says that the Holocaust has been misused to inhibit discussion of Israeli abuses in the West Bank, I have no doubt this is true. Of course, this is not to say that all Jews are in on this, but some are, in particular the well-funded right-wing Israel Lobby, which does not represent the opinion of most Jews. I also agree with the basic 'leftist' criticism of Israeli policy in the West Bank, and I advocate a two-state solution roughly along the 1967 borders.

I'll keep my eye out for any egregious factual error on the part of Finkelstein. I have already found one egregious smear on the part of Dershowitz: his mention of neo-Nazi sites that reference Finkelstein for their own purposes. Then there is the standard dirty trick of Jacob Laskin, whose language (first paragraph) suggests that Finkelstein has claimed that all Holocaust survivors are frauds, when I'm sure Finkelstein must have been more specific than that. (On the other hand, when Finkelstein refers to 'American-Jewish elites', I hope he is equally specific — I consider Noam Chomsky to be part of one 'American-Jewish elite'!) As to Finkelstein being a 'self-hating Jew' who 'crawled out from under a rock' (courtesy of Leon Wieseltier), I can understand Finkelstein's anger. If one truly believes that the Holocaust is being abused to cover up other crimes, then this should shock any honest Jew (or person). My one criticism so far of Finkelstein is that he could be less abrasive, if only for the sake of his cause. He is aware of this and defends himself in his Academic Freedom conference speech. I must say that his skewering of Elie Wiesel, based on a ridiculous quote, sounds fair enough to me.

Menetrez article makes Finkelstein look good

UPDATE (1 Feb 08): The Menetrez article makes Finkelstein look rather good. Do I now need to check up on Menetrez's checking up on assertions and quotations (or lack thereof) by Finkelstein and Dershowitz? Also, I see a pattern in many of the anti-Finkelstein articles of inflammatory and unsubstantiated innuendo. A veritable lather of ad hominem.

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