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Norman Finkelstein

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Norman G. Finkelstein (born 1953) is a Jewish American professor of political science at DePaul University known for advocating controversial positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for criticizing the way the Holocaust is handled by most parties and organizations. He is the son of Holocaust survivors and the author of five books, of which the most prominent are Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict and The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering.

Doctoral Thesis and Exposure of From Time Immemorial

Finkelstein wrote his Princeton doctoral thesis on Zionism, and it was through this work that he first attracted controversy. In 1984, while Finkelstein was still at Princeton, he began to write a critical review of Joan Peters' book From Time Immemorial in which he examined every footnote and concluded that the book was a "monumental hoax." A "history and defense" of the state of Israel, Peters' book had been effusively praised in mainstream United States media sources. Finkelstein's charges initially roused little attention in the U.S. According to Finkelstein, "By the end of 1984, From Time Immemorial had...received some two hundred notices...in the United States. The only 'false' notes in this crescendoing chorus of praise were the Journal of Palestine Studies, which ran a highly critical review by Bill Farrell; the small Chicago-based newsweekly In These Times, which published a condensed version of this writer's findings; and Alexander Cockburn, who devoted a splendid series of columns in The Nation to exposing the hoax....The periodicals in which From Time Immemorial had already been favorably reviewed refused to run any critical correspondence (e.g. The New Republic, Atlantic, Commentary). Periodicals that had yet to review the book rejected a manuscript on the subject as of little or no consequence (e.g. The Village Voice, Dissent, The New York Review of Books). Not a single national newspaper or columnist contacted found newsworthy that a best-selling, effusively praised 'study' of the Middle East conflict was allegedly a hoax" (Finkelstein, Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict, pp. 45-6). However, after reviewers in the British and Israeli media supported some of Finkelstein's criticisms, U.S. journals began publishing more critical reviews of the book. Today, partly as a result of Finkelstein's analysis and criticism, Peters' book has been discredited among a few scholars. Finkelstein's findings appear in ibid., chapter 2.

Finkelstein and Chomsky

At Princeton, the hostility that Finkelstein received threatened his ability to earn his Ph.D. Noam Chomsky, who is a friend of Finkelstein, writes in Understanding Power that Finkelstein "literally could not get the faculty to read ." According to Chomsky, in the end, Princeton granted Finkelstein his doctorate only "out of embarrassment," though they didn't "even write a letter for him saying that he was a student at Princeton University." (Understanding Power, New York, 2002, p. 245 ) Norman Finkelstein was later recruited by DePaul University as an assistant professor in political science. Finkelstein had recently been fired from two New York-area adjunct teaching jobs (New York University and Hunter College) because of his pseudo-scholarship and rantings against Jews and Israel.

Controversial Opinions

Finkelstein has taken other controversial positions. In The Holocaust Industry, he described Holocaust reparations as a corrupt "racket," in which little of the money actually goes to victims. The New York Times has compared Finkelstein's book to the old czarist forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He has also challenged the characterization of the Holocaust as a uniquely evil historical event. Questioned explicitly about his views on terrorism, Finkelstein has said that rather than violence, Palestinians should pursue independence through "non-violent civil revolt."

Criticism by the Anti-Defamation League

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called Finkelstein a "Holocaust denier" and accused him of pursuing an anti-Semitic agenda. Finkelstein has called the ADL's accusations against him empty and undeserved. "I am Jewish and my parents are Holocaust survivors. With others you could say, 'you're an anti-Semite' or 'you're a Holocaust denier,' you can't do that with me," he once responded, "you have to argue the facts." Neither the ADL nor similar groups have quoted Finkelstein denying that the Holocaust actually occurred (Indeed, the premise of his The Holocaust Industry is that the historical Holocaust did occur). Finkelstein was also called a "self-hating Jew - i.e., a jew hater" on numerous occasions.

Finkelstein is a disciple of discredited historian and Holocaust denier David Irving, whom he identifies as an authoritative scholar. Finkelstein refers to the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis as the "Six Million" in quotation marks, and says that nearly every Holocaust survivor is a fraud, a thief and a liar. Finkelstein's own parents are Holocaust survivors and Finkelstein has long tried to capitalize on this as a way to legitimize his anti-Semitism.) In an interview with Die Welt, he has said: "Not only does the '6 Million' figure become more untenable but the numbers of the Holocaust industry are rapidly approaching those of Holocaust deniers…. Indeed, the field of Holocaust studies is replete with nonsense, if not sheer fraud."

In his book The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, Finkelstein wrote, "'If everyone who claims to be a survivor actually is one,' my mother used to exclaim, 'who did Hitler kill?'" He added that most survivors are fraudulent and that too much money is spent commemorating the Nazi genocide. Finkelstein is the star on every Holocaust denial neo-Nazi web site on earth, serving as the "Jew who proved there was never any Holocaust."

Finkelstein and Alan Dershowitz

In addition to his denunciation of Peters herself, Finkelstein has falsely accused Alan Dershowitz of using Peters' research without acknowledgement, pointing to passages where Dershowitz allegedly quoted exactly the same excerpts that Peters footnoted in her book, but where Dershowitz referenced only their original sources and not Peters. Finkelstein regards this as plagiarism, a charge that Dershowitz denies. (See Dershowitz-Finkelstein affair.)

Finkelstein has expanded his findings in a book entitled Beyond Chutzpah, which was to be published by the University of California Press (UCP) on June 1, 2005, in spite of threats of legal action by Alan Dershowitz. . On June 27, 2005, however, the banner "DERSHOWITZ WINS: University of California Press will not publish BEYOND CHUTZPAH." appeared on Finkelstein's website . The press itself stated that it continued "to work with the author on editorial changes" to this work "of critical importance" and that it was "committed to working with the author to reach a mutually agreeable conclusion and to publish the book as scheduled in August." On July 9, 2005, editorial negotiations between Finkelstein's representatives and UCP came to a successful conclusion and Beyond Chutzpah was finally published on 28 August 2005.

Quotes

  • Leon Wieseltier: "He's poison, a disgusting self-hating Jew, something you find under a rock."

Bibliography

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Criticisms:

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