Finkelstein letters 2008

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Due to time constraints "Letters to Finkelstein" will no longer be updated.

Dr Finklestein,

I wish to take this opportunity to thankyou for your courageous position you have taken on the Israel/Palestinian conflict. The moral, just and informed part of the world is thinking what you have been saying for years through the media and in your books. Strong, powerful and wealthy nations have been taking advantage of weaker people for centuries and the world continues to allow it to happen. I feel that more and more people are starting to realise truly what is going on by avoiding commercial TV, reading books and using the Internet to gain more accurate versions of the news. The Israeli government do not want peace, they want as much land as they can get by stealing, limiting development of Gaxa by the Palestinians and terrorising the civilians. The US and many other governments (including mine, Australian) are complicit in this behaviour by remaining despicably silent on the conflict. I have the impression that there is no money in peace, there is however billions to be made from conflict and war, as money is the main aim the staus quo remains.

Unfortunately your courageous, honest voice is the exception rather than the norm amongst the mainstream, deceptive and cowardly media. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours. Take care.

Regards,



Hello Dr. Finkelstein,

I know you're traveling and this email will likely be one among many others when you return to your desk. I just wanted to thank you for braving the cold and coming to Calgary to speak!

Thanks again,





Shame of the Arab World

Dear Norm,

I have been silenced like a beaten up lamb for some time …No sorry, like a slaughtered lamb lingering for my meat to be scavenged vulgarly by these “Coward Arab Leaders” over their ridiculous sumptuous banquets in their so-called Summits!!!

“Summits” that have been attained until the death toll reached in the Gaza strip more than 1,300 - more than 400 of them children - and still bodies are being dragged from under the rubbles to date.

During the Summit (the Kuwaiti one), where their loud callous and phony chuckles/ snorts prevented them from hearing reverberates of the cries of the mutilated children and women in the Gaza strip!

The "Shock and Awe Strategy" that was foolishly adapted by Rumsfeld during the "Operation Iraqi Freedom" in 2003 "aimed at influencing the will, perception, and understanding of an adversary rather than simply destroying military capability" has now been amended by the Coward Arab leaders against their own people …The reason I am saying this is that Arabs have allowed Israel , America and other European countries to perform "grave breaches" as defined by the 4 Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the 1997 Protocols in the Gaza War and the Lebanese war of 2006 !

They just DID NOTHING!!! Their cold cold eyes were glued to the TV sets without wincing for a minute as they saw the catastrophe proliferate day after day in Gaza ....

Oh! I apologize they "DID" take major imperative measurements ...such as:

(i)The so-called Arabs/Muslims have launched in Egypt demonstrations that have counted not more than mere thousands while during the demise of their beloved singer “Umm- Kalthoum” “MILLIONS” yes “ MILLIONS” marched the streets of Cairo in mourning . Let me add that when their other heart- throbbing singer “ Abdul halleem hafez” died “MILLIONS” again marched the streets and yes some silly women committed suicide !!!!

(ii) A group of Egyptian lawyers, who are loyal to the Egyptian regime, have actually filed a lawsuit against Hezbollah General Secretary Sayyed Hassan Nasrullah . They filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice because of his speech on the first night of the commemoration of Ashura when he called on the Egyptian leadership to open the Rafah border crossing and called on the Egyptian people and the Egyptian army to pressure the Egyptian regime to take a positive step. They considered what he said as unjust and as a call for a revolution and the toppling of the Egyptian regime.

(iii) The Rafah border crossing was kept closed throughout the hideous and horrid war in the face of the Palestinians in the fear that they might smuggle in food and medical aid impovrished and injured children !!!

(iv) Demonstrators in KSA were gunned down ....

(v) The Wahabi Regime “the Kernel of Evil” had its grand Mufti issue a creed/ Fatwa prohibiting Muslims from engaging in demonstrations to express their solidarity with the Gazans as such actions hinder them from performing their religious duty …Little did this ignorant and insignificant man know that the whole rational for example of Haj is not just a mere circumambulation of the Kaaba but also a cry out for the truth and equality ....

(vi) In the UAE, the Kufieya (a scarf worn by Palestinians) was not allowed and taken away from feeble staged demonstrations by the CID…our “Big Brothers”....

(vii) The Shopping Festival in the Emirate of Dubai has started with alluring deals and few tents were pinned up symbolizing solidarity with the Gazan victims …Bear with me please ….The tents have in them a bundle of worn out clothes and broken toys to be sent to the poor Palestinians ....

(viii) A very prominent and respected Egyptian TV and Radio personality called Hamdy Kandeel was ‘sacked’ from Dubai TV for expressing his views freely and openly about the situation in Lebanon and in Palestine ....

(ix) In Bahrain, hundreds of demonstrators were jailed and interrogated because of their involvement in expressing their solidarity with Gaza ...

(x) Qatar's proposed summit failed to garner the support of 15 Arab League members, a quorum needed for official endorsement. Monumenting the rivalry between KSA and Qatar and even more widening the rift between the “Moderate Arabs” and ‘Non-moderate Arabs” ...

The list goes on ....

Oh but wait please, the Kuwait Summit did come out with something tangible: 1 billion donations and Kuwait's USD 500 million in aid for Gaza reconstruction.

It has become like a pattern now …In Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Lebanon …And now in Gaza!!!!...Those petrodollars do make those Arabs sleep soundly at night don’t they????

So the "Shock and Awe Strategy" doesn’t just involve the use of high -tech weapons thrown at innocent causalities but it involves the loss of will to speak up your rights and the expunging of "Human Conscious" !!!!

I will have to end my letter from a verse from the Talmud addressed to the Arabs:

“Man is born with his hands clenched, but his hands are open in death, because of entering the world he desires to grasp everything, but on leaving, he takes nothing away.”

What have the Arabs taken away with them??????

Keep warm,

Zeina



Dear Mr Finkelstein,

I just read about your increasing difficulties for your brave and truthful comments on the war in Gaza etc. Oh, I'm so sorry about that!!

I've just seen a few interviews of yours, but I think you are a very intelligent, honest and truthful man. And moral -such a breath of fresh air! I think it is quite obvious, how could anybody miss that!?! Maybe it's their guilty conscience..? There's a Finnish saying: 'That dog barks who is hit by a club (piece of wood).' ...It's actually quite sad what they are doing to you. Sad for humanity. And especially for the Palestinians and Israelis! Their children in particular.

It is always difficult to be the dissenter, but sometimes (always?) it is the only moral thing to do. So, I wish you lots of courage, strength and help from above! May God bless you and keep you!

Minna



Dear Mr Finkelstein

I'm an arab from Lebanon but I live in Sweden and have done so ever since I was four, I'm 21 now. In recent months I've come to admire you and your writings, I laughed and was very entertained when I saw you shred Mr Dershowitz to pieces on democracy now, I must say that you showed an very admirable feature in a person, patience.

The reason I write to you is that I am currently in several debates about the situation in Gaza on some forums on the Internet, sometimes people post links to certian sources, sometimes those sources are Alan Dershowitz. I think what you did to him was very good, a man of his high statue in the academic force should'nt be alowed, unfortunately I heard he chose to take actions against you, that's a very childish thing for him to do and I hope you don't feel or are troubled by him.

Now, when I see people using Dershowitz as a source I can't help feeling ridiculed, especially when there actually are people that have been influenced by Mr. Dershowitz writings, how can Mr. Dershowitz be allowed to teach or in a way raise his oppinion to students who really should use real sources as all the human rights organisations? One person said to me; I don't trust Human Rights Watch, workers in Gaza are threatend to lie.

How can one argue against that? Have the world lost it's principels of whats right or wrong? What's true or false?

I really hope that the people in Sweden, and all over the world, can enjoy seeing you on TV or on the Internet, you have a certain charismatic look when you argue for human dignity, please keep doing what you are best at, expose the truths in a world that is captivated by lies and propaganda.

The link I want you to see, shows former president Jimmy Carter discuss his book "Palestine Peace not Apartheid", after his presentation the students are allowed to ask questions and Mr. Carter answears very carefully with sharp answears going to the heart of the matter.

In the second part, we see Mr. Dershowitz appear, whit crazy scaretactics to hide facts, a lawyer in his esence. The lies he tell doesn't stay within the circle of people that buy his book and read his bad plagiarizing, students get affected, just look at the video and see how he uses his feelings to set the mood. This video is from 2007, but it is still important to show that a crazy man still is a crazy man. Mr. Dershowitz is himself not dangerous to student minds but the story the media distort gives him valid points that in reality isn't even truths! Please keep showing up on the Internet, I wish that I had a professor Finkelstein.

http://www.learnoutloud.com/Catalog/Politics/Global-Politics/
Palestine-Peace-Not-Apartheid/26695

Looking forward to hearing from you, best regards Kamal El Salim.

Ps. Don't forget to thank your students for making you famous to us a cross the atlantic on youtube by recording you in class.



Hi Norman,

Thank you for that Holocaust photo-comparison. It is precisely my same sentiment, especially with many of my silent colleagues. As a child I had empathy for the Israelis. But that immature perception no longer rests inside my soul. My tolerance and respect has been totally obliterated by Israel's historic and foolish actions that has mirrored Nazi Germany.

In my aged wisdom I found that Zionism is a perverted and arrogant social political disease, no different than Nazism - or even for that matter Catholicism, Evangelicalism etc. It's an opiate that transforms into a carcinogen, like an indiscriminate cancer cell, that begins to flourish on illogic reason and insanity, eroding and destroying society from the inside. Mankind is out of touch and balance, and a swift reality check is soon to follow.

John Lennon's altruistic song "Imagaine" conjures up, and culminates my thoughts and sentiments entirely in this matter.



Loved your lecture, couldn't agree more.

It seems like the choices we have in leaders is choosing between McDonalds and Burger king.

Both get hamburgers, different brands.

My question was going to be:
If Isreal attacks Iran, would there be major backlash from it's trading partner?

You were accused of having your arguements as "emotional"

If your arguements would be considered 'emotional' and not factual, then that means we no longer take death serious enough to consider it fact? Is it not a fact that people died from bombings, isn't it factual that Hamas was not using human sheilds? I don't understand the questioners position.

I was the guy who peeked at you when you were sitting in the second row, you looked at me but i shyed away. Yeah, i was shy.

I was wearing a leather jacket, was last one in the question line to your right, left of the audience.

I wanted to ask a question, but alas, we ran out of time. But hey, i can just e-mail.



Dear Professor Finklestein,

I saw your interview recently on Russia Today on the Gaza war and was visibly moved.

I had often read reports in the media that Palestinian and other Arab academics were discriminated against if they spoke out against the state of Israel. I had no idea that this also applied to Jewish academics who spoke out against Israel. I admire and salute you for that because it takes tremendous courage on your part, especially in American society, where as far as I am aware the Zionist lobby is incredibly powerful. Indeed, it has always puzzled me and many others as to who is controlling whom; is it the Xionist Lobby that controls American Foreign policy?

I remember years ago, more than twenty in fact when I was an undergraduate at the LSE in London and we had a meeting there in support of Palestine in the Old Theatre. The meeting was disrupted by ay least 150 students from the Jewish Society who could not tolerate all those years ago any criticism of Israel. The students poured onto the stage and accused one of the guest speakers of bening anti-Semitic. The speaker quickly pointed out that he was Jewish; not being deterred, they then called him a traitor!! Twenty years on it seems that not much has changed.

I must say that I am not that hopeful that Obama will be much different from Bush or other American presidents. I am deeply pessimistic that Palestinians will enjoy statehood. I am sure that many people throughout the world are horrified at what has been visited upon the Palestinian people in Gaza; and yet I along with millions of others feel powerless to do anything. Yes I can and do pen letters to the BBC, LBC Radio station, my member of Parliament, but I do not believe that this makes a difference.

Incidentally, I did complete a PHD thesis on the Economic Sytem in Mandate Palestine at Birkbeck College, University of London.

May your courage and moral fortitude protect you from your enemies and detractors.

Kind regards and best wishes,

Yours sincerely,



Yesterday I read your article in Todayszaman and I was very impressed by your courage and sincerity to express your opinion about ongoing Palestines atrocity, oppression.

With great enthusiasm, I read your personal page and listened to your audios, admittedly I really very appreciate the way you talk and support your irrefutable claims.

I totaly agree with the facts you uncover but surprisingly enough we can not make substantial progress to stop this prevailing cruelty on the other hand it never means that we will give in and step back. By no means I will just sit and watch these things, I will try my utmost to take any possitive step for this cause.

One point that is stuck in my mind is that have you made any attemp to send your opinions to celebrities, bureaucrats?

I pray for you Mr. Norman G. Finkelstein, you are very precious author, journalist for me and all people who have a feeling heart and thinking head. God bless you, I wish you health and success in your life.



To: normangf{at}hotmail.com
Subject: Thank You!
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:10:57 -0500

Prof. Finkelstein,

I just want to say 'thank you' for your efforts in exposing the misinformation and lies behind the systematic brutality of Israel's bloody campaign against the Palestinian people. One day, hopefully, the truth will prevail and the world will awaken from its catatonic stupor and realize we are in the middle of yet another holocaust.

Many people, including myself, see you as the guardian leading us out of darkness and into the light.

Keep up the good work!

Desmond McGoldrick



Mr. Finkelstein,

I haven’t read your books, nor do I think I will, but I’m glad people like you still are out causing others to think.

It never ceased to amaze me that a sub-group of humanity that so oppressed (and you’d think sensitive to the inhumanity that their forefathers had endured) would not use favourable public opinion and available wealth to fight all inhumanity.

My concern is the new religion – money – will be the cause of the next holocaust. Business, not countries - greed doesn’t care about who your god is, just as long as I have more than you! World recession? Perhaps we are witnessing the beginning…

Thanks

Keith



My dear Norman

Assalamalaykum

It's indeed a great honour to be able to write to you.

I represent a huge muslim community, and take the opportunity of extending to you their heartfelt thanks and gratitude.

A handful of muslims often write criticizing your stance with regards to the Palestine issues. Please note we don't know these people, indeed, we don't want to know them at all. But please take note of the fact that there are people who use Muslim names when they try to undermine your huge contribution to the humanity as a whole. This is done deliberately, in order to make others believe 'Professor Norman Finkelstein issues statements that are not supported by the muslims themselves and thus, are not reliable'. This is predominantly a Zionist ploy. A true muslim can never talk negatively about you instead he/she can only be grateful to you, and pray for you and your family.

We muslims have enormous respect and love for you, Schlaim, Chomsky, the late Tanya Reinhart, Neve Gordon, Tom Segev, Avnery, and Pappe for their contribution to the cause of humanity. You have invariably stood up for the 'oppressed' unlike most of the muslim writers. As far as I'm concerned, you have genuinely endeavoured to compel the world focus on the Palestine issues. I'm appalled to see most muslim authors, particularly, those in the West, don't even have the willingness or the guts to devote their time, let alone putting their careers on the line for the Palestinian cause the way you have.

I'd urge members of your audience to never forget to distinguish between true Jews and the Zionists. True Jews know perfectly well what is being done to people in Palestine is a modern day 'holocaust' legalised by some of the world's super powers. The Zionists such as Adam Sandler and many others, on the other hand, raise funds for Israil to fulfil its geo-political ambitions through the use of weapons made in the USA or UK. Norman 'thank you' as always.

Take care and May Allah bless you with all that you want here and hereafter.

Fiamanillah

Mohammad



Hi Norman,

You are a man of courage that speaks the truth. The Palestinian suffering is due to the lack of respect that the Zionist regime of Israel has for the UN. The OCCUPATION is the Problem the rest is just a plot to steal the land and build more illegal settlements keeping Plaestinians in concetration camps a la NAZI.

I support your work



Dr. Finkelstein,

I cannot thank you enough for all that you have done and said on behalf of the millions of oppressed, silenced, and terrorised people in Lebanon and Palestine. Thank you for always speaking the truth and for supporting the people's resistance! I am always disheartened by the bias in the western media, the academic circles and general public debate on the conflict in the Middle East. Yet your courage gives me hope, and I am so grateful for people like you who always speak the truth and bring depth and clarity to the discussion --even in the most hostile environments. I look forward to seeing you at Georgetown University in March.

Best,
A. R.



To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: lecture at UBC on 21 January
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:18:12 -0800

Dr. Finkelstein,

I attended the lecture you gave on 21 January 2009 in Vancouver at the UBC Campus. Thank you for coming out and sharing your thoughts on the current situation in Gaza. I was very much looking forward to hearing how you were going to tie Gandhi into a solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict and this is why I decided to attend the lecture. I was, however, disappointed to learn that you had changed your mind and were not going to address this topic after all.

It is a fact that 400 Palestinian children were killed by the IDF and it is a fact that around 1300 Palestinians died in the “massacre”. It is also a fact that 13 Israelis were killed. These facts are all available for us through the (highly prejudiced) Canadian media, not to mention the BBC, Deutsche Welle and CNN. Upon addressing some contested facts, however, you failed to provide evidence of analysis as scholars are required to do. An example that comes to mind is that of Hamas using humans as shields. This allegation may or may not be true, but in denying it you merely provided a point of view, rather than any concrete insight into this issue. Do you have any concrete evidence to deny this allegation? I would like to hear it.

Having attended your lecture with the expectation of hearing a discourse including Gandhi’s views, not the reiteration of arguments that have been around since the Six-Day War, I was surprised when you addressed the idea that Gaza should have the right to defend itself just as Israel has that right. I was also taken aback when you pointed out how the international community was so wrongly concerned with how to prevent Hamas from acquiring weapons when they should have been concerned with the atrocities that Israel had committed. What an interesting point to bring up at a lecture which was initially supposed to deal with what we can learn from Gandhi. Despite the fact that I am by no measure an expert on Gandhi or the Middle East, I sincerely doubt that Gandhi’s teachings would in any way include comparing the amount of deaths on either side of the conflict and pointing fingers. I doubt that a man renowned for his ideas of resistance to tyranny, founded upon ahimsa or total non-violence, would have justified Hamas’s right to defend Gaza by launching rockets into Israel. Hamas may be justified in their actions from one point of view and unjustified from another. This, however, was not the argument I was anticipating. I would still love to hear your scholarly thoughts on resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict through Gandhi’s eyes.

Regards,

Anya Fainberg



Just a short note to let yet you know that your sacrifices you have made in the defence of humanity have not gone un-noticed.

Most people are afraid to protest in fear of being called a bigot let alone loose their livelihood.

Though gone from this earth for all eternity, thru your protests the murdered children of Gaza have a voice.

May Gods blessing be upon you.



Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:35:13 -0500
Subject: thank you and please post on yor site
To: normangf{at}hotmail.com

doctor norman ,iam writing you sir to thank you for everything you have done on behalf of millions of us who share your thoughts and concerns and to congratulate you on your courage ,i have watched every video i can find of you speaking,i especially love your debates,i visit your website everyday ,i find relief there,i watched you on democracy now and it made me happy to hear indyk refusal to debate you ,as to me that sounded like an admission that he is no match for you,because if he was ,he would have been more than happy to do so,iam sure of that
keep up the exceptionally good and honest work you do sir and i hope that (like mr tariq ali)said to the audience once(at the conference you attended ),in defense of academic freedom ,you go forth and multiply .

best wishes in everything you do sir and thank you for your website. your admirer:maurice



Dear Professor

Finkelstein, Thank you for making Martin Indyk clearly look the fool on Democracy Now! the other morning.

It was amazing for to me to see. Mr. Indyk has cultivated a long distinguished diplomatic career and enjoys the stature of a respected authoritative voice and yet he was not prepared to defend his position in a spontaneous context over which he had limited control. How can that be? To cry foul because he didn't know you were coming on would be understandable on the part of a high school student but from someone who has the ear of Presidents and Prime Ministers it is somewhere beyond ludicrous. Keep up the great work, Russell Branca Ozone Park, NY



Professor Finkelstein,

I read your account of the 1967 War. One of the reasons Israel gave for attacking Egypt was Nasser's closure of the Straits of Tiran, blocking Israeli ships from importing oil, among other things. But you pointed out that only 5 per cent of Israel's economy depended on this supply route. Compare this to Israel's blockade of Gaza. If an embargo was a justification for Israel to go to war, it would seem Hamas also is justified in going to war, which, in their case, means firing homemade rockets. You must admit, though, that the Palestinians' violent resistance is doomed to failure. As one person said, regarding this current phase of the conflict, you shouldn't pull a wolf's tail if you can't kill the wolf.

Personally--and I'm sure you share this sentiment--I don't want to see any killing on either side. Not everyone shares that view. For example, I don't know if you ever read As'ad AbuKhalil's blog, but he wrote something I found very disturbing. He said, "I can't wait to hear an American liberal telling me sometime in the future when some Palestinian perpetrates some attack on Israelis that "oh, the Palestinians have to be careful." That they have to adhere to strict standards of struggle, preferably non-violent. I will show them pictures from this week." I've seen all the pictures, and they're horrible, but what AbuKhalil advocates, implicitly in his case, is more of the same, more violence leading to counterviolence.

I sent an email to Alan Dershowitz, and I think I asked him some pretty probing questions. He didn't respond to any of them. He only responded to my last comment, in which I said, "For God's sake, anything is better than what Israel is doing right now." He replied, "Not anything is better. Terrorists cannot be allowed to fire rockets with impunity, just as Britain didn't allow the Germans to bomb London with impunity." If you believe in using violence for self-defense, he has a point. However, the analogy he gave was disproportionate, to use a word that's been in the news. I didn't write back telling him that. Maybe I should have. I was upset that he hadn't responded to my main question which was, "Is killing killing?" In other words, Israel is responsible for its own actions, and the innocent Palestinian civilians, especially the children, should not be collectively killed and maimed.

I know you've had some problems with Mr. Dershowitz, so I wanted to write to you and tell you what he wrote to me. He makes a lot of strong arguments, but that's because he thinks of himself, I think, as a sort of defense attoney for the State of Israel. He can't stop being a lawyer even in his personal life, I guess. His arguments, by the way, may be strong, but that doesn't mean they're convincing.

I always love your appearances on Democracy Now!, the debates especially. Hopefully, the bloodshed will end soon, even if the scars will always remain.

Colin



Much Respected Professor,

I write from Zagreb, Croatia.

First of all I would like to excuse myself in regard to my English, which I'm afraid is pretty bad, at least in writing. I hope you'll manage to get through my letter without serious problems in understanding, and won't be too scandalized with my errors.

Recently I've stumbled upon a sort of critique of some of your positions made by Mohammed Abed (www.ziomania.com/finkelstein/mohammed%20abed.htm: I don't like the site at all, I have to add and admit!), and I would like to know what exectly is your reply to them – of course, for a lot of it I could deduce your answer from some of your speeches that I find on Internet; but if you would be so kind to point out for me where exactly I could find an explicit or more direct answer, I would be very grateful to you. There are two points (that essantially and ultimately can be reduced on one sole point, as far as I could grasp; as, in fact, all the essay by Mr.Abed has, in my opinion, only one essential goal or theme: to represent the rights for deciding on Palestinian future of Palestinian refugees as well; but I'll pose it – for the sake of not being obliged to cite the entire text and for the sake of clarity – in two citations) in the critique of Mr. Abed in regard to which I would particularily like to ask you to clarify your position. Namely:

- „It's difficult to think of a good reason to accept a discourse that relies so heavily on the arbitrary whims of the institution that in 1947 gave 'official' sanction to the idea that 'peace' is synonymous with ethnic separation. After all, this idea initiated the processes that eventually led Israeli forces to cleanse 800,000 Palestinians from the areas that became the state of Israel. But even if we suppose, for the sake of argument, that the United Nations is a legitimate trans-national institution and that majority opinion has anything to do with truth, we could still be forgiven for wondering why Finkelstein would be so adamant about defining the basic parameters of resolution solely in terms of 242 rather than 194 (refugee return) or any of the other resolutions on the books. It's clear from his article that he has faith in multi-lateral institutions, so what could explain this omission?"

- Finkelstein, Chomsky, and others will often attempt to legitimate their Israel exceptionalism by citing the 'overwhelming' support enjoyed by the two-state solution amongst Palestinians. The sleight of hand in this case consists in the straightforward omission of relevant details; what they have in mind is not the Palestinian people in their totality but the subset of Palestinians whose opinions its convenient for them to cite (Palestinians under occupation). To understand the significance of the latter group's opinions, some social and political context is needed, although the relevant details are often left to languish in the dark – for the sake of maintaining a convenient illusion. An underlying assumption of the Oslo 'peace process' (and one that can partly explain its failure) was that Palestinians in the areas conquered by Israel in the 67 war and the exiled population had given up their claims to lands inside Israel and that their exclusion from their homeland had become an accepted fact."

(I'm more or less sure you responded to these things somewhere, but I don't know where, so help me please!)

Though without „personal" involment – in any way, for I'm not Jewish nor Palestinian nor am in any way physically affected by the conflict; neither I'm politician or professional activist but a simple translator! (mostly form French, my "second" language) – in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I follow your work and activities for some time (not a lot of time, however, passed since I've „discovered" you), and greatly admire them. You have all my support and that of my friends here in Croatia – where, I'm ashamed to say, only one book of yours is translated, „The Holocaust industry", without arousing attention it deserves (far from that: but that's how it generally goes with most of publications of some worth in this small, corrupt, backward, indifferent country…) One hopes the situation will change (I'm trying – unsuccessfully as it's obvious, for I'm completely marginal, nobody here – for my part to make translate and publish more of your books), but there are very few signs that anything is going to change in the world of croatian publishing, no more than in any other sphere (in Serbia – we speak and write more or less the same language – the situation is somewhat better regarding to publishing and book-culture, but there as far as I know no work of yours is translated!)

Thank you for your patience, and once more I excuse myself for all the errors in writing.

I wish you very, very best in your life and work.

Marko

(P.S. For the end, if I'm permitted to make myself a small „critique": I found that you said or wrote on one occasion that in France Bernard Henri-Levy is considered a „serious philospher"; but nobody serious in France considers him serious, on the contrary! All right, given the fact that serious people in France are pretty rare species, you got the right to state it, but…there are some however)



Professor Norman,

Thank you for being one of the most eloquent speakers on the middle east conflict. I greatly admire your work and have listened to many of your speeches on youtube. Your recent appearance on DemocracyNow was an unequivocal victory. I'm an American living in Amman, my best friend is palestinian and i have visited him in Bethleham and driven with his father on the infamous palestinian road to Jerusalem, trust me it is in need of serious upgrade.

I was recently shocked by the 390 to 5 support by congress of the gaza conflict. I realize that Israel's and the United States interests intersect but I don't think that the need to control mid-east alone is enough to inspire such amazing support for an obvious killing of civilians. i then looked at jewish ownership of the media. i looked at the key players according to wikipedia of the six main media conglomerates and found that of the sixteen people, ten are jewish, and one is half jewish, rubert murdoch. could this be a possible cause for compelling politicians into such blind submission. most of these guys are in extremely safe districts. even stranger is that more voted to oppose the iraq war than gaza. how could a politician vote against iraq but vote for gaza?

sincerely,



Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 09:54:14 -0800
Subject: You are (drumroll)...

...an AMAZING speaker!

Since 9-11 I've been educating myself on U.S. foreign policy and "why they hate us" so much, and while I thought I'd pretty much exhausted the primary sources of activist literature and lecturers (Chomsky, Parenti, Zinn, Woodward, Ellsberg, Cohn, Jamail, Scahill, Klein, Hersh, Bennis, Fisk, Solomon, Cohen, etc.)...somehow YOU got by me.

Since seeing you on Democracy Now! a few days ago I've downloaded a half-dozen of your lectures--every one of them pure platinum. Your laser-like analyses are so coherent and well-presented it's like following an imaginary outline projected over your head. And even though your audiences are generally sophisticated, I notice you're not averse to repeating terms and phrases which might otherwise induce momentary lapses of consciousness. Then there's your dry sense of humor, which--given your urbane presentation style--makes it all the funnier.

You are living proof that crucial information can be presented in a way that's as entertaining as it is informative without trivializing the subject matter, as apparently Chomsky is afraid of doing.

I look forward to seeing you lecture in Irvine later this month.

Respectfully,

Steve

PS: Did Dershowitz ever pay up? (Man, what a putz!)

—————————————————————————

If Chomsky (like you) can bear the weight of international criticism I don't suppose this'll be the straw that breaks his back. At eighty-something I suspect he's disinclined to change, but jeez...if he'd even just reincorporate an iota of the inflection he had in his voice thirty years ago!

Thanks, professor.



Mr. Finkelstein,

I read with interest your article "The Facts About Hamas and the War on Gaza" and I wonder if I might propose another item for your consideration.

It is my understanding that a part of any criminal investigation, regardless of the crime, investigators will look for the "money trail". Did the perpetrator of the criminal act gain monetarily from the crime?

I have read hundreds of articles over the past 22 days on the devastation of Gaza (and many hundreds more prior over the years) and no one, to my knowledge, as yet has inferred that the actions of the Israeli political establishment towards Gaza, and the West Bank, might have a monetary element.

It is well documented that Israel receives tens of billions of dollars of "assistance" from the US Government ($30 Billion estimated over the next 10 years). I've read that the estimate since 1948 is around $146 Billion in total.

Would it be too naive of me to presume that Israel is opposed to seriously considering making peace with it's neighbors in lieu of losing this bonus? I won't make the presumption that this would be the only reason, but would it be a factor?

Israel has one of the highest living standards in the world and should have no need of this remuneration, yet it is still provided. It comprises nearly a third of the total assistance allocated worldwide by the US. The why is obvious, to assist the people of Israel in their defense from the potential of aggression from Arab states and that is commendable to be fair.

However, the worlds political leaders have failed those in their care miserably, not only in the middle east, but worldwide. I read more often of the despicable criminality of some of the world leaders and am aghast by the overt and wonton disregard for human dignity.

The prime drivers of these despicable acts are power and money, and we don't have to wander too far from our own backyards to find prime examples.

Tom



Hi Dr. Finkelstein,

Thanks for your outstanding lecture at UTM today. Not many public speakers can attract a crowd of hundreds out to Mississauga, at night, in the middle of winter. One has to be a native of our university to fully get the joke, but that is a seriously impressive feat.

Coverage of current events in the Middle East in the Canadian press has been unsurprisingly less than diligent in recent weeks. Your talk was a shot of antivenin amid a veritable miasma. I particularly appreciated your careful historicization of Israel's deterrence doctrine and your detailed chronology of the events leading up to the present crisis. Your delicious skewering of a menagerie of Canadian politicians was an added bonus.

I have a quick question that is only indirectly related to the content of your lecture. Please do not feel obligated to respond to it if you happen to be very busy, or if the question strikes you as unusually stupid. What's your opinion of Martin Gilbert's book Israel: A History (1998 or 2008, depending on the edition)? I have not read the book myself, but I've discovered that some friends of mine who recently participated in the Birthright program were given free copies by their Israeli hosts, which leads me to suspect that the historical narrative it presents is heavily mythologized. I ask because I generally find it helpful, when attempting to deprogram people, to have some advance familiarity with what kinds of fabrications they may have internalized as fact.

The late hour is depriving me of my vocabulary and sanity, so I had best end this e-mail here. It was great to see you tonight, albeit from a distance. I hope all is reasonably well on your end, and that Brooklyn's winter has been less punishing thus far than Toronto's.

Best,



I'm still in the Golan Heights. We go to bed counting the dead and wake up hoping to see the same number we saw last the night before (but it always increases and with images unlike anything that have ever been seen in the MEast). I just heard what Clinton said about the zero chance of negotiating with Hamas, and this makes me want to speak for them (if given any chance). My goodness, the level of ignorance (or is it willed ignorance and arrogance) these people can muster! The world has to become consistent, especially the Americans. I personally do not believe in using violence to achieve anything. But in the UN charter, people have the right to resist colonizers and despots by any means necessary. And it seems Ms. Clinton believes in the use of violence, and so the Palestinians (being human beings with red blood cells and eyes and noses) should qualify like any other group to resistance. Why can't the West accept their resistance. They have this right under international law. They have been starved, under siege, and now literally gassed. Of all governments in the world, you would hope that Israel would not use any weapons that would be reminiscent of anything that would remind us of "gassing people" or any inhumane weapons, if there are ever humane weapons (besides swords and horses –since those used to harm only the very combatants directly involved). Warfare is really obsolete in our day and age. But it seems things die long before humans start smelling the stink of a dead institution like war. Seeing Clinton's tone and gestures I felt more disturbed than seeing Israeli leaders say crazy things. I wish Arabs and Jews start seeing how the US is playing with both of us and watching us like the ancient Romans, turning the Middle East into their coliseum. Israel is acting as if it's camping for one summer in this region. You can't act like this if you have any future hope to be part of this region and its people. I've seen Mish'al and Haniah in the last couple of days on TV, and I'm still amazed at their self-discipline and controlled language. Haniah in particular was touching and deeply spiritual. Seeing all this should make anyone realize that they're not fighting a small organization. They fighting A PEAPLE. You can defeat governments but you can't defeat people. I've been talking to people here, and of course there is a great deal of anger but more deeply a frustration at the official Arab stance which the Arab street finds worse than Israel itself. Turkey and Venezuela have taken good stances. And I'm glad Turkey is getting involved as it's the only government in the world that seems to notice that Hamas was ELECTED by people and that's worth sitting with and that it's not more terrorizing than all other people on this planet (much less if we bother to look at facts). Hugs, and with prayers for sanity (to all)



Dear Norman,

I'm not sure whether or not you would have seen it, but Alan Dershowitz appeared on BBC's Newsnight in the UK last night. Here's the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J31vspS_qrM

I found this interview so infuriating, like almost all the media reports on tv at the moment and I felt I had to write to you for a couple of reasons. Firstly, although the basic humanity of the situation in Gaza would have moved me to anger regardless, I feel that from watching clips of your speaking engagements, and reading one of your books, I have a framework for thinking about the conflict that allows me to channel that anger more effectively. When Dershowitz appeared on the BBC, I immediately wished you were there to rebutt him, but I also wished I was there, because I understood the absurdity of what he was saying more clearly that I could possibly have done in the past. I realise this makes little pratical difference, but how many others are there like me, who are able to reason with their friends, parents etc more effectively as a result of people like yourself?

My dad, for example, echoed a basic Daily Mail response to the conflict: 'you see, the thing is, son, the Israelis warned the Hamas people and they just wouldn't stop their nonsense. Now they're letting them have it'. I think he regretted saying that when he saw the human suffering. As the casulaties mounted, I explained the situation from the rational perspective. I gave the context that is always omitted by the media as best I could. His view is now transformed. Not because I changed his mind for him, but because with the right context, he was able to interpret the events himself. This took him beyond the natural sympathy we feel for women and children. He was a policeman all his life. The idea that Gaza policemen were designated as militants or terrorists merely because of the government they worked for struck a chord with him. (He came to me with that example).

Secondly, I am currently writing up my PhD thesis. Although my subject is English Literature, reading your work and listening to your talks has given me a new outlook on scholarship. Literary critics can often be a bit wooly. I am more rigorous in my arguments that I would otherwise have been and I have found my close readings of the text, and more abstract notions have been enhanced by a greater attention to the documentary record and to secondary sources. My supervisor has noted the change in style approvingly. Thank you, from across the disciplinary boundary.

Anyway, I don't normally write emails like this. I imagine that you have enough to trawl through and plenty of other work besides. Please don't feel I expect a response - I just needed to get that off my chest.

All good wishes,

Anthony University of Wales Swansea



To the producers of 640 Toronto Radio,

I am writing to thank you for the balanced debate and the vast array of guests you had on your show this morning when discussing Israel and the massacre that has been taking place for the past three weeks. I feel, particularly in light of the Canadian government's refusal to condemn Israel's war crimes and ineffable breaches of international and humanitarian law, that it is important to ensure that freedom of political debate and information is not stifled so that all your listeners are informed and educated as to the real state of affairs.

I am sure that having someone like Norman Finkelstein on your show, an individual deemed to be a controversial figure by many, will spark outrage from the pro-Israeli sectors of your listeners, BUT I would like to strongly commend you for your fairness and wisdom in inviting him to speak on this issue. He is a world expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and, despite attempts by many to silence him, his ideas and work must be viewed and read. His knowledge on this issue is meticulously detailed and authoritative and his work has been praised by many leading academics.

Thank you for not allowing yourselves to bow to pressure to present a one-sided portrayal of the conflict. Long may this wisdom and fairness continue.

Sincerely,

Alexandra Mafham



Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2009 02:30:23 -0500
Subject: Nothing is more perilous than truth in a world that lies
To: normangf{at}hotmail.com

Dearest Mr. Finkelstein,

I think the quote in the subject of this e-mail by Egyptian feminist Nawal El Saadawi best describes your dilemma in the United States.

I have never met you, I have never attended any of your lectures, nor do I know any of your students or co-workers. But, I can honestly say that I am witness to and in awe of your uncompromising honesty and commitment to the cause for humanity. Your knowledge as well as your insistence on standing by what you believe is proof of your commitment.

I have watched you "debate" (the man makes a mockery of the term) with Alan Dershowitz, speak on FutureTV in Lebanon about Hezbollah and give accurate, historical explanations of the Israel-Palestine conflict. You are an inspirational and brilliant activist.

Listening to and reading your words have encouraged me more in my pursuit of social justice, specifically the Palestinian cause, more than almost any professor I have had thus far during my two years at Hunter college. (I also recently found out that you taught at Hunter and I am envious of every student who had you, yet I also find myself also incredibly thankful that there were students who had an opportunity to learn from you and spread their knowledge to others.) While I do not know if you will even read this e-mail, I would like to tell you that you are not alone in your struggle and that you are motivating more people to join the struggle. Although the powerful want to silence you in the political realm and ostracize you in the academic, you are making a greater positive impact than most contemporary world leaders are, in my opinion. I am only 19 years old, but I have decided, as you once said of yourself in one of your public lectures, to give my life to the cause.

I personally think that power is one of the greatest (if not the greatest) evil, and I have often wondered if people in positions of power were entirely to blame for being seduced to compromise their ideals. I have now come to the conclusion that they are. I used to think that sometimes you have to compromise what you think is right to achieve some goals rather than none, but I don't anymore. I used to wonder whether my support and eventual work for the Palestinian cause would make a difference even if the conflict continued past my death, but I have now come to the realization that while practical urgency fuels my quest for peace in Palestine, regardless of how long it takes to settle the conflict, my dedication must not waver. Sincere activist efforts stem not entirely from selfish objectives to gain some sense of accomplishment but from understanding what is right from wrong. I have come to these realizations recently, and you were one of my inspirations. I thank you for helping not just me, but all of humanity by having such simple and pure principles. And, I am sure the Palestinian people thank you. You are only doing what is right- something many people just don't know how to do anymore.

I wish you the best of luck anywhere you go and plead that you continue to publish and lecture. I hope that one day I have the opportunity to meet you, if not learn from you. It provides me with comfort in this lying world, to see you and be able to confirm my belief that co-existance is possible, but it is not happening, deliberately. Social justice is a process, and while history will be a judge of what is happening now, I thank you once again for continuing to pursue what is right, right now.

With Respect and Admiration,
Meryam Bukhari
--
"Nothing is more perilous than truth in a world that lies." - Nawal El Saadawi



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I know I have sent you a couple of emails in the past few weeks, but I had to let you know that I now consider you an incredible scholar and it bothers me to see all the hatred directed at you (which, I know you are sadly used to.) However, I am proud to say that I have something in common with you, and the thing we both have in common is we both do research. I recently came across an article from a magazine called, "Front Page Magazine." Which, I know you are familiar with. There is a writer, and you are familiar with him, Steven Plaut. I know that Steven Plaut has attacked you in the past via Alan Dershowitz. I am not going to elaborate on his comments, because you actually mention them on your website. The article I found was dated September 18, 2008, and it is titled, "The Finkelstein Lobby Gets Clobbered, Again."

http://zioncon.blogspot.com/2008/09/
finkelstein-lobby-gets-clobbered-again.html

He claims, "In spite of having been born to Jewish parents, he tried to build an academic career on turning out anti-Jewish hate, misrepresented as "scholarship." Mr. Plaut's argument becomes even more absurd when he claims "Finkelstein has proclaimed Holocaust denier David Irving (who insists there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz) a great historian and his role model." Now, Dr. Finkelstein. I have made every possible attempt to contact this fraud Professor Steven Plaut of Haifa University. He has obviously been ignoring my emails and I am not recommending that you go after him, but I found it to be very irreverent and fraudulent. His email address is: steven_plaut@yahoo.com. Again, Dr. Finkelstein, with all do respect I think highly of you and you are the most influential and courageous person I have never met, and when I read this article, it was if someone was referring to a member of my family. I have never met you, and I consider you a mentor and a member of my family. So excuse my french, but this jerk Steven Plaut needs to visit the 'Doctor' (Dr. Finkelstein.)

Your Email Friend,

Ferass M. Abdeljabbar



Norman

Apparently for sycophantic supporters of Israel like Martyn Indyk - as he candidly informed us today - international law is merely a "paraphernalia of legal resolutions." How truly instructive.

Best,



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I'm horrified by the events unfolding in Gaza for last 3 weeks and the fact that international community is still unable to stop such grotesque act of terror.

Frankly, I used to think sometimes your criticism of Israel was bit outspoken. But in recent days, I've realized comparing Israeli actions with Nazis is no ex-aggression.

The fact that majority in Israel seems okay with the notion of murdering hundreds of civilians (including innocent children) as "collateral damage" as long as Israeli casualties are relatively negligible, is shocking and alarming. Have they lost their mind? Do they seriously think this terror will result in lasting peace? If so, I'm afraid their intention seems to be genocide.

I hope anti-Israeli sentiment around the world reaches such a level where it becomes impossible for US to blindly back Israeli terror. I still believe religion and nationalism is the root of conflict, but it's evident that US support is responsible for escalation. [Who else can dare to use chemical weapons (white phosphorous) on civilians and UN staff without having to worry about consequences on international level?]

Regards,
Pratik



Dear Dr Finkelstein

As I have expressed to you in a previous letter, I have the utmost respect for your courage and tenacity in standing by what you believe is the truth on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In a world full of craziness you are one of the voices that help keep my sanity. However in a recent radio interview I was very disturbed by one of your comments. In responding to the Oakely Show host's question about how the refugees' right of return would play with keeping up "the Jewish face of Israel" your response was centered on the "possibilities for making offers' to the refugees, presenting that as the main solution to the refugees' right of return 'problem'. Your comparison to your personal tenure settlement with DePaul, which I have heard you make before in one of your lectures, is simplistic to say the least. Comparing one's sense of home, identitiy and history to a job is ridiculous. One would have hoped a person of your intellect to express ridicule at the notion of a racist state instead.

I am not a refugee myself, but as a Palestinian I can tell you that it is not a solution considered even remotely acceptible to the majority of the refugees. This is a totally unqualified opinion of course, but so is yours and to hear it presented on public radio in a continent wallowing in so many untruths and so much misunderstanding about the Palestinian-Israeli issue was deeply upsetting. Supporters of the 2-state solution seem to hang on to this fantasy in order to delude themselves that a quick solution is viable, as they know very well that Zionist Israel would never give up its demographic advantage. But they forget that as long as there is a Zionist state that insists on implementing a racist ideology there could never be peace anyway.

Kind regards



Hello Mr. Oakley,

Thank you for bringing Dr.Finkelstein on your show. It was a breath of fresh air. His views and opinions add significantly to the debate on Israel/Palestine conflict.

I think his view that International laws should be respected by all parties in the conflict and US/Israel should stop being rejectionists and accept the International consensus on how to resolve this conflict is a reasonable proposal and should not be ignored. It's probably the only way to resolve this long standing conflict.

I hope to hear your show again and look forward to more of such interesting and thought provoking interviews.

Thanks again.....

-S



CC: mail{at}democracynow.org

Prof. Finkelstein,

Compliments on what I felt was a flawless presentation today. May the truth prevail.



From: buttrey{at}usc.edu
To: normangf(at)hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:02:27 -0800
Subject: The Gaza tragedy

Greetings Dr. Finkelstein,

I haven’t been able to write until now but have been following the assault on Gaza and your contributions to the debate. Thank you, as always, for being a voice for peace and justice. Thank you for laying out an accurate narrative of what has/is happening in the region. It is no wonder the Palestinians are frustrated as the media consistently ignores providing any detail that might make the reader/viewer sympathetic to the Palestinian plight.

What is happing in Gaza right now is tragic beyond words, and only the most callous individual can view the images and not recoil in horror. If there is any good that might come from this senseless destruction, it will be because people such as you will not let it be swept under the rug; buried under the weight of the usual propaganda.

Sincere warm regards,

William Buttrey

USC Staff

Disclaimer: The views expressed are my own and are not meant to necessarily represent those of the University, the faculty, or the staff.



Professor Finkelstein:

I listened to your debate with Derschowitz on Democracy Now! and enjoyed it so much back then, and now, sprinkled with bits from old Bruce Lee films--its just--just incredible.

I'm writing in response to your lecture at the City Club in Cincinatti last month--which I listened to last night on CNN, just before the re-air of Senator Clinton's confirmation hearing.

As you outlined the argument in your new book, about how the overwhelming majority of jewry in the US are liberal and are discovering that the liberalism and support of Israel and the IDF are no longer arguably consistent, and that this means the ultimate dissolution of the illegal occupation, I became filled with the same optimism I had upon hearing, first that Obama won the nomination, then hearing the chances were good for his election and then ultimate victory in the election. This optimism continued during the rebroadcast of the Clinton nomination, during all of the congratulatory remarks. It continued through the first part of Hillary's testimony and into my 3rd glass of wine. She was talking about "intelligent foreign policy" and the "use of every single tool at our disposal" with "diplomacy as the [hallmark?]". I was still optimistic when she first uttered the phrase "fight against global terrorism" ...how thoughtful and telling that this was at the end of a sentence that started with "put an end to human trafficking and the exploitation of children"....I thought "its been several minutes into her testimony and she's only said the word 'terrorists' once"...then I started to glow with the warm thought that finally something positive is actually going to happen with our foreign policy, until she started to sound like another Derschowitz "Israels right to defend itself" and so on. I don't think she's down with the pre '67 boundaries--do you? I turned the radio off and went to bed. So I'm asking your thoughts--I suppose that it is not inconsistent with the thesis of your book that the tide among the US jewry is changing but since as you pointed out in your speech, since '67, support of Israel has been consistent with American "interests" --that our foreign policy will continue to reflect the latter, American "interests" ...OilCo.

Keep up the fantastic work!! Best Regards,



Mr. Finkelstein,

I listened to a portion of the radio interview you had with a talk show host this morning. Though I didn't hear the entire conversation you had with, I believe, John Oakley from the AM 640 radio station in Toronto Canada, I felt annoyed by the apparent disrespect afforded you by this host.

I could sense that you were trying your utmost to make a genuine point about the conflict in Gaza and the tragedy that has befallen the region. All you were getting in return was rhetoric typical of morning talk show hosts who's only goal is to get that perfect sound bite and ignoring all the rest of a clearly passionate dissertation.

My email to you this evening is to convey an apology to you for the undeserved treatment you received by this John Oakley. From what I know of this host, he is typically right wing. Quick to judge, and slow to react to convincing evidence that opposes his established viewpoint.

His callers, in my estimation are also those low brow, high school dropouts who will read the headlines of a newspaper and not the content, and who in turn will argue the finer points of an issue as though they are experts.

Please accept this as my personal apology, not on behalf of anyone other than myself.

I look forward to reading your most recent article online on the Counterpunch website.

My best wishes for the success of your speaking engagements in Canada.

Best Regards



Dear Mr. Finkelstein, I hope this message finds you well. My name is..., and I am a Palestinian-American, who's parents were refugees of the war of 1967. I would like to tell you that I am absolutely amazed by work and knowledge of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I would also like to commend you for your ability to use this knowledge, as well as your research and education to inform those who are not as familiar with the issue, or who strictly go by what they were taught to believe, or what the American media portrays. Thank you for giving a voice to those who cannot speak for themselves and opening more and more eyes to this issue. May you be blessed in all your work and future endeavors. And thank you from the bottom of my heart. Sincerely,



Dear AFP

In an article published on January 11th 2009, your writer Karen Matthews has demonstrated a case of fraudulent reporting. In reporting the number of pro-Palestinian demonstrators at a recent rally in New York against the Israeli offensive in Gaza she wrote: "Across town at Times Square, about 150 pro-Palestinian demonstrators waved signs with pictures of dead and wounded children and chanted, "No justice, no peace! Israel out of the Middle East.". This is grossly under-stating the number of pro-Palestine supporters in that particular rally, which was in the thousands. Judging by the general language used in the article, which has twice tried to emphasize the 'smaller' size of the pro-Palestinian demonstration compared to the pro-Israeli rally and the origins of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators (i.e. Americans of Arab origin) one can safely assume this was done on purpose. "At the smaller pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square, Lebanese-American Bassem Nassar said Israel "is creating the situation that allows people to fire missiles at them" by occupying Palestinian territory." This is not the type of reporting once expects from a news organization like AFP. I am lobbying all my network of friends and contacts to re-consider their subscriptions to your services in light of the caliber of this news writer used by AFP. Kind regards



What the AP means when it says “150?"

Dear Ms Matthews/Info Desk staff;

Having watched news videos of various cities around the US and the globe, and seen Perhaps 7 or 8 different youtube versions of Sunday/NYC "end the massacres in Gaza" protests At first I thought it must have been a "typo" error --150 people in New York City? Only 150??? When can we expect a correction of this obvious error? Eye witnesses said that the crowd Was so long that it went on for blocks, taking up to 20 minutes or more for hundreds to pass A specific corner and went on for as far as the eye could see. It would be an affirmation of What Americans know, for sure if you could manage to correct this vastly understated 'estimate'. There is a genocide going on and there are thousands of people in NY and In many other large cities who cannot understand why such inaccuracy would remain Standing to date, at AP. Please let me hear about AP correction and when it will be Published? thanks Sincerely



Hello Professor Finkelstein,

I don't know if you will remember me but i took your Israeli-Palestinian conflict class as a focal point a couple of years ago at DePaul. I just wanted to say hello. I know you are extremley busy but i missed your lecture at the University of Chicago last night because it was full by the time that i could arrive but since i cnouldn't say this in person again...i just wanted to let you know that i actively am following the conflict because of the experience i had in your class and am supporting you as well. Hopefully i will have better luck when you come to speak at Northwestern. I am on my way to the mass protest at the Daley Center so continue to do what you are doing. Sincerely, Miss Selma (or as you referred to me as, " the Bosnian Community")



keep up the nazi analogies. they're the only way to get things completely in perspective. and would the bbc be running a ludicrous "are they/aren't they legitimate targets" vis-a-vis hamas policemen if hamas were murdering tel aviv traffic cops? no. and with 400+ israelis dead would Obama be more than "deeply concerned"? can you imagine the TV coverage? thankfully we can get him out of the way straightaway. friend of zionism, no chance of peace. end of story.

appreciated your piece about being a pain in the...../holier-than- thou while a student, over the vietnam war. why apologise. i'm 48. when i was 45 i lambasted some cunt in the "fashionable" borough market district here in london over his stance on the occupation. i tore this guy to shreds thru verbal insults, there wasn't any epithet i didn't call him, i broke down in tears, ran off, swore loudly, my friends couldn't believe it. can't say i'm exactly proud but sometimes a point needs to be made. maybe i should have got thumped. and it was in a pub too! keep up the great work.



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I'm a good friend of Scott Kennedy of the Resource Center for Nonviolence and first heard you speak in Santa Cruz last February. You are one of the most courageous people in the US and I applaud you for taking on AIPAC and its propaganda machine.

I'm reading Beyond Chutzpah, which is helping me to better articulate my feelings about the tragic situation in Palestine / Israel.

At 63 years of age, I'm planning to concentrate on this issue for the rest of my life and try to inform my family and friends--an uphill battle to say the least. I truly believe that a fair resolution of the conflict will strengthen the ability of moderates in Arab countries and Iran to mitigate the all-to-prevalent radicalism in those countries.

I've ordered 10 copies of Beyond Chutzpah to give to people around me.

Please accept my admiration for all you're doing to keep people informed and end the cycle of violence in the Middle East.

Best wishes for 2009.

Sincerely,



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

That was a great show today on DN! You have the most rational views I have heard on the subject of Israel Palestine relations and I applaud you for continuing to attempt to do the right thing.

Warmest Regards,



Professor Finkelstein,

I had the opportunity to watch your "discussion" on Democracy Now! today with Mr. Indyk. I admire your eloquence and determination to convey the truth in the face of unfair (and I might add unsavory) criticism, and to have continued to do so for a long time. I have followed your work from a distance over the years. You are a hero to me and a lot of others who, like me until today, have yet to tell you so.

Sincerely,



Hi Prof. Finkelstein,

It has been a long time since I've emailed you, but I just wanted to tell you that it was unbelievably refreshing to hear you in conversation with Martin Indyk and shattering the mainstream pro-Israel narrative that we in North America seem unable to escape from our political leaders. Even now the acts of violence and the illegal occupation of Gaza by Israel's government are actions that are continually glossed over and presented in a light in which all of Israel's actions are justified, and the Palestinian's presented as terrorists. Yet despite the narrative we are fed, I can see the glimmer of hope in the human spirit where people are coming together no matter what their nationality in protest against the violent acts of war. Standing up and raising their voices in defiance to the inhumane treatment of the Palestinian people, and refusing to allow the language of violence to determine a people's fate. Hopefully more people will find the strength to stand up and stop the suffering of others.

I'm sure you have opened many people's eyes to the reality of truth, as you have opened mine.

All the best in the New Year,

Paul



Dear Norman

Thank you for all your efforts.
Your a Hero.
Thats how you will be seen in History.
I'll make sure I pass that message on.

Love
Sarah Ryen



Subject: I will appreciate your reply
From: shajjouz{at}gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear PROFESSOR (and not just Dr) Finkelstein

In advance i would like to acknowledge by support to your work, efforts, honesty and freedom to talk. Also, in advance i wish to express my utmost sympathy to your efforts and resolution to fight the filthy discrimination of the media and the relevant social network that want your opinion not to be heard.

My scope of this e-mail is to have your opinion on a particular debate that i had with some German friends of mine about the war in M. East. This debate arise some questions for me and i will highly appreciate your opinion.

What I have claimed is that specially Germans have being educated in such a way to have such major concerns over the Holocaust, and Israel is using this emotional insecurity for the benefit of their policy. I don't of course claim the extreme, i.e. not to forget what Hitler did and lift the burdens of that actions, I'm quite confident that u fully understand what i mean. So, from the impression that i have, based on some discussions and comments from Germans, was that most of them they first want to denounce Holocaust and separate from Hitler (which is quite rational and human) but on the other hand they get afraid to judge Israel fearing to call them anti-semitists. And what they actually do (and this is the part that i cannot accept) is that equate Israel's actions and policy with Hamas and the Palestinian violence. I know and i have read your point of view and criticism, but i would be glad to hear your advice is if this "equation" is acceptable. I'm asking this to u because i feel that u are the only person in this planet that i trust for the M. East war. Additionally, i would be glad to hear your opinion, if in fact the educational and German media approach are such structured over the holocaust approach or is just a fullish misunderstanding of me. Or even more can i also get your opinion on how the educational systems, generally speaking, should approach the Holocaust. Is extremely disgusting how Israel is using this issue. For me Israel is like saying : "Hey World shut up your mouth. I have being into Holocaust. Don't judge me. Don't judge me otherwise u will be anti-semitist''. U don't think is time to make people able to distinguish what happened and what is going on right now?? Maybe u have raised similar or relevant discussion but i haven't take them into my attention yet, but i would be glad if i can have a piece of advice.

Furthermore, I claimed that EU and German governments are full of hypocrisy and dishonest on their people. For your information, I didn't mentioned anything about the frauds and corruptions of Holocaust's compensations, because i was afraid not to be characterized as Nazist. Eventually and what we end up with, was my friends to counter argue that EU and Germany they finance human aid for the Palestinians. I avoided to discuss the blockade of this aid when Hamas came into power (because i found it pointless due to the fact that Hamas is considered by them a terrorist organization) so i told my friends that this aid is another evidence for the hypocrisy of the EU governments. Simply because, i assumed it no more than a small compensation from hiding the reality. Afterwards, i heard something that i get a bit uncomfortable and shocked. What they told me was why Palestinians never rejected the financial aid if they regard EU and German being full of hypocrisy. Nevertheless, after finishing our debate this counter argument was the ultimate motive to contact u. I admit through regarding EU governments dishonest was my point of view and not of the Palestinians, but on the other hand i don't believe either that most of the Palestinians do not have same more or less idea about EU. So, what i would like is a brief comment and advice on this argument. Should Palestinians reject financial aid (and of course risk their own existence there) because they 'dislike' the EU Governments on the way that approaches Israel's injustice? Maybe is a silly question with no sense but on the other hand might be used as a strong argument for the naive people to disregard the Palestinians. At least this is my impression.

Thank u in advance for reading my e-mail. Looking forward for your comments and reply.

For your information I'm Greek (but my father comes from Syria) and currently studying in UK .

By the way, when i was in Greece i have never heard anything about u? only when i came here. Did u lectured or being interviewed in Greece?

Sincerely
M. Hajjouz



Dear Norman,

I'm a Palestinian who lives in East Jerusalem. I've read you, heard you. I worship you. My head is exploding from distress from the 'news'. I am thinking very dark thoughts about the vileness of the nation that has scarred my parents' lives, that is now escalating its crimes to levels even we failed to imagine possible. The limit to their evil seems ever more distant, yes.

But please do not call them Nazis. I know the reason why you do. You are so angry at them, so unbelievably appalled. Because the Holocaust to you is so personal that it is impossible to comes to terms with how its victims are doing this.

I hate them to bits as much as you do, but I want you to rise above them. There will be a time when many of them will be reminded of the significance of their crimes, but please, don't call them Nazis.



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I attended your program this evening and I wanted to thank you for all of your work, and I wanted to tell you how important what you do is. As a Palestinian American I feel relieved when I hear people like you speak. I lost hope for anyone wanting to tell our story or acknowledge the wrong that was done to us. Ever since I can remember, Palestinians have been made to look like criminals, and worse yet, sub-human people who shouldn't have any rights. All of this on top of the loss of their country. This all was and still is very painful to me. People like you have made this situation better.

I know all of the suffering you went through because of your work, and words cannot express how honorable you are to withstand all of that, you are a true hero.

It was an honor to meet you this evening, I will try to arrange a worthwhile speaking event for you soon.

Below I have attached an article Franklin Lamb wrote about Allan Dershowitz, I thought you might like to read it. The article is from Counterpunch.org. Franklin Lamb is currently trying to bring Israel before the Court of International Crimes on Gaza.

Thanks again,
Tina Issa
Chicago, IL



Norman:

Martin Indyk, in the course of his vapid, dissembling, and frankly, pathetic performance (Democracy Now! 1/8/09 ), displays three of the "techniques" most commonly used by your opponents, when confronted by your clear, concise statements of fact: 1) Flat out lying. 2) The employment of vague, meaningless, "buzzwords," platitudes, and rhetoric. 3) Unsubstantiated personal attacks against you.

In fact, the closest Indyk came to complete candor was when he stated that he was "unprepared to debate with Norman Finkel-styne." The absolute truth of that remark became more and more apparent as the interview progressed.

It's uncanny the way these characters invariably play the "ad hominem" card - despite the fact that, it is YOU who sticks to the issues at hand; while they liberally pepper their 99 per cent fact-free presentations with all kinds of vicious and outlandish slanders and smears. In addition - Indyk was completely incapable of countering, even a single one of the statements you made refuting "his" book. This leads me to believe that he may well have pulled a "Dershowitz" (viz. It's very likely that - not only did he not write the book - he probably has not even read it).

-Rich K



Dear Dr,

I am an academic of ten years, the first in my family to get a degree, and the first in my entire family to get a PhD at one of the top 5 universities in the world. I have written numerous peer reviewed papers and have debated with some of the most eloquent speakers on the planet for which I have won awards. I have also provided consultation to few of the biggest corporations in the world.

However with regards to all your efforts, despite all my experience, I find that all i can say is:

DUDE! YOU ROCK!!!!!

Please continue with your efforts which many appreciate.

Kind Regards



Hi Norman,

Saw you on Democracy Now earlier today with the shy debater Martin Indyck.

You cleaned his clock... 100% :)

Well done!

Regards,

Tim



Dear Norm

I've just finished watching your recent exchange with Martin Indyk. Propagandist for Hamas? Paraphernalia of legalistic resolutions? Ad hominem attacks? Excuse my French, but how the fuck do these guys get away with it as scores of innocent dead bodies pile up in Gaza? He was basically saying: Amy, didn't I tell you that I have no interest in a rational debate? I guess you can do that when you have your head permanently stationed in the backside of major centres of power.

For what it's worth, keep up the fight! These are seriously depressing times.

Best wishes
Sohail



Professor! I just watched you on DN! Congrats! You scared the s... out of Indyk. So now that they cannot debate you, they are trying to dismiss you.....

I just hope that Amy Goodman won't be the next to lose her job.



Hi Dr. Finkelstein,

I just wanted to compliment you on your handling of the lies and misinformation of your "debate opponent" Martin Indik on democracy now recently. It is difficult to imagine what motivates people such as Indik to constantly lie in order to support such grave and appalling injustice as what is occurring in gaza as we speak. It is clear to me, after watching this situation closely, that everything you said was accurate, and everything he said was backward. Again I just don't know what would motivate a person to act in such a manner, it is actually quite disturbing to me to see people such as Mr. Indik, but it did provide comic relief when he squirmed and attempted to avoid having to debate you on the facts. I hope that you are successful in publishing your latest book, I want to read it badly, so I hope that you keep up the fight. You are a constant inspiration to me and I know to so many others as well. It would be a dark world indeed without people like you. Take care,



Dear Norman,

Israel’s propaganda campaign to justify its murderous and criminal “Operation Cast Lead” in Gaza has an eerie familiarity to it for anyone who has seen “Apocalypse Now.” The movie is based upon the mission of Captain Benjamin Willard to assassinate the rogue American Colonel Kurtz operating in the remote jungles of Vietnam near the Cambodian border. At the end of the movie, Kurtz sensing his impending death makes this speech:
KURTZ " I've seen horrors...horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that...But you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face...And you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies. I remember when I was with Special Forces...Seems a thousand centuries ago...We went into a camp to inoculate the children. We left the camp after we had inoculated the children for Polio, and this old man came running after us and he was crying. He couldn't see. We went back there and they had come and hacked off every inoculated arm. There they were in a pile...A pile of little arms. And I remember...I...I...I cried... I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it. I never want to forget. And then I realized...like I was shot...Like I was shot with a diamond...a diamond bullet right through my forehead...And I thought: My God...the genius of that. The genius. The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were stronger than we. Because they could stand that these were not monsters...These were men...trained cadres...these men who fought with their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with love...but they had the strength...the strength...to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral...and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling...without passion... without judgment...without judgment. Because it's judgment that defeats us. "

Unlike Col. Kurtz, Israel propagandists have a weapon that they use to silence judgment. As you have pointed out in Beyond Chutzpah, that weapon is the misuse of the charge of anti-Semitism leveled against anyone who dares to criticize Israeli policy. They use this weapon to silence critics and to prevent the cancer of informed judgment from spreading amongst the ranks of the IDF, the Israeli population and to the rest of the world. IDF soldiers are expected to kill without feeling. They have been told that their killing, no matter how terrible, is a moral imperative. The rest of the world is expected to support Israel’s atrocities because Israelis have supposedly experienced greater terror than that which it inflicts upon the Palestinian civilians in Gaza. In the end, Israel’s leaders will share the same fate as Col. Kurtz. They operate outside the law by ethnically cleansing and collectively punishing a population of 1.5 million people living in the world’s largest concentration camp. Like the cries of anti-Semitism, the claims of Israeli suffering cannot stop the judgment that Israeli leaders fear the most. They are being judged. Their crimes threaten to bring down the entire State of Israel even with the backing of the United States government- at least for now. Based upon its directed attacks against all Palestinians in Gaza, the world does have the right to call them murderers. Once that judgment spreads, Americans may soon distance themselves from Israel. That has already started to happen within the Jewish communities around the world. When that point is inevitably reached, the end will come swiftly. The only question will be who the Israelis will take with them.

I hope to see you in Vancouver,



Professor Finkelstein, I`ve just watched you via podcast on Democrazy Now, and I have to say that your performance again comfirmes my view of you as an intellectual giant. I am impressed with your enormous capacity for collecting and communicating facts, and I am heartened to see how the facts and how you represent them constantly belittles your counterparts in debates.

As you may have heard, 40.000 people gathered here in Oslo yesterday for a demonstration for peace in Gaza. The demonstration was promoted as a neutral event, but there was no question of where the sympathies lie, as is the case with the Norwegian population in general. There was also a massive cheer for the two Norwegian doctors who are currently operating inside Gaza (Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse), and I hope they will be encouraged when they hear of this.

The demonstration was preceded by semi violent protests by pro-Palestinian demonstrators during a smaller pro-Israeli event, and followed by massive riots the likes of which Norway has not seen since the seventies. I have observed these and previous demonstrations during the past two weeks at close hand, and I am very disappointed with the Norwegian press. The focus is overwhelmingly on the violent aspects and the peaceful 95% of the attendees are ignored. I`m sure this is not a surprise to you, but I was not expecting the Norwegian press to be quit this bad. Although I have to say I have some sympathy with the 25% of the violent protesters who have reason to be angry. The rest are basically Norwegian trouble makers enjoying the occational stonethrowing. The best coverage I`ve seen of the events in Oslo over the last days comes from Al Jazeera, whose photographers and reporters I have seen on a number of occations. So it`s basically my frustrations that have led me to write to you today, and wich leads me to write to a number of Norwegian newspapers after I`m finished with this mail.

Oh, by the way: you owe me a substantial amount of money. I was happily working my way through the advertising industry in Norway, making quite a good living. Then people like you, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Fisk started creeping into my head, making it impossible for me to continue on that course . As a consequence, at the age of 37, I`m back in school studying North American Politics and Human Geography at the University of Oslo. Not easy with a family and mortgage. So I figure you people can chip in and reemburse me with the amount of money I`m not going to make in the ad industry. Does that sound fair to you?

And please come to Oslo and lecture us and let me buy you dinner. :-)



I just listened to your discussion/debate with Martin Indyk. Needless to say, you demolished him. I couldn't believe Mr. Indyk would stoop so low, as to accuse you of making ad hominem attacks, when I counted three of his own and ZERO on your part. This man was a professional diplomat? I would have blown my stack if somebody accused me of being
"...a propaganda spokesman for Hamas."! Good



I have seen you many times on Democracy Now and have always been very impressed with your command of the facts and your analysis of the issues and conflict.

I have been outraged, aggrieved, dismayed, disgusted...out of adjectives for a long time over Israel's actions. I have been writing letters, calling congress etc. for years. This newest barrage on Gaza is really no different, but somehow is even worse or just so much more than anyone could bear....if anything could be worse than the last attack on Lebanon, or the blockade and on and on.

Anyway, I just want to thank you for your voice. I'm thanking you not just as a fellow human who loves justice and truth, but as a fellow Jew. Now when I call and berate my congressional "representatives" I make a point of making sure they understand that I'm a Jew, that my grandfather was a rabbi, and that I deplore the actions of Israel and the U.S. backing of their genocidal actions.

As usual, you were brilliant on DN today.

Thank you. Thank you for your clear voice for truth and decency.



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

Watched your exchange with Martin Indyk with great pleasure; you singled out outrageously biased passages in his book and he didn't dare reply, nor was he specific when he mentioned that he "criticized Ehud Barak". What criticism????

Your facts, as usual, were on the mark, and undeniable, and I praise you for your forthrightness, and the depth of your research, and even staying up all night to read Indyk's book, a real rarity in TV circles.

I would like to add that in your last remarks, you should have added, perhaps, that water, not wisdom, as Martin Indyk said, will solve the crisis. Israel and its cohort, the US of A, will continue to flaunt International Law so long as the aquifers of the West Bank contain most of Israel's water supply.

You may remember me, I am the Moroccan lady who stood up and vociferously defended you at your lecture in Long Beach against the portly woman who kept interrupting you...

Sincerely yours,



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

First off, congratulations on your excellent debate with Indyk on Democracynow. It's amazing to see a senior diplomat and a guy sitting in a top Washington "think-tank" has no handle on reality. I mean he was instinctively looking for cover even before the debate started :o).

He was really really uncomfortable to enter the arena of facts where he could be challenged.

Anyways, I came across this piece by Walter Russel Mead in the journal "Foreign Affairs":

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20090101faessay88105-p0/walter-russell-
mead/change-they-can-believe-in.html

I thought this sounds pretty reasonable when viewed from what the reality in Washington is today.

I would be interested to know if you think the same - is this piece "reasonable" looking from a "realist" perspective(for want of a better word - sorry) - of what can and cannot be achieved even if we all know it doesn't come close to being fair to the victims? It sounds pretty radical compared to Washington's current position .

Thanks and Regards,



Your appearence against INDYK was magnificant. You nailed him cold. The poor bastard was reduced to babbling.

Remember me from Santa Cruz? Where are you working now?

Jack Ferguson, ie Rhiino



Appointing Tony Blair as a peace envoy is a insult to people who want peace. He is nothing but the less extreme form of George Bush. He started the war in Iraq. He has not even visited Gaza.

Also as for widespread hatred against Jews the evidence does not stand up. ISM have said that something like 20% of it's volunteers are Jewish and are welcome in the Occupied Terrorities. Also that Hass, Roy and Halper have all been there and Halper has said that he faced more danger from the IDF.

I was watching BBC News last night where the soldier was effectively saying that people deserved punishment for choosing Hamas doesn't Israel deserve some for choosing Ariel Sharon and after all Isreal was founded on terrorism for example the King David Hotel.

Now that they are been attacked from Lebanon are we going to see more bloodbath in the region?

Isreal will never defeat Hamas because Hamas represents hope for a people who don't appear to have any. Also who are the real crimminals the people of Gaza under collective punsihment or the IDF who bomb UN schools. As Sara Roy has aruged they shoot children just for the hell of it.

Also the settlers are nothing but religious fanatics and crimminals who steal land and can treat the local people as lesser people and no action is taken.

This is a war that Isreal cannot win and in the long term there will not be American money as America is broke.

I heard something interesting on Democracy Now from the nephew of the Isreali Defence Minister who said that most Isrealis have nothing but contempt for the Palestinians.



Hello sir,

my friend and I passed you at Riza's today and my friend thanked you all for the panel discussion. I have to say, in listening to you and in reading your books, that you have restored my faith in the potential of humanity to exercise a rigorous and unbiased search of the truth. I commend you for doing so, and I hope that you will continue doing so, even if the world stands against you.

I am a Saudi\American, and just finished my master's degree in computer science at uchicago. I am going back to Saudi Arabia, a country in which, if I had done one iota of the protesting I had done here, for Gaza, I would be shot at with rubber bullets and jailed for months on end, if not years, of course claiming that I've broken numerous falsely applied and misinterpreted religious laws (i.e. no mahram, inciting fitna, etc). And the media would help in covering such an event up. This genocide in Gaza will either turn KSA upside-down, or will just make the population more desensitized to Palestinians' plight (and I see the second happening all around me, and I'm not so sure that I don't want the first one to happen. The obliviousness is tiring, there as well as here.).

I was mostly raised there, which means that I was raised with this mostly unspoken but widely accepted "fact" that there is this inherent hate from Jews towards Muslims (I'm sorry, I had to say that) as a child and that we should always be suspicious. My parents never endorsed such ideas, but our education system was rife with them. I've of course since come to question them, and coming across your and others' work I've all but dispelled such idiotic notions. Please accept my humblest apologies.

Thank you,

Reem.



Norman,

A pleasure as usual to communicate with you. The Gaza war is disgusting for obvious reasons. Wouldn't it be great to have the resources to announce and pull off an effective boycott of a major newspaper like the New York Times. The rationale is rather obvious. They are not objective purveyors of the news. We are sick and tired of the biased presentation and filtering of the news by biased owners of the press. Protest: cancel your subscription. Any ideas how this could be accomplished? Perhaps by getting Adalah involved? (I don't know if I spelled it properly, but it is the group that has protested against Leviev in NYC).

Keep the faith and keep up the good work,



Norm,

Well done, as usual, in nailing Martin Indyck during the Democracy Now debate. The idiot knew his goose was cooked as soon as Amy Goodman introduced you. And well it should be. The world owes you an enormous debt of gratitude for telling the truth when most jackasses with a microphone will do anything but.

David



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

Per your request to contact Ms. Kagan regarding Professor Dershowitz's mental poise and competence, there is little point; Dershowitz is obviously mentally alert and highly competent.

Effective disinformation campaigns require the relentless repetition of lies across the technological and socioeconomic spectrum. The professor has an astute understanding of his role in the propaganda system. That he is dispicable enough to smear your dead mother is of little surprise. I can only imagine the sorts of behaviors he'd resort to if placed in such a situation.
I hardly expect Dean Kagan to do anything about this. Why would she rock the boat? Few people are willing to stand up for truth when it might hurt their career. You, on the other hand, did. Please continue.

R Schlight



Mr. Finkelstein:

Please allow me to thank you for your unwavering courage and dedication to truth, as well as for sharing your linguistic gifts and superb scholarship with the public as well as academia. It is my hope that one day the Jewish and academic communities will recognize and appreciate the true value of your work, which has succeeded admirably in reducing ignorance and unfounded bigotry against Jews. We must hold individuals accountable for immoral actions decided upon based on logic with a faulty premise.

You are a hero and a role model. By refusing to keep silent despite threats and intimidation, you made the rest of us a little braver. I don't believe in God, and I'm past the whole sibling rivalry thing (Daddy/God loves me best!), but if positive energy attracts more of the same, I'm sending you some of mine.

Gratefully,



It was very good hearing you on DN this morning. Thank you for your truthfulness and intellectual integrity. It is difficult to see how real peace can be negotiated if the starting point is based on misreprestations, lies, and, as you said, inversion of cause and effect chronology.

I have some small hope that your voice will gain attention.

Thank you for remaining strong. Your voice is extremely important.

Best regards,



Dear Mr. Finkelstein,

I recently heard you speaking on the radio.
You are a brave man and a good man.
You are a great inspiration to me personally.



Dear Norman,

I very much enjoyed your easy rebuttals of the ex-AIPAC, Dershowitz-lite apologist for state terror Martin Indyk.

Indyk stated that he was "not here as a spokesman for Israel", in that light his informed and balanced account of the issues was a breath of fresh air. His piercing honesty in accepting Israel's aggression on Nov 4th, acknowledging Hamas' desire for a two state solution, and their leaders willingness to recognize Israel was moving and must surely have demanded real courage given his career and affiliations.

Enough nonsense.

Thank you again for telling the truth. Having read all of your published works I now have a much richer and deeper insight into these matters. I also have access to a much wider repertoire of sources.

This body of knowledge and documentary record makes the claims of Indyk and his ilk sound truly surreal. I wonder if that is how you sound to those who get their reportage from Fox and CNN.

Also, I was wondering what your current teaching situation is, and whether there is any possibility of studying with you in the future.

Kind Regards,



Professor Finkelstein,

I just wanted to state that I saw your discussion on Democracy Now today with Martin Indyk, and you did a masterful job (as usual) presenting your case. I understand his reluctance in debating you considering he does not have a single shred of evidence supporting his case. Specifically, thank you for emphasizing the misrepresentations in his utterly bias book. Generally, thank you for continuing to be the voice of truth and reason on this issue. I am horrified, but not shocked, with the way these massacres are being reported in the U.S. mainstream media. Thank goodness for Democracy Now.

Regards,

Omar



Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2009 21:31:55 -0800
From: kevjinx[at]yahoo.com
Subject: Question
To: normangf(at)hotmail.com

Norman G. Finkelstein

Why are you promoting Terrorism? Who are you working for? Are you being paid by the Saudis? I pray for you and people like you, please move out of my country and learn to live without the shelter of freedom I provide you.

Ryan



Dear Mr. N. Finkelstein,

I am one of many that now watch the news from Gaza with horror. And that is why I am writing to you, simply because I am so grateful that there are some voices of sanity in the middle of this insanity. I am very inspired and impressed by the way you continue to work towards the thruth, in spite of the people that have been and still work against you.

I am Palestinian-Norwegian myself and my father originally come from a village in Palestine called Emwas,which was destroyed in 1967 and is now functioning as a recreational park made by the Canadian National Jewish fund.My family are now refugees. Everytime I go to visit Palestine the oppression has increased and the hope isn't even there anymore, it is very depressing. So once again I would like to thank you for contributing with the objective truth about Israels crimes, you have inspired so many people, including me and my whole family not to give up. I also think you are very important for Jews around the world that feel that Israel are abusing their culture and reputation. I hope you will have further succes with your work and wish you all the best on the way.

Yours sincerely,



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

It was very good hearing you on DN this morning. Thank you for your truthfulness and intellectual integrity. It is difficult to see how real peace can be negotiated if the starting point is based on misreprestations, lies, and, as you said, inversion of cause and effect chronology.

I have some small hope that your voice will gain attention.

Thank you for remaining strong. Your voice is extremely important.

Best regards,



I enjoyed your "debate" on Democracy Now today. Thank you for providing such an important, little-heard perspective when I know it comes at a personal cost. I especially found interesting how Indyk said you were engaged in ad hominem attacks when he'd attacked you personally and you had done no such thing. You're very good at sticking to the facts. It helps that they're on your side.

Best,



GREAT JOB on the show. Congrats!

Sorry about DePaul. I wrote them a letter decrying your being ushered out the door due to your speaking too much truth.

Keep up the good work.

In appreciation of your efforts,



Nice to see you this morning on DN!. It was a classic expose` of the intellectual class. You spoke well, of course, and stuck to the facts, while Indyk gave himself away by explicitly refusing to address them.

This kind of thing is always a breath of fresh air, especially since a fellow like Indyk will go on the major networks hawking his book and telling lies without rebuttal. All in all, it's pretty sad how no one dare disturb the still waters of mainstream political discourse, and that the lies of people like Indyk will become truisms for millions of Americans. And for us on the margins, it's hard not to grow arrogant with the belief that we are a minority who know better.

Anyway, his suit gave him away. Smooth corporate look. It's a look that should arouse anyone's suspicions. Alas, it's a look that's standard in American life, one that radiates credibility and inspires trust. But the devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape.

That should be a truism for more and more people, that is, for everyone outside intellectual circles.

Frank



Are you planning to go to Gaza to help your employers from Hamas who pay you to spread lies around the world, you lowlife? Let me know the exact location where you're gonna be, I'll relay that info to israeli sharpshooters, so that they'll take care of you, bastard.



Hi Norm,

I am glad I'm here during this period. Unbelievable. Land invasion started just an hour ago.

Khaled Mish'al was on TV yesterday and was really good and talked for quite some time and I hear Nassrallah live everyday on Al Manar every evening... I'm shocked, shocked at their level of restraint and eloquent language. I've never seen Arab leaders like this before. Goodness, where did I go and wake up. Tonight Nassrallah didn't even talk about politics. It was about humanity's journey and the power of truth and how ignorance requires force...

My aunt and I just saw some images of Israeli tanks and you know what? We couldn't help feeling really sad for these boys. Why should these boys pay the prices for those in power my aunt was asking. Why anybody on anyside should get killed? For what? Uh, sleep-walking humanity... But we will wake up.

Isarel is increasingly losing its face and power image. This is making it seem even weaker. This is the impression I am getting from people here and different TV coverages.



Prof. Finkelstein,

I wanted to send you a pic from the other day. My roommate and I went around the city trying to find a good rally to attend. I live fairly close to the Egyptian Embassy but the security forces would not let us near it. They were nice and we begged them to let us in so we could throw our shoes, but they still refused.

We then made our way up to the American Embassy--on the other side of town--but we got there right as all the fun stuff was winding down. Though there were still some small fires in garbage bins and the smell of tear gas was still in the air.

We then just went downtown where there was a Hamas/Islamic Jihad rally. We didnt know it, but we were the only Westerners there. The riot police were there and started to search us as we walked in, and then they just laughed and said 'ashnobi? yalla' (foreigners? come on in). It was really powerful and emotional. Even though I understood all of one-tenth of what the speakers were saying, I still could understand the meaning. Osama Hamdan spoke, which was a surprise. That is who the picture is of.

Anyway, I hope you are doing well. I saw that you are speaking in Chicago in the next few days. Tell DePaul that my degree is worthless for me. I am still waiting to hear about getting into the masters program here; there is all sorts of Lebanese red tape. The good news that I am in Lebanon, and there is away around it or through it. I will know soon though. I love this place and it really is a great place to live. Please take care and I can only hope that this will soon pass. I am going to see some Ashura celebrations in the south tomorrow, if I am able to and if you would like them, I can send some pics to you.

Best, Evan...



Hi Professor Finkelstein,

I wish you personal happiness. You are a breath of fresh air. I hope the hurt of being ostracized by that bunch at DePaul cuts deep. You have so much to offer to people of all persuasions. You are educating me, for this I thank you. Maybe you will come to Ireland and I can listen. Take care of yourself.

As Spock would say "Long life and happiness". You are untangling my misconceptions. I attended and worked at a Peace conference in Tel Aviv last year along with 1500 people from all over the world(about 80 countries), 800 Israeli citizens also attended. Local people were amazed "a peace conference in Israel" they could hardly believe it. I met some very nice people.

Recently bought "Beyond Chutzpah" am about 100 pages in, then started searching the web, looking for videos, found lots. You are going to be a busy little bee, the world needs your voice.

Good health and as we say in Ireland "may the wind always be at your back". fond regards,

chris blake.



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

My family and I immigrated from Iran to Canada 21 years ago because of the political oppression of the fundamentalist government of Iran. We watched your debate on CBC Television a few years ago and since then we have been following your hard work regarding the truth about Israel and Palestine. We watched your debate with Alan Dershwitz and your truthful case against him and bought and read your books. During all these years there have been very few brave people like you and Professor Chomsky who have fought for justice and truth. We talk about your work with other activists and encourage them to read your books and listen to your speeches.

Your work is not just for today, it is a lesson for the future generations. People like you bring hope to humanity, peace and justice.

We are looking forward to your talk in Vancouver in January 2009.



As I said to Jehan Helou, Israelis are hell bent on obliterating educational institutions at all levels, and now they repeated what they did in Qana in 1996 blowing up innocent civilians at a UN refuge. Unfortunately, the terrain in Gaza is different than in Lebanon. I remember Daisy Gideon, a Lebanese Australian journalist who produced a documentary on Lebanon, entitled Lebanon: Imprisoned Splendour" (1996). I have a video copy, but I first viewed the film with my father at the Music Hall, an art film house in Beverly Hills. The film's host was Omar Sharif, who did not accept any money for his participation. Few people realize that Sharif was of Lebanese descent born in Egypt. His real name, not stage name was Michel Shalhoub. As you well know I am not easily swayed by celebrities, but something struck me when he contrasted the mentality of the Lebanese with the rest of the Arabs--- that they were a combination of a mountain and desert people. Again I am not being eth> nocentric here, but thinking for some years about this comment relating to the mountainous topography of Lebanon. Basically, Lebanese are predominantly a "mountain people" if you read for instance, Leila Fawaz's " Merchants and Migrants in Nineteenth Century Beirut", Harvard University Press, she discusses the 1860 civil war between the Lebanese Druze and Maronites, how both hid out in crevices of mountains and fought it each other. The Israelis are trying to scare the Palestinians that they have built this mock Gaza city. Like Vietnam, the denizens know their terrain better than any occupying force. But what concerns me is that Gaza is a more densely populated area and the people cannot escape like the Lebanese did into mountain hideaways or less bombarded cities. > > The news coverage on Al Jazeera Arabic is superior over the English as the latter gives a more sanitized version. If one's Arabic is fair enough to read the captions on any of the Arab news channel it will give you better insight into what is happening. Most satellite packages offer these multi language channels. > >



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I recently discovered you while searching palestinian video on youtube. I must say, you are extremely intelligent when it comes to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. I have always dreamed of lecturing the topic the way you do, but I never can find the correct approach. I am a Palestinian American, and I have debated the topic all my life. Your intelligence and research speaks for itself. I have literally watched every single youtube clip that features you. My wife has become so jealous because I spend a lot of time on the internet watching you destroy Alan Dershowitz. If I could invite one person to my home for a Palestinian dinner, it would be you Dr. Finkelstein. You are so uncontroversial, so uncomplicated, and so uncomplex that we would get along quite alright.

Thank you,



The fact that is lost in this constructed reality (to most leftists as well) is that Israel has no independent existence besides fulfilling the desires of the US elite to control and dominate that region. Much like race has been grafted onto the class structure to mitigate the effects of class conflict, Israel is implanted in the Arab world to dominate and control it, to hide US domination of the region by constructing a distracting enemy. Once that need of the US passes, Israel will vanish into thin air and we'll have a massive Jewish catastrophe in the region because of the conditions that the US is creating through the Israeli ruling elite.

In other words, the U.S. support for Israel is much like the evangelical support for the Jews in Israel involving the rapture, for their own narrow and ulterior motive without any regard for the long term consequences for the vast majority of Jewish people in the region. The Arabs in this U.S. game play the role of the African Americans in the 'race' construction. It is the same formula repeated on the global scene. It is not the Jewish lobby that controls the US political process rather the US power elite that have constructed a Jewish lobby to obfuscate the real power dynamics that not only direct Israeli actions in the region but are the sole reason for its existence. Zionism is an epiphenomena, not the main cause.



Useless PhD student from Stanford University. Can you believe?

Her Qualification:
Ph.D. Candidate, POLITICAL SCIENCE
Hewlett Fellow, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law

I emailed her evidence that Israel is a fascist, terrorist State.
She replied: "I find offense at your email. Please take me off your list."

I replied: "Fine, I wont email you again, but may I please request you to reflect for a minute about why you find offense? I quoted two smartest people of the 20th century (Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein) because unfortunately in our time no intellectual authority has come forward to guide public opinion on political matters. I am a student as well and the slogan at educational institutions seems to be 'think freely and rationally'. What makes this particular issue very special is that a lot of lives are at stake. Peace."

Recently I sent her link of CNN's Rick Sanchez stating that Israel is the one who is responsible for breaking ceasefire.

She replied: "why am I still getting emails from you? I asked you once before to take me off your list."

I replied: "I am very sorry, but because of your background, I feel hope can be placed in you for the future, so I want to engage you in a dialogoe. Plus with the current escalation of the conflict, I have been very restless. I request you with all my heart to view this 3 minute video showing what Israeli PR tries to hide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynWjYHP91gA Please do bring up whatever point you feel you have against my position. Please understand. Millions of lives are at stake, over 50% of which are less than 16 years old. Peace, Your sister."

She replied: "I am not interested in having a conversation with you. I do not even know how you got my email address. Please take me off your list. Thank you."



Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2009 17:58:41 -0800
From: mireille[at]ameritech.net
Subject: Question about the Palestenian
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Hi Norman,

Do you know anything about the Palestinians that you adore? What makes you believe they are worried, or concern about you, or about any Jewish person,

Even the kind Muslim is not worried about you.

Have you ever heard their video the most recent one that took place in Ft Lauderdal Florida? on December the 30Th 2008? Theses 300 Palestinian lives in Florida they were calling Jews names. hating the Jews, Jews should go into the oven.They should leave Palestine. Then they prayed and kneed to the ground. How could you love someone that hate so much that they sacrifice their own child. I can't believe that there is a God that want that.

I actually feel very sorry for you, you don't know where you came from. You have no back bone in your body. You are a self hater. Nothing more.I feel so sad for your parents. They escaped from Hitler yet you are a self hater.

I would love to see a group of Palestinians that live in this wonderful country United States of America.. Once only once to protest about what their Muslim brothers are doing all over the world. That will never happen. You know why. They know who they are. They will all stand together. As far as I am concern there are too many Muslim here. One day they will take over here too not in your life time but soon.

They are now in the USA teaching their children hate only hate nothing more. I grew up in Egypt I left when I was 16. I had no country before I came to this country. I was not allowed to be a citizen.

Do you really believe for one second that the Palestinian will ever be happy ? They will only be happy when all the Jews are destroyed. Then they will come after the Christians.I hope they come after you soon.

You are embarrassing to the Jewish People. Maybe you are a Muslim? I will then understand it better. Why don't you go and sing with theses Palestinian in Florida that all Jews should go to a bigger oven. Please go Convert to Muslim. It will not be a loss for any of us.

I am ot sure if you ever study History.

Mireille Plotke
Professor Finkelstein,

Mireille Plotke wrote a lot of nasty things to you. I wanted to respond to some of those.

(1. Even the kind Muslim is not worried about you.)

I am a Muslim. I consider myself to be kind as well--most of the time, I suppose. I do worry about you. Every time I visit your website, which if often, and I see that you are still without a job, I think it's too bad that the academic world is missing such a great teacher. With all the hate that people seem to hold for you and come to this site expressing it in words, I worry if you have good friends that love you and care about you, to support you in your endeavors. I certainly hope that you do.

(2. Have you ever heard their video the most recent one that took place in Ft Lauderdal Florida? on December the 30Th 2008? Theses 300 Palestinian lives in Florida they were calling Jews names. )

He should have provided a link to any such video. It would have helped back his claim up. If the Palestinians were indeed doing that, then they are not representative of all Palestinians or even all Muslims. Just like how Mireille is not representative of all Jews or Americans in their bigotry for Muslims.

(3. Once only once to protest about what their Muslim brothers are doing all over the world. That will never happen. You know why. They know who they are. They will all stand together.)

Muslims are always protesting, against each other and against their governments! And yes against America, too--which is home to a lot of proud American Muslim citizens. Sadly, that's all we are good at. Protesting and then forgetting, and then protesting again and then going back to our quite lives and forgetting about the down-trodden masses. It's an ugly endless cycle. In fact, not all of us protest. Some of us sit in our homes, paralyzed from feelings of utter helplessness when we see death and destruction on our TV screens. I care passionately about the downtrodden of this earth, weather Muslim (or Kaffir--used sarcastically here, please no hate mail)!

Oh how I wish, I wish that we were able to stand together. Just look at the Palestinians! They can't even stand together, not even for the time being, with the Fatah on one side and Hamas on the other. And let's not forget about Egypt and it's Pharaoh rulers who refused to open up it's borders for the Gazans so that some of them could escape Israel's wrath. So much of Muslim solidarity!

I have just heard of a fatwa come out the land of Saudi Arabia, where they have nothing better to do, that demonstrations are forbidden by God because they take away our time from doing good works. The sheer insanity of this fatwa leaves me astounded. I do not know if I should laugh or cry! So much for Muslim solidarity, that you speak of Mireille. I suspect this fatwa had something to do with a dozen or so Saudis protesting against Israel. These Saudi protesters were arrested and others warned with strict punishment should other dare. Solidarity, Mireille?

(4. As far as I am concern there are too many Muslim here. One day they will take over here too not in your life time but soon.)

It's funny that as a Jew you say that. Those are some of the things that were said about your people Mireille, when they were the unpopular kid on the block and everyone thought it was ok to beat up. And where else have we managed to "take over?" This type of bigotry has the same logic behind it that is used by people that say things like, that the Jews control the world's wealth or that Jews are behind all the economic troubles, etc, etc.

(5. They are now in the USA teaching their children hate only hate nothing more.)

I can't speak for the millions of other Americans, but the only time Jews were ever mentioned to me were when we were studying the Quran in Sunday school, in which we read in detail about Moses and the Pharaoh and how God saved his people and delivered them from exile. Palestine and your precious Israel were never mentioned in my household. Probably because my family isn't Arab--did you mention Muslim solidarity? I found out about the conflict when I tried to figure out where in Saudi Arabia was the Al-Aqsa mosque. You must forgive my ignorance of our world--I was a typical high school kid. Well, as typical as they get, except I supported a hijab and stayed out of the drinking and partying world of my friends.

(6. I grew up in Egypt I left when I was 16. I had no country before I came to this country. I was not allowed to be a citizen.)

It's sad that from your pain you cannot understand the pain of a people without a nation.

Arab states are very nationalist and racist in who they give citizenship to. They don't even give citizenship status to Arabs who are born in their countries, whose parents might of of another Arab nationality. And if the parents of a child born on their soil are not Arab, forget about it then also. Even if a child has one Arab parent, still forget about it. Not that, this makes what happened to you right. But that's another example that debunks your theory of Muslim solidarity.

(7. Do you really believe for one second that the Palestinian will ever be happy ? They will only be happy when all the Jews are destroyed. Then they will come after the Christians.)

Not to worry. I think Jews are pretty resilient people. Even if the Palestinians do have such intentions, as you say, I think that history has proved that the human race cannot destroy the Jewish nation. After all, you are the Chosen Ones. Even the Quran speaks of God's love for the children of Abraham.

If Muslims had wanted to destroy Christians and Jews, they could have launched such a campaign against them when they had an empire, back in time of swords and horses. Now, if Muslims ever have such an empire again, (I hope not, since I am against any kind of empires), I still don't think you have anything to worry about. Muslims are asked in the Quran to work towards a common good for all with the "People of the Book," their Christian and Jewish brothers and sisters. Think about this. Who will the empire rule, if there's no "Other" to rule over? If Muslims are as full of hate, as you say, then after the Christians, they will certainly go after the rest of the peoples of the world.

(8.You are embarrassing to the Jewish People)

I can't speak for the Jewish people. But, as one human being to the other-- thank you Professor Finkelstein, for your humanity. You are a good example of what a human should strive to be in regards to standing by the truth, and speaking for justice, giving voice to the voiceless and sacrificing your livelihood, but never sacrificing your morals and beliefs.

Regards,





Dear Prof. Finkelstein

You courage, especially at a time like this, is unparalleled in the academic world, and we all admire you for your courage.

The attempts to discredit, libelise and slander will ironically help your cause as it will make more people aware of your work.

The sands of deception may hide the plants of the vast desert, but the wind of truth will eventually display them, stark naked, for humanity to behold.

Best of luck to you, and please keep up your phenomenal work.

Regards,



Dear Mr. Finkelstein,

I was made aware of you only last year when the website www.wsws.org wrote about your tenure denial, and later when Israel denied you entry.

I recently came across some video clips of you when I was searching for newsclips regarding the bombardment of Gaza.

Quite frankly I was startled by your emotional involvement in what you are saying. It was so refreshing.

I am looking forward to reading your books and I hope that at some point I will be able to see the film.

I have a question. Do you consider yourself a radical? What do you think of socialism? I guess that was two questions.

Diana



Dr. Finkelstein -

I just listened to you at the Cleveland City Club on C-SPAN radio here in the Washington suburbs.

I couldn't stop listening to you, you were so interesting.

You certainly have no reluctance to give advice to various sacrosanct entities, and you sound correct on many things.

I am sorry to see that Prof. Dershowitz interfered with your tenure, but I am not surprised. You seem to have found a number of "sacred cows."

Will you be in the Washington DC metro area at any point?

All the best!
Bill Dolan



This may sound strange since i am a Muslim but....

IT seems to me a lot of Muslims support Palestinian cause by default, not for any moral or intellectual choice, but by impulse out of some sense of duty since they see palistinians are fellow Muslims.

I wonder, if palistine were to be filled with christian arabs that they would show them the same amount of support?

Im pakistani, im not an arab.

I support the palistinians, i always have.

But my reasoning has truly changed over time.

Before, i supported them simply because it seemed like the 'religious choice', to stand with solidarity with other muslims.

But as i became objective and started questioning faith(im still muslim, but i try to be objective, and to be objective one must question their beliefs) i also rethought political positions, including palistine.

I came to the same conclusions, it really was a no brainer WHY.

But it made me realize that if it were not for the fact that palistinians are muslims, most muslims would think about palistine as much as they think about Tibet.

We are humans, living in a world full of humans, and should start feeling outrage anywhere humans are treated like dirt. People(muslims included) must stop having selective outrage.

Perhaps if people did not assign outrage to cultural and religious causes, they might look at things more objectivly.



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I should start by saying that I view the achievements of liberal society in the 19th/20th century (i.e. Civil Rights, Due Process, etc) as blips on the screen, and not signs that the human race is actually progressing in its “humanity”. I think for every progression you can name a terrifying example of how humanity is reversing. Nevertheless, I’d like to make this point about the conflict and what is has become.

In the 80s/early 90s, there used to be a sort of recurring scene played out in teen movies that I believe may be comparable. It usually involved a bully who was just recently embarrassed in some way by the protagonist. It was sort of typical for the bully, on his way off camera to push one of the onlookers away violently, screaming something like “what are you lookin at?” Of course, the joke was on the bully, who usually had the whole room laughing at him at this point. And somehow I think that Israel is that bully, and Gaza is that bystander on the receiving end on a laughably bad attack (not to say their suffering in laughable in any way; it’s a nightmare in every sense.)

The main reason I believe Israel is embarrassed is because of two events. One, they got beat by Hezbollah, and it wasn’t even close. I remember that summer eagerly waiting for Israel to put its troops on the ground and actually start trying to defeat Hezbollah as it promised. I waited with particular attention for this, so I remember exactly when it happened. It happened about a week before the end of the conflict, and in that week Israel got smacked in the mouth. That was the war. Not the murderous bombings. That one week showed anyone paying attention that Israel is nothing but an army of cowards and losers. Nazi Germany wouldn’t have waited one afternoon to put boots on the ground and would have taken the entirety of Lebanon in equal time.

The second embarrassment Israel suffered was the election of Barrack Obama. This is not because Obama is going to be any less agreeable towards Israel than any president before, but because hawkish Jews know what the people meant by choosing Obama. It meant that Americans will ALWAYS need to be “convinced” of aggression towards Muslims. Genuine hatred of Islam and Arabs is not in our soul like it is in with the Zionists, who overwhelming begged and dreamed for McCain. It meant that Israel will ALWAYS have to work and spend money towards having Americans as their friends. It meant that even after 9/11 terrorist attacks, worse than any in Israel’s history, Americans come around to hopeful, liberal ideas of peace (and even due process for their opponents). I’m not saying this means the American government will follow those wishes, America kills unlike anyone and will continue to do so irrespective of popular opinion. But the election of Obama was like seeing a girl you buy expensive presents for eyeing up another man. You know she’s not truly with you. As you have stated in your Cleveland lecture, one could only imagine American opinion on Israel if they knew the real record. Israel is alone in this world, and it now knows it..

Of course Israel hit Gaza because it was the right time with their politics and ours, but I believe Israel’s actions show something greater. There is no stated purpose to this attack. Truce and ceasefire opportunities have been expressly ignored by Israel. And the victim needed two years of starvation before Israel chose to fight. Talk about a WWF match, and a plot almost as laughable. It's like Israel doesn't even care anymore. "The hell with it, let's just start killing whenever the right time comes up". Israel is a joke. And everyone in the room is laughing. God protect those in the crosshairs as Israel exits stage left.



Prof. Finkelstein: I wrote you about a year ago--I'm the (just graduated) student who made the intaglio print in your honor "Tenure for Finkelstein" , which you placed on your website. I don't believe I ever expressed how thankful I was of your taking the time to do that.. You really are the best. I was talking with my sister at my family's Christmas party about your recent lecture in Cleveland--specifically your response to the woman who asked you if you were a "self-hating Jew" . I don't believe you could have been more articulate in your answer to that woman; I sometimes wonder how you are able to give such immensely intelligible answers on-the-spot without a moment's hesitation. I wish I could see a lecture of yours in person some time.

John



Today Israel killed over 200 Palestinians in Gaza? I just saw an AP report saying most of the dead were Hamas members. How would they even know that? Did they check each charred body?

I just don't understand how people can be so shameless and cruel.

So when Muslim terrorists kill around 300 people in India, it's national headlines here and obviously condemned by the usual cheerleaders. We get articles with titles like, "They hate us, and 'us' is India." Yet, when 200+ people die in Gaza (the most densely populated area in the world?) - it's a 'military operation'. Our leaders blame Hamas for 200+ deaths. Same old story.

And people think this is about religion. It's about lust for power and greed. That's what it always comes down too. Religion is just a diversion.



Dear Norman,

I don't think it would be a wise idea to continue the policy of 'protest' because it has not been worked for last 4 decades so, it wont work in the future either. It has to be another way so we can help with the people of Hamaz. They are not waiting for Arab world and they are not waiting for the West either because it is apparent that they are helping out the Israelian government.

But they are waiting for us, Norman, for those who condemn injustice and murder.

Any suggestions, sir?

Cheers

Ahmed.



From: janeicekanan[at]live.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Norman Finkelstein, the Fashion Icon
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:22:56 -0800

Dr. Finkelstein:

I visit you site from time to time. I have great respect for you sacrificing your academic career in the struggle for social justice on behalf of the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples. Today I was disappointed in visiting your website as some letters reflect a fan club than a forum for political discussion on the Middle East. Granted, most of your visitors have considerable admiration for all your good deeds and thoughtful writings, but others display a sycophantic deification and hero worship of you that really needs not to involve us and remain a personal correspondence between you and them. I support wholeheartedly free speech but in some cases, a modicum of discretion should be observed. For example, do we need to hear how someone parents are waiting with bated breath for their son to invite you to dinner. And Richard K’s comic portrayal of your six part lecture as if he had attended the Norman Finkelstein catwalk featuring a crucifix earring, auburn haired groupie, every Jewish boy’s wet dream, that is sitting on the edge of her chair contemplating the precise moment to pass her 10 digit, cell number to you. I guess he wished he was there, or maybe he was, so he could vie with her to give you his number. This was strictly feature story writing on the part of Richard K. If you view segment 6 the young woman was not biting her lips, but were pursed, and she was intently listening to you message as anyone else was in the lunch room. Come on… is this how an erudite intellectual, who received his PhD from a prestigious educational institution as Princeton University, wants himself and his lecture to be genuinely characterized. And these correspondents are posing as your friends?

How about your posters focusing on Condeeleeza Rice, in the last days of service, receiving a lavish gift giving of baubles and jewels from the kings of Saudia Arabia and Jordan while impoverished Palestinians cannot rub two sticks together to produce fuel for cooking their daily bread, and 30 % of Palestinian males from ages 14 to 30 are strung out on Tramadol, a highly addictive pain killer, to cope with the every day post traumatic syndrome in the Strip.

Think about this for a long while, Dr. Finkelstein, before you post these insipid posts.

Janeice
Norman: Wow! I can hardly believe I got "flamed" in the letters section of your website. But, I guess it's fair. I mean, why should you get all the hate mail? I suppose I'll have to reassess myself in light of Janeice's barbed commentary.

I swear, Norman..I truly thought that I was presenting an obvious parody of the manner in which a superficial gossip tabloid, or an "Entertainment Tonight" type TV show might have reviewed your presentation. You know - satire? I had no idea that I was, in actuality, a "correspondent" in that mold; or that I really believed I could, in all seriousness, telepathically discern the thoughts of a person, merely by seeing a fleeting image of their face on camera for a few brief seconds (it is comforting to know, however, that although I admittedly lack this ability - Janeice was able to definitively read the mind of that lovely young woman).

Norman, I mistakenly thought that, when, at one point I parenthetically remarked - "and I mean this seriously" - I had meant to suggest that most, if not all of the rest of my note was intended to be "tongue in cheek."

I must also thank Janeice, for helping me come to my senses. Thanks to her, I now realize, that, because the world is full of violence, sadness and injustice - humor of any kind is inappropriate, and must be shunned. It's our duty to be grimly serious at all times. I mean, what right do we have to smile or laugh, when there is so much evil in the world? After all, would Stalin, Hitler, or Genghis Khan have been able to accomplish all that they did, if they'd been possessed of wry, ironic, senses of humor? I think not, Norman. I think not.

Finally, and perhaps most important, Janeice has reminded me that the biggest insult you can hurl at a man is to imply that he may be homoerotically attracted to another man. Any "real man" would react with homophobic outrage at such a suggestion. Nevertheless - I hope you will reconsider my invitation to go "antique-ing" with me next weekend in Provincetown - you big, gorgeous hunk of Hebrew manhood, you!!!

Your slavish worshipper, Rich K





Dear Sir,

I am that people like you still exists in this world,my respects

Best regards
Sherif



I am watching on TV and reading online what happened in Gaza and I truly and sicked and worried. Of course there will be regional 'sympathy', because that is what is supposed to happen; but come on, Mubarak met with Livni just yesterday, there is no way he didnt know this was coming. Just because he had to, he opened the border, but where the hell was he five weeks ago? Why didnt he leave it open after last winter? He, and the other Arab leaders, are just as shameful as the Israeli leadership. I can garuntee I know what they are going to do next--first they are going to hold 'talks'and 'discussions' and then they are going to support a new 'cease fire' and more 'peace talks'. The whole thing is sham, so large in scope that it makes Madoff jealous.

I was going to email you last week because I found it so disgusting that the Sunni community completely turns it's back on the Palestinian community while it is the Shia's who are holding rallies and who are apart of resistance. On one level I strangely liked it because it was a class conflict rather than one based on sectarian divide [we have enough of that here], but the absolute indifference by the Lebanese elite makes my stomach churn.

I dont see this being the only attack; I hope it is, but its not likely. Israel has a lot to prove--they want to show that their military is not as weak as it appeared in 06, they want to show their citizens that they can protect against 'terrorism', and they want to show the region that they are the hegimon. Both Livni and Netanyahu will be talking tough; who knows, maybe Livni will do another Benny Morris impersonation and promote ethnic cleansing. All of this strong arming while most of Olmert's own family refused to serve and oppose occupation; that would be a real cracker jack of a father to come home to. Or how about what the military spokesperson said: "Anything belonging to Hamas could be a target. You can interpret that as you like." Seriously, that has to be a joke, right? With that, someone standing next to a fork believed to belong to someone in Hamas is a legitimate target.

I have my own problems with Hamas, but Israel never left Gaza and the fact that they were elected didnt seem to matter. The rocket attacks do little damage, especially when its juxtaposed to Gaza. I am fairly certain history has taught us that walling in a population is not overly effective. I know there is not a real comparison, but there is a spirit of resistance in Gaza that far exceeds anything that was in Warsaw. There is a different efficacy and this is why there is no military solution there.

I am writing this out of anger, so I am sorry if I carried on. I dont know what happens next and I dont know what the response will be. I am still waiting to hear Hezbollah comment, that should be interesting. This could set off more violence, I hope not, but a prolonged attack against Gaza coupled with the fact that Israel came into Lebanon last week could set off some tempers.

I hope all is going well with you and please take care. And again, sorry for going off, I just needed to write down what I was feeling and there really no one else who would understand. So thank you.

-Evan...



Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:52:25 -0800
From: ehtesham74(at)yahoo.com
To: normangf(at)hotmail.com

Hi Professor,

While reading the news on latest Israeli invasion, I keep thinking about one thing: a few hundred years later, where are the Aboriginal Peoples in Canada now? Well, yes, there's a million of them now in Canada, but who holds the balance of power? How much freedom do they really have living in what we now know as Canada? What about the indigenous people of US and Australia? Who rules on their land now? How many of them are left there? Is this what will become to the Palestinians and Palestine a hundred years from now?

All the best,

Ehtesham.



Some of my friends and I have been cringing since Obama won this election, fearful as we are that America is now getting the notion that we're beyond the mistreatment of people of color since his family is in the White House. One well-known black author, a close friend of a friend, even had the nerve to say that we're now living in a "post-racial" era. These skunk Negroes kill me. Black buffoons with big white stripes on their backs. They reek!

My brother is a correctional officer at Menard Penitentiary in southern Illinois. It hurts him to NO END, I mean spiritually devours him (I want him to get out of that place!) that 90% of the inmates on his block are black, while 99% of the correctional officers are white, and of the worse sort: tobacco spitting, four-wheeler riding, Coors slugging cowboys who GET OFF on roping in the nigger steer. My brother, quietly, is suffering with depression from that shit - he's often angry, irritable and impatient with us, and has even begun to seek solace in Christian fundamentalism, espousing ideas of rapture and revelation and hell. It's scary. But racism is so integral to his suffering. He sees these black men dehumanized on a regular basis, by flagrant white bigots, and feels powerless. I mean, where we're from, southern Illinois, yeah, there's a crack cocaine problem which landed many of those cats in the joint (often unfairly) in the first place. BUT, meth is OBLITERATING the white folks where I'm from, and yet, they manage to avoid getting caged up. How is that? Meth is a psycho drug, like some shit from Robocop. It's demonic, making these kids look like the living dead, and yet no one is curtailing its flow by busting the white dudes with the garage labs. It's sick. But we live post-racially, right? That's even sicker. Faulkner said, "The past isn't dead. It's not even the past yet." A white southern writer got it, but black "intellectuals" can't? DAMN. I better stop preaching before I end up on the altar.



Hi,

Apropos your response to the doctor who wrote chastising you over your ridicule of some of Bernard Madoff's investors, I read an interesting article from the Washington Post not long ago. The article's author maintained that many of the investors must have suspected Madoff was doing something illegal: likely trading on inside information using his stock market connections. That is why they invested with him. How else could he obtain the consistently fine returns he was getting in the investments he was supposedly making, regardless of what was happening in the markets?

What the investors did not think was that what he actually was up to was a Ponzi scheme.

Yours,
Paul Tracy



Norman:

Your reply to the "Letter of the Week" (Dr. Charles Carlton 12/20/2008) was "food for thought" - powerful and unequivocal. Perhaps the very "harshness" of your words can serve as an antidote to the atmosphere of "entitlement" that those (Jewish and non-Jewish) with wealth and power have been able to weave, like a spell into the consciousness of the populace.

Because the arrogant and opulent control the "narrative," it's relatively easy for them to make us forget that their disproportionately obscene holdings are founded upon the infliction of oppression, suffering and destitution on millions, if not billions of their fellow human beings. Also, the mere existence of "charities" presupposes the idea that the concentration of most of the worlds wealth into the hands of a few "philanthropists" is not an affront to justice.

Further, your use of the phrase "overweening pride" is apt. Unless they considered themselves "superior" to, or "more deserving" than others; it's hard to explain how wealthy people could enjoy their billions with a "good conscience," while a normally-constituted person of even modest means, feels pangs of guilt and outrage daily, at the thought of the untold millions around the world who are constantly brutalized, disease-ridden, hungry, and who lack access to clean water; or at the fact that hundreds of people were killed, maimed or mutilated a few hours ago, by Israeli bombers in Gaza.

I am more and more convinced that your voice is a prophetic one (in the Old Testament admonitory sense - not in the pop-culture Nostradamus-like predictive sense), and that the world would be a better place if more of us heeded your jeremiads, instead of attempting to demonize you.





From: cellocharlie[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: the Madoff matter
Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 22:29:50 -0600

Dr. Finkelstein,

Your brief, sarcastic introductory comment to the article on Madoff openly expressed your sentiment on this enormous economic scandal and its cascading ramifications, especially for charity organizations. Your "take" on this was clearly one of excited glee--genuine excitement and humor at Jewish individuals and charitable organizations suffering great losses at the hand of a deplorable thief who is himself a Jew. With the endless news coverage of the Madoff story, your attitude is extremely rare among Jews in expressing some personal gratification from what is elsewhere universally regarded as a still unfolding tragedy, and certainly not only for Jews. There has certainly been plenty of internet anti-semitic flow regarding Madoff's being Jewish. The usual, ages-old stuff. But this attitude about the charities themselves is the point of this letter.

I think it is important for your readers and "followers" to contemplate the significance of your feelings about this. It is clear, glaring, blatant evidence that your anti-Zionism is but one aspect of a wider contempt for Jews and Judaism in most, if not all their aspects. One could not possibly be gleeful about losses to Jewish charitable organizations that assist the Jewish hungry and elderly, educational institutions around the world, a hospital which offers even Arab patients the best medical treatment in the Middle East, international orphanges, and basically every other service that authentic charities provide--unless there is a deep seated hatred and comtempt for the Jewish world. This has nothing to do with borders, "Palestinian returnees," and events in Gaza or anything else for which you've attacked Israel for years. To any well-balanced, contemplative and non-biased individuals, including those in your audiences, your attitude about this event should discredit the inflated forum and enhanced credibility your hate-embedded speeches and writings against Israel and Israelis receive because they come from a Jewish source, and yes, the son of survivors.

Alas, I suspect that all this will be wasted on your admirers. The value of a Jew who trots the globe and the internet defaming Israel and anything else Jewish is simply too delicious, and this is a matter of emotion not intellect for all your fans. I can only add a couple of points for them to consider. One, for them to imagine their personal feeling about a prominent member of their own country, religion, or culture whose raison d'etre is to cultivate hatred and ridicule for everything associated with his own people. Secondly, I'll mention a well-known comment of the most revered figure of the American civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr.: in a speech in 1968 at Harvard University, shortly before his death, consistent with his long-standing, unequivocal support of the state of Israel, he clearly stated , “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews, you are talking anti-Semitism.” Unfortunately, this criticism can come from a Jewish man as well as all those in his reading and listening audience--who provide him with accolades as well as financial compensation. And your current clearly expressed excitement with the Madoff matter is only the the most recent and unabashed evidence of this.

I hope you will post this so your readers can at least have the opportunity to contemplate this view--and with clear-thinking, open minds, although I strongly doubt that is possible.

Sincerely,
Dr. Charles Carlton
Finkelstein replies:

I have made it a point of not responding publicly to letters. But it seems I am under some obligation to answer these allegations.

No tears for goniffs

I feel so sad when millionaires and billionaires have to live like the rest of us.

I feel yet sadder when the Wiesels and Zuckermans,

Who bear prime responsibility for the suffering of the Palestinian people,

Lose a little of their ill-gotten gains.

(Will Wiesel be lecturing again on "silence" for five-figure fees to recoup his losses?)

Forgive my simple-mindedness, but I still believe Balzac was right:

"Behind every great fortune there is a crime."

Even Jewish fortunes.

In another time and another place, it would have been off with the heads of these goniffs.

They got off easy this time.

Spare me the sorrow songs about their Jewish charities,

Which are just tax write-offs for them.

Spare me the sorrows songs about Birthright Israel, the Anti-Defamation League, Hadassah

And ten thousand other crooked organizations,

Yeshiva University, Brandeis University,

The endowed chairs, courses and departments,

In Judaic Studies, Holocaust Studies, Antisemitism Studies, Israel Studies,

All designed to prolong the torture of the people of Palestine,

And to feed an overweening collective egoism.

(Why not a special degree program in Jewish navel contemplation?)

If thieves like Madoff and his clients didn't exist,

We wouldn't need charities.

Don't the accounts of how they live

-- the forty million tossed here and the two hundred million thrown there, the five estates and six yachts --

embarrass your Jewish conscience just a wee bit?

And, I don't particularly care for "charities" that distribute services on the basis of ethnic purity.

"A hungry mon is a hungry mon" (Bob Marley).

There shouldn't even be charities,

Because the money doesn't belong to these thieves in the first place.

It belongs to the people who created the wealth yet live in squalor and misery,

Not to those who while away their days in exclusive country clubs

Playing golf and talking down to the rest of us.

Let them all drop dead.

Do you understand now?

There are two fairly precarious fielding positions well known to lovers of cricet : Silly Mid Off and, well, Silly Mid On. As a lad I asked our cricket coach at school, why the moniker- because it would be a damnably silly thing to field a few feet from the batsman, came the somewhat bumptious reply (admittedly Silly Point and Short Leg are even more frightening).

Now, I suppose we've got Silly Madoff....wonder what Silly Madon would be like

Hello Norman

I think it is a safe bet no one would ever dare call Bernard Madoff a Self Hating Jew or anti semite or made to think about the holocaust or any other vile insult you have had to endure...god forbid.

All the self satisfied snobs and social climbers must be wondering if they spent a little less time executing their petty vendettas against a lone scholar who spoke the truth, and a little more time scrutinizing a high toned Skunk and chiseling rascal, they might not look so foolish.

It is passing strange, as soon as the Madoff story broke the fear of anti semitism was flagged up.

If someone is going to act like a "cliche'", it's no surprise someone is going to have 50 Billion reasons for thinking that way about a bunch of exclusive High Rolling snobs. If the Jewish community lost 1.5 Billion, that leaves 48.5 Billion dollars missing from the gentile side of the equation. And, as we all know, people have killed for a considerably less sum that that.

I've often come across individuals who are too clever for their own good, from many walks of life. Madoff and his "friends" certainly come into that category. If there were an anti semitic backlash....I wonder if Madoff would lose any sleep over that fact? I doubt he even thought he was doing anything improper even in his most Robert Mugabean moments seen as Greed is Good.

Something for all your "friends" at ADL and AIPAC to think about as they deal with their own "Sub-Prime Crisis".

Perhaps some good will come out of all this mess. Maybe even making your job a little easier.

warm regards
Khalid

Norman

I wouldn't be surprised if the powers that be are having a heart attack over their lost funds even as we speak.

Talk about getting kicked where it hurts.

So much so, they must have very little time to indulge in bashing Norman Finkelstein. I know one shouldn't gloat at other people's misfortune, but I can't help having an ironic smile on my face at the thought of how Madoff has unwittingly blown quite a few elitist balloons.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if your work will gather a bigger audience as you drive this steak through the beast of self serving snobs.

Dear oh dear oh dear: How will they look each other in the eye at the exclusive country club now? In fact who is "in" and who is "out"? You see, when your value system is based on who has the most gold taps in their bathroom, then the ones that are "out" are going to find the proverbial cold shoulder as their country club membership is revoked. What sad shallow people they are to think climbing up the greasy pole could ever give meaning to their vaccuous lives. No more room to stick their snout in the trough. Indeed no one is going to get their turn to stick their snout in seen as the trough has developed a bad leak.

Well, it's going to be an education seeing how they turn on each other like the proverbial rats on a sinking ship. I can't say I have much sympathy for what are essentially self absorbed rich trash.

Khalid





Hello Dr. Finkelstein, It was truly an honor to finally meet you last evening, and thank you again for signing my copies of your books. With so many people approaching you after the lecture I hope you might recall me...A kind of tall slim black guy who asked if you might have written anything on some of the past dust ups and imbroglios between the black and Jewish communities. You said you'd touch on the subject in The Holocaust Industry and that you would send me information on some more books and articles I could read on the subject. Don't get me wrong I'm also very concerned with the plight of the Palestinian people and of the well-being of Israel, but I too have a very keen interest in the previously mentioned subject which has to do with some of my own personal experiences. I like you Sir am a committed person of the left...Not the bogus Democratic Party left but the genuine Noam Chomsky left. I'm also a Richard Dawkins style atheist. I was a student at City College in the eighties and I had some very unpleasant experiences because of the conflict that was going on between black and Jewish students and faculty at the time...There was a lot of nuttiest from both sides Dr. Michael Levin on one side (he's still at it) and Dr. Leonard Jeffries on the other. He still from time to time says thing that are insulting but I think age (he's in his mid 70's) has mellowed him just a bit. Then there was the Jackson Campaign which was roundly attacked by many prominent Jewish persons...And he certain didn't help the situation with his Hymie town bullshit. Then Farrakhan and his underlings burst on the scene with their really gratuitous antijewish insults. I know you know all of this already Professor but it was such a confusing and anxious time for me. Also at the time I was coming into what I could call a state of "black consciousness", and I said some things truly out of ignorance, that I to this day I regret, that insulted Jewish persons at City.

One in particular Dr. Joyce Gelb Chairman of the Political Science became so furious with me that she made my presence there very uncomfortable...She became very mean and nasty in my opinion, I felt she went overboard and singled me out. I don't even recall exactly what I said to be honest with you...I think I parroted something Jeffries or Farrakhan said. I'm truly sorry for that. But Dr. Gelb wouldn't even talk to me to give me the chance to apologize and correct my ignorance. It's not like I used the K-word or denied The Holocaust. That was one of the main reason I wound up leaving City without graduating; though I hold no grudge against Dr.Gelb as a matter of fact if I ever saw her again I would beg her forgiveness 20 years after the fact. I too am sure you recall the Crown Heights imbroglio, that was so terrible...But it's just not true that there is this vast antisemitism within the black community. Most of what is said is out of ignorance and jealousy and a few genuine bones to pick. Hasidim culture is not very open or well understood. Sometimes I wish someone would write one of the for Dummies/Idiots books on the Hasidim. Anyway Professor I would like to know if maybe sometime next year you would consider lecturing a predominately black audience on black Jewish relations because someone like you is sorely needed. I could ramble on much longer but you're a busy man so I'll end here. I really look forward to corresponding with you Sir. Thank you.

Take care,
David



Dear Mr. Finkelstein,

I recently purchased and read your book titled "Beyond Chutzpah". I found it to be very informative, revealing, and scholarly; I also learned a whole list of new words (e.g. paeans, egregious). I just wanted to take a few moments to thank you for your hard work and dedication to this topic. I especially enjoyed reading your systematic deconstruction and discrediting of Alan Dershowitz's book. So thanks again and I look forward to reading your next masterpiece.

Omar



Norman!

I just checked out the City Club videos. What a triumph! And that - despite Ralphie Boy's introduction (obviously penned by the ghost writing team of Foxman and Dershowitz). Trust me; any credibility Ralph might have had going into the evening, was more than offset by his wardrobe picks!

Part 6 of 6 must DEFINITELY go into the time capsule. It had everything!

Humor - courtesy of your self-effacing psychoanalytical quips...

Sex - the audience shot of the adorable, young, red-haired Irish shiksa: One can almost read her mind as she bites her lip while frantically trying to figure out a way to ditch her friends, and slip you her cell number (the crucifix earrings lent a "forbidden passion" kinkiness to the whole scene a la Philip Roth)...and the coup de grace;

Dramatic Pathos - Your response to the elderly holocaust survivor was powerful and effective (and I mean that seriously, by the way), and won the whole crowd over. It's the closest I've seen you come to tears in any of your videos.

Your Friend, Rich K.

P.S. One interesting sidelight should be noted. Throughout the evening Ralphie exhibited the most extraordinary, dueling "steen" versus "styne" conflict that anyone has ever heard. Alas, you've been wrong all these years - "styne" emerged victorious at the very end. What a mental midget!!!



To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Festive wishes
Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 02:56:24 +0000

Dear Norman

I don't feel like writing anything profound right now, but I do feel like sending you my best regards and wishes from the UK, where I recently saw you speak in Nottingham. I have been writing a paper on the IP conflict and have found your writing extremely absorbing.

I am only writing this as I was perusing the JDL website out of interest and I saw that your email address had been posted with the implicit encouragement to send hatemail to you. I thought that rather disgusting, so I thought I would do the opposite.

I wholly support your work, and for people like myself who do not yet have one all-absorbing drive in life, but nonetheless are passionate about the I-P conflict, you are a very important person, and a leader, who - and this is important - determines the ideas and arguments that we will naturally pick up soon after you do.

In an ideal world, it would be great to see you publishing articles from an internationally-recognised univeristy, where your work would not only reach more people, but be "rubber-stamped" and therefore enter the mainstream without being subjected to criticism as "radical". But in the circumstances, perhaps your current predicament will prove to be more valuable in terms of what you learn and what you eventually bring to the world.

Either way, I would imagine that there are plenty of top universities here in the UK who would be more than happy to welcome you.

Best wishes, and hope that at least some of these emails put a smile on your face. (I find people much more influential and impressive when they themselves can laugh, and make me laugh, and when they have an accessibly cheery side to them).

Best regards

Matthew
Nottingham, UK



"To be young, gifted and Muslim"



When people think of religion they think of icons, superstition and centuries of human-made mythologies. Like any rational person of my sort, the minute I began seriously thinking about such things, I utterly rejected all the fairy-tales and supernatural stories I heard, just like when I read Greek mythologies. I eventually asked myself, why when I read Greek mythologies did I read them as silly little fun stories, but had to treat similar-sounding things with deference? I never believed in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy either, I was always, even as a child, so humorless when it came to these things. But it was nice getting presents for this or that holiday and using fun expressions. I got older, experienced turmoil in my family, moved out, began to live in the world on my own, and those things I shrugged off as inconsequential, became serious for me in that I realized, now that I was no longer constrained by anything I had to actually craft a life for myself in terms of values, choices etc. This proved to be very difficult obviously. It sounded quite easy, "I'll just take everything as it comes," make case by case judgments and craft my being and that was it. I was always interested in philosophy, the problems with my family inclined me to study religion in general, though like professor Chomsky, absent that personal element, I would have been content with reading philosophy and studying religion as just a tiny element of that. In my respects, that was the case.

My pursuit of "The Truth" or what I believed started with the scientific world, because for me, in order to make judgments about things, I needed to know what we know about the world. So in a very amateur fashion, I read scientific works, journals etc. I became obsessed with the origin of the universe, Big Bang and Chaos Theory, in particular. This is how my insomnia became acute. After long nights of this, I decided to at least change my minor at school to religious studies so it wasn't all in vain, besides they had some philosophy classes in that department. Studying the Bible and other Scriptures side by side with the wonders of modern scientific discovery made them even more laughable and ludicrous. How could anyone believe in the ahistoric nonsense?

Fast forward to the day I came across a wondrous, obscure book written by a French doctor. I know you don't have much regard for French intellectualism, and neither did I. But it was not just the book, it was the timing that I found this book. Had this book come to me some other time, perhaps I would have thought it fascinating like I think alot of things are fascinating. But I have to tell you the context in which I happened upon this book. I was reading up on Big Bang (my obsession at the time). The origin of our universe is described in terms of our universe being a "singularity" and a massive "explosion" (not a real explosion like a bomb that produces fragments but rather an explosion within itself) occurred which caused the ongoing process of expansion, the universe continues to expands today (although there seem to be new suggestions that the process is now reversing and the universe is beginning to contract). This is knowledge humanity was able to obtain through modern technology, obviously highly advanced telescopes and the culimination of knowledge to interpet what we saw. Another area I was working on simultaneously (I was very haphazard and unsystematic about this, it was really all over the place) was biology, because I knew the question of how humans developed would be easier than the universe. Anyways, of the greatest firm discoveries we've made is that the origin of life is aquatic. You know how you always see those evolution cartoons and some creature is always coming out of the water kind of fish-like and then they show the progression to an ape then human etc? Anyways, this seems small but for the longest time there were all sorts of theories about what the genesis of life. For example, during Darwin's time some believed in something called Spontaneous Generation, where mud springs life. So the firm fact that all life has aquatic origins was huge, and of course a modern discovery. So there were two significant modern discoveries that I was learning about: 1) the Big Bang origin of the universe and 2) the aquatic origin of life. It took us so long to reach firm conclusions on them, the accumulation of human knowledge throughout the centuries. We could only know any of it with greater certainty due to modern technology, obviously no question about that: the ancients, however impressive, did not possess Hubble-scale telescopes.

Now why am I going in to all this detail? I pick up this random book, discussing the origin of man (its science was slightly dated, it was written in the late 1970s) but it also had a section on Scriptures. Just as I was about to put it down as I was flipping through the pages and I encountered the following words, and because of the context, I immediately noticed the significance of the words especially the sequence and now that I've told you all of the above you'll see how:

"Are the disbelievers unaware that the heavens and the earth were one solid mass which We tore asunder, and that We made every living of water? Will they not have faith? (21:30)."

I put the book down. Nothing happened that instant, it all happened in my subconscious over months. There was much to be learned from the ancients, they were very learned some of them in astronomy, geology, etc. But this outright precision, contained in a book written in the 7th century in the desert of Arabia, no Hubble there, started a whole new kind of journey without me knowing it. It spoke of the universe as a singularity (one solid mass) it spoke of a tearing asunder which describes the explosion-implosion, and then it quickly fastforwards to the basic fact of life. And then of course many other things followed like the expansion of the universe:

"And it is We Who have constructed the heaven with might, and verily, it is We Who are steadily expanding it. (Qur'an, 51:47)"

There are numerous other things, that caused me to be in disarray, I began reading it with new eyes. What kept striking me was not just that the knowledge was there (history is full of intelligent civilizations musing about nature, life etc.) but the precision. As a last example to indicate what I mean, in Cosmology, our universe is depicted as first being very tiny then expanding and curvaceous. The terms usually found are "fold," "fabric." Here is how NASA depicts the different theoretical positions http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/bb_concepts.html

Quran 21:104:

That Day We will fold up heaven like folding up the pages of a book. As We originated the first creation so We will regenerate it. It is a promise binding on Us.

There were so many other things, relating to embryology, like it described how the zygote before it even becomes a fetus looks inside the uterus, like it clinging to the womb!

Here is a taste of what I spent long nights doing. I became so confused and intellectually challenged in life. On the one hand I had every reason to scorn it like any Greek mythology given the context, it was a book, presumably written in Arabia by human beings. On the other hand, I couldn't deny what was right in front of my very two eyes. With utmost and effortless precision, dictation of the origins of the universe and many other things, all of which we have only recently begun to grasp. Here is how it all began, there are 1000 layers of analysis which I am obviously not going into. There are 1000 other more issues that arose subsequently (like the text itself, its use of literary tools, metaphor, analogy, allegory, parables etc.) that continue to arise. But here is how my journey began.



From: sgaldau[]atMimeo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:41:42 -0600
Subject: Hero

Professor-

I meant what I said last night. You are, have been and always will be a hero to me. I know it sounds cheesy and campy but it is true. There is a real crisis, a real shortage of moral people in this world. People who think of others before themselves. People who are willing to sacrifice personal and financial means for what truly matters: what is right. I never attempted to label you as this or that, left vs. right. The paradigm that best encapsulates you is RIGHT vs. wrong. I am glad that you said last night that you are happy that I popped back into your life. I look at you as a role model for the man that I want to become. That is why I seek your judgment and wisdom and life experience for my next life move. Professor, last night you questioned your courage which you should never do. You touched upon experiencing self-pity which you should never do because how many lives have you affected? I am proud to know you and I hope to continue learning from you. On a final note, my parents want to have you over for dinner in 2009. I have been talking about you for 10 years and they are dying to meet you. Professor, I am not easily impressed. After my parents, I am impressed by you because you personify morality, character, intellect and sacrifice. Thank you Professor for all that you have done and still do for me. You are a scholar and a gentleman.. (maybe not a gentleman)



Dear Norman,

I happened to see this recent letter to the editor in the Cleveland Jewish News (below). Frankly I was surprised to see that the writer failed to include ‘holocaust denier’ among his other numerous charges but I suppose that the David Duke reference is meant to infer that as well. Very subtle.

It was quite wonderful to have you speak on three separate occasions in the space of a week here in northeastern Ohio, all of which I found to be insightful, stimulating and inspiring (and all were varied, no small feat).

I just wanted to mention past invited speakers to the Cleveland City Club includes Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks, W.E.B. DuBois, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and FDR. The audio podcast to your City Club talk is at:

http://www.cityclub.org/content/podcasts/index/Podcasts.aspx.)

We hope to see you back in Cleveland sometime soon!

Best Regards,

Michael Greenberg

http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2008/12/18/opinion/
letters/doc4941282ea51a3373431053.txt

Finkelstein after Mumbai?

Published: Friday, December 12, 2008 1:09 AM EST

The recent terrorist attack targeting a Jewish religious center (Chabad House) in Mumbai, India, has demonstrated that those who claim “being anti-Zionist is not the same as being anti-Semitic” are either naïve or anti-Semitic. The Chabad House in India was not the Israeli Embassy. These “anti-Zionist” terrorists targeted Chabad because there were Jews inside.

With the pain of the six Jews murdered in India still fresh, Case Western Reserve University and The City Club of Cleveland planned to host a speech this week, by the notorious anti-Zionist Norman Finkelstein. Finkelstein’s book The Holocaust Industry has been compared by The New York Times to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This man should not be given a respected podium to spread his propaganda of hate. Who will be the next speaker for CWRU and The City Club of Cleveland: David Duke? Shame!

Jason Stein

Cleveland Heights



Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:52:50 -0500
From: davidaitken19[at]gmail.com
To: NormanGF[at]hotmail.com
Subject: United For a Righteous Cause

Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I have been observing your interviews, lectures and debates with great interest. I have also begun reading your books. I am a sincere seeker of the truth, and I'm glad to see someone stating that this is NOT about dismantling the so-called "Zionist state" of Israel. Israel is largely atheistic; we don't see the Israeli market completely shut down on Saturdays, although this is the Sabbath (day of not working) for the Jews. This campaign against human rights violations is about ending the illegal and horrendously oppressive military occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem - which collectively form the internationally recognized Palestinian state. The men, women and children of Gaza are being caged in like animals by Israeli military forces, and those of the West Bank are being choked out by a heavily militarized apartheid wall.

Most of today's so-called "Zionists" are actually just self-interested opportunist - they're atheist in practice. They are not ideologically committed people; they're fakers. They don't give a flying rat's tokhes (Yiddish: "behind" ????) about Zionism or the State of Israel. They care only about themselves. They support Israel for personal gain: power and privilege. They support Israel to fatten their stomachs and line their pockets. They support Israel to get a little taste of power and act out some sick "Chutzpah" fantasies with the lives of innocent men, women and children - Palestinian and Israeli.

They have absolutely no regard for the scriptures that they claim to believe in. I wanted to show how the Bible actually proves that although the Children of Israel were given the holy land, they lost it fair and square by rebelling against God Almighty. There's no legitimate Biblical justification for the military occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

In Deuteronomy 28:1, 8, 15, 63-4, Moses said to the Children of Israel:

> "If you fully obey the Lord your God
> and carefully follow all His commands I give you today,
> the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.


>
> The Lord your God will bless you in the land He is giving you.
> > However, if you do not obey the Lord your God
> and do not carefully follow all His commands and decrees I am giving you today,
> all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

>
> You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.
> Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other."

And then, in Deuteronomy 31:16, 20-1, we see the following prophecy:

> And the Lord said to Moses:
> "They will forsake Me and break the covenant I made with them.
>
> When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey,
> the land I promised on oath to their forefathers,
> and when they eat their fill and thrive,
> they will turn to other gods and worship them,
> rejecting Me and breaking My covenant.
>
> I know what they are disposed to do,
> even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath."

The Quran actually says the exact same thing.
[Note that the first person plural "we" in the Quranic verses indicates participation of other entities, such as the angels.]

1) Moses told the Children of Israel to enter the Holy Land (Al-Ard Al-Muqaddasah). (5:21)
2) Eventually, they inherited such land. (7:137)
3) They lost the land by breaking God's covenant and they became scattered among the nations. (7:168)

??? ?????? ????????? ???????? ?????????????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ???? ??????????? ????? ????????????? ?????????????? ??????????
(Moses said,) "O my people, enter the Holy Land that God has decreed for you, and do not rebel, lest you become losers."

????????????? ????????? ????????? ??????? ??????????????? ????????? ???????? ?????????????? ??????? ?????????? ?????? ????????? ???????? ??????? ?????????? ????? ????? ???????????? ????? ???????? ???????????? ??? ????? ???????? ?????????? ?????????? ????? ??????? ???????????
We let the oppressed people inherit the land, east and west, and we blessed it. The blessed commands of your Lord were thus fulfilled for the Children of Israel,
to reward them for their steadfastness,
and we annihilated the works of Pharaoh and his people and everything they harvested.

???????????????? ??? ???????? ???????
(Later,) we scattered them among many nations throughout the land.

Therefore, after God gave the Children of Israel the land, they lost it fair and square. That's what the Bible says. That's what the Quran says. For those who believe their Author is one and the same - as I believe - they know that God does not advocate the illegal military occupation of the Palestinian territories. God never advocates oppression. In fact, God says in the Quran 2:191, 217:

??????????? ??????? ???? ?????????
Oppression is worse than murder.

??????????? ???????? ???? ?????????
Oppression is worse than murder.

Dr. Finkelstein, I support you 100% when you call for an absolute, permanent and immediate end to the military occupation of the Palestinian territories. This proves that believers from any religion and atheists can be united for a righteous cause - the cause of upholding human rights (see Quran 5:2, 8 below). I'm with you in calling for a free Palestinian state in the occupied Palestinian territories - Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. The men, women and children of Palestine must be granted the same right to self-determination that the men, women and children of Israel have been granted.

????????????? ????? ???????? ???????????? ???? ??????????? ????? ???????? ??????????????
You shall cooperate in matters of righteousness and piety;
do not cooperate in matters that are sinful and evil.

??? ???????? ????????? ??????? ??????? ??????????? ??????? ????????? ??????????? ???? ??????????????? ??????? ?????? ????? ???? ?????????? ????????? ???? ???????? ??????????? ?????????? ??????? ????? ??????? ??????? ????? ???????????
O you who believe, you shall be absolutely equitable,
and observe God, when you serve as witnesses.
Do not be provoked by your conflicts with some people into committing injustice.
You shall be absolutely equitable, for it is more righteous.
You shall observe God. God is fully Cognizant of everything you do.

Sincerely,

-David R. S. Aitken



Dear Sir:

I watched your presentation this morning on Channel 3 (WKYC) at the Cleveland City Club. Your address was delivered to them earlier in the week.

I am not an anti-semetic. Yet, for the very first time, I heard someone who echos my own views with respect to Israel and the Palestinians. How dearly I hope you right when you say general opinion is changing!

I thought your answer to the lady who asked if you were a "self-hating Jew" was right on target: What did that have to do with the presentation you made?

It's too bad that more people can't accept plain and simple logic: How many Holocaust survivors are there? I'm not sure the lady that asked about compensation for Holocaust survivors was convinced although I thought your answer needed to be said...

Let me know how I can support your work.



From: petjesman[at]msn.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: The EU treaty upgrade with Israel
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:49:30 +0100

What exactly is the significance of this EU treaty upgrade?

I've looked at what other countries are part of this European Neighborhood Policy and almost every one of them is a huge human rights violator. Some are even utterly undemocratic.

It can hardly be claimed that this "upgrade" whatever it is exactly is a huge triumph for Israel.

It rather seems that it just joins an assorted cabal of nations with less then stellar human rights records such as Algeria, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Armenia, Jordan, Syria, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Belarus, Libya, Ukraine Egypt, Moldova, Georgia. and Morocco. (http://ec.europa.eu/world/enp/index_en.htm) I do agree with some politicians that EU policy does seem hypocritical in this field when it comes to different countries.

But if one were to uphold the treaties goals as requirements almost non of the nations with membership to the ENP would be liable for membership.



Hello Norman,

How have you been doing? I see that your schedule is getting busy with speaking dates - I'm glad.

I've been thinking about some of the compelling aspects of your lectures (as well as other lectures given by people such as Anna Baltzer). I came across a blog post by Phillip Weiss on a NY fabric store that is advocating a fund to Hebron settlers.

http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2008/12/nadia-matar-a-defiant-settler-
who-was-evicted-from-that-disputed-house-in-hebron-last-week-has-sent-out-a-
defiant-email-th.html#more

Anyways, from what I read about the fund - one of the advocates is against the two-state solution. Weiss brings up the double standard of our government hassling and prosecuting Palestinian charities under suspicion that they fund Hamas while funds like the one I mentioned are going towards the settlements.

I bring this all up because I remember you drawing parallels to past conflicts (as did Anna Baltzer) like the plight of the Native Americans and their resistance to the European colonists. I think this is a very useful comparison and it gets people to think about the present-day similarities. It also works to demystify the conflict. If people realize that it's not unique, and is basically about land/colonization/power then we can understand the behavior behind both parties right?

I guess the basic goal is to get the rational people who are in the middle to apply that same standard across the board.

This runs in opposition to how the hawks would have us see it: a religious conflict/clash of civilizations/unresolvable/terrorists blah blah.

Drilling on terrorism seems to be a popular counterargument but it IMO it's very superficial. That doesn't mean we accept the acts - we don't. They are deplorable but I think (and I recall Anna B. saying this too) that we should look at the violence in context. If people are serious about solving the conflict then looking at the source of the troubles (which means seeing things from the "enemies" perspective and reflecting on one's own actions).

I mean, do we call rioters, terrorists? Look at the LA riots. Did we call the people involved there, terrorists? It's like the word itself, terrorist or terrorism, has a unique meaning. It means only Arabs or Muslims; only people who attack "the State" - whether it's the US or our allies.

And again, this doesn't mean we accept the actions of these people but if our goal is to resolve the conflict it'd make sense to be more conscience of our actions/etc.

Lastly, I have noticed people bringing up one-state more often and I think it relates to a larger issue of tactics/strategy to resolving the conflict. I agree with what you said about (quoting Chairman Mao) "uniting the many to defeat the few" but in your opinion, could there be other ways to reach people that would not be a direct way (talking about the two-state solution exclusively)? I saw your lecture on Gandhi and I thought it was very interesting and the other aspects of your lectures (mostly in the Q/A) are very compelling. I think as a tactic, it could be a very meaningful way to sway those in the middle. I don't mean that as propaganda or anything either, but rather as in applying our basic moral judgments to this conflict that everyone tells us is so complicated.



Hello Norman:

My name is Dax. I am a Public Affairs Student at Carleton University in Ottawa. My major will be in Human Rights. For this reason, and many others, I have gravitated towards the Israel/Palestine issue. I am also the co-coordinator of the Carleton Cinema Politica; a bi-weekly documentary film series featured on campus. The Cinema Politica organization itself has spread to many different campuses all across Canada with some international ones as well (www.cinemapolitica.org). While checking your website a few days ago, I was ecstatic upon discovering this new film entitled 'American Radical.' I have sent the information to the curator/creator of the Cinema Politica film network and he has contacted the filmmakers to request a screener copy.

Check out this link:
http://artthreat.net/2008/12/new-documentary-examines-the-life- of-american-radical-norman-inkelstein/

It is my hope that the film will become a Cinema Politica feature and will be allowed to be viewed on campuses all across Canada. I am already anxious to begin organizing an Ottawa premiere at one of our local cinemas.

I would just like to say your work has given me and numerous others an unthinkable amount of inspiration; not just in academics but in speaking truth to power. For years I had not considered pursuing post-secondary school and it was brave academics such as yourself that have influenced my academic fortitude and social justice work. On a side note your work has also sparked another great interest; that of my 67 year old father. While always a brutally honest man himself, my father has recognized the same characteristics take effect in his son. As I have taken an interest in social justice issues and began organizing, my father has been a regular attendee and I have shared much literature with him. One of the books I implored him to read was Beyond Chutzpah. With him being a general cynic, I was amazed to see him become more and more interested in the subject. Your book has finally given him the clarity and honesty he was searching for.

We have often discussed your career and my father likes to use it as an exemplary case of how power operates when someone genuinely seeks truth. He tells me that you must not upset the apple cart because you will depend upon it for your livelihood. Now that he is retired (former high school teacher), he feels liberated from the shackles of social taboos and political correctness. I tell him he should have stood up even when his personal luxuries and reputation were at stake, but I am nonetheless enthused to see him so vigorously impassioned.

Perhaps if we are able to show the film we can further discuss the possibility of you visiting Ottawa again. It would be great to have you and the filmmakers present for an Ottawa and Montreal premiere of the film.

Thanks and take care,
Dax





The eternal shame of the Arab world, and the quiet dignity of Gaza

Dear Norm,

The sneering phantom of life has reached another level my friend ….Not only has Israel closed all of its crossings with Gaza since November the 5th following rocket attacks launched by Palestinian fighters within the Strip breaking the five-month ceasefire that led to Israel's imposition of the blockade and causing a bleak humanitarian crisis in Gaza. But Egypt has aggrandized the situation by closing down the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip.

What have the Arabs/Muslims done to date??? Well a couple of thousand Iranians marched the streets of Tehran in protest of crimes of the Zionist regime and the Israel’s blockade of the Gaza strip on Friday. Earlier , similar demonstrations / protests took place in some parts of Lebanon and in most Palestinian refugee camps …

And that was it!!!!

On the other side of the Middle East and in the UAE in particular, it celebrated the 37th National Day of their nation by displaying extravagant fireworks in two of its major cities. In the capital, the record breaking “Breathtaking Fireworks Display” lit up Abu Dhabi’s night sky for 45 minutes. In Dubai, the organizers launched an extravagant opening ceremony of the Atlantis Hotel with a fireworks display to have been 7 times the size of Beijing’s Olympic Games. The latter star-studded event was attended by A-list celebrities and royalty and is rumored to have cost $40 million to stage according to www.arabianbusiness.com

I don’t know!!!

I may be a party pooper but I would have thought that maybe organizers might have pulled the fuse on the fireworks festival this year in light of the recent current events : Aren’t people around the world ( and I mean millions) experiencing the pain of housing foreclosure , unemployment and financial crisis? Even in the UAE, many businesses and residents are reeling!!!

The timing couldn't’t be worse for a display of such heartlessness and insensitivity …..How much better to see the headline: ‘UAE Shelves Fireworks World Record to Make World Record Gifts for Fighting Terrorism and Providing Fuel Supplies to Gaza ?’

I would also like to leave the Arabs and Muslims with this anecdote retold on one of the articles on www.Electronicintifada.net

‘Mr. Alfaqawi said, "When I wanted to travel out of Gaza for treatment, the [Israeli] intelligence personnel asked me to collaborate with them, but I refused. They said, either you collaborate with us or you go back to Gaza. Of course, I refused to comply with them, saying I'm going to die sooner or later, so I returned home."

I might be accused of being a typical “ killjoy” , but I seriously won’t have any consolidating shibboleths to Mr. Alfaqawi’s family when we loose him while my eyes are still dazzled by the exorbitant fireworks?!

Tc...and keep warm ...

zeina



Hi Norman,

I just wanted to chime in on the headlines being added to the articles on the front page. I don't think enough people are capable of understanding the irony in your alternative headlines and may get a seriously wrong impression, as demonstrated by a few reluctant letters already. It would be much better if you could make a serious paragraph or so of commentary at the end of every article - the ironic observational comedy could be a footnote rather than a headline and wouldn't steal from the seriousness of the issue.

Keep up the good work,



From: bahjad11[at]hotmail.co.uk
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Brave Heart
Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2008 20:32:36 +0000

Dear Finkelstein,

I recently became one of your big fans and I must confess that you are one of my heroes in terms of truth, freedom, scholarly and being a decent human.

Of course you will go through rough and tough times but lets not forget that you will always have a place in the hearts of the people who loves freedom and equality(mainly for those who have been struggling because they look up to you).

I will wish you all the best and I will follow your foot steps.

Ahmed.



From: arngross[at]msn.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject:
Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2008 19:55:29 -0700

I recently read, or should I say I tried to overcome my revulsion at, your book, The Holocaust Industry.

As a Jew and as an American with profound respect for the memory of my ancestors who perished in the holocaust, as well as for the state of Israel, I abhor everything you profess to stand for. I actually don't know what you stand for, other than the profit you might accrue for your self-hating treatment of the Jewish people.

I have never forgotten the words spoken to me by my father when, as a young child, I asked him to explain anti-Semitism. At one point he cautioned me that the most dangerous anti-Semite is a Jewish one.

You, Mr. Finkelstein, are dangerous. The only "holocaust industry" was the one infamously created by Nazi Germany, with its hideous assembly line of pain and death that efficiently murdered six million innocent and helpless Jews. Shame on you for your defamation of the memory of those who perished.

Arnold Grossman



Sent: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 8:37:23 PM
Subject: Letter of the Week

That is quite a letter from Elie. He's taken quite a journey so far, one that involves a little pain, it seems.

Any teacher worth his salt would be immensely gratified to motivate such a talented and thoughtful person to undergo a transition like this. In my 18 years of teaching, I'm unaware of ever having done so.

This one certainly involves a journey from darkness to truth. Let's hope he stays on it.

Doubtless more will follow. And others have already begun.

Frank



Greetings.

I'm an undergraduate at Northeastern Illinois University, in Chicago. I really sympathize with you on your vs. Dershowitz case and your incident with DePaul University. Okay, so you criticized Dershowitz's book, and you guys went back and forth. And then, I find it 'random' for him, to in addition, write to DePaul, to lobby against your tenure. I couldn't find the reason why - might be mostly revenge. You guys could have continued back and forth - but what was the need to go external and try to deny your tenure?

And as for the arrogant Orthodox Jew (itsme170[at]yahoo.com) from a November 13 e-mail, I guess he doesn't know how to evaluate criticisms. I'd say it's people like him they are giving Jews a bad image - not you. Ad hominems are never looked gladly upon.



Dear Mr. Finkestein,

I have been one of your admirers and supporters for many years. I am sure you don't remember, but when you came to Berkeley last year, I brought you flower before your talk to thank you for speaking the truth. I have read your books, your articles and have attended all of your talks in Berkeley, with the exception of the most recent one a few weeks ago. I also truly respect Mr. Joel Kovel and his writings teach me a lot. I am very fascinated with Mr. Kovel's ideas of the eco-socialism. Anyway, now I hear you advocating for a two state solution and Mr. Kovel in his book "Overcoming Zionism" is advocating that the only way to resolve this conflict is a one state solution. I know you don't have time and you receive a number of e-mails and letters on daily basis, but if you would be kind enough to explain the difference between your point of view and Mr. Kovel's, I really appreciate it. If you ever come to Berkeley and feel like having coffee/lunch/dinner and chat and need someone to show you around please let me know! Thanks S



Sent: Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Subject: Today's Letter of the Week

I just wanted to echo the sentiments of Elie, this week's letter-writer of the week. As a Jewish American sharing Elie's background, it was only after reading books by you and others like you that I came to change my position on the Israel-Palestine conflict. I constantly encourage family and friends to read your books and website. But as of late, with your more, shall we say, creative headlines, I have been reluctant to do so.

The headlines, while quirky and usually funny, confirm for the Finkelstein-skeptic what they already have swirling around in their heads: that you are borderline anti-semitic. Obviously, that's not the case and I don't have to belabor that point. My concern is that those who haven't had the chance to review your work at any length will never do it (especially those with a Jewish background) after reading those sorts of side-comments on your website.

I am in law school and a firm believer in the First Amendment so generally I would never ask anyone to tone anything down on their website. However, from what I understand about your advocacy work, you are a pragmatist. I saw in a recent interview of yours in Spain, for example, how you were irked by questions concerning the "one state versus two state" issue as it had no practical benefit to ending the occupation and, indeed, could even be harmful to it. So, speaking to Finkelstein The Pragmatist, I would echo Elie's concerns and ask you to reconsider some of your more colorful commentary on the website.

In either case, I remain a faithful reader of your work and wish you and yours all the best.



Dear Mr. Finkelstein,

You are a personal hero of mine and have inspired me to always tell the truth even if it is done at a huge personal cost.

I just wanted to ask you if your political memoir is still coming out? I don't see a link to it on your site anymore.

I can't wait for your new book that's scheduled to be released next year.

Are you planning to come to California any time soon?

Regards,
-Yasir Khan





Dr. Finkelstein,

I'm a Jewish undergraduate student at DePaul. I grew up in the Midwest during the Olso years and went through high school during the second intifada. Throughout this young adulthood I was thoroughly bombarded with staunch support for any and every Israeli deed (misdeeds) by Jewish community leaders. After graduating high school, I was just beginning my time at DePaul as you were being denied tenure, which left me not able to ignore your story and your scholarship. During the summer of your tenure battle, prodded by newspaper accounts and accounts from my community that there was an 'anti-semitic' professor at DePaul battling it out with Allen Dershowitz, I decided to look at both your website and Dershowitz's. What I found surprised me: Dershowitz's website was juvenile and insulting; yours was a substantive response to the assault on your career and scholarship. While I had not read Dershowitz's case for Israel, I had skimmed it in high school and I owned a copy that had been given to me by a Jewish community school during the intifada years. Soon after my introduction to your work, the unraveling of my respect for Dershowitz and my blind support of Israel's policies was swift. Dershowitz embarrassed himself in your debate with him on Democracy Now! and when I read your appropriately named book, Beyond Chutzpah, the blinders imposed by my upbringing were removed. I began to follow your website; I watched several documentaries on the conflict on youtube; I began following B'tselem's website; and I viewed some of your lectures at other universities and saw the immature ways in which Jewish students, with upbringings much like myself, dealt with your unwanted exposing of Israel's misbehavior. Your website has introduced me to the news-sources of Electronic Intifada, Counterpunch, and Truthdig, and has given me a renewed dedication to Democracy Now!. So, in part, because of your efforts, Israel's immunization from criticism (criticism which is called for by any liberal standard) is no longer effective in my case, my case being a youth who grew up in an American Zionist community. In my own small way, I now am an advocate for peace and justice in Israel and Palestine, which only makes sense in the context of the overarching liberal-ness of my upbringing, save the tribalistic ignoring of Israel's racist and illegal policies.

But there is a caveat in my letter to you today, the thing that prompted me to finally write to you in the first place. It requires some background, if you care to bear with me.

I first heard your voice on NPR's Worldview program with Jerome Mcdonnell during your tenure battle. And, before I caught wind of the content of the conversation and before Mcdonnell identified who you were, I thought to myself, "is there an east-coast rabbi on Worldview? what's going on here?..." Because, Dr. Finkelstein, your accent and your way of speaking was strikingly similar to the Jewish voices I would normally hear from people in my extended community...except that people from my extended community were not normally found on the liberal Worldview program. What this gets at is that your criticism of Israel and of Israel's apologists was all the more devastating to my 'pro-Israel' worldview because you were Jewish; you were a bonafide New York Jew and the child of Nazi holocaust survivors. Others have mentioned in their letters to you that your voice has an intensely compassionate tenor, something that came through the first time I heard you speak on NPR. But, for me, it was not only the compassion in your voice, but the fact that it was a Jewish voice. For the first time in my life as an adult, there was a Jewish voice speaking about peace and justice in Palestine and Israel, not just making excuses for Israel's behavior. Others have written to you about the importance of internal Jewish self-criticism, lest true anti-Semites hijack the peace movement. And it is quite possible that I might not have been drawn to you, your work, and your scholarship had you not been the Jew you are. But today I looked at your website and saw this headline:

Watch the Nazis.
Watch the Nazis have a fun time.
Watch the Nazis have a fun time demolishing Palestinian homes.
Watch the Nazis have a fun time demolishing Palestinian homes,
and watch yourself slowly but surely becoming an anti-Semite.

"Watch yourself slowly but surely becoming an anti-Semite," you say. But that is not the message that drew me to you and your work. And this message does not reflect the tenor of people like Jeff Halper whose video this headline is a link to.

As Jeff Halper says, Judaism can be tribalistic, and today many Jews are; Zionists are tribalistic as are many Israelis. But Judaism also has as part of its heritage expressions of peace, justice, and human rights that are among the noblest expressions of such values as any world-religion has to offer. Like Christianity and Islam, Judaism itself has something to offer to the pursuit of peace and justice in Palestine and Israel. To quote the Hebrew Bible: "Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof," "Justice, Justice thou shall pursue," says God to the Jews and to the world. And to quote the Talmudic sage Akiba, "Mah She'sonecha alach, Al ta'aseh l'chavercha," "That which is hateful to you, do not do unto your fellow man." These expressions of human rights and justice are foundational to true Jewish belief and practice.

So, Dr. Finkelstein, I ache for justice in Palestine and, indeed, the world, exactly because I am Jewish. Because a true application of Jewish morality would do justice by the Palestinians. It is well known that praying for forgiveness and atonement are an integral part of the Jewish tradition. Less well known, but just as true, is that behaving justly toward fellow men is a prerequisite in Jewish law if that forgiveness and atonement are ever to be attained. But, as Jeff Halper says, tribalism circumscribes who receives just treatment. Yet, in true Judaism, atonement is something that must be earned through just behavior toward all people, regardless of race, creed, or color. Therefore, whether or not you think it so, when you call for justice in Palestine and Israel, you are practicing traditional Judaism at its best. But, if day after day, as I look at your website, your rhetoric turns more bitter and perhaps...anti-Semitic, you might estrange me. And if you estrange me, what hope is there for the community I come from? With your background, you have a unique opportunity to preach not only to those who want to hear your message, but also to those Jews who don't want to hear it. What, I ask, might be accomplished if instead of heading toward "slowly becoming an anti-Semite," you took the best that Judaism has to offer and used traditional Judaism itself to work for justice in Palestine?

With gratitude and respect, but also apprehension,

Elie



dear professor

world's leaders have decided not to see Gazza as they decided not to see Bosnia and as afqanistan and as iraq.

thanks God people of the world can see both Gazza and their leaders, but what can we do?

thank you again



Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2008 09:35:42 -0800
From: ntbuckle[at]yahoo.com
Subject: all good wishes
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

It suddenly struck me I hadn't seen any articles by or references to you recently on eg Counterpunch. I did a google and found your website. Glad to see all seem to be well with you!

Your integrity is greatly respected by many people out there.

Nigel Buckle



Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:24:18 -0800
From: kiddrkevin[at]yahoo.com
Subject: a subject left off your website
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

What you omit from your site is often more telling than what is there. It appears that having some Arab children excluded from a swimming pool (a distorted story) and you compelling sympathy for Swiss banks with War-era Jewish money is more newsworthy than the brutal slaughter of a young rabbinic couple and more than a hundred other people at the hands of radical Islamic terrorists. Your readers should understand how demonstrative this tragedy is, of the reality of radical Moslems killing Jews. This rabbi and his wife assisted Jews from around the world visiting India for Sabbath, Kosher, and educational needs, and worked with locals with drug problems. They were not killed because of Palestian return or "Arab lands." They were killed specifically because they were Jewish, just as your parents were tortured and the rest of your European family slaughtered just because they were Jewish. Events like this, which would be more common were it not for Israeli and Jewish security compentence, demonstrate the odious lie that the killing of Jews and others of the western world by terrorist Islamic organizations is because of territorial disputes. This is falsehood of the highest order--it's just not usually as obvious as it was in this case. With all your grotesque and pathologic allusions to Israeli-Nazi comparisons, often tossed off with a bewilderingly gothic sense of humor, the events in India represent the real spiritual descendancy of those that destroyed your family. The tragedy is deeply compounded by your inablity to recognize or come to terms with it. And it should have warranted a post on your site. Of course, it would not have served the purpose of your website to do this, but I hope you will post this with your letters.

Dr. K. Greenstein
Illinois



Professor Finkelstein,

I just wanted to write you and tell you about what is going on over here. This is really more of a comment on what is going on and you are one of the few people I know that would understand what I am talking about.

Student Elections were held yesterday and it really was fairly pitiful seeing the whole thing unfold. In reality, a 4th grade treasurer has more authority than any student representative at AUB. So the fact that the entire campus was in violent campaign mode made no sense to me. What is even more shameful is that the entire country actually puts stock into the outcome. The most telling moment of the day was when I walked past all the craziness of the polls, campaigners, and Lebanese media to look over the sea, and low and behold an Israeli plane flew over--as they occasionally do, though with more and more frequency. It put things in perspective here: while the Lebanese are trying to show off/ prove that their side is the best, real life is happening around them. You were right when you said that this is the most exciting place to be in the world right now.

The elections were basically a draw; March 14--which were wrongly named 'Students at Work' as I doubt any of them have worked a day in their life and used the color yellow and tied bandannas around their head to mock Hezbollah--won by five seats over March 8. But what makes it somewhat interesting is that the independent leftist group No Frontiers won five seats and basically can control who gets to be in charge; though once again, being in charge means absolutely nothing. The school spilt the campus in half basically and all the March 14 was on one side with March 8 on the other. Once the results were announced both sides raced to the streets to celebrate a victory; there was a buffer of about 200 Lebanese Army troops. It was closer than I thought since I figured the Sunnis were going to win since this is a private school and there are more Sunnis here than Shias. But the Auon-ist Christians kept it close; lots of orange on the street last night.

Sorry for making this so long, but the underlying thing is that this country is split and deep. I would like to say that its a party divide [not that that is a good thing], but really its split Sunni-Shia, with the Christians and Druze playing a bit-part role on the periphery. Fifteen to twenty years from now many of these people will be in Parliament and I cant see this divide getting smaller. Though, to be fair, this is Lebanon so conflict is never far away. Maybe that is what brings this country together, but in a legitimate way, not something like the so-called Ceder Revolution. Anyways, I am rambling on. I just wanted to write down what was happening here, though I am sure this is nothing new for you.

Please take care.



Dear Dr. Finkelstein

I am a Palestinian who currently lives in Houston, Texas. I came across your work by lucky coincidence and have since read a couple of your books and listened to many of your lectures. While I disagree with you on some key points, mainly your position on the one-state solution and your reluctance to associate Zionism with the current issue, when in my opinion it has everything to do with the current issue and in debating the various solutions for it, I remain in awe of your courage in dissenting from the mainstream view and in pursuing truth with reason and passion. Thank you for everything that you do.

Warm regards,
Dana Abed



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

My name is Rana and I live in Berkeley, CA. I would like to express my great admiration of your scholarship and your courage. I wish you all the best.

Sincerely,



Dear Norman,

I was just reading with disgust about the situation in Hebron, which has recently come to a head as IDF/police are clashing with the fanatics. The settlers there are disgusting people and have no shame. One picture posted on the CNN website froze me: defaced Muslim gravestones. Back in March of this year a cousin and I went to Germany to visit the towns our ancestors came from, some buried there. Not a few graves are defaced, by the Nazis and others. It is so maddening and upsetting to see Jews acting in the same manner.

-Alex



Dear Dr. Finklestein,

I recently attended a talk at UCL and once again it was excellent. My enthusiasm for activism was reinvigorated. I just wanted to know what a difference your talks make to informing and energising students. I hope you might be able to speak in London in the evening to allow a wider audience to attend.

Once again thank you for an inspiring talk,

U. N. A.



Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:18:34 -0800
From: palmbeachdave2003[at]yahoo.com
Subject: C-SPAN
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Norman,

Once again, one of your female goons who incessantly calls into cspan, blames supporters of Israel for starting the Iraq war!!!

All she could do was to speak your name a half dozen times as you are the messiah.

WE GET THE POINT.

You are a self-hating Jew who would rather see Israel destroyed than defend themselves.

May you and you friends that hate Israel suffer before you die and rot in hell.



Dear mister Finkelstein,

I attended your lecture at Maastricht University on the 13 of November and I have one or two doubts about your thesis (if I may call it that) to whether a 'Gandhian approach' could be a model for a solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And I'm very curious to hear your opinion about them. I had hoped that the analysis of your paper would be regarding your thesis, but sadly I had to observe how the analysis left the key contents of your paper aside and went on to argue about who was to blame for this conflict. This was, in my opinion, not relevant to your talk, at least not in the way I understood it.

I have to say I was impressed by your analysis of Gandhi and his philosophy. Having lived in India myself for 2 years, finishing my high school there with a history course in Indian independence, I can't say this I'm an expert on him, but, compared to the average Dutch student, I know a thing or two about him. My doubts therefore, with one exception, do not regard Gandhi's philosophy but rather the historical context in which he lived and acted. Although I do think you have over looked some things about him.

You keenly pointed out that the fundamental requirement for nonviolent action and civil disobedience is that there is a consensus among the population as to what the goal of the action is. Your argument is that this consensus existed during the Indian, or South Asian, independence struggle, and that this consensus exists in the Palestinian conflict at the moment. So to put it fairly straight forward: this could work. However, I believe there are some keen differences between these two conflicts.

Many (Indian) historians agree that in fact the British already knew they had to leave south Asia somewhere in the near future and were planning to do so. Post WWII decolonisation shows that there was in fact a trend among western colonial powers to leave their colonies soon after the world war ended. So there was not only consensus among the south Asian people but also to some extend among the British. This is, I believe, an essential detail in the civil disobedience movement which makes it less (or maybe even in-) applicable to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Your argument was, while showing figures of general assembly votes, that there is a consensus among the international community en therefore a nonviolent approach could work they way it has worked for South Asian independence. I tend to believe though, that international consensus, how ever pleasing, is fairly irrelevant in this case. Instead, there should be consensus amongst the Palestinians to what their goals are AND some sort of awareness amongst the Israeli's about that what they are doing is not admissible and that 'never again' should not just come at any cost. I had two Palestinians in my classes in India, and they told me that such consensus even amongst the Palestinian does simply not exist: a lot of people are happy to return to the 1967 borders, but a significant part of the population wants, whether 'deep down' or not, to return to the situation as it was before Israeli settlement. And we should also not forget that Hamas agreed to return to 1967 borders under heavy political pressure (the Gaza-strip being completely sealed of). So, to use the Zoroastrian wisdom which Gandhi also applied: the good words where there, but the good thoughts are probably not (not commenting on the good deeds). Note that this is not meant to be a comment on Hamas position but rather to show that even amongst the Palestinians themselves there is no agreement as to what the goal of the opposing Israelis is. On top of that you showed yourself that the Israelis are not willing to give anything away, not accepting any legal responsibility for the refugee problem. So while in South Asia the people were united 'under' Gandhi with a British oppressor knowing deep down that it was a lost cause, the Palestinians themselves are divided with an Israeli oppressor that will do almost anything to prevent something like a holocaust form happening again (Whether this is a fair position from the Israelis or not is for now irrelevant). And the fundamental conditions for nonviolent action are gone all of a sudden.

It seems to me that the Israeli conflict is therefore not similar to south Asian independence but actually more like the Indian Pakistani conflict over Kashmir. This conflict started before actual independence existed and although Gandhi had very much hoped for a united India, he admitted in the end that a separate Pakistan was eventually inevitable. The partition was incredibly violent and took place for the most part while Gandhi was still alive. This was, and is, of course a major stain on the ideologically driven independence process in South Asia. But Gandhi, having miraculously united Hindus and Muslims for the cause of independence, was unable to do anything about the violence that took place between these two peoples once independence was gained. And more than 50 years later, with both violent and nonviolent attempts being made to found one, both countries are nuclear powers and a solution to this problem does not seem very near. It does, though, show that even goals have that have been achieved with such a conscience as Gandhi like striving for, can result in a violent and corrupt aftermath. Gandhi (and you, in your talk) on the other hand predicted that this would not happen. And fair enough, elections in India have been reasonably fair ever since independence (at least, the counting of votes), but the ruling has not always been clear of corruption. For instance under Indira Gandhi, who was in office only 2 years after Nehru had left it. not to mention the corruption in lower governments.

This seems a very pessimistic conclusion from me who like to consider myself an optimist. But as long as Israelis are convinced they have the right to do what they are doing (note that their biggest 'pall', the US does not recognise the ICJ, I'm not sure about Israel's position) and the Palestinian population can not come to an internal agreement about their goal, a nonviolent opposition inspired by South Asian independence seems to have little chance of success.

Again these are two objections that I had against your thesis and I'm just very curious as to what you have to say about them.

Finally I would like to thank you for your talk, because it's discussions like these that make me regret having chosen to study engineering.

With kind regards,



Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:58:31 -0800
From: itsme170[at]yahoo.com
Subject: YOU
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Norman,

You are a disgrace as a Jew!!! You are a disgrace as a human being!!! I hope you burn in hell and take a look at why your parents died in the Holocaust!!!! You think you are an intellectual??? You are a flaming asshole who deserves on the worst things in life. I hope your life is nothing but a long torturous hell. I don't know if you even have a family, but I wish nothing but the worst for them for because of who you are and what you are doing!!!! You don't have a clue of the damage you do to the Jewish people and how many other assholes like you that you influence.

May your life be a holy hell!!!!





Hello Mr Finkelstein ,

i'm a simple lebanese boy ( christian* no believer neither follower in my religion ) who lives in France and comes from a very modern family * who made all of their studies in France in medecine and engineering and who were raised in a world without religion and very open-minded principles concerning the human values, and a very socialist thoughts as well.

I just discovered a few minutes ago by coincindence your opinion toward lebanon and the israel acts against my country on youtube.

First, i would like to congratulate you for your courage and honnesty for having this point of view although of having a religion that it's moretheless against what's happening in the middle east and against the arab community.

Second, just for expressing my opinion that CAN'T have any anti semetic or any other concern that can be related to any racism or unacceptance of the judaism , 7 out of 10 of my close friends here in France not only are jewish, but even have a very radical and extremist purposes against arabs , and they all defend severely Israel and their acts ( unfortunatly i would say.. and my best best best friend with whom i spend almost 10 hours a day is one of the most radical and extremist in his political and religious thoughts)

I wanted to insist on this point because i'm deeply a person who can accept any difference and more particularly another religion (and maybe more particularly judaism for maybe some common things that relates me to them) of frequenting Israelis without having any hatred or anger against any single person of this population. ( eventhough that i believe that their gouvernement is making the wrong decisions and acts )

I always accepted the fact the Israel wanted a mark to be able to have a certain identity. like the christianism have the Vatican, and the musulam have Mekka and so on and on...

i was always even defending this right in a way that it has to be done one day in a place or another..and since all of the world was occupied already, there was a place in this world that is going to be a victime toward this occupation, and it fell down on palestine ( unfortunatly maybe...)

I'm one of the rarest persons as well on earth maybe who used to defend the jewish victims severly and agressively concerning the extermination of hitler in a way that even the jewish don't defend it in this way very honnestly..

What i heard from you concerning hezbollah, made me feel very touched and maybe a little bit happy to see that some persons who usually and mostly might belong to the opposition of hezbollah, are able to see the evidence and EASY REALITY of the unfair of occupuying a country that basically was trying ONLY to defend his country, and to resist against an occupier who is trying to take him off his land.

I'm strictly not at all a supporter of hezbollah (even i would say i'm against them concerning the internal problem of letting them armed inside of lebanon and their support from Iran that i absolutly fight their dictature system in their country), but our conflicts with Israel are really scandalous and not justified unfortunatly.

In the last war, these excuses to declare that war which caused over 1100 deads of civilians was crual as much as any terrorist acts that was made against israel or any other nation in the world.

I know that all what i'm saying doesn't add any information to your knowledge and that you should have heard it at least thousands of time , but i wanted absolutly to express my opinion to you because i really appreciate you so much and have a undefined respect for you because of your sincerity that touched me so much.

Last thing that i would like to ask you, how are you beeing able to have these purposes in the middle of the jewish community? what is their reaction toward you ? and how you respond to some of them who might not appreciate your opinion enough well to welcome you?

Finally, i would like to thank you again in advance for reading my mail and having the time to answer and would really love one day to meet you and have the opportunity to know you better and why not having the chance to make you discover lebanon as a real friend.

Please i want you to be sure of every single word i wrote, is 100% sincere, true, honnest and deeply thought from the bottom of my heart and mind.. and not only words to make people glad ( otherwise i wouldn't have written all of this mail )

Please feel free as well to reply me for any further information you would like to have concerning any subject. I will be ready for any help to make as long as it's doable.

My main request in this mail is for proposing you any favor you might need in any field ( and not only in the political issues) and please be sure that i will do my best to respond to your demand.

Sorry if my english isn't good enough, but i hope that it will be understandable to transmit the message to you in a clear way.

* : i precised by saying that i am christian, so that there won't be any confusion related to my position with hezbollah through the religion which is chiit 99,99% of the cases.

* : My father is an electronical engineer graduated from France, one uncle aeronotic engineer graduated from France as well, another uncle a doctor who's married to an american who met in Paris while he was making his medecine studies, and another uncle a doctor as well who is married to a French who met as well during his medecine studies in Paris.

All of my best regards,

A.



Dear Prof. Finkelstein, i'm a rabid fan of Noam Chomsky and after having listened to your talks on the israel-palestine conflict and watching you destroy Dershowitz on Democracy Now, have become a fan of yours as well.

I plan to read your books with the same enthusiasm as i read Chomsky's books. I was just wondering, where are you now? Are you teaching at another school? Perhaps you should come out to California. My view is that people out here have views of the Israel-Palestine conflict a bit closer to the international consensus, as many people I've talked to over here have professed sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians. I'm just asking about where you are now out of curiosity and sympathy after having fully educated myself on the true nature of the DePaul University debacle. Please keep up the good work!

Best wishes,



Dear Mr Finkelstein

I'm sure you receive a million and one emails everyday. I hope you're not too fatigued to read this one.

I am a master's student at the University of Sheffield, in the United Kingdom. In the Summer of 2005, I travelled to Israel for one month. As a young Arab (my father is Libyan, my mother English) with a keen interest in international relations and history, this was an important trip for me. While there, I bought a book called 'The Case for Israel'. I read it once, while in Israel and it shocked me. I wondered, how will the Arabs counter this? Has he successfully discredited the suffering that I have seen with with my own eyes? Then I read your book. I just re-read it (being older and, I hope, wiser) and I wanted to write to you to say thank you for the service you have done for the Palestinian people and for the truth. I know you have endured much in the name of the truth (Dershowitz's attack against your tenure and so on) and so you have my absolute respect.

You are an inspiration to me.

Sheffield, United Kingdom



Dr Mr. Finkelstein,

You were interviewed by a man called Michael Coren about The Holocaust Industry. During the course of the discussion you mention that a common joke among Jews is a play on ords based on the Jewish word Shoah, meaning holocaust (or The Holocaust). You say that the fact that Jewish people have come to make jokes in this way is regrettable, the implicaion being that Jews are now aware among themselves that exploitation of Jewish suffering is taking place. You follow up this point by mentioning that the Japanese do not make jokes(or you doubt that they do) about Hiroshima. To this Michael Coren retorts that he has heard Japanese people joke about Hiroshima. I have lived in Japan for almost five years. My fiancee is a Japanese woman. I am a student of Japanese culture and fluent in te language. I have never once heard a single Japanese person make a joke about Hiroshima. The Japanese take it immensely seriously and can do so with a straight face becase it is a tragedy which has not been exploited for any kind of gain. If Mr. Coren has heard a Japanese person make a joke about Hiroshima that person was not representative of Japanese society as a whole and his point is null and void. Mr. Coren's nitpicking over just how popular the Shoah joke may or may not be is irrelevant. I do not move in Jewish circles but I have heard the joke before on television. Furthermore, and I think is a point Mr. Coren tries to obfuscate in the interview, the Shoah joke is not about the Holocaust. It is about the EXPLOITATION of it. I am sure that even in Japan, a society which takes Hiroshima and Nagasaki extremely seriously, should those tragedies be exploited said exploitation would rightly become the target of ire, and even humour. What Michael Coren said surprised me and I can confirm that it is in no way representative of Japanese society as a whole with regard to attitudes to Hiroshima.

James Catchpole, Japan.



From: jgbaker[at]hotmail.co.uk
To: andrew.graham(at)balliol.ox.ac.uk
CC: normangf[at)hotmail.com
Subject: Shimon Peres
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:12:27 +0000

Dr Graham,

I am shocked to hear that Balliol has invited Shimon Peres to speak. This man has been directly involved in the oppression, murder and dispossession of the Palestinian people for the last 60 years, and by any civilised standards must be considered a war criminal. Is it true that it is planned to establish a lecture series in his name? While Gaza starves, you are honouring one of the principal architects of their suffering. Shame on you and your college! Joseph Baker, London.



Subject: President Peres
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:25:57 -0600
From: Sidhwa[a t]uthscsa.edu
To: andrew.graham[a t]balliol.ox.ac.uk

Dear Dr. Graham,

For an American medical student to email the Master of Balliol College about the invitation of this or that speaker is unusual, but as I have close experience of life under Israeli occupation in the Palestinian West Bank, having lived in Israel for the better part of a year and having worked in hospitals and on a mobile clinic in the southern West Bank, I feel I am obligated to do so. I hope this letter is not received as a sign of arrogance; please accept my apologies if it is.

It is absolutely true that Shimon Peres' name is almost synonymous with the word "peace" in the American media; perhaps the same is true of the Guardian and the BBC. Fox News, CNN, and apologists for American-Israeli violence like Harvard's Alan Dershowitz and the ADL's Abraham Foxman are constantly amazed by Mr. Peres steadfast dedication to bringing peace to the Holy Land in the face of raging Arab lunatics who would throw the Jews into the sea. Along with Yassir Arafat, Peres did of course win a Nobel Peace Prize.

In Israel and Palestine, however, this delusion about Mr. Peres does not exist. Indeed, even reading the work of Dr. Ron Pundak, the director of the Shimon Peres Peace Center (partnered with Israel's leading educational institution, Tel Aviv University), one can discover that Mr. Peres has been actively thwarting attempts at peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades. Mr. Peres has been a prominent member of practically every Israeli government since the founding of the State. It has been well documented by a huge number of historians, political scientists, sociologists, economists, and security analysts - from Benny Morris on the far Israeli right, to Avi Shlaim, Mark Tessler, Zeev Maoz and Shlomo Ben-Ami at the center, to Ilan Pappe, Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein on the Israeli and Jewish left - that these governments have consistently and deliberately acted to thwart any and every possibility for a peaceful settlement of the so-called "Palestine Question". This is not to say that the Arabs and Palestinians have not done the same, of course, but the differential of power is quite obvious, and besides, nobody is considering instituting a "Yassir Arafat Peace Studies" lecture series. Or, at least, I hope nobody is considering any such nonsense.

Mr. Peres' most concrete contribution to the issue of peace is his major (perhaps decisive) role in building Israel's supposedly secret nuclear weapons program, now quite well documented. Perhaps his second most impressive contribution to peace has been his role in the "peace process", started in 1993 with the Israeli-PLO Declaration of Principles. According to former Israeli foreign minister and professional historian Shlomo Ben-Ami (and anyone who bothered to actually read the document), the DOP and the resultant "Oslo-Wye Process" was specifically designed to institutionalize the occupation, making Israeli control over the West Bank permanent. As is hardly surprising, this is exactly what happened over the next eight years, and what continues apace today. As Harvard's Sara Roy has shown in remarkable detail, Israeli rule over the Occupied Palestinian Territories has resulted in "de-development" of the Palestinian economy and society generally, a deliberate policy instituted by Israel from the first days of the occupation, and continued and accelerated by Mr. Peres during his disastrous and murderous reign as prime minister.

As prime minister, Mr. Peres ordered Israel's fourth major invasion of southern Lebanon - in April 1996, deliberately targeting and killing hundreds of civilians because the Israeli Army was unable to defeat Hezbollah militarily - culminating in the massacre of more than one hundred helpless and unarmed refugees sheltered in a clearly designated and well known United Nations compound at Qana. As every mainstream human rights organization in the western world and UNIFIL records show quite clearly, throughout its entire occupation of South Lebanon, from 1978 to 2000, including during Mr. Peres tenure as PM, Israel routinely attacked civilians in response to guerilla attacks on its occupying forces. That this is true of Israel's rule over the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories has been equally well documented, most impressively by Israel's leading human rights organization, B'tselem.

So unless Mr. Peres is being invited to Oxford as an advocate of the peace of the graveyard, I cannot understand his invitation. It will not further the cause of peace; not in the Holy Land, and certainly not throughout the world.

On principle, I would never request that a speech be cancelled, even a speech by a mass murderer at the world's most esteemed educational institution, I only hope a free and open question and answer session is allowed so that Mr. Peres can be challenged by the impressive students and faculty of Oxford. But I sincerely hope Balliol will reconsider naming an annual lecture series in his honor. If you wouldn't institute an "Ariel Sharon Human Rights Lecture Series" or a "House of Saud Women's Rights" lecture series, then I certainly do not understand a lecture series on the topic of peace named for Shimon Peres. Oxford University should not sink to the intellectual level of CNN or Fox News.

I hope all is well, and that you will find the moral courage to do what is right. It will no doubt be painful, you will no doubt be denounced for it in polite society, and I would not be surprised if your professional life suffered for it. That is exactly why men in your position must step into their shoes and act.

Sincerely,
Feroze Sidhwa



Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:21:43 +0000
From: hello_melleh(at]yahoo.co.uk
Subject: Your talk in Maastricht
To: normangf(at)hotmail.com

Dear Norman,

I wrote to you early in 2007 to express my support during the issue of tenure at DePaul and to say that I thought your work was very important, right and inspiring. Then I was working, but had been reading much more about history and politics. Eventually I decided I had to go back to university, and this September I started an international masters program in political science at Amsterdam.

Since I am in Holland I was very happy to see you were coming to Maastricht and I attended the lecture you gave there Friday night, though unfortunately didn't have a chance to meet you afterward.

I can still say it is rare to come across a writer/speaker who is as coherent and logical, with the integrity to deny political mythologies the special status they are usually credited, which fudge the truth and obstruct long-overdue justice and peace.

I really enjoyed your lecture, and found it very powerful indeed. Like many others I was quite shocked by Dr Tyndall's performance that followed, which I thought quite embarrassing for the university. I was later informed by an Italian research student at the university that she once responded to a German student's point in their class (that Israel was illegally occupying Palestine) - that he had no right, as a German to criticise the Israelis and that all Germans were guilty. Well, no need to say more...!

For me a crucial point made very clear in your talk is that standards apply across the board, and this seems to me to be so fundamental to the logic of legitimacy through reciprocity, yet it is very rarely asserted in articles I have read on international relations or in the media (especially). The dominant or most commonly reproduced dialogue on what is acceptable and by whom continuously and implicitly leans on a stack of double standards which could never be justified in an explicit debate addressing them, without resorting to some kind of neo-Darwinian racism or appeal to divine right.

I also found Gandhi's pragmatic ideas about how a change in societies' attitude requires some kind of burgeoning consensus very interesting. This reminded me of the ideas of Antonio Gramsci who wrote about the dynamics of revolutions while imprisoned under the Italian fascists.

I have not read the original Prison notebooks but learnt about him through someone else. His idea of hegemony is like a dominant civic consensus and when a society is strongly attached to an attitude, even if it is the result of ideological indoctrination - successful revolutions cannot prevail as society's mentality presents a great obstruction to it. In order to bring about change under this condition of hegemony, he thought, revolutionaries could not aspire to palace-storming, overnight events - but had to combine a multitude of small and communicative methods within the society, in order to promote a new consensus, which gradually emerges, in order for the revolution to be feasible.

This sounds very similar to the idea I took from your lecture on Gandhi's thought. So writing books, and articles and giving lectures is not a quick-fix, but no quick-fix is sustainable or feasible without the emerging public consensus to bear it, something like a wave which brings the new consensus into reality naturally. To attempt a revolution without it, would require much more violence and oppression, and could not be sustainable. I understand these two ideas - that of incrementally converting public consciousness by many small efforts, and that of a sweeping revolution made possible by the existing consensus - come from Machiavelli, and he called them a "war of position" and a "war of movement." This came to my mind during the lecture.

What gives me hope is that when you present the facts to people, they are usually convinced. Most of the people who don't like to take a position on this issue, especially because of the timidity the anti-semetic cry instills, genuinely don't know the details. It is impossible to read the facts and not see what is so clear. I have already heard students saying that its best not to write about the Israel-Palestine conflict, a career non-starter, etc...

A couple of years ago I didn't know about the history of Central America, Chile, Iran, the Middle East. But one book by Chomsky tends to snowball into a blossoming political consciousness. Now I am studying political science and an aspiring teacher, so I am very grateful for the work you do, and admire the example you set.

I also wanted to ask, in your opinion, really why Israel will not give up the occupied territory. How much of it is to do with water? I am writing a paper on water governance and conflict, and I came across a book by Mark Zeitoun (Power and water in the Middle East: the hidden politics of the Palestinian-Israeli water conflict), which I haven't read yet. How do you think this will affect the chances of Palestinians' rights be recognized and granted?

Thanks again for the inspiring talk,

All the best,
Melissa



Norman!

Just finished reading the Holocaust Industry.

Your work and nature keeps me back from falling into dark antisemitism.

Yes Iam from Poland, and no, neither my grandfather or grandmother or any of our relaitves got any compensation for both slavework and lost property.

Keep going strong.

Best wishes Marcin



To: caroline[at]carolineglick.com;
Subject: new day
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:26:40 -0800

Sweets,

It's a new day, dear. Your rabid craving to exterminate the shvatz goyim cockroach Palestinians will not be sated by the incoming Obama and Livni Administrations. Israel may have to stop shooting small children in the back. Now, go have a good cry. I'll even supply the Julious Streicher rag.

Dave



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I'm currently a medical student at Georgetown University. Some of my friends said very good things about you so I checked out some video clips on youtube. After watching the clips, I have to say that you are AMAZING. Dr. Finkelstein, I really don't know much about world politics or history. Can you please tell me what to read so I can learn more truth in the world?

Your supporter,





Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I am profoundly shocked and disheartened at the way Depaul University and its spineless and sycophantic administration are treating you. I sympathize and empathize. I also encourage you to fight and expose them for what they are.

XXXXXXXXXX is a highly politicized environment in general and some of my XXXXXXXXXXX colleagues have a very particular mindset in relation to ethnic minorities. I, myself, came under political attack a few years ago after defending two rather prolific assistant profs. of ethnic origin who were fired after only two years of employment at XXXXXXXXXX.

It quickly became apparent that these fellows (and I suspect others as well in other departments) were hired to provide a semblance of greater heterogeneity so as to enable the school to successfully apply for the XXXXXXX accreditation. In fact, the school was judged as too homogeneous or lacking in ethnic diversity the first time around and was subsequently turned down. They reapplied a few years later and were successful after a hiring spree which targeted candidates from various ethnic backgrounds who also showed good potential for research. Once the school received the accreditation, these hirelings quickly became disposable.

There is no union at XXXXXXXXXX and the administration basically does what it wants. The school is essentially a corporation with a rather vague and flimsy collective agreement. In any case, all of a sudden, the administration instituted an evaluation process for assistant professors which was to take place after the first two years of employment. This was of course unheard of in an academic setting and seemed entirely frivolous. Nevertheless, as a result, my colleagues were fired within a year of each other. The reasons they were given were that they did not speak XXXXXXXX fluently after two years of employment and that they lacked the capacity to integrate adequately; and this, despite the fact that when they were hired, they were explicitly told they could teach classes in English. There were many less significant and subtle incidents along the way but it was clear that these guys were being treated unfairly, ostracized and set up for failure. For instance, one colleague was asked to teach a graduate-level XXXXX course the first semester after being hired although his degree was in another field and such courses are typically reserved for seasoned instructors.

I was incensed and became very vocal about the treatment my fired colleagues had received while most of my other colleagues behaved like ostriches and complacently looked out for their own behinds. After firing the assistant profs, the big boys took away my lab space; and soon after, and very overtly, came after me with anything they could find. Things became rather nasty in XXXXXX of XXXXXX. In a nutshell: the dept. chair asked to meet with me. During our meeting, he went through a list of six grievances and concluded his monologue by pointing out that he and the second in command of the school wanted me to resign by May. At the time, I had tenure and was officially on sabbatical until June. I was in shock and wondered what collection of sick minds could come up with such half-baked nuggets and twisted facts.

In any case, with some effort and good council, I managed to counter and survive this surreal, vicious and idiotic attack by providing a written and well documented point by point rebuttal to what was held against me. Immediately after responding to their "charges" in writing, I was told over the phone by the second in command of the school that even if I did manage to stay, my reputation was made and I will never be given full professorship at their institution. Clearly, this person was hellbent on discouraging me from staying in any way he could although it was apparent he had no "juice" to proceed officially against a tenured professor. Oddly, after this conversation, there was no official denouement to all this. They just dropped it completely and never mentioned it again. I was left in limbo not knowing whether this was over or whether there would be a sequel.

Through all this, I managed to contain myself and to remain polite and collegial with all my colleagues, even the most hypocritical and rabid amongst them. Since I successfully stalemated them, I work mostly from home, give them a very wide birdth, stay completely out of departmental politics, and simply ask for nothing. Nevertheless, this corrida took place almost two years ago and I am still recovering. I seem to have lingering symptoms that are indicative of PTSD but revel in the fact that I won the battle. In my heart, I know I did the right thing by trying to protect my junior colleagues but the price was in effect quite hefty, especially in terms of health. However, I would do it again and give them an even better run for their money by going to the media and the courts.

In essence, I know firsthand the toxicity, ruthlessness and frivolity of university politics and the subtle and not so subtle forms of harrassment they can indulge in once they figure out that you're unwilling to play their games or walk the line. I understand the pain and I remember vomiting on a number of occasions. I know what it feels like to be senselessly violated and to have one's integrity put in question and one’s reputation tarnished by a motley crew of dishonest, sociopathic yoyos with narcissistic tendencies and the incompetent sycophants they use as henchmen.

Your dignity shines through. You are a courageous, honest, authentic, proud and righteous individual. As an academic, you are highly competent and credible. Tenure should not be an issue even at a top school. Moreover, after what I have been through, knowing that there are still people like you in academe is an inspiration in itself and it means the world to me that you make it through this like a champ.

Truth and dignity will prevail. Their dishonesty and pettiness are evident. They sold out! Please fight them tooth and nail. To succeed, you must, first and foremost, take care of your health. They are counting on your mental and physical degradation through stress, worries and fatigue. You must eat, sleep and exercise adequately. A Vitamin B complex is good to take on a daily basis as a buffer against stress. Trust in God and please do not publicly show any sign of weakness. Also, please avoid any outbursts and other signs of cumulated stress. Do not give them the satisfaction. In fact, keep smiling (although I know how difficult it is to do under the circumstances) and tell whoever asks that "life is good". Display serenity and enthusiasm; and don a teflon coating. Smile at the grotesque and the ridiculous ways they handle themselves when their contempt leaks through their superficial hellos and goodbyes or when they seem to go out of their way to show that it is nothing personal.

In fact, I noticed during this trying period that if one remains in control by working and publishing, by interacting cordially with all colleagues including the fauna and the flora, and especially by not acknowledging that the psychological warfare is having an effect, the reptiles inevitably look rather surprised, confused and disappointed. They eventually turn their negativity and ill will on themselves. It's essentially like judo.

Also, it is important to feel supported and to surround oneself with decent and wholesome people. In fact, sometimes, a simple person has more heart and can offer more meaningful insight, support and understanding than the best amongst our illustrious and, more often than not, politically-correct, vain, and upwardly mobile colleagues. Indeed, such times give rise to surprising and often shocking revelations once the masks come off. In my case, today, I know with certainty who my true friends are; and this is priceless and quite comforting. Indeed, such events have the uncanny effect of very effectively eliminating the riff raff from one’s life; and this is a blessing.

I hope that I have not been too forward or too familiar. If so, please forgive me! I am in fact incensed by what is being done to you and want you to prevail personally and professionally. In any case, I would be more than happy and proud to assist in any way I can. Be it by making a donation to a legal defence fund or in any other way you see fit. I will also contact trusted colleagues at XXXXX, XXXXXX and XXXXXX to inform them of your plight. Are there petitions we can sign? Are there particular colleagues and university administrators on the opposite side whom we could irk, distress or otherwise humiliate or infuriate via email?

Finally, please feel free to contact me anytime by email or by phone. My cell phone number is XXXXXXXXX. I will gladly listen even if it is in the middle of the night. I mean this with all my heart because I learned the hard way that so-called friends and acquaintances become rather scarce and unavailable during hard times.

Warm regards,

XXXXXXXXXXX
--
«Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.» ~ John Adams



Subject: on Obama's silence on Afghan civilian deaths

In case you're not sure why I'm so angry at Obama and why I think Nader's words should be listened to, may be this will explain it:

During Obama's first press conference
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9VcS-EF7T0

a reporter asked a good question that was something like: “Bush is still “the decider…” when you disagree with things he does until you take office, will you defer or confront?”

Case in point — less than a week after Obama got elected, the US military killed 37 civilians by bombing a Wedding Party (!!) in Afghanistan.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/11/06/afghan-strikes.html

Obama was silent. Bush was silent. Only our puppet president of Afganistan went on TV and asked Obama to make the military stop ordering air strikes on civilian areas.

How are we to take Obama's silence?

As a person of Central Asian ancestry, his silence is offensive to me, when a Central Asian country is occupied by American troops, civilians keep getting bombed by US troops who order air strikes on villages and the "anti-War" candidate, now elected, says nothing.

I can see why Nader asked "Will he be an Uncle Sam? Or an Uncle Tom?" -- as darkies in Afghanistan are being murdered -- civilians at a wedding party -- and he says and does nothing. Does he only care about "working families" when they're "Americans"?

I can see how Obama's afraid of the Right Wing propaganda machine, the Fox Newses and the Talk Radio circuit, who'll eat him alive if he even mentions anything remotely interpretable as criticism of "The Troops." But he has smart advisers and speech writers. There're ways to phrase concern for the lives of Afghan "working families" without sounding like a "Troops" hater.

Perhaps, the fact that his chief of staff is a chauvinist Israel fanatic has something to do with it. After all, Israel fanatics only care about the Jewish victims of bombings. Occasionally, these guys bring up American victims because they're trying to relate to Americans, while muddying Hezbollah's reputation. Israel propagandists and their friends in Congress use the victimized people of Darfur now and then, since it's politically expedient for them to point to crimes committed by the Muslim gov't of Al Bashir. But dead Afghans killed by an American air strike at a wedding party? Why would Rahm Israel Emanuel give a shit?

And he's Obama's top boy, so why would Obama care? He's more concerned about picking out the right puppy.





Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 07:12:29 +0100
From: hanin.shakrah[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: warm words across an ocean

Dr Finkelstein.

My name is Hanin Shakrah. I'm a young Palestinian women raised and living in Sweden, and I am -as of this semester- a first year Law student. My previous occupation was that of a Journalist a Human rights advocate and peace activist, based in Palestine as well as actively and deliberately reporting from Lebanon during the war of 2006.

Those experiences are with me, every day, unforgivingly, unrelenting, never forgotten, not even for an hour.

Spending the summers in Palestine and Lebanon means knowing what nightly horrors are all about. An article or a piece of video footage is never just that. Heightened senses, nerves stretched, a fist of rage close by when hearing the language of war, the forgetfulness of apologists, the cynicism of those who need no conscience to spit their lies.

Dreaded days of monotonous occupation, arbitrary acts of terror in the midst of life, Army teens' "keeping of the peace" by shooting in front of a crowd of people trying to get to work, and on top of it all an army of liers to back up the army of killers.

And then, there is you, and people like you. Standing in the face of all that. You are not a hero, and that is precisely my point.

This is your nature, this is your legacy.

The past few days you've been on my mind.

It started with a random conversation with a friend. On an impulse I googled your name, needing to hear your voice.

Sadness, honesty, courage.

Your voice resonated in me, for some reason.

I watched more and more footage of you. A debate here, a talk in a lecture hall filled with people, the ever arrogant Dershowitz, a studio interview from lebanon in january of this year... I have read some of your books, and beside the obvious interest I've taken in the various topics you raise and points you make, there is something else that draws my attention, that fills me with warmth.

It's something in your voice.

The need to rectify the wrongs committed, the need to point out the rift from under our feet, the need to make the horrors of war something so vivid and unacceptable, and the desperation in correcting historic sins. I see you, and something in me breaks.

I do not claim to know you. Nor do I claim to know anything about you. But as one human being to another, as one activist to another... The news of your deportation of this summer were tough to bare. This sounds silly, but I wished I'd known you, or to have met you. Because I wanted the following words to mean something.

I am so sorry for what they did to you. I would have wanted to hold you near, give you strength, and remind you that we are all trying, in our own way, to build for the long run.

It may sound sentimental and naive. I am neither, and this is probably the strangest letter I've written to anyone, especially to someone I do not know. But you are on my mind, Dr Finkelstein.

All the best
Hanin



Dear Norm,

Thank you so much for posting this interview. I have been impressed with the consistency of Prof. Chomsky throughout the years, and I am pleased that he harbors no illusions about Obama. I am a leftist, but that doesn't necessarily mean a "liberal" in the American use of that label. My so-called liberal friends are ecstatic about Obama, but I find some of his associations and his rhetoric distasteful. Honestly, I wish he were more progressive than I believe him to be. I've heard nothing particularly radical about gay rights for instance, and certainly nothing radical about Israel. Perhaps like FDR he wishes to spend us out of a recession/depression. Still, I think if tax rates rise corporations will just farm things out internationally or cut jobs more than they already have.

> To my mind, what we need is a cooperative and broad but concentrated effort to shift our perception of economics. Energy policy should be a priority, and international norms of justice should be adopted by the US. Also, if the American "consumer" could shift their view and look at the economy from the point of view of production instead of consumption, I think there would be hope. In a just society, in my view, work should be creative, useful, but not consumer-driven. For instance, innovation would not have to be marketable. Scientists, researchers, professors, engineers, etc could work creatively on new ideas, theories, etc without a specific marketing or consumption goal being the measuring stick for success. Teaching, research (academic and private sector), etc would be useful in and of itself, as it should be in a progressive society. Perhaps the current crisis will have the positive effect of forcing American society to take a cold hard look at itself in the mirror; I think the awakening will be quite a shock.

I've heard Obama's views on the Israel/Palestine conflict, and all I can > say so far is that there is nothing new under the sun. The only presidential candidate who spoke honestly about that issue is Ralph Nadar, and of course Jimmy Carter has called the situation apartheid (which it is). With Obama however I am seeing more of the same- you know that "special" relationship. People have hit him on his willingness to talk to Iran and Syria without preconditions, but that hardly means he will not be a friend of Israel. Until Israel acknowledges its obligations under intl. law and seeks a suitable resolution of the conflict (including dealing with the right of return), in my view the "special" relationship should be terminated. Of course the unfortunate economic situation in which the world now finds itself will probably distract us from geopolitical crises that need resolving- both from a practical viewpoint and from the viewpoint of ethics.

I'd love to hear what you think about Obama and this current economic > wildfire. If you have a second, please respond.

I hope all is well!

Yours,



Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:21:24 -0500
Subject: open letter
From: rperez21[aT)uic(doht)edu
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear professor Finkelstein,

It is interesting how our paths seem to cross in my ideological imaginary. To my surprise and amusement, you are going to Spain! I am from Spain myself; living in Chicago, and I saw you for the first time at Columbia, Missouri! which you called a strange place (due to some pressures to change your conference’s title), and where I somehow realized, for the first time, how strange one feels at realizing that getting at the truth can be controversial. Strangely enough, keeping up with my imaginary path crossing, this past week I had an exchange of clichés with one of your ex-colleagues at DePaul (now teaching somewhere else in Chicago). As this person kept talking about what “truly” happened at DePaul (and many other ideological constructs of other kind), I kept repeating in my mind something that I heard you say somewhere in the visual cyberspace: academics are often the most spineless kind. This “talk” triggered in me a deep calm anger, which later became a deep calm feeling of disappointment. Was I peeking at “the mainstream” monster that changes truth for the belief in the Truth? To be honest, I thought I got the sense (exaggerated, nonetheless, by my young sense of what I think university should be), for a second, of that side of academia; the one that hold onto Truth. My “battle” is in a different area (Hispanic studies), but I no doubt face similar obstacles. I have however my anti-establishment antidotes. Whenever I need some hope to keep on going, I immediately think what someone like you or Professor Chomsky would do. Thus I banish selfish thoughts of a more quiet life. Then I keep trying to make this world a better place. Then I realize how lucky one is that can even entertain thoughts of world betterment while seated writing in front of a laptop. Then I saw you were going to Spain, and, for some reason, I got really happy. For some reason, I pictured myself trying to change things. For some reason, I felt proud that my imaginary path and yours crossed once again. That, for some reason, made my day; as Gabriel Garcia Marquez once said: It is in the little things that one gets the most pleasure. And I enjoy that your voice is getting around the world; just maybe because I picture myself doing the same thing. It is a good thing to be heard when truth and justice are at one’s side.

Hope you the best,

Ruben.

PS. Don’t bother replying. I just wanted to let you know. Sometimes my imaginary path needs to find its real counterpart, if only for seconds, and in the sending of an email.



Hello Dear,

I can sense what it takes to follow the way of truth and how you have to fight your ownself in order to win it and move on... Its not an easy path and it could be very painful by times. Just want to say that I am with you at that point. You aren't alone. I trust your humanistic values and your sincerety. I was born in Kashmir (a disputed territory between India and Pakistan) and living in Briton. God bless you Norman.

Rehan



From: TimNiel1[a.t)aol(dot)com
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:42:33 -0400
Subject: Your recent experiences
To: normangf[At)hotmail.com

Dear Professor Finkelstein

until two years ago I was a producer/director with the BBC here in Scotland. I left because it had proved impossible to get a documentary about the Balfour Declaration commissioned - not that there was any conspiracy involved! Ultimately I just came to accept that television wasn't the place to do justice to the levels of complexity and sheer detail that the subject requires, and whilst pursuing a freelance career I have been devoting myself to reading around the subject with a view, eventually, to writing something loosely framed around the extraodinary power of the very idea of nationalism, or of nationhood. Nationalism as an essentialism. ('A great nation without a home is not right,' Balfour wrote. Well, why not? And why not, in particular, the Jewish one?)

I was unaware of what had happened to you until I came across a copy of Beyond Chutzpah whilst browsing the shelves of Borders (seems appropriate) here in Glasgow. I had read as much as I could bear of Dershowitz' Case For Israel a couple of years ago - even to someone as ill-read in the subject as myself, its consistent refusal to deal with or acknowledge inconvenient truths was obvious and intensely irritating. Now I feel I need to finish it, if only to learn more about the extent of his mendacity. I'm afraid I quit at the end of Chapter Four, with its fatuous assertion that there was already a 'de facto Jewish homeland' in Palestine when the Declaration was published. What, then, was the need for a mandate, or for a Zionist movement, at all? The point of course was to transform (very) small settlements of an essentially devotional character into a fully fledged movement of colonisation, but this is a reality Dershowitz can't afford to address. This elision alone, it seems to me, discredits him as a lawyer as well as a 'historian'.

Anyway - I promise to finish Finkelstein before I read any more Dershowitz. From my point of view, I should say, I am interested for two reasons. On the one hand of course, there's your work; on the other, the attempt to assassinate you academically is a story in and of itself. Has anyone approached you with a view to making a documentary about it? And if not, would you consider involvement in such a thing? As a story, it seems to me to have rather powerfully parabolic qualities. ...

My very best wishes to you - and I sincerely hope that you either find another post, or profitably pursue your career as an independent - whichever of the two suits best. And if, as I say, you might be interested in talking further about a documentary, please don't hesitate to drop me a note at this email address.

Yours

Tim Niel



Norman,

I want to thank you so much for your commitment to aiding the healing and resolution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. I have listened to many of your talks at your site and on Democracy Now. You are an inspiration. Your commitment to dealing with this situation fairly and honestly is refreshing.

Blessings on you and your family



October 18, 2008

Dr. Finkelstein,

I am a 23 year old graduate of Central Connecticut State University who has recently come to educate myself on your passionate, intelligent and courageous views of Middle Eastern Politics in today’s Western Society. I applaud you with great fervor and encourage you to keep up the good work. A man with as much assertiveness as you is exactly what our Universities crave. Unbelievably, today is the first time I witnessed your 2003 debate with the fraud Alan Dershowitz in which the world witnessed you mop the floor with him. He is one person I compare to Lucifer; a promoter of racism, anti-Semitism and terrorism. Alan Dershowitz is the epitome of an illusion; a lie. Everything that comes out of his mouth is more or less a lie, with little or no truth. In my opinion he is a true self-hating Jew. If he were a real Jew he would not be a Zionist and an advocate of the exploitation and murder of millions of Palestinians.

I write to you because you intrigue me, and I look to you for education, God knows the world we live in; to educate yourself you must investigate it yourself. In that, I hope to pick up a few of your books and learn more about how your brilliance came about. I encourage you to think about making a trip to Connecticut to speak at my Alma Mater, I’m sure you will be welcomed enthusiastically and with zeal. Again, I just wanted to thank you for your bravery and commitment to the Palestinian Plight and Justice throughout the world. You are truly a hero.

God Bless.

Very Truly,



From: sara khazeni
Subject: Khatami; coming or not coming
To: normangf [at]hotmail.com
Date: Saturday, October 18, 2008, 12:19 AM

Hi

This is about iranian election, and i hope the grammar to be good enough!

I qouted for you from the most important newspaper in iran Kayhan newspaper, it has the best analysis and is a pro - government newspaper, Resalat newspaper is the same in views.

In Iran in addition to Mr.Ahmadinejad now we have another candidate Mr. Karrubi. He is a reformist but he believes in the reforms in a Islamic Republic Iran, I mean he don’t want the change of Constitution, but I cant be sure about his co-party men or his team of journalists! (although he has many opponents among the reformists)

The other candidate would be Mr. Khatami, who was president 8 years, before Ahmadinejad. He has said he may come but has two pre-conditions: people understanding of him and his programs and second: how much it is possible for a president to develop his programs (if it is possible he would come).

Most of political analysts say this means that he would not come. They say he will not be successful in the election so he has stated these pre-conditions which are actually unacceptable.

Those who opposite Iran system out and in Iran , and even his co-party men believe that they have to accept him as candidate because they do not know a better one who can develop their thoughts and do the changes they want.

“When he was president, he [could not] or didn’t want to do some of their requests so they began the policy of “encouragement for change and threat to abandon him” the starting point was the words of Gill Lapidas( I am not sure about the spelling) in a conference on Iran future in Stanford university who compared khatami to Gorbachev and said Iran needs a Yeltsin .They began it in their newspapers saying khatami is not able to bring changes or he is not a politician and so on. But finally there was an agreement point; the Twin Bills by Khatami to increase the presidential powers: changing the constitution. It was not approved.

Now both pro and con – khatami reformists are in agree on 1 thing: he must be able to change the structure of system. So his 2 pre-conditions seem to be a reply to the request, because the first one is need of every candidate and is not a pre-condition. And the second: khatami adds to it that “although the reformist government did its best but it could not be successful in approving Twin Bills in the parliament.” So it seems that he is implying that he is ready for the role.

Anyway if he come, there would be a clear weighing for reformists esp Khatami himself. (kayhan newspaper oct/7/2008)

It can be said that he does not want to come and these pre-conditions shows why of that. (Resalat newspaper oct/7/2008)

I myself did vote to him never. But I voted to Ahmadinejad and think Khatami has no chance! We had enough political flexibility for west in his time and the result was more aggression by west. Really we don’t want his programs if he has any! People in iran may complain many things but they never complain Islam and political independence and dignity, for they gave best lives for them. And khatami team tries to be close to USA , to destroy all these achievements. If west thinks Iranian people voted to him in 12 years ago to remove Islam or for they feared USA , or sanctions or for they don’t love their leader, they are making a big mistake!





Hello Professor,

So, I was just sitting in the corner of the Harold Washington Library, hoping not to be bothered. I seem to give off some sort of inviting vibe; its very common that random people just stop and begin talking with me. At times I don't mind, mostly because it's older people who stop to talk. Older people prove to be the most interesting and are most commonly overlooked, I feel. However, there are times where I just want to be left alone to read, I'm sure you understand. Moving on, I'm in my corner and this older couple slowly strolls by the aisle window and catches the title of the book I'm reading. Now, with this author in particular it seemed to workout backwards. I read his newer works first; his newer works being The Holocaust Industry, followed by Beyond Chutzpah and Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Still remaining was of course The Rise and Fall of Palestine, this was the book I was reading at the time the couple walked past me. My reading was interrupted with a gasp from the older lady (Phyllis - with a y - as she soon instructed) while her husband Alan (with an A - he said jokingly at his wifes expense) who shook his head in disappointment as it seemed. I asked kindly what it was they were concerned with and the conversation went something like this:

Phylis: "I see your reading Norman Finkelstein... (with a strong Jewish accent) ...what a despicable man" Alan: "Young people don't know what to believe these days (with an even stronger Jewish accent) and then you have a man like that filling their heads with such lies"

This being their opening statements post our initial introduction - I was just in the mood to give a good lesson not only in manners but a test of my knowledge concerning the conflict and more importantly your understanding of the conflict as you understand it to be...except I ended up talking about nothing of the sort.

I have a feeling you would have been proud. I let them talk for quite some time and let them get it all out (as I normally do with older folks - they never really stop to talk because they want to hear what you have to say - they stop to talk so you can hear what they have to say - which is fine I learn either way) and once I felt the moment was right I finally interjected my first thoughts... Now,as they spoke I gathered my ideas. I knew I needed to take their minds away from the mainstream understanding they had of you (very narrow comprehension of your work and or life's purpose for that matter and as soon as they began I swear Mill was whispering softly from the grave "alll meennnn...wreeeetched crrreeeaturess"...into my ear ") so I opened with something I figured would get their attention...

"You know, A very good friend of mine ends every email he sends me with "A warm hug..." isn't that nice?" - "I've always thought so..."

At this - they looked confused, but they agreed. They flashed two awkward smiles and a hesitant nod of their heads in agreement - curious where I was going with that statement. I then continued to speak about this friend of mine and all the fine examples he has set for me to always be in pursuit of truth at any cost etc...(They were surprisingly attentive throughout this part of the conversation) I talked about how this friend of mine was responsible for introducing me to some of the most compassionate people this world has ever called its own - Socrates, Gandhi, Mandela, John S. Mill and his On Liberty and his Subjugation of Women etc... (I wanted to throw Trotsky in there but I didn't want to go overboard - I had them going..) And throughout all of this I was listing the lessons of compassion taught by all, more importantly, how these lessons were all passed onto me in such an unbiased fashion - by my dear friend of course.

"You're lucky to have such a friend...those are all great people in deed...we all must learn from them" said Alan.

For the sake of both our time Professor Ill try to be brief - eventually, after a long and whole hearted conversation (my eyes never left theirs - i held their attention as to say their life depended on it) I revealed that this friend of mine...compassionate, trusting, truthful, dedicated beyond most all other men in his field, etc... was in fact Norman Finkelstein.

Well, I thought they were going to shit themselves (pardon my informal language). They asked how I knew you and I told them. They asked what I thought of you and I said I just told them. They asked what did you teach me in class I said Socrates, Gandhi, Mandela, Mill etc... They asked again, but what did he TEACH you in class, I said, truth, compassion, tolerance, and utility. They asked about your family and if they were truly in a concentration camp, so I told them. They asked about your friends, who you associated yourself with, and I said "well, I'd be honored to say, he associates himself with people like me...people who care about people...although I have much to learn, to experience, to read, and do before I can be compared to most of his closest friends..." Needless to say they couldn't disagree with me, because earlier in the conversation they had commented on what a kind young man I appeared to be, and so well read, and accomplished (i told them about my trips to the mid-east etc...)

And one last thing I remember - they mentioned at some point how "the Palestinian people have proven to be failures with every attempt at re-claiming something that wasn't theirs"....and I said well, I feel Norman would respond to that simply by saying, "That's the difference between you and me, you feel that these people are failures and I feel these people have been failed..." I hope that was appropriate. I wanted to keep it simple. And it worked because they just shook my hand, thanked me for talking with them, and they walked away talking amongst themselves, hands flailing in the air, etc...

Overall, I didn't change their beliefs, where maybe you could have, but at least now they know you a bit better. I apologize for the long email - but I wanted to tell you right away before i forgot details.

All my best always,
JM



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

Today I had a conversation that I thought you'd find interesting. I was introduced to a fellow Iranian student and as usual, we began discussing politics. We talked about the threat of Iran and that grew into a general discussion on the conflict in the Middle East/Israel, the use of preemption, acts of Israel and the influence of Israel over American policy. Almost always, I have some traction on these issues. I mean a lot of them are plain as day and a decent person will hear them out. For instance, the fact that neither Israel nor the US has ever accepted the Islamic Republic's regime, and routinely calls for regime change is exactly the same as Ahmedinejad's statement that "the Imam said the regime occupying Jerusalem will vanish from the page of time". Similarly, the fact that, as you have said time and time again, no Israeli leadership has ever recognized a Palestinian state within its internationally recognized borders (see I read). These are very clear cut issues that make a lot logical sense. Yet this kid was unconvinced and adamantly so. My reaction was that of astonishment. At one point, I even thought to myself that this kid was an alien. Eventually I had to ask if he was Jewish and sure enough, he was. His hawkish views, of course, fell right in line with what a Zionist would think. We finished the conversation, and I just found myself accepting his radical points on account of his Jewishness as I usually do.

The point of this letter is that, I had no idea the extent of the disparate treatment or deference I give to Jewish people on these issues. Here was a kid that I literally thought was insane. How could someone be so stupid and so despicable? War, violence and intolerance were the only thing he seemed to comprehend and basic human dignity was completely lacking. He couldn't understand that preemptively nuking another country was out of the question to a normal person or that the treatment of Palestinians was wrong. And when I thought he wasn't Jewish, I was appalled. Yet as soon as he told me he was, it's like I forgave him. He was just another ardent Zionist, and that was ok to me. I thought it was really scary to think that I give people with these views that much deference just because they're Jewish. I wonder how many others do the same.

On another note, there's an interesting article on Naomi Klein's website about the politics of fear and anti-semitism. I found it unique because it really hits the issue from the liberal Jewish perspective. Considering all I've said, I think it is high time that Jewish people recapture their different ideas and assert that just because you're Jewish doesn't mean you have to be Likud. I feel like once that happens, it’d be much easier for people like me to criticize the hawkish Zionists, knowing that I won’t be offending all Jews. I'll send you the link at the bottom.

Thank you again for all your work. All the best.



Hello again Dr. Finkelstein,

I hope I'm not bothering you by writing you all the time, but I wanted to tell you that I just read "Beyond Chutzpah", and although I did not go through all of your evidence because there was so much, I looked at some of it and I was absolutely convinced that you have proven Dershowitz guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Your book is truly compelling not only because of the tragic events that it recounts, but because of the appalling description of a prominent lawyer and "human rights advocate" throwing all of his weight behind human rights abuses, and even deceiving a judge in order to ensure that a human being was abused and tortured! It is absolutely horrifying and shocking. I understand, though I don't particularly like, the ethics of trial lawyers, who believe the best way to achieve justice is to do whatever they can to advance the case of their client and to rely on the judge to weigh the arguments of both sides and arrive at a fair decision. I don't understand, however, how Alan Dershowitz could take this principle and apply it to politics, by acting as if he was the criminal defendant of Israel in the court of world opinion, making any argument he can think of in defense of Israel, even though most people who hear his arguments have no access to an opposing viewpoint, and are not capable of analyzing his arguments to arrive at the truth. Dershowitz knows he's not speaking to a judge, he knows there is usually no opposing council, he knows that his audience is not versed in legal tricks or sophistry, and indeed have no idea that they are being subjected to every weapon in the arsenal of a seasoned trial lawyer, and yet he plies his trade in the public sphere as if it were a courtroom. As if that were not enough, Dershowitz consistently distorts the truth and even makes things up whenever he feels it will advance his case! What a piece of work is this man! What a horrible stain on the name of Harvard law school that he has not yet been fired and sent packing. If there was any justice in this world, if there was any credibility left in the academic community, this loathsome creature would be smiling from a billboard offering legal services to accident victims, or perhaps simply manning a cash register where the most harm he could do would be giving someone incorrect change. If there was any justice, you would be the Felix Frankfurter Chair at Harvard, and the name of Harvard might actually mean something again. I know you are probably frustrated about the difficulties of getting your latest book published, but please don't give up. I want to read it, and I know there are so many people who still need to hear what you have to say. The truth must be told to save Israel and the palestinians from a very bleak future. Please don't let foolish, detestable people like Dershowitz condemn so many people to misery and death with racism and lies. I do believe you are winning, and that is why the resistence is stiffening, but they can't possibly stop the truth from coming out. Take care and don't work too hard.

Nate



Dear Professor Finkelstein

I read your book, "The Holocaust Industry" about six years ago, when it was first edited in my country, Portugal.

It´s curious because, around the same time, I was thinking about buying Daniel Goldhagen´s "Hitler´s Willing Executioners". I believed that any kind of criticism on the Holocaust was the work of anti-semites or Holocaust deniers. Yet I was puzzled by the ficalact that a jew, whose parents were concentration camp survivors, had decided to make a strong attack on the way the Holocaust was being portrayed.

What really impressed me, was your remarkable deconstruction on the way the Holocaust was seen as a religion, with its dogmas, and the way it was used, not for the sake of mankind, but for the sake of a minority as a mean to make moral blackmail, specially on the Israel/Palestine conflict. As a portuguese, I was specially touched by your small essay on East Timor, and the way the American administration almost allowed a genocide, while at the same time was hipocritely preventing a new "Holocaust" in the Balcans.

I had seen your webpage years ago, but the reason that made write this message, was the fact that I´ve just found out in you tube a piece of a documentary entittled "American Radical". I was shocked to find out about your resignation in De Paul´s University.

It would have been easier for you to join the choir of the Holocaust industry. Yet, you prefered to uphold what you believe, denying the moral blackmail often made to jews who criticise Israel or judaism.

In a way, it proves Raul Hilberg´s allegations about you when he says you display "... academic courage to speak the truth when no one else is out there to support him... I would say that his place in the whole history of writing history is assured, and that those who in the end are proven right triumph, and he will be among those who will have triumphed, albeit, it so seems, at great cost."

May you always find the strenght to keep your struggle, Professor Finkelstein.

Rui



Dear Professor Finkelstein, I just wanted to send you a message of peace and tell you that a lot of my friends and family admire you for your stance against Zionist Israel and the fight against injustice. There are many men who say they are for peace and justice, but when they are confronted with the opportunity to make a real difference they turn away, or worse, throw away everything they’re known to stand for. But you didn’t. Thank you for your defiant stance during the war on Lebanon in 2006. We were there in July 2 years ago and were lucky to witness the victory of the oppressed. May it be the lantern to freedom for all the oppressed around the world.

Kindest Regards,
Malika



Hi, Dr. Finkelstein.

I know I have not emailed you in a while. I have been busy, and I am sure you are very busy as well.

Whenever I am in Lincoln Park, and I see DePaul, I feel sad. For I remember how badly they treated you, and I feel like DePaul's image has been tarnished for me.

Anyways. I guess I have been thinking about politics a lot lately with the Presidential election coming up. And I remember some of things I read in your books, or that my brother would talk about, regarding the US policy in the Middle East. The whole process saddens me, for I know that real positive change in the Middle East is not in either candidate's agenda. I wonder what your thoughts are on that? I know you are a very busy man, but I do miss our email exchanges. It meant a lot to me that man as great as you took the time to respond to my emails. And I have to say that someone like you, who has faced so much opposition for simply speaking up, and trying to do the right thing, is a rare and wonderful person. I consider it an honor and privilege to be able to contact you.

As a Muslim, in particular an Ahmadi Muslim, it means a lot to me that people of all backgrounds, in particular someone of Jewish heritage, is willing to stop and take a moment to do what is right.

What is right is not always popular, and what is popular is not always right. That is a saying that my Spanish teacher in middle school used to have hanging as a big banner in her classroom. And when I see people like you taking a stand to do what is right, no matter how unpopular it might be, I have to say I agree with it, and am in awe of the bravery that takes.

Thank you so much for your bravery. I know it must be hard to do face all the opposition and hate mail that probably came to you because of it, but I commend you. What you did, and continue to do, is a wonderfully decent, just thing that falls in line with humanity's principles of absolute justice.

Let us pray that the world will fight ignorance, intolerance, and bigotry wherever it resides, and will not use the excuse of freedom of speech to attack, deride, or play with the sentiments of any group of people. May the freedom of people like you, who write to expose societal injustice, always be protected. May the world embrace the motto of, "Love for all, and Hatred for None."

May God bless you.

Peace,



Dear Norman ,

Well at last the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) will be saved by the release of $ 60, 000, 000 US military aids! An amount that would help it in carrying out counterterrorist operations similar to those mushrooming in the North where last year more than 160 Lebanese soldiers , 220 militants were killed , and more than 20, 000 Palestinian refugees displaced. Terrorist groups affiliated to Qaida basically sponsored and catered by so- called Moderate Arabs.

An amount that could have been donated by any Lebanese tycoon ! An amount that has been in debate in Washington for some time as David Schenker mentioned in his article “The Future of US Military Aid to Lebanon” , where he suspects that the there is a possibility that the Lebanese army might hand over whatever forces especially the Cobra attack helicopters to Hezbollah to fight Israel .

But something else has been going on for a while in this snow capped country … A mysterious US military airbase is being set up in Kleiaat under the name of “US Lebanese Center for Rehabilitation of the Army” according to the retired army colonel Amin Hoteit . Though this project is being promulgated as a “US/ NATO” base that will serve as the headquarters of a NATO rapid deployment force, helicopter squadrons, and Special Forces units. And in spite of strong denials on behalf of the US government through its mendacious American diplomats , “Danger Zone Jobs.com” has been posting on it website their need to recruit people who would be interested in working on the construction of the Kleiaat US military base in Lebanon ! According to Deutche Presse-Agentur, independent military experts see that the interest in this airport lies in the fact that it is 22 air miles from northern Syria’s Tartus naval base and also the Russian Mediterranean Black Sea fleet’s command center. A reposition on behalf of the Americans to denounce Moscow’s presence in West Asia.

Does the US seriously believe that it can shack the Lebanese army? Hasn’t the USA recognized that it has lost in the popularity contest within the Lebanese (with the exception of the 14-March block)? The US should be aware that it is not welcomed in Lebanon and will be targeted as an occupying force and I am sure it does not want to reiterate the 1983 suicide bombing of the first military establishment in Lebanon where 280 US marines lost their lives .

Even the Israeli’s are thinking twice before attempting to irritate Hezbollah …According to Amos Haaretz military correspondent , said both Israel and Hezbollah , however , have no intention of having “another violent confrontation”. Moreover, Haaretz quoted Giora Eiland, Israel’s former Head of the National Security Council as saying that Israel had failed in its Second Lebanon war against Lebanon in 2006 and “could fail in the third because it fought the wrong enemy. It fought Hezbollah instead of the state of Lebanon.” He added that that “no victory could be achieved against an organization active under the shadow of a state immunized against an Israeli military reaction.” He went beyond that to warn Barak that just as the Israeli army is improving, Hezbollah is improving too, “….a gorilla organization that is building its strongholds beneath villages.” And even if Israel uses “disproportionate power” in reference to its air power, Hezbollah is preparing a “big surprise’ for Israel according to the editor in chief of the Lebanese Daily Al Akhbar, Ibrahim Al –Amin who uses reliable sources from within Hezbollah.

It seems that both the Israelis and the Americans suffer form severe memory loss because when Eiland writes that " People won't be going to the beach in Beirut while Haifa residents are in shelters" , he should have reminisced over the promise that Sayed Hassan Nasrallah made two years ago " ...it is beyond Haifa ...." and he is a man who keeps his promise ...

zeina



Dear Norman

My name is David; a post-graduate student at the University of Pretoria in South Africa specialising in International Political Economy.

I read the short piece written by Noam Chomsky "The fate of an honest intellectual" with great interest and pain but was inspired at the end to stand for truth for I now that despondency has never defeated adversity...Could you please send me the initial response you wrote somewhere around 1984 when you responded to the hoax of Joan Peters?

Kind regards and all the best in your life and work.

By the way I also visited your website!

David



I just wanted to briefly comment on your recent interview with Dissident Voice [originally appeared in MR Zine]. Specifically, the last question and your response.

I wholeheartedly agree with your answer. While I (and many others) will remember you and your work, perhaps you may not attain the same popularity in the mainstream. Nevertheless, your work will exist forever. You've left your mark with your writings and your ideas.

I remember listening to a Chomsky-lecture about activism. It seemed very depressing to be honest. So much destruction going on in the world. So many people who just want to live their lives in peace and are continually abused by those in power.

Toward the end of the speech, Professor Chomsky took questions from the audience. I believe one of the questions was about what the future generations of Israel could do to help make peace a possibility. I don't recall his exact answer but he went on to say that all popular movements were the result of small victories. Small victories building up over time. It's a slow process but by keeping the fight alive, we may eventually see change.

No one person powers a movement. They may become a symbol but it's the work of so many who go unnamed and unsung.

Anyways, that gave me hope in a way. Hope that even though there is so much wrong with the world, there are people out there who are devoting their lives in the pursuit of making things better; helping others.

I believe you're one of those people. Thank you and know that there are lots of people out there who admire you and your work.





Editor's note: Latest letter on top.

It's been awhile since I read through the letters section of your website and I noticed a correspondance between "Alex" and someone else. I just finished reading his last post on Islam and I don't know if anyone responded to him, but his letter enrages me. All to often these days, you have these people who pretend that they are sympathetic to Palestinians or other suffering people, it's only that they object to "feudal islam", if only these poor people would throw out those fetters, surely we would love and help them. They think that because they learn one or two things about medievel Islam they are experts. What struck me was the authority with which he spoke because he knew what an "isnad" was even though everything he said shows he doesn't even know the basics of Islam, beginning with his inability to separate canon and doctrine, from nationalism and politics, thus he quotes Sayyid Qutb a 20th century Egyptian political actor to try and prove a point about about medievel shariah...

1) "The reality is that Islam has had a long and well documented history of genuine anti-Semitism"- Really? That is why it was the Islamic civilization that shielded Jews numerous times when they were expelled from Europe throughout the centuries? Such anti-Semitism that historically, Jews were one of the most propserous communities in thriving cities of Islam such as Baghdad? So anti-Semitic that one of the greatest Jewish intellectuals Maimonedes thrived and developed in Muslim-controlled Spain, a time of prosperity and intellecutal development for Jews?

Also, Islam is so anti-Semitic that the Quran at one point explicitly praises the righteous "doctors" of the jews, referring to the righteous people (particularly rabbis) who have stayed true to the spirit of Torah, saying they have nothing to fear from their Lord. In another place, Christians are also included in this. The exact quote from Quran 5:69:

"(68) Lo! those who believe, and those who are Jews, and Sabaeans, and Christians - Whosoever believeth in Allah and the Last Day and doeth right - there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve. (69)"

The Quran, which he seems to know nothing about save for probably the cut-and paste hate versions on the web, criticizes ALL people because it purports to be a book produced by God himself, hence speaking down to all of humanity. Yes you will find passages critical of Jewish practises but you will also find passages in the Quran that are extremely critical of Arabs, at one point it says that among the desert Arabs you will find the most ignorant. The Quran must be anti-Arab then...and furthermore, alot of what is contained in the Quran about Jews is also found in the Jewish scriptures, so the Jewish scriptures must also be anti-Semitic.

2) On the hadith he says with such authority: "Actual they ARE canonical and a fundamental source of the Shariah"- Actually they are NOT cannonical. Islam 101. Yes, the Hadith is considered a very important source of guidance because they contain the wisdom of the Prophet Muhammad. It is expressly clear that they are not without error and without political motiviations. This was the task of Bukhari, when he eliminated thousands of hadith including politically-motivated hadith. Despite the fact that Sahih Bukhari and Muslim are the two most authentic sources (which causes some Muslims to defacto elevate them), that is, most rigorous in the vetting process, they are NOT a holy source, they are a practical man-gathered source to help illuminate the Quran and help with the process of interpretation (ijtihad). Which brings me to another thing he said.

3) "Even if this were true, no one is trying to re institute European Feudalism in France. However, in Iran the government is based on "Constitutional Shariah". In Saudi Arabia, women are imprisoned for witchcraft. After the Beslan school massacre, Shamil Basayez declared that he desired the institution of Shariah. The Muslim Brotherhood declared its support for Shariah. It goes on and on and on and on. As for this person's view that Shariah "isn't all that bad" I suggest he go and live in a state that administers Shariah. What a joke."

Aside from the fact that a whole bunch of things that have nothing to do with each other have been strung together here, the biggest problem is that he doesn't even know what shariah is, or rather what he thinks shariah is, is what he read for 2 minutes in the news; and like most of his ilk, he is an expert now. The Shariah is a legal system, very similiar to the English Common Law. Britian still uses the Common Law which it used when it was feudal, does the present usage of Common Law automatically make it feudal? Though the Common Law is rooted in feudalism, it developed through a process of interpretation. Common Law precedents are applied to modern circumstances today because the principles still hold, though the actual situations are either not relevant or abhorent to us. The Shariah is exactly the same. Its principles are rooted in the Quran, which are general, the existing compilation of Shariah is rooted in the times it was developed, so you'll find Shariah cases that are abhorent to us, just like you will find common law cases that are abhorent. One will also see how particular times color interpretation and rulings. There is an institutional right of interpretation called Ijtihad, which allows Muslims to engage in a God-given right of interpretation and apply principles in a modern context. So reinstating Shariah is akin to saying we want to reinstate the Common Law. This does not mean that there isn't a struggle to combat against feudalism, patriarchy, elitism etc, in the application if shariah; we've all heard of abhorent cases in Nigeria and elsewhere; notice there seems to be a coorelation between these cases and the degree of education on the matter? Though each Muslim has a right to Ijtihad, quality control necessitates that those most versed in legal principles apply that right. This is exactly the same in Western society, though everyone has a right to be a part of the democratic process, you have justices who are vested with the elevated right to interpret and apply the law for no reason other than that they are most versed in legal principles. This is so basic that it should really go without saying, but there are always blinders to even the most basic things when someone speaks from prejudice rather than reason.

So I would advise people such as Alex to do what any honest person would do when learning about a subject: actually read about it. People can have genuine disagreements about things, but don't speak from prejudice and pretend otherwise.


* * *

Dr. Finkelstein,

I noticed another Islam apologist has sent you an email, which you posted.

First of all this person said that the Hadith are not canonical. Actual they ARE canonical and a fundamental source of the Shariah. In fact they are the sole exegetical source for determining the validity of various portions of the so-called "revelation".

This person said:

"Certainly the feudal sharia is not perfect. But it was no different then what existed everywhere else, and sometimes even better then what existed at that time before hand. "

Even if this were true, no one is trying to re institute European Feudalism in France. However, in Iran the government is based on "Constitutional Shariah". In Saudi Arabia, women are imprisoned for witchcraft. After the Beslan school massacre, Shamil Basayez declared that he desired the institution of Shariah. The Muslim Brotherhood declared its support for Shariah. It goes on and on and on and on. As for this person's view that Shariah "isn't all that bad" I suggest he go and live in a state that administers Shariah. What a joke.

He also noted that not every Hadith came from Muhammad's mouth. What he doesn't seem to realize is that the compilers of Hadith (Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, etc...) vetted each Hadith with a chain of narration and rated these on a scale from Sahih (Verified) to Da'eef (Weak). Much of the awful statements about Jews to be found in the Hadith come from the later period (the Medinan epoch) and were heard by a great many people, and have a strong Isnad (chain of narration).

The author of this email engages in wishful thinking about Islam. The reality is that Islam has had a long and well documented history of genuine anti-Semitism. From its canonical texts, to modern practice. From the slaughter of the Banu Qunayqa by Muhammad, to the sexual enslavement of the women of the Jews of Khaybar by Muhammad, to the pogroms against Jews in Morocco, to Sayyid Qutb's rants about the "evil psychology of Jews". All this wishful thinking is irrelevant, the facts remain. Islam demands animus towards Jews, it demands animus towards the non-believer. Non Muslims are ritually disdained and scorned.

Whether or not the Palestinians can be blamed or not is a non-sequiter (as I never even mentioned the Palestinians), and is not the issue here, nor is Zionism. The issue is that Islam is a doctrine which is pernicious in nature and targets Jews (along with gays, women, polytheists, etc...). Why is this a problem? Because it makes it difficult to determine what resistance to Israel is of a moral and humanist nature, and what is of the pernicious Islamic nature. Often the Islamists who seek the institution of Shariah can disguise this in the blanket of legitimate resistance. For instance you yourself must demarcate between Hezbollah the resistance movement, and Hezbollah the religious movement. Comments issued by Hezbollah claiming that Jews spread AIDS in Middle East are now confused with resistance to Israeli invasion. So when you post positive reviews of Hezbollah, some people see a resistance movement and others see the fact that Hezbollah aired a television show that paraphrased the Protocols. It makes your job more difficult.

When the Palestinians excise Islam from their movement, they will find a far more staunch supporter in me. I would hate to see the Palestinians arrive at a viable state only to impose Shariah on the population, as I am sure you would be. The freedom of the Palestinians for me includes freedom from Iron Age religious doctrine.

Warm Regards,

Alex.


* * *

Hello, Norm, i find your views rather refreshing. The facts on the other hand are saddening. Not because they are false, but because they are true. Because what you say is true, i see a bleak future.

I found some of the letters directed to you stating that the Dhimmi people were like slaves and that Jizya was oppressive.

Certainly the feudal sharia is not perfect. But it was no different then what existed everywhere else, and sometimes even better then what existed at that time before hand.

Often, rulers did NOT want non-Muslims to convert, since they would get less taxes. Things arn't as black and white as they seem.

Also, jews wearing symbols...this existed for a completely different reason then what the nazis did, and were not just for jews.

Non-muslims were not subject to most laws that were required for muslims at that time. Somehow, they had to tell the difference.

Your right Norman, the laws were of a feudal society, so why are the palistinians of today being judged by what happened in feudal times?

Hell the resistance was ORIGINALLY secular, so why are these charges thrown at the feet of the muslims?

As for those anti-semetic hadiths...i can find just as many that praise jews. Hadith is not cannon, to take every hadith as if they came straight from the prophets mouth is foolishness, since they themselves were subject to early politics in muslim history. THe same can be said of the opinons of archiac scholars.



Editor's note: latest letter on top.

10/3/2008

In Abu’s letter to Finkelstein he points to thirteen links that deal with issues presented in Finkelstein’s numerous lectures and/or media appearances. Contained within these links are Finkelstein’s statements, which according to various claims posted on Zio Mania, do not mesh with the ostensibly Anti-Zionist stance that he portrays to the public.

On first impression Zio Mania appears as a website dedicated to the anti-Zionist struggle, but then loses me when they align themselves with the nonsensical arguments of Holocaust deniers as Lady Renouf. At the same time I want to bring up how repellent the neo-Con, Zionist Campus Watch website is as they try insidiously to shut out any rational discussion about the Israeli-Palestine conflict in college classrooms. Nonetheless, on the Zio Mania website I agree that there are two important points challenging Finkelstein’s statements regarding the following: 1) “Israel as a state was founded in 1948 on stolen land which was occupied by force and massive bloodshed. International law deems that it’s inadmissible to keep land acquired by force; 2) UN Resolution 194 that establishes the Palestinians’ right of return to their homes and villages that they fled or compensation given for their loss of property if they choose not to return. I too would like some clarification from Finkelstein with respect to his statements on these two points. I would like, however, to preface this discussion by saying that I will not tolerate the offensive remarks, “fuck you Finkelstein Jew” and “money grubbing Jew” it cheapens and does not enhance our capacity for dialogue between Arabs and Jews. As a person of Lebanese/Arab American heritage, I too was guilty of becoming completely unglued with Israeli policy and in the past, on many occasions displaced my anger with animosity towards Jews –in spite of having wonderful Jewish friends. At the same time I have heard a couple of my Jewish friends speak disparagingly of Arabs. We probably are all guilty of this malicious name-calling so I am not just singling Abu out for these comments. And Arabs might say, but the Jews started it so I am justified in fighting back with this language. Again, I reiterate ethnic name calling will not bolster Arab and Jewish relations towards arriving at a solution to the Israeli-Palestine conflict.

I have one last comment on this ethnic slurring. Norman Finkelstein is not “a money grubbing Jew” seeking sole compensation for his fight for Palestinians’ rights. Let us look at his current situation realistically. If he were an opportunist for the Palestinian cause, what vast financial gain will he yield by lecturing at universities, mosques, churches, centers of human rights advocacy? We are talking about shekels here. Yes, he has a university settlement, but does that last an eternity or his life time provided he enjoys some degree of longevity? He has been blackballed from academia because of his activism, how do you expect him to make a living other than from his books he writes? Besides, if you are seeking to make a big financial splash in life a la Norman Podhoretz, you do not choose academia. Please, Norman is hardly the caricaturist image of Der Sturmer. He is a very humane and compassionate fellow whose activism lies outside the interests of the Israeli-Palestine War, such as leading the protest against the academic freedom case of Professor Ramlal-Nankoe. Today on his website, look at his incendiary comment with respect to the news article on the “European Parliament’s September 4th resolution on the situation of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails”. I now will refer to the discussion below.

I have had a difficult time all my life accepting the moral and legal rationale for the expulsion of (indigenous) Palestinians in order to carve out a state of Israel. My immediate response was why the Palestinians had to suffer for the injustices that the Germans inflicted upon the Ashkenazi Jews? I had no problem with the indigenous Palestinian Jews who lived there alongside with the Palestinian Arabs. According to Finkelstein, the years prior to the Zionist settlements, from 1800 to 1910 Jews constituted five to ten percent of the indigenous population. To bring in the Jewish argument, not all European and North American countries eagerly welcomed the immigration of Holocaust survivors (see Grace Feuerverger’s introductory chapter to Oasis of Dreams, although I do not agree with all her conclusions). I also know personally through friends of those survivors that there were some who did not want to emigrate to Israel or to another country of destination, but stay in their countries of origin after WWII. Like the Palestinians, the Jews and descendants lost their homes, when they fled, immigrated, or were sent to concentration camps, which later were occupied by non-Jews.

Finkelstein does circumvent the question about the inadmissibility of acquiring land by force by embarking upon a detailed explanation on the changes in international law governing the legality of war and the subsequent conundrum facing the United Nations General Assembly to reach a consensus on whether the acquisition of territory by war was legal. He admits to the “moral indefensibility” of the UN’s decision on the partition of Palestine, but sums up that we cannot belabor complicated circumstances surrounding the final decision--basically it is what we have to work with at the present time. But what we need to know from you, Norman, is do you personally think the partition was a fair decision, given that many Palestinians were forced to abandon their homes. I am aware that your opinion alone is not going to weigh heavily towards a change in Israeli policy decision making or in American/European foreign policy. In watching the you tube presentation of Finkelstein’s Washington Peace Center talk, he did disclose his personal belief in stateless borders, but qualified that it would not precipitate a settlement to the Palestinian’s painfully longstanding and arduous struggle for statehood.

Second, do you think the Palestinians’ Right to Return can ever become a reality for a sizable minority of Palestinians---given that the majority of the homes of first generation Palestinians presently are occupied by Israeli Jews? Specifically in question is the Palestinians’ right to return to their homes and villages in Israel not only to the UN designated Palestinians lands of the West Bank and Gaza. If so, is it possible that a refugee return can be implemented within the present Israeli infrastructure? There is this prevailing view, though certainly not shared by all Israeli Jews that there is a “clash of cultures” which would prohibit the integration of Arabs into the Israeli state. Perhaps, Norman, you have addressed these questions in full in a lecture of which I am unaware.

On a third link of Zio Mania there is this debate on the number of Jews who perished during the Holocaust. Why keep persisting with this nonsensical number game, historical documentation shows the Holocaust happened. Is 1,000,000 exterminated sound less egregious than 6,000,000—it was a horrific tragedy to not only Jews, but gypsies, homosexuals, disabled, and non-Jewish resisters of the Nazi occupation. Prior to the Jewish holocaust, the Young Turk Revolution in 1915 committed a genocide of both Armenians and the Lebanese, the former by the sword and the latter from starvation as declared by Enver Pasha in 1916. Actually, in the case of the Lebanese, there was simultaneously a locust infestation, the British and French armies unwittingly were complicit in this starvation by blockading the Beirut port to the entry of food supplies, which they feared would fall into the hands of the Turkish army. The Turkish army instead took advantage of the few crops left among the domestic farmers. In Beirut, the Place des Martyrs honors those fifteen Lebanese nationals, Christian and Muslim, who revolted against the Young Turks and were hung. Finkelstein’s argument is that holocausts, regardless of the number perished, have occurred throughout history, the Indonesian genocide of the East Timorese, My Lai massacre of Vietnamese. In this sense, the Jewish holocaust is not unique.

In closing, Norman is your ally, he is not your enemy---US foreign policy and Israeli policy is. During the Vice presidential debates last night, there was absolutely no mention about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The two candidates agreed on their unilateral support of Israel. They both acknowledged their support in ending the continuing genocide in Darfur. What the United States fails to realize is that in Sudan both ethnic Arab Muslims (nomadic Baggara cattle herders) and African Muslims (Fur sedentary agriculturalists) have suffered abuses on both sides. Essentially, the two ethnic groups have intermarried over centuries, and any visible biological differences are blurred, stemming from their interdependence upon the Fur’s millet production and the Baggara’s livestock for subsistence (see Fedrick Barth, Ethnic Boundaries, 1969).

Norman, this past week you have been the target of Arabs and Muslims hatred, but a continual basis from your own people. I can only speak for Arab Americans, the source of this hatred is we are tired, restless, frustrated that in terms of U.S. foreign we can never get a fair shake—the cards always are stacked against us. We sometimes resent having Jewish brokers, as I expressed to you in an email, because we have not been successful in solving the Israeli-Palestine conflict ourselves. Yet in the depths of cynicism and desperation, we can point to the Free Gaza movement. These human activists demonstrated that not only Jews and Arabs can work together, but all ethnicities and nationalities, Europeans, Americans, Canadians, to crack open the siege through non-violent means.

>>>>>>>>>





Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2008 07:45:01 -0700
From: abu186[at]yahoo.com
Subject: The struggle to free Palestine should not count on money-grubbing Jews like finkelstein who are most likely to have divided loyalties.
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

fuck you Norman FinkleJew!

stop illegally occupying our struggle against the zionazis!!

you are no different than sharon - just you grab money acting as a phony traitor typical jew...

Finkelstein needs to get a day job and stop earning a living off the bleedking backs of the Palestinians!

Norman Finkelstein: An emotional Zionist. Please watch these videos. Finkelstein was very emotional because there was a debate on the Holocaust. He was adamant that 5 to 6 million Jews died.

Norman Finkelstein: Thanks, but no Thanks. Spare me your fake indignation.

Norman Finkelstein: He became famous for his book 'The Holocuast industry' and now he has become the holocuast-peddler.

Zionist conspirarcy: to silence Norman Finkelstein.

Norman Finkelstein: American is to blame for the Lebanon war, not the Zionist State.

Finkelstein very deceptive: During the Qestion and Answer session at Stanford.

Norman Finkelstein debates James Petras: And he exposes himself as a genuine Zionist.

Palestinian Mohammed Abed: He wrote a masterpiece on the treacheries of Norman Finkelstein.

Finkelstein admits he is a Zionist: For some odd reason the word 'anti-Zionist is linked with Zionist Finkelstein.

Zionist Hate Mail: The forocity of the hate mail is staggering and amazing, considering that Finkelstein is indeed a Zionist.

"Norman Finkelstein is Israel's most relentless critic?" But Finkelstein is a Zionist!

Video: A Debate between two Zionists: Norman Finkelstein and Wolf Blitzer.



Hello Dr. Finkelstein,

I went to Borders bookstore this evening and saw what appeared to be a book by Alan Dershowitz titled " the case against Israel's enemies" with a focus on criticizing Jimmy Cater, John Measheimer and Stephen Walt and to a lesser degree Noam Chomsky and yourself.

I know that Dershowitz is a biased plagiarist and he should have, except for Harvard cowardice, been fired for plagiarism and lack and of scholarship. I refuse to buy this creeps new book. When it soon becomes part of the miscellaneous three books for a dollar bin, then I may consider it.

I read some of it while having a coffee and here's what I can tell you:

1] He claims he was very good friends with Jimmy Carter until Carter constructively criticized Israel with facts and personal experience. Now he considers Carter a liar and anti-semite. Imagine what kind of creep Dershowitz is! If a friend, even of the caliber of Jimmy Carter constructively criticizes Israeli atrocities, they are suddenly an anti-semite and a liar.

2] Dershowitz defends and minimizes an JDL terrorist's killing of an innocent bystander by a bomb and then pretends he was somewhat sorry yet still proud for getting this same creep completely off of charges in court.

3) Dershowitz often quotes with question the word[s] "the lobby" "this Lobby" and "lobby" insinuating that an Israeli lobby in the U.S. doesn't exist. He claims because "this lobby" has failed in its treachery once or twice then it must not exist or at least it is not as treacherous as people say it is.

4] The book is filled with minimizing and angelicizing Israeli crimes and abuses, then whiningly insinuating anti-semitism when Israel is accused of genuine human rights violations. Dershowitz seems to want israel to brutalize Palestinians while fabricating Israeli right to do so.

5] Dershowitz quotes hundreds of single words, individually, and then strings them together with misleading manipulation to claim his false conclusions are somehow buttressed by literature.

6] Dershowitz does not refute the facts by Mearshimer, Walt, Chomsky and Finkelstein but rather he tries to manipulate the reader by bringing up other issues or adhominem attacks, again with that whiney misused claim of anti-semitism and being liars.

7] Dershowitz claims Finkelstein and others are discredited academics when it was Dershowitz who was exposed as a plagiarist, fabricator and someone who will defend Israeli behavior above all else, including loyalty to our own nation.

8] Dershowitz seems to be a Middle East Scholar Wanna Be. One can see where he uses his experience of getting guilty criminals off from paying for their crimes, with trying to get Israel off for committing its crimes.

9] I want to avoid adhominem attacks, so I will although these may sound that way. Dershowitz was the first creep I saw who strongly defended corrupt, sex offender Elliot Spitzer. Additionally I want to mention the biological theory of crime which is a weak, but not dismissible theory of crime. In its' most simple form it states that some people actually look like criminals. If i showed you a picture of Charles Manson you would know what I mean. I don't know if it's Dershowitz's hair dye, hair plugs, or corrupt facial expression or whiney, innane drone voice; he looks like a corrupt immoral gargoyle. He looks like the picture of Dorian Gray in reverse; his outward appearance rots along with his soul.


* * *


Hello Norman,

How are you? I heard you speak at Fairfield University many years ago, and I also heard you speak in Lebanon several years ago. As you know, I very much admire and appreciate your work. You would have probably recognized my hotmail address, but this is my yahoo.

One thing that concerns me about scholars like yourself is that you are often left to fight and fend for yourself. I am very interested in the work that you do and would like to assist in the same if at all possible. Also I am completing a PhD on inter-Lebanese conflict and believe you would find it interesting. Please let me know how I can communicate and maybe meet with you and discuss all this. I am quite genuine and bonafide about all this.

I very much liked your interview on Future TV, in Lebanon, last year regarding the Israeli attack on Lebanon. I was worried but now am so glad that you did not allow the very negative and convoluted mentality of some Lebanese to disturb your true basic principles. What I mean is this, many Lebanese are very divided and have weak selfish arguments against one another. Unlike yourself, some people would be confused by this. Some might simply say "oh they are Lebanese, they speak the language, so they know what they are talking about." Future TV, like much of the media in Lebanon, is a sectarian envious organization of other Lebanese communities and parties.

By not getting sucked in to all that petty nonsense, you were able to see things in the most logical way. Hizbollah absolutely had the right to defend its country. They absolutely showed courage and discipline in resisting.No match for the Israeli's, Hizbollah predominantly attacked soldiers while the Israelis killed civilians. I was thoroughly disgusted to hear George Bush talk on TV, not even two days after the attacks began, by then Israel had already killed over 50 Lebanese civilians and Hizbollah 8 Israeli soldiers. Even so, Bush stated that Hizbollah had no regard for civilian life and were terrorists. I understand that US congress convened immediately after Israel attacked and immediately condemned Hizbollah for hiding behind civilians. Then later, Israel even admitted, in its very flawed Winograd report that it used cluster bobs against Hizbollah because Hizbollah did NOT hide behind civilian areas in its defense of Lebanon. Israel continues to use human Shields while accusing others of doing so. Israel, often deliberately, kills civilians while accusing others of doing so.

I was in Lebanon with my wife and 4 children, as I had been living there for several years, right before the Israeli invasion. Israel was unmercifully killing Palestinians at that time, in what I believe as a baiting tactic as most of the Middle East cried out that someone needs to do something to halt Israel's massacre of Palestinians. When a lone Palestinian crawled underground to an Israeli nerve center and captured a soldier and killed another, this was labeled terrorism. While Israel was massacring Palestinians - before, during, and after this event- including killing 8 members of a picnicking Palestinian family on a beach, leaving only a young child screaming for her mother. This was considered part of Israel's legitimate fight against terrorism.

So, back to my original point, stick to your guns even when convoluted petty Lebanese try to tell you that you do not understand what is going on. I know what I am talking about. I am an American who has spent the last 6 years in Lebanon and I am completing a PhD on inter-Lebanese conflict. Lebanon has the right to defend itself. Israel literally gets away with murder. George



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I have been an ardent admirer of your work. I may not fully agree with all your writing, but the whole general aspect of what you convey is a remarkable piece of work in itself.

As an Indonesian and an Ex-Muslim (I'm agnostic now but am still not finding any logic in the sense that there is a G-D and so the next time I write to you I might be an atheist) you'd think I would be passionately pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli, but whatever the mainstream (or general) western knowledge is of a country with a Muslim majority (Indonesia is not a Muslim country-30% of its citizens are non-Muslim and many of its founding fathers were not religious or Muslim-hence the very secular society) this was not the case, and remains to not be the case for many Indonesians in the major cities(you only have to open the Jakarta Post to read the anti-Palestinian pieces there- Israelis maybe disliked but Palestinians are considered as just another bunch of terrorists).

When I was in elementary school in England I had a Jewish friend, her name was Melanie. And up until the fourth year we didn't really know what our religious/ cultural backgrounds were. During that fourth year, unfortunately, we studied religion as a subject for our Humanities class (for a public school in north west London I still find this subject of choice, especially for teaching a ten year old,strange for a public school). And that was when I found out that my parents were Muslim (my mother is a religious moderate while my father is very secular-both never taught me about religion and are very liberal about beliefs) and Melanie's parents were Jewish (both secular and not really religious). To us this seemed trivial and of no importance, until questions rose amidst our fellow classmates. These classmates who "nagged" us about our rather strange affiliation with each other were mainly from middle eastern (conservative Muslims) and western descent (conservative Christians). So we drifted apart, as small and not very clever children do in the face of peer pressure. But I never really fathomed (I knew-I just didn't understand) why we seemed to be so irritating and vulgar for them until I incidentally got involved in a competition that was recently launched by MIT (the JustJerusalem Competition) and started doing research. My first contact was Anna Baltzer, from IWPS (Her new book "Witness in Palestine" is a really good read). She opened my mind so much it's hard to put it down in words. And that was when I started reading up on you, and Chomsky, Naomi Klein, John Pilger, Robert Fisk, Howard Zinn, Seth Freedman, Stephen Walt and John Mersheimer (I got my father their book, "The Israel Lobby"-as much as I love him he is an ex-diplomat and a hardcore right wing secular conservative during the Suharto years, so he wont touch it-he reads stuff like Leon Uris and admires Margaret Thatcher-ugh!).

While I was working through my project entry for the competition I met several new friends from the States and Israel (This was while I was going back and forth from Thailand and Indonesia). I had had a lot of American friends before (and some Jewish and Israeli) but it had never been so clear to me as to the feeling of sympathy, bordering on patriotism I might add, that my American friends had towards Israel (as a people, country or even government!). One of my friends even went so far as to always say "I am very pro-Israeli and a closet Jew" whenever he criticized or said something half negative (half-not fully but half!) about ANYTHING Israeli/ Jewish. And I mean from commenting on a Jewish friends choice of clothes (which has NOTHING at all to do with her as a Jew or Israeli) to his dislikes of Israeli bands. I had known this man for so many years but I had never really noticed it much until now...

The conclusion of my long and useless rant (I apologize) is that I fully sympathize and think that what you are writing and doing is really courageous and hope that one day I will have even a tenth of the courage that you have (I admit I am a coward and to this day I still haven't commented on my friends absurd sense of pro-Israeli-ness but with time I hope I will).

Yours sincerely,

***

Any chance of seeing your new book in an asian bookstore anytime soon? I am a bit old fashioned and don't purchase anything from the internet except plane tickets, and even that is only due to a very fundamental work necessity :-) I have only ever found one of your books (Beyond Chutzpah) in a large bookstore in Asia... Which was a bit of a hard find (So was John Pilger's "Freedom Next Time"... They were both on the highest shelf of a 2 meter bookshelf! Anf only three copies! Ridiculous!)

As for the part about Black and Jewish stereotypes... We don't really have any views or history that touch on "black" stereotyping in Indonesia. We are a country consisting of islands and have many variations of "blacks", "browns", "yellows", and "reds", that it makes it hard to form stereotypes. Except for when it concerns the Chinese, caused of course by the May riots and Suharto. We have a PC term for them, which is Ethnic Tiong Hoa, much like your African-American term I suspect.

Nor did we have "Jewish" racism in Indonesia. Although we do now have antisemitism. Ever since the Bali and Jakarta bombings and the infiltration of Al Qaeda to our country, more and more people back home are taking notice about whats been done in the middle east and because Indonesia has no history of antisemitism or any relations with Israel it makes it all too easy to generalize and form stereotypical opinions of something that you can not relate to.

An Indonesian friend of mine only recently knew the difference between Judaism and Zionism. He didn't even know the latter existed until I pointed it out to him, and so he thought that all Jews were and are "Israelis". He is a well educated person but unfortunately you don't really get any info about what a "Jew" is or what "Zionism" is (or "Israel" for that matter) over there and so have only the stories in the media about another Palestinian "Terrorist" being shot down and his home bulldozed by Israel, the "Jewish" state. And so, due to historical differences between what Europe went through during world war II and what Indonesia went through during that period and after, Indonesians pretty much only get vague comprehensions of what it means. Which will most probably be: "the Palestinians are terrorists and Israel is a country only for Jews who bulldoze peoples houses" (we aren't used to countries based on religion/race and have a long history of "religious" and "racial" revolts ending in bloodshed, so we don't take too kindly to it).

I would like to point out that I don't claim to know "Indonesian" public opinion on this matter since our most western point, Aceh, is very Muslim whilst our most eastern point is still very much a community based on religious dynamism-so its all very varied. But what I do know is that most of my Indonesian friends (middle class, well-educated, secular/ muslim/ atheist/ agnostic/ christian/ etc.) do think along these lines, if ever they think about it at all.

But I am ranting again...

Warmest wishes,





Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2008 16:15:10 +0100
From: saralevi1234[at]googlemail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject:

Hi Norman

I know now what email accounts you using posing as someone else. I have spared myself the trouble to list them all as there are quite a lot. There is a legal option for me to pursue regarding your posting of my mail on your site however I rather chose to expose your vile tactics and highlight your own hypocrisies and circulate this information to people who have also been treated badly by you.

Your peculiar actions are beyond sad and it is now clearer than ever that you have quite prevalent mental health issues that need to be urgently addressed in a medical setting. Further to this I have now received emails back confirming my earlier suspicion. You suffer (according to a psychiatrist who I have shown evidence of your behaviour and your extremely aggressive and vindictive writing style posing as someone else) a condition called PERSONALITY DISORDER. There are various sub -categories perhaps you look it up yourself and see which one describes you best. It has been explained to me that there is no point debating with you as the political cause has been chosen to mask your illness and not out of ideological belief.

You are incapable forming and sustaining any kind of relationships may it be in your professional life or in your private life . It was also suggested that you remained a student for as long as possible avoiding working relationships knowing that you are incapable of maintaining them.

The earlier mentioned Psychiatrist got very interested and did his own research and will now use you as a case study for his students (not mentioning your name or any fact that can identify you obviously) during lecturing as you are apparently displaying text book behaviour, whilst I certainly did not indent for this to happen I feel it is the most poetic justice imaginable.

Taken seriously at last by a group of students wishing to pass their semester (in psychiatry)

MAZAL TOV
THE END!



Subject : It is about time !

Dear Norm ,

I thank you for your shedding light on issues that I was not aware of in our previous communication ...

In his televised address during the AlQuds International Day on the 26/9/2008 , Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nassrallah challenged Mr. Ehud Barak to send his 9 squads not his 5 or 8 ones to try to invade Lebanon . He reconfirmed that, as in the July 2006’s disgraceful invasion, Israeli elite military power will break down again under the feet of the Lebanese Islamic Resistance found in the hills, valleys, and the mountains of the South of Lebanon and in the West Bakaa . The Hezbollah Secretary General warned that if this sin is to be committed i.e. the invasion of Lebanon , it will lead to the extermination of Israel ’s entity. An “entity” that has been founded by “ Britain and its allies to perform a definite function”. An “entity” that has been performing “ its mission in the framework of the Western-US imperial project which aims to control, tear, humiliate and take control over" the Arab world . The Hezbollah leader later coined Israel as "the spearhead " of the latter imperial project!

It is time for the Israeli government to recognize the power and the determination of its enemy i.e. Hezbollah …It is time for the Israeli government to make serious concessions with its neighboring countries especially Lebanon….It is time for the Israeli so-called military and political leaders to recognize that the myth they have been scaring the Arab countries with for decades has withered away and an “era of Arab victory” is nearing ….It is time for the Arab governments to gather their dignity if they have any left in them and to come in terms with the fact that hiding behind idols of the modern world ( USA and Israel) in order to keep their pathetic regimes is in vain …..It is time that Arab governments to recognize that freedom has a price and dignity has a price and resistance is the only honest and ethical way to acquire self-respect and survival …It is time for some Arab countries to pull their act together by supporting the Lebanese army and the Resistance in Lebanon with decent armory ( in comparison to the Rio Trucks, feeble jeeps and tanks donated by the American Government) to resist the Israeli aggression instead of planting pathetic terrorist bombing attacks in Syria or in Lebanon and supporting Islamic fanatics and delusional Wahabis ...

With best regards ,

Zeina



Dear Prof. Finkelstein,

I was one of the Israeli guys who came up to talk to you at the Brecht Forum last Thursday after the talk about Obama's foreign policy.

I just wanted to reiterate how much I appreciate your work. I also wanted to tell you a brief personal story about it. I only recently heard about you and your work form my friend Tali Mentovich (she's contacted you about Hebrew translations of your books); last May, when I was in Israel for my father's birthday, I was surprised one morning to find a copy of Peters' "from time immemorial" (in Hebrew) among a pile of stuff at my father's home. it turns out that it was the birthday gift my brother got for him. My brother started becoming religious about 14 years ago, and gradually went from voting mererz or aleh yarok, to voting mafdal or ichud leumi. Today, even though he lives in the western part of jerusalem, I believe he identifies with the settlers. Over breakfast, I asked my father if he knows the book - it turns out he didn't - my brother had explained that it would "open his eyes" (or something to that effect). I proceeded to tell him about your work regarding Peters' book and some of what ensued, from what I had read at that point. I then spent some time sampling various book stores in Tel Aviv, looking for your "image and reality", either in Hebrew or in English, but I couldn't find either. None of the employees I talked to at any of the book stores I went to even heard of it. I was disappointed, and annoyed, especially considering that Peters' book was pretty wildly available (as well as books by Dershowitz and other zionist texts). Later that week I saw my brother and asked him about the gift he got for our father, and specifically asked him if he knows that it's been proven to be a hoax; naturally, he had no idea. I ended up ordering "image and reality" on Amazon, and I read it when I got back home to Brooklyn. I was in Israel again last month, and I brought your book with me. I asked my father if he'd read his birthday gift - he said that he started, but it just wasn't a very compelling book, and after what I'd told him, he wasn't very interested in finishing it.

That turned out a bit longer than I intended - I hope it wasn't too tedious. I think what I'm trying to say is that my relationship with Israel is a very complicated one, and it's played out on several planes - both ideological ones, and some very personal ones. Your work has greatly contributed to crystalizing a lot of what I feel and think about Israel, and has been very helpful in my efforts to extricate myself from the zionist mindset that I was endowed with after spending almost my entire childhood in the Israeli educational system, and through serving in the IDF. I wish it would get a greater audience over there. I think it would make a huge difference.

Thank you.



Do Iranians want (need) a color revolution?

“Iran, because of the great leadership of the Shah, is an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of the world.

This is a great tribute to you, Your Majesty, and to your leadership and to the respect and the admiration and love which your people give to you.”

Jimmy Carter Tehran December 31st, 1977

In the December of 1977 when Georgia was a state of Soviet Union, king of Iran “Shah” welcomed Jimmy Carter and his wife in Tehran. Carter called Shah the “best friend”. (Iran has so much oil you know!) But 10 days later people in a demonstration were killed, why? For, they didn’t want an unreligious, dictatorial, and monarchial system.

2 more times Iranian people had announced it, but the first time on August 19th of 1953, US government, arranged a coup by Kermit Roosvelt and Shah who had escaped to Italy came back. The second time, in 1963 hundreds were shot and killed. Nothing happened. Shah continued his dictatorship up to 1978 more powerful than before. Many executions happened; many people were tortured in the SAVAK (the Security and Information Organization of Shah).

After the massacre in January of 1978, once every 40 days, a series of demonstrations happened, in all of them, people were shot and killed; in one of them more than 1000 were shot. On November 4th 1978 many students were shot in Tehran University. Still Iran was “the best friend”!

On January 7th 1979 General Heiser came from US to Iran. He was going to arrange a coup if Iran Government fell, but he could not do any thing. Finally Shah ran away on January 16th 1979.

Just one year later, on September 22nd 1980 war began, Iraq invaded Iran. We had 8 years of war, many kinds of weapons, chemical weapons, were used by Saddam, guess who helped Saddam? Do you remember Donald Rumsfeld shaking hand with Saddam? Alan Friedman says America gave Saddam cluster bombs. In 1983 Soviet Union gave him about 400 T55 and 120 T12 tanks and different kinds of rockets, United Kingdom made underground refuges for him, Italian mines, French mirage-jet, Brazilian uranium, Arabic oil-dollars, and….arrived one by one in Iraq and you can guess how many were killed.

At the same time there were international sanctions against Iran, we could not buy even a bullet. Up to now they have continued the sanctions against us, we can not buy even passenger plane or its parts and US government does not give us our possessions and money which was kept by Shah in American banks. Who is the leader of international sanctions against us? US government.

On June 3rd 1988 American warship (USS Vincennes) shot down an Iranian airbus (Iran Air Flight 655 (IR655)) in the sky of Persian Gulf. 290 innocent passengers were killed. There were 66 children among them. On 2 August 1988 George H.W. Bush, at the time Vice President of the United States in the Reagan Administration, said "I will never apologize for the United States of America—I don’t care what the facts are". Was Captain Will Rogers III punished? The Legion of Merit was presented to Rogers on July 3rd 1988.

People, in Iran, revolted against Shah, because they wanted their religion, independence, and freedom. Now we have them. I think if Iranian people wanted the “color revolution “ it must happen in the hardest time; in the years of war.

In Iran we have experienced the meaning of relation with American government, maybe in Georgia and Ukraine people did not know the meaning!



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I just read your interview with M. Junaid Levesque-Alam, and was reminded of the importance your example has had not only in understanding the conflict in Palestine, but in forming my conception of what it means to have an intellectual and moral conscience generally.

You and a very few other scholars (I'm thinking of Michael Neumann in this context) demonstrate for me what I would like to call intellectual honesty, which is the calling of the true scholar (in Emerson's rather than an academic sense) -- namely, to relentlessly pursue and reveal the truth regardless of where it leads and regardless of the personal and professional cost.

The fact that the purity of this endeavor appears perhaps more starkly than otherwise in the context of middle-east politics -- which is a context of systematic distortion and dishonesty -- does not detract from my admiration for your example.

Sincerely,

Carl Kandutsch



Dear Norm ,

I thank you for your shedding light on issues that I was not aware of in our previous communication ...

In his televised address during the AlQuds International Day on the 26/9/2008, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nassrallah challenged Mr. Ehud Barak to send his 9 squads not his 5 or 8 ones to try to invade Lebanon. He reconfirmed that, as in the July 2006’s disgraceful invasion, Israeli elite military power will break down again under the feet of the Lebanese Islamic Resistance found in the hills, valleys, and the mountains of the South of Lebanon and in the West Bakaa. The Hezbollah Secretary General warned that if this sin is to be committed i.e. the invasion of Lebanon, it will lead to the extermination of Israel’s entity. An “entity” that has been founded by “Britain and its allies to perform a definite function”. An “entity” that has been performing “ its mission in the framework of the Western-US imperial project which aims to control, tear, humiliate and take control over" the Arab world . The Hezbollah leader later coined Israel as "the spearhead " of the latter imperial project! It is time for the Israeli government to recognize the power and the determination of its enemy i.e. Hezbollah …It is time for the Israeli government to make serious concessions with its neighboring countries especially Lebanon….It is time for the Israeli so-called military and political leaders to recognize that the myth they have been scaring the Arab countries with for decades has withered away and an “era of Arab victory” is nearing ….It is time for the Arab governments to gather their dignity if they have any left in them and to come in terms with the fact that hiding behind idols of the modern world ( USA and Israel) in order to keep their pathetic regimes is in vain …..It is time that Arab governments to recognize that freedom has a price and dignity has a price and resistance is the only honest and ethical way to acquire self-respect and survival …It is time for some Arab countries to pull their act together by supporting the Lebanese army and the Resistance in Lebanon with decent armory ( in comparison to the Rio Trucks, feeble jeeps and tanks donated by the American Government) to resist the Israeli aggression instead of planting pathetic terrorist bombing attacks in Syria or in Lebanon and supporting Islamic fanatics , Wahabis , and delusional Muslim extremists …

With best regards ,

Z.M.
University of Sharjah



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I read the article regarding ICAHD on your website and decided to look into the matter. I made the following steps:

1) I contacted every major newspaper editorials and tipped them, hoping for a further investigation as I pointed out their relevant correspondents.

2) I contacted three random parties. Enhedslisten and Socialistisk Folkeparti which constitute the left and Radikale Venstre which is a left to center liberal party with progessive policies.

3) I contacted the Delegation of the European Commission to the State of Israel, which is the responsible assessor from the Partnership for Peace program in the region.

Out of all the papers only one responded - WeekendAvisen (the "intellectual", "left to center" weekly newspaper for "educated readers."). They seemed interested and asked me to write a short article. I have done so - you can read the content in the bottom of this mail.

Out of the three parties the most leftist party replied with great interest. The president of the party, Frank Aaen, sent me an email, thanking me and assuring me, that they would investigate the matter and question the corresponding ministers in the parliament (Folketinget).

The party's foreign office sent me an email requiring further information regarding the head office responsible for the ICAHD funding - I am awaiting their results.

As for my own humble investigation I received the following mail from the Press and Informations officer, David Kriss:

"In response to your question, ICAHD 's project request was assessed, together with scores of others, following the latest call for proposals for the EU Partnership for Peace Programme. Although the assessors gave it a high score, there were other projects that received even higher scores and therefore on this occasion ICAHD's project was not included in the list of projects to be funded."

I find this response somewhat reluctant unfortunately. It's quite plausible, but it doesn't address reasons in any way seriously. Maybe they thought I was just arbitrarily wasting my time.

I believe I succeeded spreading the word however. Even though I might not agree with everything Mr. Halper have to say regarding solutions to the Israel-Palestine conflict, I very much respect the much needed humanitarian work and efforts to educate the public regarding this issue.

I wrote the following short article (or paragraph) for WeekendAvisen (translated to english), which will be published to 2,5 million danish readers this weekend:

The European Union has suspended it's funding of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) allegedly because of a controversy regarding the NGO's activist member Jeff Halper and his participation in the Free Gaza Movement just few weeks ago. ICAHD is an Israeli organisation that is politically involved not only rhetorically, but also in the shapes of newly built homes for Palestinians whose homes have been demolished by Israeli trucks. It is Palestinian soil owned by residents and sometimes peasant landowners. There are a 149 Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which contrary to Israels obligation to dismantle them have grown with additional 460.000 Israeli occupants in new and expanded settlements since 1993. Many more are on their way. The settlements constitute a determining factor for the feasibility of a peaceful resolution based UN resolution 242 in accord with the overwhelming international consensus. Israel has since the war of July 1967 annexed sizable shares of the designated Palestinian territory. Now, there are certainly much to be said about the elite in the Commission (EU), but it's worth noticing, that Denmark too funds NGO's within the region; such as the PLO support groups, who have been pushing for negotiations with Israel since the mid-seventies. These organizations go through a tough time surviving as it is, and they don't pose a threat to the noble intentions of the elite. Any such conviction is an exaggeration of the circumstances: In a meticulous examination published by Cambridge University Press, Marc Weller partially concludes, that Israel has enjoyed "complete immunity" from precautionary measures such as weapons embargo and sanctions while other member states reflexively receive this conventional punishment for comparable crimes. As a citizen in Denmark and the EU I want to strongly object to the cancellation of funds to crucial human rights advocates.

I hope this can merit at least the flicker of an eyebrow here...

Best regards

Your comrad Poya Pakzad



Dr. Finklestein,

I wanted to thank you for last nights speech at the Islamic House of Wisdom. It was very inspiring for a 20 year old who would like to get involved in bringing the truth out about the issue of Israel and the Middle East.

If there was one thing I learned from you last night and it effected me a great deal was not to speak out of opinion but to speak the facts and only the facts.

Sincerely,

A.M.
"But if the truth causes a scandal, then it is better a scandal arise rather than the truth be abandoned"
-- Pope Gregory the Great (590-604)



Dr. Finkelstein,

Thank you for all you have done over the years. I am the grandson of holocaust survivors. I find it shameful that the holocaust is used as a way of deflecting criticism of Israel's brutal policies toward the Palestinians. What is even just as troubling is that now the holocaust is being used to bully Iran which could lead to an attack on the country and deaths of many innocent civilians. I saw a couple of interviews of you on you tube. You are right that Ahmadenijad, Hamas, and Hezbollah are all considered Nazi's by defenders of Israel because of their harsh criticism of Israel. It's ridiculous though to make those comparisons. Now even the presidential candidates are exploiting the holocaust. John Mccain keeps saying that he will not allow a "second holocaust". It makes me angry to hear that.

I hope that you are able to get a teaching job sometime in the near future. We need more people like you in this country.

Sincerely,
A.F.



Dear Norman,

Tonight I witnessed on U Tube a point by point factual demolition of the plagerist Alan Dershowitz. You came armed with facts and reliable sources, he came with B.S. Dershowitz has been an irritant for years, and usually people are afraid to debate with him because he is not afraid to lie or change the facts, but will also threaten legal procedings if he is embarrased in any way. I notice he never had the nerve to bring any litigation against you because you had him dead to right on every point. He also tried in vain to muddy the waters and change the subject each time you called him out on facts! Great job. By the way, I bet he never paid the money he offered if anyone could find unfactual information in his phony book.

With much respect for a great debater,
Jim Julian



Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:07:21 -0700
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Hello

Dear Mr. Norman Finkelstein,

I am an Egyptian-American Muslim who has been watching and reading much about you on both DemocracyNow! and on your website. I think what you are doing is very noble and very brave. It really brings me joy to see that you are willing to do whatever it takes to stand up for human rights. I hope that you continue with your success and that one day more people will open their eyes and really see the truth as you speak it.

Best,

Abdel



Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:27:50 +0200
From: edouardmcmanus[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Letter by email to Norman Finklestein

Dear Norman :

I have been a reader at your internet site for quite some time. I have also had the privilege to hear you speak and respond to questions on two occasions. I want to express my appreciation for your website which seems to have become an international 'best-seller.' Letters come into you from all over the world and from all walks of life. I truly believe that your site promotes much needed succor to those in distress, victims of our imperial jihadist presidencies.

I have a great amount of respect and admiration for groups such as Hezbollah and HAMAS and am a fan of the former's newly created website. They remind me of some of the truly greats in history such as by the indomitable Ho Chi Minh and the anti-imperialist Algerians. I also admire the guts of the Iranian people as they wait for the inevitable bombings from the most evil government on the planet (well, you know who I mean), the main source of aggression and international terrorism in the world.

I also want to congratulate you on the enemies you've made such as Allan Dershowitz and his toadies. I truly believe that the strength of a man's conviction is measured by the virulence of his enemies. And there seems to be an upward trend in attacks directly against you on your own website. This is an excellent sign that you are prevailing in the struggle. The tables are turning and they are well aware of it, quite frightened by the prospect.

Best Wishes Edward McManus



Subject: Many Thanks
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:28:16 -0500

Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I hope I'm not bothering you. I got your e-mail from my mother who wrote to you a while back. I just wanted to, first and foremost, relay my gratitude for all your efforts, solidarity, and hope you have given so many of us when it comes to the Palestinian struggle. A simple "thank you" would not suffice to say the very least. In fact, it would seem rather mundane and generic.

I am a huge fan of your work and all that you stand for. I can only hope to learn from your example and follow in your footsteps. I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you have done, all that you have worked for, and all the hope you have given so many of us. At this point, it's the hope that keeps me going, and your work has a lot to do with that.

If there would ever be the slightest possibility of having you come speak to us on our campus, I would absolutely, undeniably be ecstatic! You have no idea. I never know if that's a possibility nowadays, with all the formalities and logistics, but it would be an amazing, truly rewarding experience if it would be at all possible in the near future.

Either way, I just wanted to relay my gratitude.

In solidarity and eternally grateful,
Dina





Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2008 04:55:01 -0700
From: s_sh_kh[at]yahoo.com
Subject: a student from iran
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

dear professor

i heard your speech in iran TV right now in a talk with Mr Talebzadeh. i just want to say we are with you and hope a day when we celebrate the ruling of goverment of Truth in the world, and that day is so near.resist the evil and stand, that day is God's will and surely would come. God bless you

sincerely yours
sara





My central thesis is, as a generallity, society is only as Liberal (and tolerant) as the economic conditions allow. When ever there is a down turn in the Economy, people vote with their feet and that veneer of Liberalism falls away. "Outsiders" become onerous and a source of suspicion. As it happens I was wrong about Prof. Chomsky. I wasn't listening carefully enough. He is quite scathing in his views about International corporations and Banking systems. (IMF and World Bank.) He doesn't name names but he pulls no punches.

I didn't mean to sound flipant in mentioning the Rothchilds. (And I was never coming from the angle of David Irving. He is an idiot because he is making money from warped scholarship and distorting facts to suit his insidious conclusions.) If I understand the way Diaspora cultures (including my own) develop correctly, in SOME people, then I think I know where this cynicism and rapaciousness comes from. Namely, they did what they did to make a fast buck and then, without a second thought, to allow ordinary Jews living modestly in their shtetles, minding their own business, to suffer the full ferocity and consequence of Economic meltdown. If this is true, I think it is unforgiveable .

I saw something unusual on Fox News: Lady Lynn Forester Rothschild, who had spent her honeymoon at the Whitehouse, with the (now discarded) Clintons, was being Interviewed by Neil Cavuto. I have never seen Fox News give such an easy, servile and groveling interview. Mr Cavuto had internalized, without even having to be told, that he was to prostrate himself before her. What did this show me? That what truely powerful and wealthy, New York Billionares, Sir E. and Lady de Rothschild were. Yes, the New Jersey born Lady de Rothschild, living in an American Republic, yet still maintaining her blue blood title. And it never occured to anyone what a delightful Orwellian picture this made.

I was reading recently of young Iranian Jews living in Los Angeles complaining about the wealthy Elders who take on themselves the mantle and privilages of spokesmen for the community; While at the same time stiffling and surpressing the views of the younger generation who may not be as high up on the financial pecking order. This caused a wry smile in me. Why? Because this is also how people in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh express and conduct themselves. It has NOTHING to do with being Jewish. It does have everything to do with being Petty Snobs and individuals "on the make". A condition I often encounter in Hindu, Muslim and Sikhs of the Sub-Continent and the Diaspora. (Yes, our mothers want us to become doctors too so they can show off to their knitting circle.)

I was both shocked and amused when I first tried to reach out to individuals of the Jewish community. I was shocked because I saw the same kind of petty snobbery I encountered in my own culture; And Amused because it was like meeting an old friend. People are people, where ever you go. I learned then that just because someone is Jewish, it doesn't necessarily make them Albert Einstein, Daniel Barenboim, Karl Marx or Noam Chomsky (or Norman Finkelstein).

I think you are doing a great, great, service to your brethren. It is far better a critique of Jewish American politics comes from you rather than someone outside the Jewish culture. Your critics think you are letting the side down and curse you for being self hating and what not. But, they fail to see your approach is quite fair minded. And it is far better for you to cite the hubris and excesses of Jewish diaspora politics rather than it go unchecked and eventually have some David Irving type pick up the ball for his own sick reasons. The case in point is the Iraq war. Here again, some individuals, wolfowitz, Perle, Kristol, etc, and AIPAC cheer leading the BUSH adventurism, managed to capture, what appears on the surface, large elements of American Jewish support. However, as things came unstuck in Iraq, and the accusations started flying of Israeli and American Jewish complicity in the mess, it finally dawned on many of New York's "Liberal" chattering classes that there was a down side to looking for a fight. One could get a bloody nose. And, when things go bad, the ethnic majority want answers and someone to blame, but quick. Right or wrong.

In this regard I think your position has more than been vindicated in the Academic world. And just maybe, a lesson in humility has been taught to all those who were so cavalier about "cakewalk" warfare.

-----------------------------------------

What I wrote in the last two paragraphs is something I felt deeply all along. It may be hard to appreciate now as things have simmered down a bit, but a few years back in an atmosphere of manic patriotism you seemed totally alone against this tide of mindless flag waving, trying to inject discourse into policy issues. I saw very early on there was a danger that The American Jewish intelligensia had abrogated their historic responsibility of questioning authority. That the natural humanistic breaks provided for American Militarism and Executive excesses had been taken off and allowed to run riot. Indeed it seemed many were pressing down on the accelerator (Gas?) to prove their "loyalty". It reeked of an unholy alliance with the shallow Pat "Lear Jet" Robertson crowd. It felt like open season on Liberalism as many former Liberals turning into 9/11 Republicans started trashing anyone who chose to think, or got out of line. The thought of Jewish Intellectual prowess being redirected towards apologetics, misdirection and shooting down any who dared to question authority, or exercise free speech, filled me with Horror. Something was seriously amiss. American Jewish culture was doing itself a great disservice.

(I wonder if Prof. Dershowitz even begins to appreciates what damage he may have done to American Jewish culture by attempting to stifling any pointed questions and open debate towards American/Israeli middle east policy in general. This backlash from the Iraq quagmire could have taken on a Very ugly face. Indeed, if it hasn't already. As I said, it is a Deadly Imperative someone from inside American Jewish culture ask difficult questions during difficult time; or else one will find convenient answers being provided by some modern day....dare I say it..... Hitler. I know Mr Irving is more than happy to beat that drum.)

It flyed in the face of everything I had learned about American Jewish Liberalism. Many years ago I read Isaac Asimov's biography and was shocked to realize how much institutional bigotry he had to endure before he finally achieved his PhD in Biochemistry. He was highly sensitized to the prevailing political culture and this was reflected in his work. He extolled fairness to all. Without exception.

your friend
Khalid



Norman,

I have communicated on numerous occasions with you on the subject on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Your perspectives are stimulating and illuminating. I have highly valued my communications with you on the subject. The trouble is that intelligent communication with most other people on the subject is rather limited, whether they are educated or illiterate.

My wife is a lawyer. She is not very knowledgeable on the subject. I gave her Carter's book to read. It remains unread.

Tonight, my wife's sister was at my house. I discussed (lectured) the subject at length. She has an MBA and has no knowledge at all as to where the West Bank is or any problems that exist there. She expressed an interest to learn. Most likely, nothing will come of it.

Well, Norman, this is a sad state of affairs. How is one to combate the inability to engage a reasonably sized population of "intelligent", educated people who should be aware of the problem and give a damn? As we know, most people that are "educated" are not very intelligent.

With regard for your mission (as usual),
Richard Mueller



Dear Norman Finkelstein,

I have just finished reading your book "Dennis Ross and the Peace Process: Subordination Palestinian Rights to Israeli "Needs." I have to admit that this book is the first thing to read for you and I am amazed by your ability to highlight exactly what drove me crazy while reading Ross's book. As a Palestinian who has studied and followed American foreign policy towards Palestine for a very long time, I could not help but being offended by what was written in the book. I know all about the American perception on Palestine, but Ross went tooooooo far. Amazingly he claims throughout the book that he is the only one who understand the Palestinian perspective of the conflict. At certain points I thought I was reading something written by an Israeli hawkish politician.

I believe that people like you, how are legally and rationally can identify American bias are of great asset to Palestine. Such voices has been silenced for many many years, but I hope your voice will reach every where.

Once again thank you for your great effort. I wish we have someone like you in any coming American administration. I believe your kid of people are not only an asset to Palestinians but also to Americans who have been manipulated and misinformed for so long.

Wish you all the best



From: davidmontana2000[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject:
Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008

Hello Norman,

I am writing you from Morocco because I just saw your debate with a Lebanese journalist where you were saying that Hezbollah was the honor of Lebanon and that it was a great movement.

I am quite a upset about what you said. Hezbullah is a dangerous movement threatening every person that is not a fundamentalist and that doesn t wear a hijab or doen t respect sharia law.

I just think you don t know these people enough. They hate Western values, they hate democracy, they hate Jews Christians Buddhists. I think you should go to Lebanon and live there with them telling them you are Jewish.... I don t think you would have enjoyed freedom of speech with them.

What i think is that you are ashamed of being Jewish because of the Israeli policy and you feel guilty about it. I also think you want to be THE man who says no against everybody else. You think that makes you smart????

You think that because your family was in the Holocaust you have the right to say everyhthing??? I wish you were in the nazi camps at their place, I wish you were tortured by the gestapo....then maybe you would have understood the dangers of fascism and therefore the danger of parties such as Hezbullah. Stop spreading your stupid opinons.You are a zero.You are an insult to human intelligence.

bye
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2008
From: brewster_1.martin[at]inbox.com
To: davidmontana2000[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Your letter to Norman Finkelstein

Dear David Montana

It will probably sound very offensive and insulting to you to suggest that you actually *read* the works of Norman Finkelstein before making the kinds of criticisms of him that you make in your email (to him dated) 23 August. But, sadly, that is the only response that you should expect.

Norman Finkelstein is widely regarded (even among many many academics and people generally who disagree with his personal views) as one of the most truthful, honest, ethical and brilliant specialists in the field of the Arab-Israeli Conflict and the Palestine - Israel Conflict. He has devoted the bulk of his adult life to the subject to such an extent that he has knowingly and acceptingly suffered significant personal loss as a result.

Without people like Norman Finkelstein your world would be a seriously less positive place to be.

You do yourself no favours by despatching an email to him of breath taking disrespect and inaccuracy.

You really should be ashamed of yourself.

Yours truly

Martin Brewster
UK

From: davidmontana2000[at]hotmail.com
Sent: Tue, 2 Sep 2008
To: brewster_1.martin[at]inbox.com
Subject: RE: Your letter to Norman Finkelstein

Hi Martin,

Thank you for your email.

i think that Norman Finkelstein is someone who knows a lot about the region.BUT i have a problem when he says that Hizbullah is not a terrorist movement. This movement is a terrorist movement.They are trying to kidnap israelis AND Jews around the world at the moment.These guys are just making a mess in Lebanon.Lebenese people want to leave peacefully with their neighbours.

If you support this opinion then i think you have a problem.

I also think NF would not be able to enjoy freedom of speech if had lived with Hizbullah or islamic Jihad or any of these terrorist movement.

Regards,

David

Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2008
From: brewster_1.martin[at]inbox.com
Subject: RE: Your letter to Norman Finkelstein
To: davidmontana2000[at]hotmail.com
David

This is what you said in your letter to Norman Finkelstein:

"I wish you were in the nazi camps at their place, I wish you were tortured by the gestapo....then maybe you would have understood the dangers of fascism and therefore the danger of parties such as Hezbullah. Stop spreading your stupid opinons.You are a zero.You are an insult to human intelligence."

That is pure, unadulterated rubbish. Perhaps you should go back and listen to that debate again and note what Norman actually said - and not what you imagined. Whether you or I like it or not Hezbollah have very wide support in

Lebanon.

From: davidmontana2000[at]hotmail.com
Sent: Fri, 5 Sep 2008
To: brewster_1.martin[at]inbox.com
Subject: RE: Your letter to Norman Finkelstein

aree (sic) with you... The israelis did a bad job...they should have erased all the terrorists from the map.

Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2008
From: brewster_1.martin[a]inbox.com
To: davidmontana2000[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Your letter to Norman Finkelstein

That rather says more about you than either the issue itself or Norman Finkelstein.

From: davidmontana2000[at]hotmail.com
Sent: Sat, 6 Sep 2008
To: brewster_1.martin[at]inbox.com
Subject: RE: Your letter to Norman Finkelstein

i don t have time to waste with you or with NF...you are both losers and terrorists

Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2008
From: brewster_1.martin[at]inbox.com
To: davidmontana2000[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Your letter to Norman Finkelstein

OK David - well for us and the benefit of readers of Norman's website, thank you so much for clarifying your knowledge of the issue; your capabilities in analysing the facts, and your ethics and morals.

We are all much clearer now!





“The free world cannot allow the destiny of a small independent country to be determined by the aggression of a larger neighbor,” Ms. Rice said in Washington.

Can we say irony?!!

As far as I am concerned, I wrote you a few years ago and asked for reading suggestions on the Israel-Palestine conflict. You suggested "The Other Israel" and "The New Intifada", both edited by Roane Cary. You modestly did not mention your own excellent books on the subject, which I have also read since that time. I also picked up a copy of Tanya Reinhart's books, and I am sad to learn of her death last year.

I also had the opportunity to see you speak at the University of Memphis last year; I was definitely impressed with your message. Thanks for staying focused on your message of how simple the conflict is- and also how it can be solved; even more so thank you for showing us all just how urgent solving it really is....



Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 23:52:32 +0200
Subject: Thank you !
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
From: andre.brochu[at]skola.trelleborg.se

Thank you for considering what happened to Amy Goodman as Urgent and needing the reaction of people with their common decency intact. It reminds me of May, 1970 when as a senior at IU at Blomington, Indiana there were demonstrations and chaos, especially after Kent State. On a day when there was a demonstration of sort there suddenly appeared out of the blue a school bus. It stopped and out ran 10 to 20 IU campus police in riot gear and suddenly it seemed without reason the air was laced with tear gas. One can only speculate what would have happened if there had been an Ohio scenario where the governor of Indiana had called in the national guard. I have difficulties identifying with the anarchist mob but for those who offered flowers to the St. Paul police and to Amy Goodman who only wanted to inquire on the fate of fellow journalists who had been arrested I abhor the needless police violence. Have they just tucked in the Bill of Rights for the next 4 to 8 years or have they buried it until enough people show civil courage to stand up to this travesty ?

I look forward to the film about your life so far. Hopefully in the mail from Paris there are two copies which I have ordered of the DVD version of the film about Henri Alleg who was waterboarded during the war of liberation in Algeria and after 40 years returned to Algeria to meet his friends and comrades. If we translate the title of the film about Alleg's return it is called The Dream of Algeria .

Hopefully there will be a sequel to your film called: The Dream of Israel/Palestine.

Take care and again Thank you !

André Brochu



Dear Norman,

For all our gratuitous fawning over famous artists and media personalities, make no mistake, you are a real hero; a real friend of humanity. An educator and a liberator.

As a proponent of human dignity and social justice your work undoubtedly benefits every single person on the planet, whether certain other people like it or not. Power and privilege is opposed to you for the sake of their own immediate gain, but if those people extend their selfish logic, are we really to believe they would have their children live in a world without any respect for the rule of law or even common decency and sympathy towards other human beings, especially those beings who don't share the same playground as them a child? It is a plain fact that with people like you around, who can see the bigger picture; who strive for a more just world, the world is already a better place.

As evidenced in your work, you have an undeniably brilliant mind, but the premise of your wisdom is so startlingly elementary (and your oratory so eloquent and simple) that you should naturally be taught in every high school. It is injustice itself that you are not given a lot more exposure - particularly in a media that peddles nothing, if not simple ideas and much less worthy (mostly worthless) information. It's all so simple it makes me scratch my head in wonder. You are the child of Holocaust survivors who grew to fully understand the hideous consequences of persecution and oppression and, as such, has an entirely logical sympathy for the plight of others who are in oppressive situations.

Another great hero and friend of ours, Prof. Chomsky, maintains that people who listen to him aren't interested in him as a person; they are simply interested in the issues. There is no denying the same is true in your case, but for one thing we must be sure; your work truly makes you a great man.

Please take pride in the fact that you are a great man.

Very best regards,

David.



Hello, Norm, i find your views rather refreshing. The facts on the other hand are saddening. Not because they are false, but because they are true. Because what you say is true, i see a bleak future.

I found some of the letters directed to you stating that the Dhimmi people were like slaves and that Jizya was oppressive.

Certainly the feudal sharia is not perfect. But it was no different then what existed everywhere else, and sometimes even better then what existed at that time before hand.

Often, rulers did NOT want non-Muslims to convert, since they would get less taxes. Things arn't as black and white as they seem.

Also, jews wearing symbols...this existed for a completely different reason then what the nazis did, and were not just for jews.

Non-muslims were not subject to most laws that were required for muslims at that time. Somehow, they had to tell the difference.

Your right Norman, the laws were of a feudal society, so why are the palistinians of today being judged by what happened in feudal times?

Hell the resistance was ORIGINALLY secular, so why are these charges thrown at the feet of the muslims?

As for those anti-semetic hadiths...i can find just as many that praise jews. Hadith is not cannon, to take every hadith as if they came straight from the prophets mouth is foolishness, since they themselves were subject to early politics in muslim history. THe same can be said of the opinons of archiac scholars.



Dear professor Finkelstein,

Assalam'o'alaikum (may peace be upon you)

Several years ago I interviewed you for a leftist youth publication I co-founded called "Left Hook."

These days I write on the intersection between politics, Islam, and America at a liberal youth publication called WireTap, my own blog (Crossingthecrescent.com), and whatever other outlets (ie. CounterPunch) that will have me.

I must concede that I have no idea how you withstand the torrent of assaults and abuse and invective from the fulminating "pro-Israel" crowd. I, too, am marked with a temperament that compels me to speak out against what I see as unjust (latest target: fraudster Irshad Manji).

But if, as an admirer of your work and as a much younger man, I may boldly presume to offer some advice: please do not become consumed by this struggle. Do not allow adversaries the pleasure of forcing you into a state of distress and constant frustration.

There is much that is good and beautiful in this world that - in my humble opinion - should not be ignored at the expense of endless battles, the outcome of which would leave even the (always transient) victors tired and dispirited.



I had a chance to read two of your books this summer—BC and THI. I really enjoyed both books a great deal, especially BC. I appreciate your ability to rip away the veneer.

I am finishing up my PhD in media studies looking at Herman and Chomsky’s Propaganda Model in democratic South Africa. Your academic work was so refreshing.

Thanks again for your life's work.



--- On Tue, 8/19/08, pcsalzman[at]aol.com wrote:
Subject: another racist organisation run by racists
To: tonygreenstein[at]yahoo.com
Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Obviously facts are of no interest to you, but your reference to the Israeli abandonment of Gaza as "expanding borders" suggests an unusual level of delerium. Similarly, that no Jews may live in Arab countries seems in your mind to weigh nothing against the legal rights of Arabs in Israel. Just too bad that Hitler didn't finish the job, eh?

Philip Carl Salzman
Professor of Anthropology
McGill University
Montreal
* * * * *
From: tony greenstein
To: pcsalzman[at]aol.com
Tue, 19 Aug 2008
Subject: A racist professor speaks out

One of the things that has often puzzled me is how distinguished professors have aided the most barbarous regimes with their academic sophistry. People like Professor August Hirt, head of the Anatomical Institute at Strasbourg University who was integrally involved in Himmler's medical experiments or Werner Heisenberg or Heidegger. So you can rest assured that you follow in a long, if not particularly distinguished tradition dear professor. If you believe that Israel 'abandoned' Gaza then it merely proof that there is no bigger fool or charlatan than an academic. Israel specifically retained control, as we have seen, over Gaza's airspace, borders, shoreline etc. Removing guards from inside to outside a prison doesn't constitute freedom in most peoples' understanding of the term.

Likewise the statement that 'no Jews may live in Arab countries.' Let us leave aside the fact that before Zionism lots of Jews lived in Arab countries, one-third of Baghdad up till 1950 was Jewish. Or the fact that Arab countries were places of refuge for people like Maimonedes and refugees from the Inquisition. Indeed having met Jews in both Syria and Lebanon and having an Jewish Moroccan sister-in-law I can only assume that the discipline of Anthropology has, at least at McGill University, dispensed with the requirement for simple verifiable and objective facts.

If you are referring to the United State's protectorate of Saudi Arabia, created by Aramco and fed by Bush, then I wonder if there are any living examples of Jews who wanted to live there and who've been denied that chance?
As to your final flourish regretting the fact that Hitler 'didn't finish the job'. Well apart from the usual hackneyed sub-text, i.e. to oppose Zionism is anti-Semitic, wasn't it the Zionist movement in Hungary which agreed to keep quiet about Auschwitz and allow the deportees to go to what they thought was 'resettlement' in exchange for the train of the Prominents? After all Zionism and anti-Semitism have always agreed about Jews not belonging in the countries of their birth.
It would seem that what you lack in argumentation you make up for in large type.
Tony Greenstein
* * * * *
--- On Wed, 8/20/08, pcsalzman[at]aol.com wrote:
From: pcsalzman[at]aol.com
Subject: Re: A racist professor speaks out: so you do.
To: tonygreenstein[at]yahoo.com
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

You clearly know nothing about Middle Eastern history, the suffering of the dhimma, and the atrocities that were normal against non-Muslims. Nor have you seemed to notice that all Arab states outside of Arabia were conquest states imposed on Christian and Jewish populations, and that Arabia ethnic cleansed itself. Instead, you exaggerate the flaws of the only successful, multi-religious, multi-racial, democratic country in the region, and neglect to mention all of the other counties of the region, without exception falled, despotic, and brutal, a fact well recognised by the Arabs themselves. The best test is where folks want to be: you don't see Israeli Arabs rushing to live in other Arab countries, but plenty beg Israeli status (as the daughter of the current P.A. negotiator), just as all the claims of East Germany were negated by the flow of human traffic away (when they survived). But then I imagine that you were a great fan of East Germany and its ilk.

As well, you clearly have no idea what "race" means or "racism," other than a bad word that you yell at the good guys.

Philip Carl Salzman
Professor of Anthropology
McGill University
Montreal
* * * * *
Thursday August 21st 2008

There is a saying in English. When you're in a hole stop digging. I notice that you're still writing in large type and so I can only conclude that either you're the academic equivalent of the green ink brigade or, it occured to me, you suffer from the same problem as Hitler. He had to use a magnifying glass to read documents and many of his briefings were therefore specially typed in large print. So which is it - Hitlerian eyesight or green ink?

I am very well aware of Middle East history, which is why your specious nonsense remains exactly that. Nonsense.

I'm well aware of the Dhimmi, the People of the Book, both Christians and Jews. Certainly they suffered from civil disabilities but remember we are talking about a feudal, pre-capitalist society. Notions of equality made about as much sense as nationalism. The whole basis of feudal society was the existence of castes and the separation of social classes (in so far as they existed). But the atrocities you talk about were the exception, not the rule. I'm not aware of an Arab holocaust or Chmielniki or York.

Anyone who did know anything about Arab Jewry would know that some of the most prosperous Jewish communities lived there in harmony with their neighbours. After all there were no separate Arab states until recently. They were part of the Ottoman Empire. There was nothing to prevent Jews in Arab countries, had they so desired, leaving to go to Palestine. Yet until the formation of the modern settler colonial movement known as Zionism this simply didn't happen. Yet if conditions were as you say they were one would have expected thousands of Oriental Jews to either go to Palestine or Europe. Yet the reverse occurred. It was Jewish refugees from Europe who came to Arab lands and so, no matter how many lies and tales that you tell, it is the actions of Jews at the time that speak loudest.

The best example of this was in Vichy Morroco, where there was a large Jewish community of around 200,000. Despite intense Nazi pressure Morroccan Arabs refused to allow the round-up of Jews. No Jews were deported to my knowledge to the concentration camps and the Sultan declared that 'The Jews remain under my protection and I refuse to allow any distinction to be made among my subjects.' The only comparable instance of this in Europe was in Denmark where there were a few thousand Jews.

It is one of the 'triumphs' of Zionism that it made the position of Arab Jews untenable and the case of Iraq, when the Jews proved stubborn, the Zionist emissaries planted bombs outside cafes Jews frequented and the Masuda Shemtov synagogue in order to 'encourage' emigration.

So what you are doing is attempting to rewrite the history of Arab-Jewish relations in much the same way as the ideologues of the Third Reich did in relation to Teutonic mythology. It really doesn't surprise me dear Prof. that your discipline is Anthropology because this false science of human origins was the main vehicle for the spread of scientific racism in Britain through the Royal Anthoropological Society and the Anthropological Society of London. People like James Hunt and Robert Knox who, just like you, used science and false history in order to 'prove' that the reason for colonial occupations was the biological and cultural inferiority of Black people.

And like all good racists you resort to one of the oldest justifications. Israeli Palestinians want to stay in Israel rather than going to another Arab country. But they were born there, why should they move? Should Germans leave and come to the UK because we are all European? This is a nonsense. It is also the old justification for Apartheid - Blacks want to come to South Africa rather than go to one of the many Black African states. Which was true of course, because it was a question of work and standards of living. Some Jews left Palestine before 1939 and returned to Germany but what is one to conclude from that? that Hitler's Germany wasn't so bad after all?

You say that I 'exaggerate the flaws of the only successful, multi-religious, multi-racial, democratic country in the region'. But I have said nothing about Lebanon, despite obvious problems with its confessional structure (inherited from France).

And no. Because I am no lover of Zionism doesn't mean that I was a lover of stalinism or East Germany either. But at least then there was someone to stand up to the United States.

Tony Greenstein
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:09:30 -0700
From: alex.trafton[at]gmail.com
To: tonygreenstein[at]yahoo.com
Subject: Your Letters posted on Finkelstein's site
CC: pcsalzman[at]aol.com; normangf[at]hotmail.com

Tony,

I do not care to wade to deeply into the debate over Israel between you and Mr. Salzman. I will point out a few things of which you are painfully ignorant, and which you flaunt so prominently on what is a public site.

For instance your commentary on the status of Jews in Arab countries, I do have to agree, that there are models of tolerance here and there, for example Djerba, Tunisia. But of course, they recently had their synagogue bombed, so perhaps I am wrong. But I would much rather address your notions of Dhimmi. Your wave your shattered moral compass saying:

"I'm well aware of the Dhimmi, the People of the Book, both Christians and Jews. Certainly they suffered from civil disabilities but remember we are talking about a feudal, pre-capitalist society. Notions of equality made about as much sense as nationalism. The whole basis of feudal society was the existence of castes and the separation of social classes (in so far as they existed). But the atrocities you talk about were the exception, not the rule. I'm not aware of an Arab holocaust or Chmielniki or York."

You are simply ignorant (you said, comically, "well aware") of how Islamic jurisprudence works, and the results in history. People of the book (Ahl al-Kitab), also included Sabeans and occasionally Zoroastrians (FYI). "Civil disabilities" is the most disgusting downplay of atrocious apartheid I have heard in a while. Are Palestinians victims of "civil disabilities" or is it apartheid? I see apartheid in Palestine, and I see it in Dhimmi. Jews and Christians were expected to pay the jizya, which was an oppressive tax designed to force conversions on a financial basis. They were forced to wear identifying clothing, much like the yellow star (I guess the Jews suffered some "civil disabilities" in Nazi Germany eh chief?). They could not construct places of worship, nor repair the ones they already had. They were also subject to verbal derision by Muslim subjects of the state. They were not subject to a common law, nor were they treated with any respect at all. What you fail to realize in your morally disgusting apologetics for the evil that is Islam, is that Islamists today seek to institute Shariah which demands, as a fundamental aspect, Dhimmi status (of course as atheists, Finkelstein and I would be given a chance to convert, then murdered, same for polytheists). So it is interesting that the very people bordering Israel desire to bring BACK this apartheid. They seek a reinstitution of 7th Century Arab ethos. The death and destruction wrought in the path of Islam appears to not be a lesson for you... appeasement is your way. Oh let's not forget the eschatological role of the Jews..... La taqum al-Sa'a hata taqatilu al-Yahood (Muhammad: The hour will not come until you fight the Jew). In Islam, the Day of Judgement cannot come until the rocks tell Muslims where to find, and kill Jews.

As for an Arab holocaust? How about 70 million inhabitants of the sub-continent murdered by the Arab-Muslim conquest? Allow me to quote a certain Indian Sufi leader (Sirhindi) writing in the 17th Century.... "Every time a Jews is killed, it benefits Islam." He said Har Zaman..... EVERY TIME. This about sums up the standard attitude of the Islamic scholar towards Jews.

The simple fact that Jews could live a comparatively better life in the Middle East because anti-Semitism was so bad in Europe, does not mean that the Arabs are tolerant of Jews. Don't forget it was Arab countries that eagerly accepted all the escaped Nazis they could. Don't forget it was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (Hajj Amin al-Husseini) who toured Nazi Germany and met Hitler. This counts for nothing in your unbalanced analysis.

Oh I saw this too:

"I am very well aware of Middle East history"

Let's just say the jury is out on this one.

I don't care much for Salzman's analysis of Israel, but he is right about the ethnic cleansings of Islam. If you want a pissing match between Zionism and Islam, you are going to get VERY wet my friend. This without saying that Zionism is in any way acceptable to me, just in comparison to Islam.... it is a sunny day in the park.

Good luck in your debate.

-Alex.





* * * * *


Dear Mr Salzman:

Your emails to Dr. Norman Finkelstein are a remarkable display of idiocy that typifies apologists of occupation and bigotry. If this is the type of arguments that marks your lectures one can only pity for anthropology majors at McGill University! I suppose moral and intellectual standards are low in academic professions these days as the example of Mr. Dershowitz at Harvard Law School aptly demonstrates. Of course the anthropology profession has often served the interest of imperialists, war criminals, occupation armies, intelligence agencies, and so forth. You fit very well with that tradition of service to power. Service to power and lies can be very profitable, indeed, even if it is not quite scholarship!

You wrote, perhaps sarcastically, but an amazing display of moral insensitivity: "Just too bad that Hitler didn't finish the job, eh?" You need to think what type of low-life can ask someone, such as Professor Finkelstein, whose both parents survived the Nazi holocaust and ghettos, in such an offensive and tasteless language. Shame on you!

It seems that your education and "learned" degrees has taught you nothing.

You need to face up to the facts, rather than hide behind some false understanding of the world.

First, for the most part Arab Jews were very much part of Arab societies, even if somewhat unequal, and were not subject to systematic persecution, unlike in Christian Europe.

Second, the of Arab Jews in Arab countries of the past is irrelevant to the question of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories today.

Third, the dispossession of the Palestinians from their homeland was wrong and cannot be justified.

Fourth, under international law Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza are illegal.

Fifth, Israel has to treat Arabs and Jews equally and fairly if it is to be considered a democratic and civilized country.

Sixth, the occupation of West Bank and Gaza and Israel's record of human rights violations are widely condemned by almost all nations of the world, not just by Palestinians, Arabs, and/or Muslims.

It would be disservice to your students if you continue to advocate morally evil and factually erroneous views based on lies and distortions.

The honorable thing for you to do would be offer an apology to Dr Finkelstein and his family.

This email can be posted publicly, but without my email address. I am sending copy of this email to Dr. Finkelstein.

Sincerely,





Dear Professor Finkelstein,

Hope you are well, have not visited your page in a while since I've been busy gearing up and getting ready to leave for London to start up my M.Sc. in global health economics.

I've just quickly scanned and read some of your more recent letters and have picked up a certain pattern lately.

With professors like Philip Carl Salzman, Gil Troy, and Micheal Brecher, not to mention illustrious alumni like that Alan-Dershowitz-wannabe Irwin Cotler and more recently Simon Chernin, McGill is long past it's glory days as a cutting edge institute of higher learning. It's basically an old dinosaur living on it's name. The days of minds like those of Ernest Rutherford and Dr.Wilder Penfield are long gone. I should know, I studied there too and couldn't wait to leave. I just wanted to get that stupid piece of paper and run for the hills. It's taken me 12 years to even think about going back to school because my negative experiences at McGill turned me off of school by that much.

The professors were fatheads, largely with over-inflated sense of self-importance who could care less about students grasping and mastering the material and made their T.A's do all the dirty work while they did their best to get their articles published in an attempt to either get tenure or collect funds and grants to further their own research projects. As for the "importance" of their work, in all honesty I doubt anyone 100 to 200 years from now will even bother reading these articles - they're so trivial. You could more likely do a Ph.D at McGill and find a reader to read your thesis on the history of gay bathhouses in Edwardian England and how that affected tea time rituals than the history of the Indus River Valley civilization and how that led to the development of the Indian subcontinent.

I figured out quickly what you needed to do to get A's - most of them could give a rat's ass about critical and original inquiry. All you had to do was figure out what the prof's angle or what his take or interpretation was on any given subject and regurgitate it back to them - in short mirror back their own views. That'll get you the Ph.D. And based on some of the stories I heard, if you're a female and half-decent looking, you could also try sleeping with the more lecherous professors and get your M.A and research funding that way. If however, you had views which they did not care for or want to hear or brought forth facts which illustrated a different angle on some particular argument, good luck buddy, because you're basically up shit creek without a paddle at that point.

I beg your pardon if I come across as embittered, I know how important the issues of learning and education are to you. I was bitter and angry about my McGill experience for the longest time and it took me quite a while to get over just how Machiavellian that place was, despite the name and brand recognition of "McGill". I just want you and your readers to know that if anyone brings up the name of McGill, to please take it with a grain of salt, particularly in the social sciences. It really doesn't mean very much. Cheers,



Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:20:55 -0500
From: n8glenn[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Thank you

Dr. Finkelstein,

I just want to tell you how much I appreciate your untiring work in promoting truth, peace and understanding. I believe that your status as an "independent scholar" is actually a testament to your honor and integrity. The only reason you do not have tenure right now is because you stand up and speak out for what is right against the wishes of a corrupt establishment which exerts its influence on every aspect of our society, including academia. I believe very strongly that you are doing an important service to jewish people, and also to the human race. I regularly watch your videos and look forward to reading your new book, as well as your other books eventually (you are high up on my list of books to read). Your picture is on my wall right next to Ilan Pappe, Noam Chomsky, Ron Paul, George Galloway, my daughter, and of course, Indiana Jones. You are a very courageous man, god bless you and good luck with all of your future endeavors,

Sincerely,
Nate



To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Greetings from Syria
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:44:09 +0300

Dear Professor Finkelstein,

It is with great honor that I write you this letter to express my big admiration and unfathomable gratitude to you. Seldom have I read or heard about men such as yourself, men who believe that words are not merely words to throw right and left, but who consider words to be a powerful and efficient concepts that can change the world. Indeed, there was a man five centuries ago, a man exactly like you professor, a man who was so faithful to his uncompromising standards that he was beheaded defending them. This man professor was Saint Thomas More.

I can only hope to meet you one day, to extend a friendly hand to you, in a world were no (industries) can govern us, and greet you in every language that I know, beyond every chutzpah.


***


It would be more than honor to have my email published on your website. You can’t imagine the amount of admiration that I carry towards you. I saw your debates, and I said to myself what a man. What education, what intellectuality. Then I’ve read your books, and I was totally blown away by your careful, scrupulous scholarship. Although I am a 23 years old medical student that studies in a third world country’s university, I immediately recognized the greatness of your character due to my extensive readings in world’s literature. We have a proverb in Arabic that I translate poorly : He who treads confidently, treads as a king. And you are a king Professor.

Professor Norman, please do consider coming to Damascus. You would stay at our home, and I would be your personal driver for the whole sojourn. If you can do that, you’d be giving us a great honor.



Dear Norman Finkelstein,

As a Palestinian, forced into a life of endless exile, I feel the need to express my deepest gratitude towards your efforts. Your work should be the standard for all those who claim to possess any degree of intellectual merit. As you clearly put it, our Palestinian cause is a straight-forward one, lacking any real complexity. It is merely a cause which reflects the occupied against that of the usurper. The fact that so few have the courage to merely reflect the truth makes you a giant among men, and I am grateful that the people of Palestine can count you as a friend.

With deep gratitude,

Bas



Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:46:28 +0100
From: saralevi1234[at]googlemail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: what is wrong with you?

I am very proud to be Jewish and take offence at your hateful disrespectful rhetoric about Israel. Have you ever contemplated what will happen to Israel if Palestinians are allowed to arm themselves and Israel has no longer got a protective fence?

Do you consider yourself Jewish at all and if yes what does it mean do you or do you wish you were a Muslim who controls his wife and children through fear and terror?





Dear Norman,

I've written to you before about specific issues (plagiarism, Dershowitz, and the injustice of your tenure denial) but I wanted to comment more generally on your work. As I write this, I'm listening to your CD "A Question of Justice," which I picked up at the Lucy Parsons center (a little radical bookshop in Boston). It's nice to hear your voice as you explain things: your warmth and generosity come across in audio a little better, I think, than on the page. It's a great lecture, brilliantly presented.

I've now read all of your work, I think, except for your new monograph on Dennis Ross and The Rise and Fall of Palestine (which is next on my list). I've also checked many of your references more or less at random, in order to investigate somebody's charge (as Dershowitz relays it) that your work collapses under that kind of scrutiny. I haven't found anything to substantiate that charge. In fact, I'm growing more and more admiring not only of your productivity under pressure (which I truly envy) but of your meticulousness and care in scholarship.

Maybe this all comes back to the shibboleth of "civility." People mistake your strong interpretations as distortions of history because they are strong. Not being an expert in the field, I am not going to presume that your interpretations are perfect. I will say that they seem, on the whole, reasonable to me. More to the point, they have to be strong to counter the partisan accounts that so many people mistake for fact.

I hope someone has the courage to offer you a good position in your field. Meanwhile, I trust you are continuing to be productive. I await your next work (and the third edition of Image and Reality) eagerly, and I hope to see you give a talk in the Boston area soon.



From: davidmontana2000[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject:
Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:55:55 +0000

Hello Norman,

I am writing you from Morocco because I just saw your debate with a Lebanese journalist where you were saying that Hezbollah was the honor of Lebanon and that it was a great movement.

I am quite a upset about what you said. Hezbullah is a dangerous movement threatening every person that is not a fundamentalist and that doesn t wear a hijab or doen t respect sharia laws.

I just think you don t know these people enough. They hate Western values, they hate democracy, they hate Jews Christians Buddhists. I think you should go to Lebanon and live there with them telling them you are Jewish.... I don t think you would have enjoyed freedom of speech with them.

What i think is that you are ashamed of being Jewish because of the Israeli policy and you feel guilty about it. I also think you want to be THE man who says no against everybody else. You think that makes you smart????

You think that because your family was in the Holocaust you have the right to say everyhthing??? I wish you were in the nazi camps at their place, I wish you were tortured by the gestapo....then maybe you would have understood the dangers of fascism and therefore the danger of parties such as Hezbullah. Stop spreading your stupid opinons.You are a zero.You are an insult to human intelligence.

bye



From: mimi_lembeck[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject:
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:48:42 +0000

The Finkelstein Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of a Jewish Heritage

.........it seems that you have modeled yourself after the governments of the Saudis and Syrians, Egyptians and Jordanians; making a profit off Palestinian suffering, feeding them false information and using them as ponds.

How do you sleep at night? Wait, I know...on the bodies of Palestinians. You must sleep comfortably, because the worse their situation, the better yours.



This is just a very quick email to say how much i respect your work as a scholar.

I am an a-level student in the UK and I first encountered your work when researching the Israel/Palestine debate for the "Justice and Peace" group I lead at school.

I have since then read several of your major works and I have enjoyed them thoroughly. Your passion and interest in the subject has inspired me to pursue a similar field of academia. It is with pleasure that i write to inform you i am applying to read middle eastern languages at university and that i consider you to be great influence in this decision.

Keep it up!

(P.S Since you are no longer working at DePaul, perhaps i could persuade you to teach at my upper school? It may not be as prestigious.. but we have wonderful "coffee mornings".. with free biscuits!!!)



Even though I'm do evangelism using ukulele (christinanity) in Tokyo Japan, I also put books and dvd's of the left, like Noam Chomsky for free for people to take.

I also put sign like that I attached drawing by Carlos Latuff. I noticed foreighners stops by looking at these drawing of Mr. Latuff. So I decided to put more books on Middle East.

Then I found your books! It's too wonderful to find your books in Japanese. I don't think people knows presence of your book yet in Japanese.

I went to publishers site, and it said ads of your books was refused to be published by major Japanese News Paper("Asahi Shinbun") of "Beyond Chutzpah" about a year ago.

So I told that there is your movie and there is your book published in Japanese to "DemocracyNow Japan". They translated Carter's "Freedom Not Apartheid" into Japanese.

I read "Holocaust Industry" it was interesting to see how those elite people act and It was kind of eye opener as being christian and also as a Japanese.

Because in Japan most TV channel is owned by News Paper so we are completely brain washed. Like people needs to be "Out Foxed" (which is title of a movie) in US.

I'll start reading "Beyond Chutzpah" too.

And I hope we can see and buy your movie in Japanese. Since foreigners are the one interested in this topic I should by your book in English but in future.

One thing that how we the christians are brain washed by media like that in US. We believe that we become a christian when we believe gospel of Jesus Christ. Otherwise people goes to hell, punished by God. Jesus was crucified and rose again to prove he is a savior and god who was prophesied in the bible. he gives eternal life if people believe it while they are alive on this planet.

So people needs to be alive somehow in order to know this gospel, for people are going to hell without it.

So waging war or killing people send people to hell and this is not will of Jesus Christ. If it is not so he didnot come all the way here to be crucified.

So who would Jesus bomb? Jesus died for me, Jesus died for them. this "logic" is amazingly missing in christian community.

Looking forward for new coming book



Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:46:35 -0700B
From: pgg804[at]yahoo.com
Subject: Russia Georgia Conflict
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

I was thinking about asking you your opinion of that conflict. After reading the article you posted, I think I have an idea.

As usual, I completely disagree with our medias spin. In my opinion, the Russians have been remarkably understanding and fair. Gorbachev let the Soviet Union break up and let all the republics go their own way almost without firing a shot. Yes there has been some fighting. It could have been a lot worse - think of the American Civil war.

The US has been pushing closer and closer to Russia. Americans and Israelis are in Georgia training Georgian soldiers. The most likely target of that training will be a Russian soldier. The unbelievable nerve of the US and Israel astounds me. When someone is weaker than us, we are a very brave people.

Of course we are going to build a missle defense system and this system could easily be used against Russia. The US says its aimed at Iran, but Iran does not have missles that can reach Europe, it doesn't have nuclear weapons and they say they don't want nuclear weapons.

I just hope Europe doesn't let the US do what it wants - make Georgia a NATO member and then possibly start a major war with Russia over oil, South Ossetia or something else.

Sincerely,

Peter Gebert



Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:26:34 -0700
From: criplizingnotaword[at]yahoo.com
Subject: letter
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I am beginning to believe your opinion on Mearsheimer and Walt's book. Originally I thought their argument was air tight, and I still believe it to be mostly true; however, after the brutal media blasting of Russia I see the American media applies the same tricks to all its buddies. Whether or not Russia is an honest player in this is completely besides the point. The fact is that there exists a plausible argument that Russia was standing up to the ethnic cleansing of 2,000 people in South Ossetia, yet the mainstream media completely refuses to publish this side of the story. Additionally, the political debate is nonexistent as well, with both McCain and Obama supporting the same stance without question.

The treatment of Russia is interesting because it poses a much greater threat to US security than the conflicts in the Middle East. It is one thing to media blitz Iran or Hamas; it's another to degrade Russia. I don't know where our leaders or media moguls are living, but how dangerous of a world do they want us to live in? I have no problem standing up to Russia if need be, but the fact that their argument isn't even being CONSIDERED is enough to know that no serious debate ever took place. I do have a serious problem with confronting Russia without any rational debate. It's beyond insanity. (also one listen to the words out of Condeleeza's forked tongue confirms the fact that we are again being fed a bunch of lies).

Tying this into the Israel Lobby, we do notice some differences. Of course if one WERE to bring up the Russia point of view, they would be silenced for sure, but not by the sledgehammer of "anti-semitism". Two months from now, the pro-Russia would be back on the air waves, whereas the "anti-semite" gets a life sentence no parole. Also, while the media is completely one-sided and continues to degrade Russia without even mentioning that they may have been standing up to genocide, the seal is not completely tight. It really only applies to media and politics. Jewish lobbying, on the other hand, is much broader, with a silencing power reaching much further than other American interests. For instance, Jewish students have formed a group on Facebook known as the JIDF, Jewish Internet Defense Force, which literally goes around hacking into anti-Israeli group and vandalizes them. It's absolutely disgusting and completely anti-American, and these are just ordinary Jewish people. Ordinary Jewish lawyers brought law suits against Arab and Lebanese banks for damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars. So the Lobby stretches its tentacles beyond a typical political force. To be sure, America's decision making is the same, however, with Jewish groups utlizing a grass roots lobbying, the average American is more likely to believe Mearsheimer and Walt because they may have been silenced personally at work, in school or on the internet.

In conclusion, the recent treatment of Russia in the mainstream media and politics show that America behaves blindly and irrationally whenever their interests are at stakes. There is absolutely no debate on the Russia issue in any meaningful sense, just like with Israel. Consequently, this event shows that it is difficult to say that the reason we don't get a fair view of the Arab-Israeli conflict or the Iranian-Israeli conflict is solely because of the Jews. Jewish groups certainly "spread the word" to a much broader group, but the lack of debate going on right now over the Russian issue leaves me to believe there'd be no debate on Israel even if Jews had no power in America.

Anyways, thank you very much for all your work and I love the recent updates on your website. God Bless :)



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

You are a man with a clean conscience, I would hope more Jews from your variety.

I can very well imagine to live wit you in one state, without one of us suppressed.

take care

Palestinian greetings
Kiefah



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

My name is Noor and I am a seventeen year old Palestinian Muslim girl. I must say that I have great admiration for you and I am truly inspired by you. It's not always that I learn about bright-minded and intelligent individuals. I enjoy watching your debates with several former political leaders and writers on youtube, as well as you getting interviewed by various news stations , and giving them a real spanking. The information you have is so great, that I actually take the time to write down what you say. Your books are a hit, I must say, and they deserve to be publicly presented. It's a shame that we have a Zionist-controlled media in the United States, because I would really love to see you debate a Zionist on live television. I want the American people to be exposed to the truth, not to propaganda. I thank you for supporting the Muslim people, telling the truth about entities like Hezbollah, where it is deemed as a "terror group" by the US and Israel, and for putting justice before peace. I must say that i respect you more than I respect some of the arab people and the corrupt kings and puppet governments in the Middle East. I remember watching a video where you were getting interviewed and asked about Hezbollah by a Lebanese woman. You said to her that arabs want to be respected yet they dont repsect themselves. I have been saying this ever since I entered high school, and I hoped that one day, someone would say the same. It is really shameful that the Muslims are divided and are fighting eachother rather than the real enemy. It is also really shameful that some crazed people in the United States call you a "self-hating jew" and "anti-semitic." Well, from what I know, and maybe you might not agree which is perfectly okay, Israel has so much influence over US policy that I believe Israel controls America, and anyone who criticizes the Zionist state is called an "anti-semite." Im sorry that the fool, Alan Dershowi tz, was behind throwing you out of DePaul University. It shows how much he and the truth mix. I pray that Allah provide you with greater happenings and protection from the Zionists like Dershowitz and I will provide support for your website. I just wanted to thank you for exposing the truth and for taking the time to read this letter. I truly hope that you can come to Florida some time, my state of residence and prepare conferences.

Sincerely,



Subject: Your Work
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2008 11:53:32 -0400
From: simon.chernin[at]mail.mcgill.ca
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Mr. Finkelstein,

My name is Simon Chernin and I am a recent graduate of McGill University. I will be attending law school next year. I am writing this email because I am truely disgusted by much of your work. You disparage numerous Jewish academics with serious allegations because they are smart enough to disagree with you. If it wasn't for academics such as Elie Wiesel the events of the Holocaust might not be so widely discussed or known about. Of course, you wish though that were not. You fail to understand that there is no Jewish plot to exploit the Holocaust. You write in your book, 'The Holocaust Industry' that you originally became aware of this plot when you realised that when you were young the Holocaust was not popularly known about or discussed, but that it eventaully became so after the "Holocaust Industry was firmly established." Are you unaware of the antisemitism that still pervaded US society so heavily in the 1950s and 1960s? Many American Jews were concerned that by advocating Jewish causes publically it may result in a dangerous backlash. Many survivors were so traumatiuzed that they were not interested in relating their stories or discussing what had happened. You say that there is no evidence for such ideas but that it because you are dishonest. What is wrong Mr. Finkelstein with making the events of the Holocaust more known to the public? Six million Jews were murdered by one of the most advanced states in the world. The largest Jewish community in the world was destroyed and during the course of a few years the entire European Jewish tradition was extinguished. Does anybody who believes in holocaust education in order for future generations to learn of the tragedy of past generations someone corrupted by the 'Holocaust Industry?' I found it astounding in the introduction to your book when you say that the friend of your father's who took a position at Yad Vashem had been corrupted by the 'Holocaust Industry' which mirrored that man's lust for power and profit. So you are simply saying that this man took the position to increase his personal power and to become rich. That is nothing but slander and is antisemitic.

Your intellectual bottom line seems to revolve around a hatred of Israel. I have no problem with criticism of Israel but you seem to take the attitude that Israel is such an abomination that any means used to attack the very legitimacy of that state is appropriate, including minimizing the tragedy of the Holocaust. You seem to want to lash out at the Jews who support Israel. I agree with you that it is a real shame that so much compensation money has not reached actual Holocaust survivors, but your belief places such as the Washington Holocaust Museum or Yad Vashem are part of an inappropriate 'Holocaust Industry' is ridiculous and frankly antisemitic. Are you aware that the people who read your work are largely uneducated about the Holocaust and Jewish history. A friend of mine who once sent you a critical email had hers posted and was inundated with hateful emails. Why do you not add a disclaimer that those who read your work should also read standard histories of the Holocaust by authors such as Paul Hilberg or Yehuda Bauer so that they have some context as to the issues? Your work is simply fodder for antisemites and is filled with shrill accusations and a great deal of utter nonsense. You are a trivial intellectual and I am glad that you were denied tenure at DePaul.



Norman,

As a now long-time reader of your books and site, and as someone who lives in Paris, I want to tell you - briefly - my opinion on the "Siné Affair" in France.

It's a *good thing* that there is so much largely meaningless polemical argument going on about this ridiculous affaire. The reason is pretty simple. Until this example, anyone could get accused of anti-Semitism and basically be shut out of acceptable discussion pretty easily. This time at least there's a lot of people who think it's gone too far. That's actually a pretty big and important change. I wish it would have been over something more important than a stupid little article that poked fun at the opportunism of Sarkozy-junior, but at least there's a real ground swell of opinion saying that enough is enough over the way that "anti-Semitism" is used as a club to beat political opponents (and even just personal rivals) into silence and disgrace.

I don't know Siné and don't care too much. Charlie Hebdo is a horrid racist cartoon paper that shows the worst side of the French "left" in its disdain and hatred for other cultures and most notably muslim immigrants to Europe. It does this via being "laïc" - the closest translation is "secular" but it doesn't quite cut it. The argument is that muslims are not secular therefore are barbarian. Jews are secular and can't be touched. Go figure. As for Sarkozy-junior, he seems to be a real disgrace even inside the ruling UMP party. He backstabbed his running mate for the mayor's office in his dad's town (richest suburb in the country) and then his dad ensured he still got elected no matter what happened. His rise reminds me of Arab "Republican" presidents like the Al-Assads.

Michael



hello prof. Finkelstein

first of all, i must say that although i have just recently been introduced to your work, I am a fan. it takes a lot of strength to do what you do.

Your name first caught my eye when I heard about what happened to you on your recent trip to Israel - for the same thing happened to me, in January of this year.

I am a 19 year old male from Ottawa, Canada. I have been to the middle east in the past 18 months on three occasions. the first time I was in egypt doing work with churches and hospitals, the second time was during the summer of last year, when i went to the west bank (jerusalem, bethlehem and hebron). i was with the 'christian peacemaker teams' a non-violent human rights documenting group, and we did most our work in hebron (trying to keep the settlers from attacking palestinians... to little avail). when i came home i got several articles written published in local papers about my trip.

anyways, i wanted to learn arabic this past winter, so once again i flew from germany to tel aviv. I found a school in the old city to study and a christian palestinian family to live with in beit jala (so as to learn through immersion). however, when i got to tel aviv, i was taken away for over 6 hours of questioning by various border police agents. in the end, they denied me entry based on some absolutely bogus security reason, much like they did with you. in the end, i spent two days in detention before i was flown back to the country of my departure.

I don't really know why I wanted to share this with you - I guess for me is was good to know that I was not alone in how I was treated. Also, it would be good to hear your opinion as to where a young student/activisit like myself (I am currently getting my BA with specialities in 'conflict studies' and I have a vision of working in the middle east doing israeli-arab-related work) would be best off investing my time and efforts.

hope to hear from you soon,

sincerely,
Aaron Beattie



From: drewcando[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Norms continuous bombardment of Jews and Israel is nausiating
Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2008 10:56:28 -0400

Webmaster, Norman stormers and whomever reads these e-mails.

Mr Norman is still pounding away at poor little Israel and the Jews. In spite of his heritage and his parents suffering, this filthy specimen continues to spew hate and provocative ideologies.

Norman, you are a self hating Jew who should convert to Christianity or Islam. These two delightfully peaceful religions would only welcome your Ilk. The Christians and their holocaust being the Spanish inquisition and the contiunous Islam murders that cover this globe.

Go to hell right now Stormin Norman.

Have a dreadful day and I hope you suffer the most ignominious existence.

Your enemy

Drew



Norman,

Just today I received an email regarding a forthcoming documentary called "AmericanRadical". Clicked the link, watched the trailer, and all I can say is that at least 40 of us in Maryland (which is not not exactly Portland, Oregon) will be ensuring it plays locally, and going to see it.

I hope that this documentary opens minds, and opens hearts. Also, I hope it affords you a greater presence within our country, you deserve a break; but more importantly the Palestinians, Lebanese, and Iraqi's all deserve a break.

Thank you for your steadfast opposition to State terror, exploitation of the dead, and exploitation of the living.

Kind regards,



From: eberg[at]uwo.ca
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:27:25 -0400
Subject: comment

I have just finished University where I was subjected to a mass of literature and information. Rather than taking it at face value or blindly accepting the words of my professors, I chose to challenge everything - reading multiple news sources, books written by diverse authors, etc. Luckily, there are many other individuals like me in Universities across the world. Unfortunately, there are MANY who are not. This is why your books are dangerous. In fact, I think you yourself are among the latter group.

The Holocaust was a horrific, horrific event and your so-called "literature" is disrespectful to those who died. Simple as that. Your publications fuel other ignorant and uninformed individuals who are either too lazy or stupid to do real research. You have contributed to the defamation (often false) of your own people.

I can only wait for the day that your conscience catches up with you. You are a fool, a disgrace and should be ashamed of yourself. To call yourself a Jew is insulting; to call yourself an academic is laughable.
RE: comment

Regarding your email to Mr. Finkelstein, a few observations: you seem to have misplaced the evidence for your argument, sir. You say you just finished "University," yet the only evidence you can muster is: "Simple as that." If we are to take your email as a representative sampling of your writing now, at the height of your intellectual powers, I can only imagine what "books written by diverse authors" you have actually read. Were there a lot of stories about crop circles in them? Crystals? Unicorns? Free-flowing West Bank checkpoints?

You say that Mr. Finkelstein has "contributed to the defamation (often false) of (his) own people." Often false? You mean the defamation is sometimes spot on? Alas, you provide no examples of either, so it must be you who is "too lazy or stupid" to "do (the) real research" necessary to sway readers to adopt your views.

You, sir, are no better than a common tagger, a miscreant who defaces surfaces with unintelligible meanderings. You should be furious with your University for sending you out into the world with the mental equivalent of a can of spray paint.

I don't know Mr. Finkelstein personally, but from reading his works and hearing him speak on the Internet I have determined that his scholarship is not fueled by foolishness, and his opinions are dangerous only to those who strive to hide the truth from us. I've heard him claim that he can speak extemporaneously for a couple of hours on the subject of UN Resolution 242. Can you speak on any topic for two hours? I think readers of your email know the answer to that question.

I sincerely hope that you have overestimated your census of people like you.

M. Weeks





Dear Mr. Finklestein:

For years I have followed your efforts and work. I want to thank you for your sacrifice and heart in the struggle against injustice and oppression everywhere.

You are an inspiration to me and many others engaged in the fight for a better world.

If you are ever in Toronto, our doors are open to you.

In Solidarity,



Mr Dershowitz,

Only in the last few days I have come across two of your letters /op eds accusing Finkelstein of various sins. I can understand why you are so angry with him and seems to spend much of your time pursuing this allegedly failed intellectual with no chance of success in life.

He kicked some serious ass in that debate arranged by Amy Goodman, Your ass. Didn't he?

Anyway, I must thank you for unintentionally reminding me of some of my Childhood's memories. The way you turned page after page of that book allegedly written by you as if you were looking at that book for the first time was really funny. I used to do that when I was in Elementary School.

Every few days My teacher would give me some assignment. I wouldn't care to do it on time. And when she would ask me about assignment I would turn over the pages just like you did.

You were reduced to bleating "Where , Where" in that Interview.

But I disagree with Finkelstein in one respect. I don't think you should be sacked. People like you should be left at Harvard to remind the public that this is what Harvard is all about.

Harvard is a place where all sorts of Mass murderers, War Criminals, Torturers, Torture Apologists and Plagiarists (your goodself , Sir) and High Finance Fraudsters congregate and train the Next Generation of their Kind. You fit very well in such a setting.

Only last week or so , There was an article in Washington Post by one of your "research assistants", Joel Pollack. The illiterate fool was advocating , well, Censorship of things he didn't like. A perfect Student for you.

By the way, who coined the word "Turnspeak"? Is that Orwell or Lord Carrington or Lord Caradon or Lord Plagiarist from Harvard Yard, youself? Any Idea?

I mean you were so terribly confused about this in that Debate, I actually felt sorry for you for a moment.

Next time, your "research assistants" hand over you the book atleast care to read it , Scum.

Otherwise you would get ambushed and you have to spend all your time trying to get back at them. Like you are doing nowadays.

Ajit
Alan Dershowitz dersh@law.harvard.edu
Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 6:56 PM
Reply-To: dersh@law.harvard.edu

I don't respond to bigots

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T





Dear Mr Finkelstein,

I am a college student who has been reading your work for about a year now. I would just like to say you are a great scholar and everyone appreciates what you do. Its refreshing to find information that is not incorrect and biased. Here in the UK, everything from the BBC to Sky News is so biased its beyond a joke. The question I want to ask you is will you ever come to the UK to do a talk. Ive noticed on your website your have speaking arrangements all over America but no schedule for visiting the UK. I like others would love for you to come here and talk.

Thank You



Hi Mr. Finkelstein,

My name is Ali and I have just recently heard about you through a friend. I have been reading on your website and watching videos of many interviews you have had.

First let me say how awesome me and my dad think you are! My dad was born in a village in Palestine in 1946 and he and his family went to Nazareth in 1948. He has been in America for about 30 years and continues to be disappointed with what is going on in the Middle East. We have always been the "fanatics" who get labeled "anti-semitic and Jew-haters".... and so on and so on... even by out dearest friends. We are Christians and don't go to church much anymore because my dad doesn't feel welcome... The Christian-right in this country are so devoted to Israel that they are willing to let go of all moral goodness in order to defend it.... I can't tell you how mant times the Holocaust has been preached at Church yet they don't want to talk about the war in Iraq or anything to do with politics....

My dad has always believed that the Holocaust was/is used for Israels political gain. He also believes that it has been fabricated in many ways.... He doesn't believe that there were gas chambers, ovens, people made into soap, etc.... He also questions the number.... He says that at the time there were only 3 millions Jews in all of Europe.

My questions for you, are these:

Do you believe that there were gas chambers, ovens, people made into soap, etc....?

What do you think about the number?

I want you to know that my dad is not denying anything! We absolutely believe that the Jews were persecuted during WWII. But again, we believe it has been fabricated for the obvious reasons...

Thank you SO much for your amazing bravery and willingness to stand for the truth! I am brought to tears just writing this because I cant imagine how it must be for you.... I feel like I have a had time just in my home town! My dad wants me to tell you not to be discouraged! Continue fighting the good fight!

Thank you for everything!

-Ali



Subject: antisemitism.. or antipolonism ?
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:53:39 +0200

Dear Prof. Finkelstein,

I would like to point out one issue which appeared lately connected Polish properties and Jewish lobby claims for compensation from Polish government.

Before going into the details, a little preface. Poland in 2nd World War was a victim, not an agressor. 30% of population was killed, economy was ruined, 75% of the capital - Warsaw was destroyed, one regime - nazis - was replaced by communists. Territory of Poland was changed considerably without asking the polish government. After the war every polish propertes were rebuilt by polish citizens themselves.

In fifties polish communists government gave jewish certain amount of money already. now so many years after the war US congressman who is actually jewish calls Poland to give jewish compensations for properties left in Poland. The mechanism you described in "Holocaust Industry" starts working with Poland...

Thinking in that way about compensations, US government should give huge compensations to Indians who are actually native americans, to black people for slavery, Izraelis to Palestinians for forced expropriation in Palestina. Communist government was responsible for things which happened after the war jewish lobby should ask russians inheritors for money, russian didnt give Poland even one cent for ruining the country during the communism.

Its part of sth bigger, your book "Beyond Chutzpah" comes to mind..

Actually what i'm experiencing right now is antipolonism, not antisemitism, all those absurdities, issues lies "Polish death camps" or ridiculous quotes of this former mossad member Icchak Szamir claiming that "Poles suck anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk" or by the criminal Israel Singer claiming that "If Poland does not satisfy Jewish claims it will be "publicly attacked and humiliated" in the international forum."

US congress should do sth with american problems e.g. with the value of the dollar, and not to deal with jewish issues, i believe AIPAC is not so strong.

I am a Polish citizen, what i disagree with, is the politics of Jewish lobby in US and the politics of Israeli government, nothing against the Jewish people.

Unfortunately some people who are not familiar with the topic in Poland may have some bad feelings against Jews, after such unfair resolution made by the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US House of Representatives...

Peace

Best Regards
Jacek



Dear Sir,

No-doubt you recieve emails like this all the time.

Please appreciate how hard it is for me to say this.

You have made me recognise that my attitude as a Muslim towards Jews enmasse was wrong , i will never be able to hide behind ignorant , sweeping generalisations again.

Your Distant Student,



ear Prof. Finkelstein,

I recall a lot of pseudo-academics have tried to make polemical nonsense of your interview with your mother, and the unspoken question, as if you were somehow 'abnormal' in entertaining certain ideas (on the contrary, they are abnormal in thinking/arguing that sons and daughters don't think that way. They evidently do). This floated back to mind reading the following passage below (which I pass on for its value as an analogy).

Tom Bissell,The Father of All Things: A Marine, His Son, and the Legacy of Vietnam, Pantheon 2007 on a conversation with his father John Bissell, former Marine Cxorps officer in Vietnam, who told him things like My Lai happened all the time

“Things like My Lai happened all the time?” I asked my father now.

“All the time, yes. Just not so severe.”

“They did. All the time.!

“Unfortunately, yes. That’s the reality.”

I looked at him, astonished. I knew what he meant, and he knew that I knew what he meant, but to hear him say these words – their buried tolerance for murder-was very nearly too much. I could have asked and almost did: Did you ever do anything like that? But I did not because no father should be lightly posed such a question by his son. Because no father should think, even for a moment, that his son believes him capable of such a thing. Because I knew my father was not capable of such a thing. So I was telling myself as we pulled up to My Lai” (cited NYRB Nov.22,2007 p.44)

Finest regards



To: vancouverletters@metronews.ca
Subject: Role of Canadian companies in building occupation settlements
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008

Dear Editor:

Thank you for exposing the complicity of two Canadian companies in building settlements in occupied Palestinian territories. Territorial occupation by conquest is illegal under international law but that's what Israel has been doing for years and thus ruining the chances for peace in the Middle East.

The effort by the West Bank town of Bilin to sue Green Mount International Inc. and Green Park International Inc., for violating international and Canadian law is a welcome step in the right direction.

Green Park and Green Mount have been sub-contracted to erect settlements near Bilin on behalf of Africa Israel Investments, itself a controversial company that has been the subject of boycott because its role in expansion of settlements. As a Canadian permanent resident, I strongly feel that Canada's courts should uphold international law and morality and not succumb to support a brutal and nasty occupation. It harms Canada's reputation when Canadian companies are allowed to engage in violation of international law.

Sincerely,



I love you.. Can't wait to see your movie.. You are a model to me.. Please protect yourself.. and may Allah protect you..

I'm a Kuwaiti living in Kuwait.. I Iived in the US long enough.. to understand what you are going through..

Best,
Hashem



Hello Professor,

I read your book Beyond Chutzpah about two months ago and today I got a chance to finally read The Case for Israel. In addition to your complete refutation of almost all the arguments, if one can call them that, I also found some rather puzzling quotes in the book. One such was in Chapter 9 where "the accusation" as stated by Professor Dershowitz was (with my emphasis): "The Jewish state was established in Palestine, despite the fact that Jews constituted only a minority of the total population of Palestinians." "The Reality" as Professor Dershowitz tells us is that: "The Jews were a substantial majority in those areas of Palestine partitioned by the United Nations for a Jewish state." I attempted to search for a connection between the two quotes for about ten minutes holding fervently to the belief that the Felix Frankfurter of a Harvard college cannot possibly have made that mistake. What is more unfortunate though is that I do not think that was a mistake.

I would like to wish you all the best in the future. I cannot wait for Farewell to Isarel as well as your memoirs.

Thank You for all your work.
Waqas Ahmed



Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:11:12 -0700
From: uraman46[at]yahoo.com
Subject: Did you celebrate?
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Hey you, worthless piece of shit:

Did you also celebrate with your Hezbollah masters the release of the murderer, Samir Kuntar? I wouldn't be surprised if you did. In light of this celebration, couple of my friends in New York City did a research and then went to the cemetery where your whore mother is burried and pissed on her grave. They decided to express their gratitude to her for giving birth to a human excrement named Norman Finkelstein.))) I'm not kidding - this is true. Trust me, Samir Kuntar's time will come... and yours too.



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I just watched your talk on Hamas and the Lebanese situation (as at 30th September 2006) on your site (http://normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=646) and I just have to say: Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

You gave that talk almost two years ago and with the Hezbollah-Israel prisoner swap having just been wrapped up, what you said in your speech came across as even more genius than it would have at the time you presented it. You have the clearest, most accurate and most truthful view of the Arab-Israeli situation of any scholar, politician or activist I have come across.

I particularly love the fact that you see the uniqueness in Nasrallah's leadership. Here is an Arab man that, above all, is rational, determined and disciplined. Those qualities don't sound like much, but when you compare them as you said to the qualities of Arab leaders come and gone, they are profound.

And I think the same applies to you. Most of the time, you simply present the real facts and historical record, and then you come to a conclusion about what this means for the people in the Arab world. It doesn't sound like much does it, but when you juxtapose this with the total and utter rubbish that people take in (and often believe) from the media, you come across as a genius.

That's not to say that you aren't a genius - you are! :)

With utmost respect,
Michael from Sydney.

PS. I've emailed you before and I know that you are coming to Sydney this year - is there a definite date yet?



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

How about this for the headline: "Kind Law Professor Reminds Summer Bar Exam Takers That Defamation of a Public Figure Requires Both Actual Malice and Falsity." Hey, it's the best I could do. What's funny about this is that Dershowitz claims you have "written no scholarship". It's funny because I am not aware of one scholarly Law Review article on Criminal Procedure (the subject of Dershowitz's expertise) written by Alan Dershowitz at all. I remember doing a search on LexisNexis (a database used by law students and lawyers) and the only journal articles that came up were one scathing criticism of Bush v. Gore (hardly scholarship there) and an "In Memoriam" for a deceased law professor. You know, Criminal Procedure is one of the most important and influential topics in the study of law and this Supreme Court has given us plenty to discuss. Every year there are monumental decisions on this subject, and I would expect to see a Harvard Law professor producing a deluge of scholarly pieces. Yet all Dershowitz seems to write finds its way to the political tabloid section of Barnes & Noble rather than any Law Review. I don't care how much money he makes, for a former Supreme Court clerk and a professor at the most distinguished law school in the world, it's an embarassment. This man's opinions should be among the most respected and sought after in his field; instead he's pandering to little Mikey hanging out at the Barnes & Noble waiting for the next showing of Batman, and helping his dirty buddies beat crimes.



From: dwcoleman[at]comcast.net
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: The tragedy of the Prisoner Swap
Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:17:59 -0500

I just watched your YouTube video on Hezbollah where you stated “If I’m going to honor them, I am going to honor the Hizbullah. They show courage, and they show discipline. I respect that.” God, I didn’t realize how insane you are until I watched that 2006 video. What irony! Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser are dead. Typical Hezbollah “facist “ behavior. Families expecting a jubilant reunion now in mourning – yes I can see how you admire them. I was wondering – how did you feel about the Nazi’s threatened march Skokie in the 70’s? Freedom of speech I am sure you would say. I suspect you would have joined Frank Collin. You are a sick person and belong in therapy to deal with your self-loathing. You are poison, you write and teach poison and you should be expelled from your faculty position.

You make me sick

Don Coleman, Esq
Chicago, Il





Hey Dr. Finkelstein:

I thought I’d just drop you a line. First to say hello. Next to say thank you for your soul.

I am an African-American woman born in the 50s. I grew-up on the West Side of Chicago, which at the time was a multi-racial Irish, Jewish, Polish immigrant enclave. In 1969, my family was lucky to move to California when I was a teenager. At fourteen years old, I ran away from home, and as punishment, my mother had me placed in a detention center. The probation officer assigned to me was so impressed by my young, brutally honest mind that she manipulated some strings to have me placed in a group home.

This group home was located in West Hollywood. It was20founded by a Jewish immigrant couple who had escaped the German Nazi death camps. Their name was Mr. & Mrs. Hamburger. The group home was originally meant as a finishing school for young Jewish girls. Later, it was partially funded by the state which meant it had to be opened to all ethnic groups.

It was in this home where my life began. I remember one day, I walked into a private area of this mansion and noticed a library where Mr. & Mrs. Hamburger had amassed a small collection of antique books written in German. I looked up, and for the first time gazed upon a huge poratirue of the long deceased Hamburgers. As I was looking at their portrait, my young mind began to wonder, who were they? What happened to them in Germany? How did they suffer? Were they slaves like my ancestors? Why did they have to suffer?

These questions never left my heart. As the days became years, I found myself traveling to many places in the world. I managed to finished college, marry and have my son. On his 8th birthday, I took him to Dachau. During our time in Germany prior, there was some anti-immigrant hostility and rumors that the Holocaust never happened. That was my impetus for taking my son so that he would learn first hand that the Holocaust did indeed20take place, and many people suffered and died while the world looked the other way.

At one of the introductory exhibits, my son and I had just completed watching a mini-documentary on the history of Dachau describing some of the horrors of death camps. After it was over, we along with the rest of the small visiting crowd began to disperse. I'd noticed an old Jewish woman crying uncontrollably as she tried to make her way up the ramp towards the next exhibit. Touched, I ran ahead of the others to assist her up the ramp. She embraced my arm as we struggled up the steep ramp to the next display. To try and comfort her, I innocently said, “I know how you feel ma'am. My ancestors went through something similar.” Suddenly, without warning, she indignantly jerked her arm away, looked-up at me with a cold stern stare and bitterly exclamined “it was not the same !” And she marched off. Indeed, I was shocked. I did not understand her actions then, and am troubled some days when I think about it now.

Dr. Finkelstein, I am not an intellectual, but I am well travelled and read, and am blessed with a very high intuitive spirit. That is why I am writing to you. I happened upon one of your interviews, and was spelled bound as you articulated your position on Israeli policy towards the Palestinians, and the blatant manipulation by Israel of the U.S. demanding more aid/compensation based on the Holocaust, yet very little reaching its true victims. Although it was not mentioned during the interview, I have also become increasingly troubled by reports I have been reading concerning Israel’s treatment of the Falashas. Their plight receives no attention in the international press. I also do not know what has happened between Black & Jewish relations. I do know that at one time, it was very important and critical in the Civil Rights Movement, and in forcing social change.

Nonetheless, I was moved by what you were saying. Not so much for your excellent references and articulation, but more by the authenticity of your spirit, and your courage to stand up to power. I am a lways made aware that I descend from an economically and politically powerless group. But, one thing that I do know is that the power of the spirit transcends all. There is a divine uncompromising truth that belies all that transpires in the world. The spirit of genuine suffering transformed into productive action is what motivates us to look beyond race, religion and ethnic group affiliations to challenge and defy all wrong-doing no matter its source.

I just wanted you to know that I am one of the silent ones who knew a time in history when the collective suffering of our people understood that same language. And, no matter how well it is articulated and blanketed in intellectualism, nothing rings truer than experience. The late great Jazz trumpeter, Miles Davis, when asked in an interview if it was possible for whites to play the trumpet like him. His matter-of-fact respo nse was “if it ain’t in your soul, it ain’t comin out yo horn.” I translate this as a metaphor for the genuine concern and suffering that I sense in your heart. Only those who have walked the road that you and others have will truly be able to understand and genuinely articulate some of these truths.

Thank you for your strength and courage. I will continue to keep up with your work.

Peace to you,

Vivian, H.
Atlanta, GA

***

Hey Dr. Finkelstein:

Thank you for your speedy response and the links to your mother’s interviews. Paul Robeson was considered one of my grandmother’s greatest mentors as well. It was from her that I received my political education. I have also finished listening to your mother’s “Did We Learn Anything?” interview. She is fiery. Her passion reminds me of my grandparent’s who were very active in the Civil Rights Movement in Chicago. They too preferred Malcolm-X to Martin Luther King.

It is painful to hear her rightfully indict these proceeding generations in Israel, who have many advantages, yet have learned nothing. Largely, because a lot of this history has been suppressed, propagandized or denied them. But even if it has, where is their innate compassion for the horrible conditions and suffering of the Palestinians as simply human beings? It is that indifference which is frightening to me. Indifference numbs and ultimately kills the soul, and sets that stage for what happened in Nazi Germany, and other places in the world. I too am in agreement with her on not understanding why Israel does not recognize the logic (by sheer numbers) in wanting peace in the region—especially since they=2 0are in the minority? She is so right to conclude that if we do not learn from the past, we are bound to repeat this same tragedy. I think it will be even more disastrous, because of the horrendous destructive capabilties of the military industrial nuclear complex.

Nevertheless, you do have my permission to publish my letter. The only reservation that I have is the account of what happened in Dachau between me and the old Jewish woman. It lends the impression that most Jews felt and behaved as she did during this period. Not so. She was from Poland, and might not have20learned about my ancestral history in America. Actually, the reason it stood out so strongly in my experiences is because it was atypical of my experiences with Jews. I have for some reason had many encounters that were very inspiring and productive in shaping=2 0my life. I have shared some of them below. When you have the time you can read them. If you can fit one of these encounters into the letter, I would feel better, because it would add balance to the experience with the Jewish woman from Poland.

Lastly, I do travel a lot mainly to West Africa. However, I have been traveling to many states these past few years. I was just in upstate New York last year. When I make my way up there again, I hope to indeed look you up. Thank you also for letting Dershowitz have it. I never could stand him. Now I know why.

As Richard Pryor once said: “I shall leave you with this Negro Spir’chal”

So many a-weeks and days have passed
Since we met together last

Old Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest Saint upon their knees

Prayer makes the darkest cloud withdraw

Prayer climbed the ladder Jacob saw

Daniel’s wisdom may I know
Stephen’s faith and spirit sure

John’s divine communion feel
Joseph’s meek and Joshua’s zeal

There is a school on earth begun
Supported by the Holy One
0A

We soon shall lay our school-books by
And shout salvation as I fly

------------------

MORE PRODUCTIVE JEWISH ENCOUNTERS

Dr. Finkelstein, please include at lease one of the following encounters to add balance. I just do not want anyone to walk away with the impression that all Jews felt as the Jewish woman from Poland .

By the time I was 17, I was orphaned. My mother died at the tender age of 38 yrs. from a cerebral hemorrhage. I was literally alone in the world, but I’d always felt that the spirit of Mr. & Mrs. Hamburger had to be a part of my ancestral entourage who guided me through college and other opportunities that I’d gained in life. Some of my encounters just seemed too coincidental and almost surreal. Many European Jews knew more about my history than I. I was young and hadn’t quite figured-out the depth and magnitude of how my ancestral experiences were part of a much more greater historical picture of oppression and suffering borne from mans inhumanity to man. My education came gradually through minor but meaningful experiences and casual encounters. Up until I write this, I truly did not realize its importance or that I would ever share them.

-------------
In the city20of Kist (outside Wurzburg) is where I my husband and son shared a duplex with a German family. Every morning I would make my way to the local Bäckerei to buy fresh rolls. One morning there were these very old Jewish ladies standing outside the door of the Bäckerei chatting. As I proceeded to enter, one of them took her hand and gave me a good old fashioned “whap” on my butt. She then grabbed me by the waist and began to embrace me laughing. I was stunned and amused. Just as I was taught to do with my elders, I surrendered to the message behind her actions. I was thankful that at least somebody had welcomed me to W?rzburg.

------------------------------
One day, while in W? rzburg, Germany, I was walking out of a jeweler repair store, and proceeded to sit on the bench at the bus stop. I watched this old Jewish man curiously gazing at me as he passed in his vehicle. Suddenly, he parked along the side of the street. He got out of his vehicle and with deliberate speed headed in my direction. He approached me and shook my hand. He asked me “ho= w are you doing?” Shyly I respond, “I’m fine.” He looked deeply into my eyes and asked “How are they treating you?” I responded “I’m’ okay.” I was too embarrassed to tell him that I was somewhat annoyed by a pe rvious car that passed me on my way to the Jeweler, where some German kids began mocking me with monkey gestures. I had grown uncomfortably accustomed to their increasing auslander oust(!) sentiment. He smiled, and then just as quickly, his voice became firm as he cautioned “make sure they are treating you right!” “ I said okay. I will, thank you.” “Best of luck to you,” he said as he headed back to his vehicle.

One weekend I visited Österreich (Austria) with a Germa= n acquaintance from Pasau (Eastern Bavaria) who owned a small museum specializing in B altic & Mediterranean amber. We were on our way to sell some of this amber at a (then) East & West German international doctor’s convention taking place at one of the major hotels. While reroute, she had taken me to visit and stay overnight at this old Jewish couple’s home who lived in Leopoldsstadt, outside Vienna. During my stay, as the old woman began preparing us dinner, the old man was sitting in his very worn (I assumed favorite) arm chair, and began telling me about some of the history of the Jewish people living there. I only remembered him saying how they were not allowed to vote and that their properties were seized. What lingered with me, was when he told me that most of where he lived was bombed during the war, and that afterwards, many Jews returned and built their homes with their own hands, not using any machinery. He said that many of the bricks used to build his modest one story house were the same ones obtained from the ruble.

----------------------------
Dr. Finkelstein: I reviewed some of your family photos, and I must say that your mother's brother hauntingly resembles this young Jewish doctor (Dr. Astrin) I had secretly dubbed my hero. I was in the military. The racism in the military during that time was horrendous and often unbearable. I was assigned to an Ambulance Clearing Station Battalion, in which all of the Blacks were assigned the difficult, lowly outside field duties of mowing grass, washing vehicles, painting street lines, and washing the ambulances in the motor pool (garage). The white soldiers were assigned to work in the post’s only luxury hospital. It was a difficult task for me because I was somewhat asthmatic, and could not tolerate the diesel exhaust spewing from those vehicles. One day, I dec ided to work-up an asthma attack to get out of that horrible place. I was sent to the hospital where Dr. Astrin was on duty. He hated the military. He took one look at me and seemed to have seen exactly what was going on in my unit. What I didn t know at the time was that he and several other Jewish doctors were feeling the stench of discrimination, and they often dreaded coming to work. He used my case as a means to exert power over my very racist company commander. He rendered emergency treatment to me, and wrote me a medical profile ordering me not to work in the motor pool again. An administrative action unheard of during that time. When I left the hospital, I was so excited. I rushed to present the medical profile to my commander. He was furious but powerless to do anything. He had no choice but to re-assign me to work full-time in the hospital. My first day on the job was in the emergency room. Dr. Astrin was on duty. To the chagrin of the racist administration, he took me under his wings and taught me everything about emergency medicine. He even allowed me to administered local anesthesia, and taught me how to suture open wounds. Anytime there were emergencies and I was on duty, he would make sure that I was present so that I could learn. I loved that man. When he exited from the military, he held a small ceremony and burned his uniforms.



The speech you gave in May in Amsterdam is available on Google video. I got a chance to see it for the first time the other day, because I hadn't been able to connect to it from the link on your website, for some reason.

I know it sounds weird, but regardless of whether any of the speculation concerning my mother's lineage is true or not, I have always felt a strong affinity for the Jewish people - and have been convinced at various times in my life that I am actually Jewish. I have no real, hard evidence to support this, and of course, I was "raised" a Catholic and my "agnostic" father's side of the family seems to be almost entirely made up of WASPs.

I mention this in relation to your Amsterdam talk because you demonstrated once again that you are decidedly NOT an antisemite in any way, shape, or form. I've noticed repeatedly that you don't fall into the trap of "condemning Zionism," but merely insist that Israel be judged in its conduct toward the Palestinians, by the same standards that one should judge any other nation-state.

I noticed that a slight chill fell over the proceedings when you gently reprimanded a young "anti-Zionist" zealot in the crowd, and suggested that he channel his energies towards dismantling his own state. The sexy Moroccan(?) moderator who was sitting next to you on the dais, made no secret of the fact that she was displeased by your comments.

To me, the fact that you take this position reveals your rigor, subtlety, depth and fairness; as well as the nuanced nature of your thought. It's indicative of your scrupulous honesty, and frankly your greatness as a scholar and, I suspect, as a human being. (Christ! that sounds like the ultimate book jacket blurb!)

I have felt impelled recently to begin the study of Zionism in depth, although I'm not exactly certain why. But - even from what little I've read so far, it seems to me that it's just as unfair to blanketly condemn Zionism because of the crimes committed by the Israeli state, as it is to vilify everybody who calls himself a Marxist because of the atrocities committed by Stalin. As you well know, these things are not so simple. Zionism can mean different things to different people. For example, I fully intend to study Marx's "Capital" on line with David Harvey (full five-part series is on Google video) despite whatever crimes may have been justifiably attributed to the Bolsheviks.

This makes it all the more unfair when Jews, and others, label you an antisemite. From my not especially extensive study of TANAKH, it seems that part of the cultural greatness of the Jews is the fact that they incorporated into their holy writ the angry words of prophets that are far more harshly condemnatory of themselves than anything you have ever uttered (e.g Jeremiah, Amos, Isaiah).

I don't want to go overboard aggrandizing you, but I think that you do possibly, fall into this general prophetic tradition (perhaps as opposed to a Talmudic, legalistic, or pharasaic tradition; not to imply that these other traditions don't also have value in certain contexts).

You don't strike me as a "hater." But, I'm beginning to think that you and Professor Chomsky are arguably, the most extensively slandered individuals in modern history. For example, in the current issue of the New York Review of Books (the only periodical I have a subscription to), one Jonathan Freedland begins his piece about Christopher Hitchens by casually suggesting that your and Prof. Chomsky's view of 9/11 is that America "had it coming" (although he is quick to "qualify" this remark by saying you two never express this "in so many words"). The sheer volume of the unsupported vilification that is hurled in both of your directions is surely breathtaking.

I just wanted to reinforce the fact that some of us truly appreciate your honesty, fearlessness, and nuances.



Pouring water over Christopher Hitchens' head would appear to be an act of redundancy. Its plenty moist up there already.



Hi Professor, first off I have to say, come on, a movie? Weren't the books enough? Of course I'm only kidding Professor. The time I spent in your classroom listening to your lectures and talking with you in your office easily had the biggest impact on me in my formative years of college. I should have stopped and written my thank you long ago; but, every time I sat down, with Whitney Houston in the background, the memories were too much. All jokes aside Professor, as an educator, the heart and time you put into your work has been unparalleled in my experiences. The respect you gave and commanded from your students should be a model for all and I consider myself lucky to be able to call you my professor. I’m sure by now you have found your way back to your home city, a safe distance away from the wretch of DePaul students on Fullerton Ave. I am also leaving Chicago at the end of the month to start law school at Valparaiso University in Indiana. I just wanted to say hi and see how things have been for you. I hope you are doing well Professor.

With Love and Respect,

-Koop (A.k.a Mr. Koop, Koopie Koop, Your Best Student Ever)



In light of all of the attention that The Jewish Week's recent profile of you appears to be receiving, I thought it might be worthwhile to point out some of the features that, at least to me, make it a truly fascinating specimen of ad captandum reportage. Leaving aside the factual inaccuracies ("...Noam Chomsky, the outspoken critic of Israel's right to exist"; "a land he has made a career of reviling"), the hyperbolic lexical constructions ("cavorted with Israel's enemies"; "grand provocateur"), and even the subtly manipulative turns of phrase designed to seed readers' minds with certain doubts ("strongly denying that his mother was a..."; "insists" that "[he] had the best teaching record"; "refused to...publish academically respectable material"), consider this one sentence:

"His thesis sought to expose as a shoddy piece of research Joan Peters' best-selling book, "From Time Immemorial," which debunked the notion of a Palestinian population overwhelmed by Jewish immigrants in the Holy Land" (paragraph 21; emphasis mine).

Why did this sentence not read, "His thesis exposed as a shoddy piece of research Joan Peters' best-selling book, "From Time Immemorial," which sought to debunk the notion of a Palestinian population overwhelmed by Jewish immigrants in the Holy Land"?

After all, if I endeavour to eat a bagel for breakfast and succeed, but then tell my friends only that "I sought to eat a bagel this morning," couldn't they justly infer that I had perhaps failed in my attempt? More to the point, if I endeavour to debunk the existence of bagels and fail, wouldn't it be sheer disingenuousness for an observer to assert, without appending some sort of qualifier, that I in fact "debunked the notion"?

There are two possibilities: Ain has not done his research, and therefore does not know whether or not you successfully exposed Joan Peters (shoddy journalism); or he has done his research, knows full well that you did expose her, but prefers his readers to believe that you merely "sought to" with inconclusive results (shoddier journalism). Inasmuch as his assignment appears to have been to portray yours as a friendless, isolated existence born of irrational decisions, the latter seems the likelier explanation.

Yet it is all moot in the end. If, as another reader has aptly observed, we are speaking of friendless, isolated existences born of irrational decisions, there are surely better candidates for the position. Ain's article, or so it seems to me, serves only to remind knowledgeable readers of this particular irony, as well as deprive unknowledgeable ones of the pleasure of noting that irony, more's the pity.

Cheers,

Eugenia

PS. I am truly impressed that you managed not to burst out laughing at Dov Weisglass's interpretation of the phrase "living illegally". Did he actually believe that you were accusing the West Bank settlers of being alive illegally? Methinks someone's been reading too many Lewis Carroll novels. I, for one, did burst out laughing.

PPS. Irrespective of the above observations, I do hope that your situation is not as bad as all that. I finished reading A Nation on Trial and The Rise and Fall of Palestine a few days ago, both of which I thought were excellent, particularly the latter. Having now read all of your books (one of my personal projects for this summer was to do so in order to determine whence all the acrimony), I am left, if possible, even more struck by the utter reasonableness of your writing, and considerably more distressed about the woes that have befallen you. Please take care.



Dear Prof Finkelstein,

I just wanted to drop a note to say hello. Hopefully we will see you in London (Ontario) soon, we will try to get you here for a talk sometime in the fall. I hope all is well with you, and please know the quote you shared with me are words I am living by ("The artist must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I have made my choice, I had no alternative. Paul Robeson". As I venture more into research I realize more and more that our freedom of speech is twisted and tormented by the institutions we work under, but I am letting this motivate me for now, and trying to spend as much time in the field as possible.>

Best wishes,
Take care,



Subject: I ADMIRE YOU

Dear Norman

If only we had many people as humble, intelligent and righteous as you are.

The world would be in harmony.

Surely you are a great person.
Thank you for defending humanity.

ps.
I'm a 27year old Briton(of Lebanese-Emirate ethnicity) working as a junior doctor in the UK



Norm,

(1) The NYTimes reported that Senator McCain sees himself as a conservative in the mold of Theodore Roosevelt. They made no mention of Roosevelt's views and his endorsement of the liquidation of Native Americans.

(2) It is not unreasonable to conjecture that an Israeli attack on Iran would foster anti-semitic sentiments. Surely those who advocate the Israeli attack on Iran can conjecture that there would be more anti-Semitc backlash. Hence, these advocates are in fact promoting anti-Semitism, but clearly that does not matter to them. What is important to them are aggression, violence and destruction above anything else.



Dear Norman,

Regarding the South Africa comparison, Isabel Kershner's record is immaculate. In the 278 articles she has authored or co-authored for the NYT since February, 2007, the word "apartheid" does not occur, according to a search of the Proquest data base.

There's a slight smudge with "international court"--it's found once in the 278 articles, in "Israel's Top Court Orders Separation Barrier Rerouted" (Sept. 7, 2007). However, this is her only mention of the ICJ decision regarding the wall (not to mention the settlements) and her only mention of Bilin, i.e, there is no follow-up, no mention of how "Israel's influential security establishment" has flat out ignored the High Court decision and how "residents of the village...and a band of Israeli far-leftists and foreign supporters" have had to continue the "weekly demonstrations in the fields and groves along the barrier route, often ending in confrontations with Israeli forces."

Of her 278 articles, 220 contain "Palestinian" and "Israel" or "Israeli," and of those 220, 165 contain "terrorist" or "rocket" or "suicide bomber." Throwing in "holocaust" adds another two, bringing the total to 167 (all but 53).

On the other hand, of the 220 containing "Palestinian" and "Israel" or "Israeli," just 24 contain "checkpoint" and of these 24, fourteen also contain "Rice" or "Blair" or "investment" or "goods." But searching for "humiliation" or "beaten" or "birth" (as in child birth) along with "checkpoint" turns up nothing, nary a hit.

Going back to the total 278 articles and searching just on "humiliation" turns up four hits. In one of the four ("Palestinians Seek Support From Rice On Borders," May 4, 2008), Israeli raids in Jenin are humiliating the PA. In "Gaza Is Tense as It Tallies Casualties" (Jan. 2, 2008), Hamas humiliates a Fatah leader. In "Palestinian Split Deepens, With Government in Chaos" (June 15, 2007), Hamas members remember suffering humiliation at the hands of Palestinian "strongman" Muhammad Dahlan's Preventive Security > apparatus in 1996. Finally, in "Clash at U.N.-Run Gaza School Kills One and Wounds 6" (May 7, 2007), Palestinian detainees are humiliated by Israeli (Shin Bet) interrogators. That's it as far as the humiliation of the Palestinian people goes, that's it as far as the > essence of the Israeli occupation goes. I'm speechless.



In Fall 2004, I was in a doctoral class, on globalization and nation states, I raised an issue related to the Israel/Palestine conflict, midstream during which I sub-consciously blurted out “Apartheid Wall”. The professor called me on the indiscriminate use of the expression. It is today July 13th, 2008 my position does not waver, “It is an Apartheid Wall”. It does not matter if 90 % of the wall is composed of wire mesh, and the remaining 10 %, is concrete, as Dov Weisglass, the former advisor to Ariel Sharon, unsuccessfully tries to convince us. It is an insidious barrier structure, plain and simple, to segregate Israelis from Palestinians, and to encroach on the land that is legally Palestinian. Weisglass speaks as if this is a normal state of affairs until what the Palestinians behave and cease their resistance???? The Nakba has turned 60 this year, and for three quarters of my life I have been hearing about Palestinian dispossession from my parents and for the same amount of years the empty promises from the United States, as the sponsor of negotiations, to finalize a solution. Add on top of this my relatives and close friends surviving the events of the Lebanese Civil War and the 2006 Israel/Lebanon War. Which leads me to believe are we cursed that we are born of Arab ancestry?

Sometimes I actually believe that there is justice in the horizon. There are genuine expressions of humanity, as displayed in the comments of the South African delegation to the Occupied Territories (Gideon Levy’s article), but optimism soon diminishes after reading the emails responses to Levy’s article, a large majority of the Israeli posters hell bent on their government to perpetuate the Palestinians’ suffering.



Dear professor Finkelstein;

After you have finished the book you are writing now, would you consider coming back to the Netherlands to work here?

I am not in a position to offer you a position.
But I am quite sure other people can - Dries van Agt for one.
And I am also quite sure he has or will ask you to consider living in Holland for a while and teach.

I am merely asking as the mother of one of your students here at the University of Amsterdam (UVA).

I appreciate high quality education, and you can provide it - this is also my professional opinion as a teacher.

Your peaceful approach is very valuable in a time where people are really getting very concerned about Israeli influence everywhere and tempers run high, and your knowledge about the holocaust is irreplaceble.

Please continue to do what you do, professor, and do it here, in the Netherlands.

The world is bigger than America.

You run a certain risk there, and this Dershowitz is after your blood to put it mildly. A constant confrontation will only distract you from work.

I enjoyed your lecture in may at the university, just before you were kicked out of Israel, and i would like to thank you for the lecture. We can use all the good teachers we can get !

sincerely,
Carolien.



Professor Finkelstein,

I can't find the right words to thank you for your battle for justice. Neither can I express the regret I felt when reading Stewart Ain's profile of you. It sounds so gloomy and is too painful to absorb. I hope his piece doesn't reflect your reality. Your lectures and speeches (at least those available on the internet - and I watched them almost all) generally end with some optimism. So seems the thesis of your latest book on the breakdown of American Zionism - which I can't wait to read. Hopefully you will find a prominent publisher (as a freelance journalist I know that getting one's writings published is the trickiest part of the work)

Incidentally, excuse my curiosity, but I wonder what happened with your speaking engagement that was scheduled for June 28th in Ottawa? I was so delighted to see an update after a long break. But then a couple days before the 28th it was removed.

Please don't give up hope, Professor. The worst thing for me is to think how delighted your enemies must feel for the mess they caused you. It's disgusting... Why don't you consider starting a fresh part of your life outside the US if there you face rejection and isolation?

I am a Brussels-based freelance journalist (a budding one). My interests are politics and religion, and I have particular interest in investigative journalism, exposing hidden agendas, and seeking the roots of the problems facing the world. But I can't afford just doing that. You are best aware of how difficult it is nowadays to earn a life while opposing the mainstream.

It was Alan Hart (author of "Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews") who first told me about you when I interviewed him last May in England (we did a family trip to him, and he welcomed us in his home in Kent).

He also sounded a little gloomy when it came to the difficulty he faces in the distribution of his book.

When you came to Brussels last May, I must confess I didn't know who you are. Only later did I somehow get to visit your website and "discover" your interviews and speeches...and debates. I like your style and I think you deserve to do well. Hopefully your "speaking engagements" section will soon get updated.

Hopefully your situation will soon improve, but just don't give up hope!

And please let me know if I can be of any help to you.

Sincerely,



dear dr finklestein

I have seen your videos on the youtube and have read your book the holocaust industry. may i say that i am an ardent admirer of your courage, scholarship and sharp intellect.

your courage in exposing charlatans like dershowitz etc is commendable. what if you have been refused tenure at de Paul but in the hearts of your admirers, DePaul is the loser. you are indeed a great scholar with impeccable honesty and tenacious consistency.

if you are ever in the UK, it would be my honour to make your acquaintance. please email me if you so desire.

i am reminded of an anecdote from George Steiner of his memory of Sigmund Freud. he said that Freud always wanted a professorship at Cambridge and they never gave it to him. who has contributed more to the modern mind? i think Freud.

best wishes and kind regards

dr ...
psychiatrist



Subject: RE: Hero ( my first Jewish hero..!
Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2008 14:01:33 +0000

Norman,

You are one of my greatest heroes.Thanks for standing for justice despite your suffering.

Meena from Egypt



Subject: Pariah in Exile

Norman:

What a Joke! I guess they're trying to make you into living, breathing "cautionary tale." Yes.. Let that be a lesson to any of you other would-be dissident intellectuals, who might be tempted to challenge the policies of the "Promised Land." Raise your voice and YOU TOO could end up squirreled away in a bleak, sunless, rent-controlled apartment, devoid of all solace and comfort, save for a few faded, dusty photographs of dear departed relatives; shunned like a leper by all decent people.

Well, I'm sorry. I don't know you personally, but it's very hard for me to think of you as pathetic. You've got too much going for you.

And you're not in exile. You happen to come from Brooklyn. The real exiles and pariahs are the self-created ones, like that idiot Meir Kahane (For some reason I listened to a bunch of interviews and speeches by him last night on the "Internet Archive," which is kind of like the "Library of Congress" of the web. I guess I'm just fascinated by abnormal psychology).

Kahane was Brooklyn born and raised, but was nevertheless convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he would never really be home until he fully succeeded in taking up residence in a land thousands of miles away, helping to complete the dispossession of its local natives, and setting up an intolerant theocratic state.

He kept telling an uncomprehending Larry King (perhaps the most instinctively secular man alive), that the Arabs would simply have to get out, because it's his (Kahane's) land.

At that point, I couldn't take it any longer, and I hollered at my computer speakers:

"Dammit Dude!! - You're from Brooklyn!!!!"

So, who's really "in exile," when you get right down to it?

Not only that, but judging from the General Assembly votes on the Israeli occupation that take place every year, who is actually the "pariah," when it comes to the decent opinion of all humankind?

---Rich K





Dr. Finkelstein,

I know that you receive dozens of e-mails every day, and I imagine that the demands on your time must be considerable, so please accept my apologies in advance for the length of this letter. Please also do not feel obligated to reply.

Prior to reading any of your work, I had been under the impression, based on the remarks of innumerable critics and reviewers, that your writing would be very polemical. It is virtually impossible to read an article about your research without encountering this adjective, whether the source is on the left or on the right, whether they allege to be sympathetic to you or otherwise.

To date, I have read three of your books: Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Beyond Chutzpah, and The Holocaust Industry. Naturally, every time I opened the cover of one of them, I fully expected to be greeted with a polemic: something bellicose and obnoxious; something that, even if insightful, would cause me to cringe. In each case, I found instead a meticulously documented and elegantly reasoned piece of argumentation: refreshingly rigorous, observant, and not at all given to the emotive. Premises, methodology, and data were carefully lain out, and then inferences were drawn. It was all very sober.

I am frankly a little bit puzzled, and a little bit disturbed, that so many people who have read your books and pondered your conclusions apparently think of them as unusually polemical. I am not referring to the perpetually irate people whose strange screeds sometimes appear on your letters page, but rather the mainstream academics and reviewers who, in their line of work, surely encounter assertions of a far more contentious nature than those contained within your books, and who ought to be aware that scholarly exchange is rarely given to the mincing of words.

When I was a child, my mother would often remark that "It's not how a person says it, it's what they say." True enough in real life, and a fitting admonishment to your detractors, but in academic life, it appears as though it is the inverse of this statement that obtains. Even if one elects not to directly service the interests of power, one is virtually impelled to do so indirectly by privileging style over substance; to restrict one's investigations to the innocuous, the trivial, the apolitical, and always with a maximum of jargon; to keep one's head and eyes lowered, and busy oneself with cocktail parties and inane colloquia with long, long names. It is a rare and uniquely principled individual who is able to discern all of this, recognize that he has the skill to play the game and win, and still not be interested.

Though I do not know you, it seems to me that a person who refuses to succumb to the perquisites of power despite overwhelming professional cost, and whose commitment to debunking, exposing, and inspiring remains preternatural in the face of relentless defamation campaigns, must be a person of immeasurable integrity. I wrote to Noam Chomsky recently to thank him for his decades of activism, and, after clicking the send button, realized that I had neglected to include something. It is equally applicable to you, and so I will include it here: The good that a truth-teller does in a world of deceivers cannot be overestimated. Trite though it may sound, for those of us who have spent entire lifetimes being narcotized by falsehoods, logic is an instrument not only of truth, but of resistance and survival. Thank you, if for nothing else, for wielding it.

There is much more that I could say, but I do not wish to detain you unnecessarily. In closing, I hope that everything is well on your end, and that you've been able to take a bit of a break from the apparent chaos of the past couple of years. While I missed your last two talks at the University of Toronto due to some rather stupid administrative obligations (exam invigilation, both times), and while I am far too shy to offer to buy you a drink if ever you happen to be in the city (as seems to be the tradition), I promise that I will be in the audience the next time you return to lecture at our comely, albeit increasingly rightwing, campus.

In the meantime, take care and take heart.

Eugenia



Re: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/25/iran.israelandthepalestinians

********************

Understanding the perceptions of the protagonists in a dispute is crucial to any progressive approach to security issues. To explain an actor's behaviour is not to excuse it but to gain the insights we need in order to be able to prevent the worst outcomes.

Sadly, in his article on the threat of an Israeli attack on Iran, Jonathan Freedland did not take this approach ("The West Has to Tackle Iran", Guardian, 25 June 2008). Freedland should have reviewed both the Iranian and the Israeli perspectives, and critically analysed both against the known facts. Instead, he took an indulgent view of Israel's perspective and ignored the Iranian view entirely.

The threats perceived by Iran are real enough. It is bordered by two nations recently laid waste by US regime-change. It is surrounded by US bases, forces and allies. Three of its close neighbours (Pakistan, India and Israel) have US-indulged nuclear weapons capabilities outside of international jurisdiction. And US backing for Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war is very much within living memory. Moreover, the US rejected without consideration Iran's 2003 offer of a grand bargain for peace including removal of support for Hezbollah and Hamas and support for the Arab peace plan (i.e. the two-state solution accepted by the entire world bar the US and Israel).

These are several reasons for Iran to think itself in need of nuclear weapons to deter a grave and apparently implacable threat. They are reasons that have nothing to do with Islamist extremism or the wretched Ahmedinejad's denial of the holocaust. Yet this crucial context is omitted from Freedland's article. Instead, even the most preposterous of Israeli fears are taken at face value. For example, Freedland apparently takes quite seriously the idea that an Iranian regime pragmatic enough to collaborate with the US over Afghanistan and with Israel itself over Iran-Contra is also irrational enough to commit collective suicide by attacking Israel for no reason.

Is the view of Iran as a "suicide nation" not best left to maniacs like Alan Dershowitz, rather than the Guardian's leading op-ed writers?

Freedland also makes some important omissions and employs occasionally alarming forms of logic. For example, he says that the intelligence consensus that Iran has no nuclear weapons programme will be viewed with suspicion in Israel because the Yom Kippur war came as a result of Israel underestimating the Arab threat. This sounds rather like Dick Cheney's "One Percent Doctrine", which says that if there is a one percent chance that a threat exists then the US should act as though it definitely does exist. Thus evidence and rationality are dispensed with, and replaced by fantasy and innuendo. Not the best way to make judgements that could lead to the incineration of innocent Iranian men, women children. Furthermore, it ignores the fact that Egypt attacked Israel in 1973 after several diplomatic offers of peace on the basis of Israel returning stolen Egyptian territory were summarily ignored, just like Iran's peace offer to the US and Israel in 2003 was rejected without consideration.

But perhaps the most serious omission was the very idea that Israeli "fears" may be less than are claimed. It is only 5 years since the US launched a war of aggression aimed at securing strategic advantage in the Middle East under the cloak of a manufactured "threat". By now, it should be no more than routine in any serious analysis of a US-alleged "threat" for that "threat" to be examined for the possibility that it has been inflated or manufactured for political ends. Less sane elements within the Israeli and US governments have every reason to create a pretext for knocking-out a strategic rival in the region. Indeed, this is where Cheney's "One Percent Doctrine" comes in, with its obviation of the need for proof when making allegations that excuse aggressive war.

It is extraordinary that such questions can be ignored only five years after the WMD fiasco in which, lest we forget, uncritical writing in Western newspapers played a central part. Not least since, unlike the notion of Iran committing suicide, these threats exist in the real world.

Freedland's focus is all on what the West can do about the threat others pose to us. With one in five Iraqis a refugee and one in twenty-five a corpse, perhaps a more relevant question is the threat that we pose to others. A more balanced view would have been more informative for your readers and more productive in terms of promoting peace.

Yours sincerely

David Wearing
London



Dear Norm,

A good friend of mine named Anthony got to meet you recently in Holland..Utrecht methinks.... (very tall asian-looking chap). I heard you've been banned from entering Israel for the next 10 years? Well I guess you must be doing something right then.

My friend told me he had asked you whether you plan on teaching again after DePaul... to which he says you replied something along the lines of never having a job again. I hope this is not true.

We missed you at OISE in U of T a couple of months back.. I tried to get my then girlfriend to come too, but she fell very ill.

Anyway I think it's very clear, just come to U of T. They'd be only too happy to have you. And maybe finally I can take you out for a scotch.... or a juice.

Lastly, I know you must hear this all the time, but I watch the news, the playing fields replete with impostors, charlatans, crooks and venomous businessmen posing as leaders just wanting to renew their VIP privileges..... I can't tell you what it means to see you out there protecting the domain of scholarly investigation, truth and justice.

You're not just a tremendous scholar with guts and integrity, but truly an enviable example of what a human being is capable of becoming.

A lot of us feel helpless and lost, and I guess that's what a lot of influential players wish, and this only further punches up how important and crucial you really are sir.

Whatever you end up doing, I hope it brings you the fulfillment and contentment you deserve.

All the very best.

- Adam



Dear Dr. Finkelstein, I would be grateful if you deleted the email message by me which was originally posted on the H-Antisemitism site. I have had an extensive correspondence about it with the sitemaster, who in turn has consulted the overseers of H-sites, and you are definitely in violation of my copyright in this item by posting it without my permission. It is part of a moderated discussion group, and you had no right to repost it.

Whoever sent it to you was probably also in violation of copyright.

I have had a number of responses from your fruitcake supporters, which I would be happy to send on to you so you can congratulate them if you wish.

Yours Sincerely, Bill Rubinstein
wdr[at]aber.ac.uk
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:12:36 +0200
From: prsjehu[at]googlemail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Rubinstein

What a coward Mr Rubinstein seems to be. His letter on copyright is absurd. You'd have thought that he would be glad that his ideas were more widely read, even on websites critical of his, but he obviously, like so many Zionists, cannot bear the idea of others replying to his own ideas critically

Patrick R.S. Jehu

(Norman, please, like the last time, put this on your website if you want, with my name on it.)





Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I am a student at the University of Western Ontario, and have some information for you, as well as a question.

I understand that your forthcoming book deals with the breakup of American Zionism--an idea I find very credible, considering the state of Israel's human rights record and its increasing public exposure. There seems to be a lot of evidence that information regarding Israel's crimes against the Palestinians is penetrating mainstream consciousness. Last week I made an astonishing observation that you might find interesting, if you're willing to read through a bit of explanation.

There is a website you may or may not be familiar with called Digg.com. It is one of the most visited websites in the United States, and is considered to be a major piece of "virtual real estate" (it is constantly being courted for acquistion by major corporations), and a bellwether of internet culture at large. It purports to be a "democratic" news website, where stories are not selected by a team of editors, but by ordinary people who can submit them, and then vote on their importance. The stories with the most votes reach the front page of the website, where they receive the attention of millions of viewers.

In practice, of course, it's far from democratic. Twenty or so people influence 90% of the stories by gaming the system--forming networks of users who agree to vote for eachother's stories, and so forth. Still, the website enjoys massive popularity. Most of the stories that reach the front page are frivolous or entertainment related, but a fair number of them are political. The political stories, however, tend to either be typical internet crackpottery (9/11 conspiracy theories), or fail to break through the bounds of conventional political thought (Obama really WILL bring "change" and "hope"). Sadly, this seems to be more or less reflective of mainstream political consciousness in the United States.

Recently, however, something quite different has been happening. Somebody has been submitting news items regarding the Israeli occupation. There seems to be at least one or two stories a week that are anti-occupation. In the past two weeks alone the following stories have made the front page: a map of Israeli expansion in Palestinian territory, photos of the misery and sufering in Gaza, and an article detailing Israeli human rights violations. What is remarkable is not that these stories are making the front page (that only means that one of the twenty or so people who influence the website happens to be anti-occupation and feels like spreading the word...which is fortunate, I suppose) but that once they reach the front page, they receive an overwhelming amount of additional votes, as well as hundreds of comments.

All of this is happening on a website that is as popular and "mainstream" as can be found on the internet. This shows not only that knowledge of Israeli crimes is breaking into the mainstream in very significant ways, but also that people are genuinely concerned about what is happening, and are willing to listen to reason and facts. If things continue as they have been, I expect that criticism of Israeli crimes will soon become one of the established "norms" of political dialogue at Digg.com, and considering the popularity and inluence of the site, that is a very good thing.

Now onto my question: There can be no doubt that Alan Dershowitz plagiarized much of his book The Case For Israel, and that, in any case, it was largely a hoax. However, I have heard you say many times that you also believe Mr. Dershowitz did not even WRITE, the book. I have heard Noam Chomsky say similar things about Joan Peters' From Time Immemorial (he said it was "probably put together by an intelligence agency or something"). I am just curious: why exactly do you suspect that Dershowitz didn't write the book, and is this perhaps common practice in academia? Do other forces assemble books and then have them published under the names of prestigious academics? Are there any other cases in which you believe this has happened? As a phenomenon, I find it incredibly disturbing, and would be very interested in knowing what else you know about it.

Thank you so much for your time. I wish you all the best.

James.



From: aksolros[at]yahoo.com
Subject: Professor Finkelstein
To: wdr[at]aber.ac.uk
Cc: normangf[at]hotmail.com, menashe[at]mail.h-net.msu.edu
Date: Thursday, June 12, 2008, 12:18 PM

Professor Rubinstein:

I note your recent disparagement of Professor Finkelstein as well as what appears to be your commitment toward fighting anti-Semitism. Being familiar with his work, I confess I am a bit puzzled. I will try to encapsulate my views as succinctly as possible. I fear, however, that you betray prejudices that might impair your ability to see---to put it bluntly--- the obvious. Alas, hope springs eternal so indulge me if you will.

To begin, because the Palestinians are a Semitic people, should not any concern with anti-Semitism be extended toward them? Or do you believe, as appears to be the case, that some Semites are more equal than others? Since Professor Finkelstein, a man of Jewish descent, has championed their cause, should this not place him on a higher ethical standing than someone who blindly stands with his or her own group/affiliation of people? What’s more, does not concern for one’s “people” entail a desire to guide them to behave ethically whenever they depart from this path? Loyalty to an individual or group, in the noblest sense, means stewardship---and even dissent--- when the situation warrants.

Were you truly concerned with the well-being of all Semites you would do well to ensure that the Palestinians were allowed to return to the land that was stolen from them in 1967. In point of fact, this was not the first time they were robbed. In 1948, people motivated by primitive religious ideology massacred many of them and forced the rest away from their homes. I imagine this did not sit well with them.

The excuse that was given, if one may call it that, was that these people who killed and ousted the Palestinians were themselves persecuted during World War II. Indeed, their suffering was horrible. Just the same, it was not only they who suffered. It was not only they who lost their lives and their homes. In fact, the real Holocaust of World War II numbered around 60 million people. Yet, for some reason, we are told ad nauseum that The Holocaust only numbered 6 million. Are we to infer that Jewish suffering is somehow more egregious than non-Jewish suffering? I do wish you would clarify your views on this.

To my mind, any genuine desire to counteract anti-Semitism in the world would include your consideration for not only all Semites (this includes Palestinians and other Arabic peoples as well as Jews), but for all non-Semites as well. While your at it, and I do not accuse you of this at this time, you might urge others not to use the terms ”Gentile” and “Goyim” as these are offensive and racist. To wit, if one strives to eliminate racism against a group of people, one should be equally committed to eliminating it across the board, wouldn’t you agree? The basic principle, and I suspect you are straining in your attempts to grasp this, is that we treat all human life equitably.

By the way, did you really issue books entitled Men of Property: The Very Wealthy in Britain since the Industrial Revolution and The Richest of the Rich: The Wealthiest 250 People in Britain Since 1066? Your slavish and clerical devotion to cataloging hardly qualifies you to call Professor Finkelstein’s scholarship into question. Until you are willing to examine your own follies, you might wish to avoid recriminations altogether.

Sincerely,

Andrew Kole



I thought the following link might be of interest to your website. Undoubtedly, you have received the same from others. Politico.com reportedly broke the story.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/obama-camp-apologizes-to-muslim-women/

I have a particular interest in this story as the last year I have spent a great deal of time, especially with Arab and Muslim community college students for my dissertation research. I surveyed 753 Arab (Christian and Muslim) and non-Arab Muslims on issues of perceived discrimination on campus, level of social ntegration and campus connectedness, in addition to focus groups --I used a mix method design. Being of Lebanese heritage, second generation, I fit right in so it was easy for me to build rapport and to recruit participants for my survey. I spent a great deal of time in Dearborn, Michigan so I know the area well. They are good kids, and without their support I never would have been able to complete my dissertation research ---I ended up surveying 20 community colleges in Southern California and 5 community colleges in two counties in Southeastern Michigan.

I was introduced to your op/ed articles by Jehan Helou, the former director of the Tamer Institute, a non-governmental association in Ramallah, Palestine. Four years ago I evaluated Tamer Institute for a doctoral class that focused on the role of non-formal education on social change. I have been frequently visiting your site, but I am in the midst of editing my dissertation for submittal in September so have not been able to respond to many of the postings with which I have some knowledge.Given that I do not have a great deal of time to write detailed responses to former postings, I will express some of my comments in bullet point format.

1). Letter from Holland: Among the mainstream in the U.S. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is regarded as the champion of Muslim women's rights, but no mention is ever made about the "backstage players with whom she aligned herself, Theo Van Gogh and his cohort Pim Fortuyn. I find many people never take the time to read between the lines and really research who they think supports their interests. I am also familiar with the "scarf affair" (la foulard) in France. For another project I translated the French Senate hearings into English --when it came right down to it, according to L'Observateur, there were not many French North African, female high school students wearing the hijab, this was a red herring, in France it is more keenly linked to the lack of social integration and educational inequity (see Maxim Silverman)

2). One of your posters, Suleiman Beydoun (circa Feb. 2008) commented that you should consider the Syrian stranglehold on Lebanon. Being the land of my ancestors, my wish for Lebanon is to become a free and sovereign nation free of Syrian and Israeli influence.The last time that I was in Lebanon it was in 2003. The Syrian presence, their armies in villages north of Beirut were very strongly felt. I remember hiking in the mountains and Syrian soldiers watching me. This is not to say that I do not have great respect for Hezbollah's resistance, and to some degree I agree with your point. I do think why Sinora and his pro Western government rolled out the red carpet was that they thought in extending hospitality to the "imperialist lords of be" they were holding out for some dough for all the damage Israel with the military support of the U.S. caused.

By the way, are you one of the few that picked up Condaleeza Rice's egregious comment about "birthpangs of democracy". Seriously, when I heard this comment I was seething and I thought the woman must be on some mind altering "prescription" drugs, and she lost several brain cells during the process. I also remember I was watching CNN among a room full of people and comments were flying about Hezbollah perhaps blowing up the transportation boats that Americans were fleeing in to catch flights to the U.S. I promptly informed people most of these people were Lebanese expatriates and I seriously doubted Hezbollah would be harming them --a few of these Lebanese Americans en route to the States happened to be friends, it was a very tough time escaping and carting children in tow.

3). W. D. Rubinstein. He seems to be committed to scholarly rigor in both the cases of yours and Lipstadt --this is somewhat of a good sign at least he does not seem to be favoring one's tenure over another based on political biases. However, my major concerns with this guy is as follows: 1) he is so enwrapped in the "extreme left's" infiltration into the university and university presses that the concept of social justice does not even enter into his conversation. 2) He has a definite opinion about what he considers as scholarly publications --does he not know that "Verso", though specializing in "cutting edge" research is regarded as an "academic press"; 3) he must not recognize field research as having any scholarly value, particularly when Btsellem might be your one of your few resources for statistical data on human rights abuse in the Occupied Territories.

In closing my gratitude to you in helping my people and the Palestinians to have a voice in this country, and the risks, hardships, and dedication that you have endured in hopes of making this world a better place.

Best,

Diane Shammas



Hi-

Thought you'd want this for your Dershowitz Lunacy File. I know, coals to Newcastle, but here you are anyway.

In a front page story on the assassination of Robert Kennedy in The Boston Globe for June 5 ("Slaying Gave US First Taste of Mideast Terror"), the reliably inaccurate Dershowitz opines that Sirhan's act was "...the beginning of Islamic terrorism in America."

Unfortunately for the feckless Cambridge Solon, Sirhan gave a political reason for his action (Kennedy's support for Israel in the1967 war), not a religious one. Even more embarrassing for Dersh, though, is the fact that Sirhan is a Christian.

Once again, we se that the Felix Frankfurter professor's ravings bear not even an incidental relationship to reality.

Best
RM Nasser





Professor Finkelstein:

I am not sure if you remember me. We "met"on the F train a while ago. I was following you because the train was so crowded that I could not get to you. I am sorry if I caught you off guard a little although I found myself caught off guard when I saw you that day. It was really wonderful to see you again. You were my Professor at Hunter College. We were in the classroom on the ground floor of Hunter West. And I have had some very good professors throughout my stay there but you were the best. And I am using "the best" very broadly. That was a weird time in my life but your lectures and you words and the way in which you were lecturing and expressing your views and the literary deeds we were reading together were so soothing and so rapturing. You were like an anchor to me. Someone who sounded and looked very fixed. You sounded and looked very reasonable, like a real deal. I thought that I'd want to become someone like you. Not necessarily exactly like you but I wanted to have the same dynamics permeating my character and my life decisions. I could not be one of your best students but I felt like I understood what you were saying and how you were interpreting what we were reading at the time. I felt like this was it for me. I was agreeing with and fascinated by what those authors were addressing in their books and what you were saying with respect to that but at the same time I could not find a living proof of that around me. I wanted to but could not. And you were someone who seemed to believe in those concepts and ideas and practice them. You were the living proof. And even if you were/are not the real deal (I was considering), the strength and the depth of your convictions and the passion emanating from them were sufficient to "take me through", to make me question certain things that I thought were true. They were suficient to make me want to try to become the real deal myself. I am sorry if I am being too abstract but I would have to write volumes here if I wanted to be specific.

For example, Mill's concept of truth and the search for it and his evaluations of people and his advices and criticisms are just timeless and life saving.The way you translated/communicated e.g. Mill's was timeless and life-saving also. E.g Mill might have woken me up through you but he might not have woken me up if it were not for YOU.

Again Thank You so Much.

I am no longer your student and thus it might be difficult to e.g. exchange ideas or to develop some sort of a "working/learning relationship" where there could be a flow of ideas. I also have not read any of your books yet. I was suppressed for a long time and while I've had the experience in your class present in my mind throughout these years I could not bring it to the forefront and explore it further. I am just thinking that sometimes one wants to discuss certain dilemmas and there is just few people out there that think in straight terms or want to explore IT (not to offend anybody - -it's just my experience).

Sometimes I think that people want easy lives and there is no such thing as an easy life unless yor life is a lie.

Pardon me if I am being too revealing and/or dramatic/silly but I am trying to express to you what it meant to me to be in your class. It was uplifting but also dramatic. It was uplifting because I figured that I am not completely alone and that I might be on the right path (somewhere on my way to the right path might be more accurate) but it was dramatic because of the price one has to pay and effort one has to expand in order to find their truth and justice and live their life for real.

You were someone I would consider as a model of what I would want in my life before I even knew what you were representing and standing for (I still do not fully). To me..it's more than just the actual position that you're at with respect to various issues that 1/ first of all I am not entirely acquainted with 2/ might or might not agree with. It's the dynamics, it's the reality of it, it's the drive, it's the weighing, it's the search, the quest, it's the steadfastness, the pretense, the power. I have not had many models of the sort and thus You are a special memory.

If you are currently teaching or if you are giving any speeches/presentations, I'd never miss the opportunity to attend.

All the best to You,

Sincerely Yours,

Magda Rysiejko



With your words at a recent lecture where you mentioned the opinion of someone you described as 'a person whose judgement I trust' describing Obama as probably most dangerous of all, combined with his pandering to AIPAC where he went out of his way to specifically mention Jerusalem to be the undivided Israeli capital, leaves me with no illusions of things getting any better with a new administration in the White House. Not to make it lengthy, but I will keep in mind to send you any related links in the future myself. I met you recently in Olympia WA just before you left the country and went totally blank when I walked up to you thus I couldn't talk about the things I had in mind probably because of the proximity of the person who I call my moral compass. Hope to see you soon sometime again.

P.S I too was disgusted by what happened to you in Israel, but honestly I was not surprised. Though I hope some common sense can prevail there and you ban may be lifted, Ameen! I wish you all the best should you decide to take the matter up.

Best Regards,

Jawad Usman.



Subject: Mike Wallace interview.

What a wonderful piece of historic irony this video was. At the same time as a relatively probing interview that would be out of the question today in curent mainstream media in the USA, the programme is preceded, interrupted and ended with ads for Parliament cigarettes and their amazing filters, which protect the smoker from nicotine and tar. It seems now that the American media, which now recognise the dangers of tobacco and the lies of the tobacco companies concerning the dangers of their products, have decided to transfer the spirit of the Parliament cigarette ads to their representation of the conflict beween the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Many Regards,

Patrick R. Jehu



11 June 2008 email to Prof. Rubinstein, re his 8 June 2008 comments about Finkelstein

Prof. Rubinstein:

Just like the three professors at DePaul University's political science department who issued the imbecilic minority report, you evidently lack the expertise to assess the quality of Prof. Finkelstein's scholarship on Israel-Palestine. One look at your publishing record is enough to establish this fact. The confidence with which you and the likes of Professors Block, Callahan, and Mezey assume that your personal opinions trump the assessments of the leading scholars in the field is breathtaking.

I just searched for "William Rubinstein" at Amazon.com. The number one entry was your Twentieth-Century Britain . It ranked #950,867. None of your books has been published in German translation, while each and every one of Finkelstein's books has been published here with respected mainstream presses. In fact, just a moment ago the postman rang to deliver two copies of the second print-run of the German paperback edition of Beyond Chutzpah , published by Piper Verlag who also count Hannah Arendt and Joachim Fest among their distinguished authors. Shocking?

In your reply to my 9 April 2007 email you noted among other things that I had misspelled your name. So I had, and do you know why? I had never heard of you - and neither, it seems, had the editors at Verso Books: I copied "Rubenstein" from the blurbs reprinted in the 2003 paperback edition of The Holocaust Industry.

For the record: During Finkelstein's tenure battle, I asked all sorts of people for support. I did so on my own initiative and, as you can tell from my blunder of contacting you, without his knowledge. If, despite the amount of emails I sent out back then, I nonetheless immediately recognized your name on Finkelstein's website today, it's just because the reply you sent me was singularly disgusting. I chose not to reply back then in order not to waste precious campaign time. Apart from your own response, the support for Finkelstein was overwhelming. Why? Because this intellectual giant's tenure case was everything but "difficult" to decide.

If you were even remotely familiar with Finkelstein's website, you would know that, just because he posts something doesn't mean he likes it. He simply documents things that concern him. For this reason, I am copying our correspondence below.

Sincerely,
Maren Hackmann
Editor & Translator
Germany


* * * * *


11 June 2008 reply by Prof. Rubinstein:
It is regrettable that someone in your position should write such idiocy. Finkelstein had absolutely no right to post a private email to an H-group site, but that is par for the course for a supporter of Hizbollah, I suppose. Bill Rubinstein


* * * * *


11 June 2008 reply to Prof. Rubinstein by Maren Hackmann:
Finkelstein has explained why he supports Hizbollah in an interview with Future TV, Lebanon:

"I was of course happy to meet the Hizbullah people, because it is a point of view that is rarely heard in the United States. I have no problem saying that I do want to express solidarity with them, and I am not going to be a coward or a hypocrite about it. I don’t care about Hizbullah as a political organization. I don’t know much about their politics, and anyhow, it’s irrelevant. I don’t live in Lebanon. It’s a choice that the Lebanese have to make: Who they want to be their leaders, who they want to represent them. But there is a fundamental principle. People have the right to defend their country from foreign occupiers, and people have the right to defend their country from invaders who are destroying their country. That to me is a very basic, elementary and uncomplicated question. My parents went through World War II. Now, Stalin’s regime was not exactly a bed of roses. It was a ruthless and brutal regime, and many people perished. But who didn’t support the Soviet Union when they defeated the Nazis? Who didn’t support the Red Army? In all the countries of Europe which were occupied – who gets all the honors? The resistance. The Communist resistance – it was brutal, it was ruthless. The Communists were not... It wasn’t a bed of roses, but you respect them. You respect them because they resisted the foreign occupiers of their country. If I am going to honor the Communists during World War II, even though I probably would not have done very well under their regimes... If I’m going to honor them, I am going to honor the Hizbullah. They show courage, and they show discipline. I respect that."

As an historian, perhaps you'll see the point - if not now, then maybe later. In the opinion of many, Finkelstein is far ahead of his time. The way I see it, though, the others are just woefully behind while Finkelstein is right where he should be, trying to prevent more butchery and misery in the real world, with a scholar's vast knowledge and a fighter's passion.


* * * * *


Correspondence regarding Finkelstein's tenure battle:
9 April 2007 mailing to Prof. Rubinstein and others:
Dear Sirs,

Knowing as I do that you have previously expressed your respect for Norman G. Finkelstein's outstanding scholarship, please allow me to approach you, now that he is (once again) in danger of losing his job.

I have had the immense joy and privilege of working with Finkelstein, as his German translator, as well as his editor and fact-checker. Also, I have followed very closely, these past few years, the various attempts at discrediting and silencing him. Now that the Dean of DePaul University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has ruled - against overwhelming support by faculty and students - that Finkelstein does not deserve to be promoted to Associate Professor with tenure, it seems one of the most egregious campaigns against him is finally succeeding.

At FrontPageMag.com, Alan Dershowitz's sidekick Steven Plaut notes with glee that "Norman Finkelstein is a 53-year-old untenured assistant professor of political science at DePaul University, no doubt one of the oldest assistant professors in America. Before coming to DePaul...he had been fired by several schools in the New York area for being a pseudo-scholar and for his hatemongering activities. Finkelstein is regarded by the Anti-Defamation League and by the Simon Wiesenthal Center as a Holocaust denier and is similarly defined by Martin Peretz from the New Republic and by others. Finkelstein is an open fan and endorser of Holocaust denier David Irving." And on and on.

I do not have to tell you that all of this is sheer slander and that the explanation for Finkelstein's dire situation is pretty straightforward. In a chapter of Understanding Power , aptly titled "The Fate of an Honest Intellectual," Noam Chomsky recalls telling Finkelstein back in the 80s that if he went ahead exposing pseudo-scholarly bestsellers, it would mean "you're going to expose the American intellectual community as a gang of frauds, and they are not going to like it, and they're going to destroy you."

I would be most grateful if you could sign the attached letter by the "Scholars for Intellectual Freedom In Support of Dr. Norman Finkelstein." It reached me today with the request to "Please sign, forward and mail a copy to ngfeditor@yahoo.com." Of course, it would also be deeply appreciated if you could send DePaul University a personal note of support instead. I am also attaching an open letter that I myself have sent to DePaul this weekend. Just for your information.

Dean Suchar's memo detailing why he deems Finkelstein's scholarship "inconsistent with institutional values" can be found at http://english.sxu.edu/sites/kirstein/?p=680.

Some background information on the tenure case (as well as other articles you may find of interest) can be found at www.normanfinkelstein.com.

Thank you very much for your time.
Yours respectfully,
Maren Hackmann


* * * * *


9 April 2007 reply from Prof. Rubinstein:
Thanks, but regret I cannot sign, at least at present. I indeed praised Finkelstein's book The Holocaust Industry in the American journal First Things, some of which is quoted in the attachment (although my surname is misspelled). But I totally disagree with everything he has to say on Israel-Paelstine. Much more importantly, I have not seen any evidence of genuine works of scholarship in his output, with the possible exception of his attack on Joan Peters. Most academics going before a tenure committee have a number of academic monographs and articles in mainstream academic journals which demonstrate their scholarly ability. With the best will in the world, I cannot really see any of these in this case. On the other hand, many of the things which have been said about him, especially that he is a "Holocaust denier," are manifestly false and defamatory, and I am fully in agreement that "lack of collegiality"- whatever that means- as a criterion for tenure is unfair and invidious. This is a very unusual case: Finkelstein has chosen an "over-the-top" provocative style in almost everything he has written, with many ad hominem attacks, rather than a low-keyed scholarly approach. It is genuinely difficult to fairly assess his case. I would like to withhold final judgment, but at present am unable to sign. (Professor) William D. Rubinstein, Dept. of History, University of Wales-Aberystwyth, Penglais SY23 3DY, U.K.





Hello Professor Finkelstein.

This is not the most revered email that you will ever read, but I cannot help but tell you my story. If you have a spare moment, it would be nice if you read this, but if you are busy, by no means are you are obliged to read this.

I am a junior in my high school in Connecticut. I am a Muslim.

I know this is silly, but I even had a dream about you yesterday. You were in Amstradam, and I saw you. I wanted to know how you talked casually...I was so happy. However, when I went back to see you, you were no longer standing there: you had already left for a lecture.

Well, my own story starts from here:

I was pretty much sheltered from much of the world's issues after September 11th. My parents warned me not to speak out in fear that something bad might happen. The first time that I encountered the Israeli-Palestine issue was last year, in my A.P. World History class, which was composed of the top 25 sophomores in the school. I was doing fine in that class until the professor started discussing the issue. I was irritated by hearing his view on the "peace attempts" by people such as Nasr, Clinton, and others. When it came to Camp David, he said something that I will never forget.

He, a Dr., asked: "Who in this room sympathizes with the Arabs?"

I stopped my notes...I wanted to answer, but what would I say? For my whole life, I never bothered to use my laptop to search these issues. I hated my self during those 45 minutes.

The room was silent...and then one guy raised his hand. I never really liked this guy, but he smart, yet laconic. He said "I do."

"Then would you mind telling why the Palestinians refused the opportunity offered to them in Camp David?" My professor challenged.

Silence... and then, he said "I don't know." I was crushed. Why couldn't I defend my own people? I knew that no one would listen to me unless I assert my evidence with eloquence and clarity....Everyone in the room was looking at me, including my professor.

Days after, when I was reading useless things on my laptop, my brother took it from me, and said "Watch this video." I didn't feel like it, but I consented. The video was about the debate between none other than Professor Dershowitz and Professor Chomsky. I started watching it- professor Chomsky had explained why the Palestinians refused the terms of Camp David. Why did I not see this before.

Then, my brother showed me someone else. Someone who answered the question of accepting the legitimacy of the Palestinian state. He was debating with a man named Wolf Blitzer....The younger man addressed the question, and then he answered it. This man made sense. This man was not afraid to speak the truth. This man was you.

This might sound silly, but at that moment, I wished that you could appear in body and answer my A.P. professor. I wanted to know more about you. I watched more debates. One of the notable ones were the ones with Professor Dershowitz...and I noticed that he sure liked talking when you were talking. I kept hearing about your books such as the Holocaust Industry and Beyond Chutzpah.

About 20 days ago, I suddenly wondered why I hadn't read any of your books. I had to read more. I wanted to read anything you wrote. Suddenly, I left my home with one intent. I had only 30 minutes to walk to the library until it closed. Something came over me, and I forgot about getting tired. I only wanted to read your book. I entered the library, searched the catalog, and I procured Beyond Chutzpah. I couldn't believe how easy it was.

As I was walking home, I felt that I had a treasure in my bag. I kept looking back because it seemed too good to be true. I kept thinking that someone would say that I shouldn't have this book. Somehow, the book being there confirmed that the issue was real. The book confirmed that you were real. I was overcome with something that made me so happy. From then on, amidst A.P. exams, and class exams, I am only half way through the book.

I cannot believe how people like me have so many resources available to them, but they do not try to search for the truth. You made me realize that. You are the person who speaks it, and how much you support the cause when it costs you so much.... and how I wish I could attend your every lecture...how I wish that I can just be there, and hear you speak...

I am sure that many people say this to you, but I wanted to thank you. I wanted to thank you for opening my eyes to not only the truth, but also to the fact that justice should not be abstained from any people...no matter the religion, race, gender, or ethnicity.

I am grateful, that someone like you exists. I am grateful that you are here, because someone like you is too good to be true. I wish that I could help your cause. I want to help your cause. I know that everyone says this, but I mean it too. If it means anything, you have one more supporter. I do not know what a 17 year old can do, but I hope that it helps to know that there are so many people who are listening to you. People who are doing their best in school to alleviate to the extent where they can fully express themselves in such an eloquent way that people would listen to them.

I am sorry if this took up too much of your time, but I wanted to let you know that you inspired me. I cannot help but email you because I want to know if I have any link to you-because for me, you are making the world a better place.

Thank you so much. Thank you for exerting so much of yourself for a cause that you believe in-
Dear Norman,

It was an interesting letter to read. Up until college, I too was woefully ignorant of the Israel-Palestine conflict and Middle East History generally. When I went to school, history classes taught a candy-coated version of American and European history, and virtually nothing about the rest of the world. We didn't even reach the Vietnam War chapter in the history book, so as never to question America's moral monopoly. College was a huge eye-opener.

I have always harbored one disappointment though. When the ad-hoc committee called the Advocates for Students Rights Against Racism and Discrimination formed in response to a racist outburst at one of your talks at Brooklyn College, Arab students were not clamoring to be heard or speak up. Instead, they were noticeably absent. I was reminded by that with the young woman's remark, "I wished that you could appear in body and answer my A.P. professor."

No, it's not fine to be a passive cheerleader and expect someone to be your defense. In the case of the group at Brooklyn College, it was Latino women who did the right thing. They took the risks because they were sure it was the right thing to do, not because they had all the facts about a conflict in the Middle East. That was quite disheartening for me. It's not okay to have someone be in the line of fire while you stand idly on the sidelines.

Arabs and Muslims need to start speaking for themselves, know the facts, and stand up and be counted. The events of 9/11 has made that a necessity more that ever. It's so easy to throw the word terrorist around (no doubt using it to mean Arabs and Muslims) in a way they can't be done with any other racial or ethnic epithet. (A Fox anchor called Obama touching fists with his wife Michelle a "terrorist fist jab"!) For goodness sake, speak up people!

You really can't expect Norman Finkelstein or Noam Chomsky or some other Samaritan to stick up for you, or come up with real arguments and facts to respond to your AP teacher.

I am proud of my sister and students like her. When I went to see her at Columbia, I was happy to see Muslim students, some of them veiled young women, who have made it to the Ivy League. When I was at Columbia that was a rare sight. They didn't get there by standing on the sidelines.





Hi, Doctor Finkelstein. My name is Egemen Birben and I hail from Turkey. I have recently graduated from Ithaca College and plan to go to law school in the future.

Couple of months ago Deborah Lipstadt came in to I.C to talk about her litigation with David Irving. After her speech, I wondered what she thought of the Israel Palestine issue and decided to search on it on the web. Then I came across one of her quotes saying, if i remember correctly, that you were like a piece of dirt that gets stuck up a shoe and has to be cleaned eventually. I remember saying "Wow, what did this Norman Finkelstein fellow do to make her hate him so much?..." That is how I got to know you and started reading your books. I am still amazed by the fact that you might be the last person in the world to be labeled as a holocaust denier. Also, I am particularly curious of how your tenure was denied and how you have been placed on administrative leave. What was Depaul's reason for doing this? That you are a very meticulous scholar and contain loads of footnotes in your books?

What happened to the freedom of speech in this country? What happened to the respect and praise for scholarly work? Seems to me that the treatment you received so far is an indication that they only count for some..



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I attended your lecture in Toronto in May, and am writing to express my appreciation for your principled commitment to human rights and international law. Your immaculate scholarship throws the "work" of such charlatans as Alan Dershowitz into sharp and unflattering relief. (I recently read "The Case for Israel" and feel I owe Mr. Dershowitz a letter of thanks for producing such an exemplary sample of manure masquerading as scholarship.) In Islam, one of the sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad proclaims that "The highest form of jihad [translated as "struggle"] is speaking truth to the tyrant"; you have demonstrated moral and academic courage in using your voice to speak for truth, even if the tyrants turn their heads to avoid its harsh ring.

I am currently reading Pappe's "A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples," and was surprised to learn of the extent of Mizrahi marginalization in Zionist society (a form of anti-Semitism, perhaps?). Also, is it true that "Holocaust survivors [who arrived in Israel after 1948] were particularly loathed by the native Israelis, who regarded them and their whole experience as the antithesis of Zionism and its heroic struggle in Palestine"? According to Pappe, "Like the Arab Jews, these European Jews were callously put in camps that must have reminded many of them of concentration camps, even though physically there was no resemblance whatsoever. They were also put through a humiliating process of decontamination and medical treatment . . . " (pg. 178-179). The abuse of th e Holocaust as a political shield by Israel and its apologists, then, is utterly disingenous and exploitative.

On a more recent note: Israel and the US feature in the rogues' gallery opposing an international ban on cluster munitions (they are joined by Russia, China, India, and Pakistan). One must be sympathetic to Israel's conundrum, however - after all, Lebanon won't carpet bomb itself. ("Canada defends clause softening impact of cluster-bo



From: edancingman[at]bellsouth.net
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:56:52 +0000

Finkelstein,

You are an embarrasment to your identity. You do not deserve to carry a Jewish name and call yourself one of the Jewish people. The lies that you spread about Israel are feeding a renewed jew-hating culture. If the Nazis march again down Main Street. Just remember, they won't care how you have trashed your own culture and people. They will put you on the train to the concentration camp, where your choice will be to be gassed and burned, or worked to death within 6 weeks. Never forget that your parents were somehow fortunate to have survived the horrors and misery of the "selection" process. You are shameful..SHAME ON YOU....P.S. Please change your name. No longer indentify with the Jewish People, as you are the worst of traitors...

Ed Hirsch



Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:11:13 -0600
From: Methylcobalamin1[at]msn.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Thank you for your wonderful work

Hi, I'm so glad that someone who heard you speak at their university has posted some of your work on StumbleUpon. I loved your debate with Dershowitz, whom I tend to think of in terms of the Jeremy Irons movie on the woman ... I forget, I have a bit of traumatic brain injury.

I hope you are well and happy.

(I'm Polish, too, in part.) The story of your mother was so sad I had to stop reading it for a bit.

--



From: ddhauer[at]rcn.com
Subject: RE: Finkelstein
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:54:52 -0400

Mr. Finkelstein,

Your message to me came through, but the text was corrupted. I think you were saying I was clever. I agree.

Several of your anti-semitic followers have sent me e-mails. It is interesting to see how you have gained quite a following by capitalizing on your parents' background to "authenticate" your ideas. You are the one gaining from the Holocaust industry.

Best of luck trying to obtain a visa to enter Israel under the Law of Return.

Douglas Hauer



Hello Professor,

I am dismayed upon hearing of your arrest and deportation from Israel this weekend. I hope that you were not harmed physically or mentally. We are following this story as close as possible and hope for a quick release for you from the Zionist prison and their bad graces. Please continue your work, you ennoble the human race with your fight for Palestinian rights.

best wishes,



From: fmoliterno[at]nyc.rr.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: "Were It Only a Joke"
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:47:55 -0400

Still, funny as hell, and I never watch his show.

He wouldn't have dared do such a segment before the summer of '06. Operation Summer Rain woke up too many people. In fact, I'd venture to say that in an indirect way, the skit supports your thesis about a change in attitude toward Israel among American Jews.

All in all, the stupidity of the ruling class, both here and in Israel, will lead to their downfall. One good thing about the Bush administration and their incompetence is that it's become all too clear to everyone how American hegemony has oppressed much of the world. Latin America, for instance, has made a concerted effort to liberate themselves from Washington. That part of the globe is a wonderful example of how the American empire is fading. In Israel, the wonders of cluster bombs, sex scandals, and bribery have done a lot to expose extreme aggression and total corruption.

> Corruption in fact can hold a system together up to a certain point, like rotted vines holding up a rotted house. But the house must collapse eventually.

Still, a lot of work needs to be done to liberate the Palestinians, but Israeli elites almost make it look as if we can just sit back and watch them destroy themselves.

Frank



Professor,

I listened with great interest to your debate at the Hague with Alfred Pijpers. I found it remarkable that he came to the forum admitting that he knew nothing of international law (time 8:30). By what means did he expect to support his positions--- gut feel? My only objection to the use of international law in affording a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that it does not seem to address the 1948 massacre and ouster of the Palestinians from their homes in the first place.

After listening to the debaucle, however, I agree with you that there are concerted efforts to portray the conflict as more controversial than it really is. Indeed, the debate itself was proof of this point. Such actions are nothing more than gambits designed to maintain the status quo, i.e. the continued oppression of the Palestinian people. Confusion and ignorance have been and still are being used as tools to sway public opinion. It is therefore no surprise that many in the audience, genuinely looking for solutions, left disappointed when, at the end of the meeting, the image of hoplessness and irreconcilabilty were cleverly---or maybe not so cleverly---maintained by the moderator.

Even so, judging from the tone of the crowd, you were received most favorably. People are hungry for your message. They are hungry for the truth. Every effort you make to tear away at the ridiculous social taboos surrounding the discussion of Israel's history brings the world that much closer to it and, hopefully, justice for all people.

Best wishes, always,



Dear Dr. Finklestein,

I have just finished reading the second edition of The Holocaust Industry, and this has lead me to explore your web page – both to explore other publications and articles you have read, and to learn more about the negative reactions your publications have yielded.

Firstly, allow me to compliment you on a very well-written, well-notated, and well-argued thesis. I have developed the habit of reading non-fiction works on several subjects by several authors, but this was possibly the most compelling (such that I was able to finish it in a matter of two days, with sleep being the only interruption).

Secondly, I am truly disgusted (though not surprised) by the level of undeserved animosity your publication seems to have drawn. I say ‘not surprised’ as I work in the political capital of Canada (Ottawa) and have come to understand the nature of politics and what it says about the human character – specifically that in a fight between reason and emotion, emotion always wins. As such, the ad hominum attacks make sense – when viewed politically – as your research was challenging an entity (or entities) that relies on ignorance of the issues you raise.

Further, I was incredibly disturbed to read the accusations by Alan Dershowitz, concerning your mother’s activities during the holocaust. An ad hominum attack is one thing, but to pour such poison onto a family member (much less one who is deceased) is beyond sickening.

For over eight years, I have been working to ensure that Canadians have full access to the information they are entitled to, through the Access to Information Act. I have a deep concern over those who deny, destroy, or abuse information for political expedience. Due to recent changes in my office (changes in administration, yielding changes in philosophy, vis-à-vis access rights), I have made the recent decision to return to school and continue my interest in public rights by pursuing a law degree. It is my fervent hope that I never fall to such a depth of character as to become the kind of lawyer that Dershowitz appears to be.

Finally, I recently was speaking with my sister and the term ‘banality of evil’ came up in conversation. I said that World War II truly destroyed the concept of evil, in that we don’t consider anyone truly ‘evil’ unless they reach the levels of Adolph Hitler. Anything less than systematic mass murder, and an individual is merely ‘bad’. In contrast, Dante’s Inferno had several ways that a person could become ‘evil’, and the worst of these were the fraudulent. This was because it required a willing corruption of the intellect – reason being the spark of the divine in a human being. I ascribe to this view and, as such, I do not believe it to be in any ways inaccurate to describe Mr. Dershowitz’s scurrilous allegations and actions against you as anything less than ‘evil’.

But, I continued to say, if there is a banality of evil, there is also a banality of good – the small, seemingly inconsequential action that is, nonetheless, part of a larger movement towards the good in this world (such as the decision to say ‘no’ to a promotion that you find morally reprehensible, which will never be praised in any large manner, but is nonetheless important in refusing to cheapen our characters).

As such, I hope this small missive of praise and support will help you ignore your detractors and, by extension, allow you to continue your work as a disseminator of truth.

With deepest sincerity,



Hello Dear Mr Finkelstein,

I hope you are well wherever you are. I have watched, downloaded and saved the episode of the Doha Debates where you spoke for the motion that the Zionist Lobby has successfully stifled debate about Israel and her policies.

I am a medical doctor of Pakistani parentage, living with my parents in Bahrain, the Arabian Gulf. I have first hand knowledge of how religion can have a disastrous effect when it's involved in government matters and politics, after studying Medicine in Pakistan. I attended a British expatriate school in Bahrain all my life before attending medical college in Pakistan, so I have been a secularist for a long time. There is a very strong similarity between Israel and Pakistan , as both rely on religion on setting public policy.

I was wondering if it would be much better if you took a teaching position in an eminent Australian or British University. I am really dismayed at how the Zionist Lobby in the US has been very hostile to you, and trying to stifle academic debate about it's influence and policies.

I have not read any of your books yet, but will do so soon. I am just trying to study and pass the UK medical licensing exam at the moment. I passed the first exam of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and am planning to go to Australia for my surgical training.

I am actively involved with local Rotary Clubs in Bahrain, and try to raise funds for charity causes. It would be delightful to have you in Bahrain and give a sort of talk sometime to my senior Rotarians about your work and life experiences.

Thanking you for your time and look forward to hearing from you.

Regards & Best Wishes,



Dear dr. Finkelstein,

With a degree of embarrassment I listened to your recent debate at Clingendael, the Netherlands. I am a Dutch PhD student in London and as a future academic it is rather disheartening to hear distinguished professors utter such mindless drivel. Unfortunately, debates on Israel/Palestine often result in unintelligible exchanges of hostilities or reiterations of propagandic arguments - even when they are held by distinguished institutions. If "learned men" are not capable of peaceful discussion, and apparently have little respect for other people's physical well-being, it seems strange that they should so vehemently condemn organisations like Hamas. All the more so when they feel called to participate in debates on subjects they know little about - save a few oneliners from the morning papers. All in all it was frankly staggering.

I venture to say that the jab you got wasn't merely an elbow to your chest, it was a blow in the face of all the values one would hope to find in acadaemia. As was the whole debate, by the way.

Oh well... I wish you the best of luck with future endeavours,

P van H

ps. You probably don't remember this, but we have been in contact before, about a year and a half ago, just before I went to Palestine/Israel for my thesis research.



Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2008 15:09:03 -0700
From: uraman46[at]yahoo.com
Subject: It's a mistake...
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

I think that Israel shouldn't have kicked you out of the country. They should've let you in, let you visit your "palestinian" buddies, have a good time... And then... out of the blue (what do you know?!) some kind of a shootout in the Hebron area and inadvertently, unintentionaly (of course) one of the bullets gets right into the head of distinguished "pofessor" Finkelshit and blows it into small pieces. Or... another scenario - "professor" rides in a car with his buddies somewhere in Samaria or Judea, and... (well, accidents happen, that's life!) he gets into a horrible and tragic car accident... Oh no!!! Finkelshit is dead. Well, not much of a loss for humankind, nor for this world. The Israelis made a big mistake, they should've thought about those kinds of scenario. Three days later nobody would've even mention your name. Everybody's happy: you get your 15 minutes of fame, Israel and jewish people get rid of you, and the earth becomes much cleaner place without you.



Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 10:37:54 -0700
From: wxyztruth[at]yahoo.com
Subject: Gregory Rasputin
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear Dr. Finkelstein: Did you know that Gregory Rasputin lobbied to get legislation passed to protect Jews from persecution. The real story of Rasputin was that he was opposed to Russia's participation in World War I. On the same day that the archduke of Austria-Hungary was assassinated, there was an assassination attempt against Rasputin. The person who tried to assassinate Rasputin was probably a celebrity staulker type and not part of a conspiracy. It was only a coincidence it occured on the same day. Still, Rasputin wired the czar from his hospital bed urging him not to go war. I do not think that the assassination attempt changed history because I do not think that Rasputin had the power to stop Russia from going to war had he been well. But, had there been no World War I, the Nazis and Communists would not have come to power. So, Rasputin was right. As you know, when someone opposes a war, there are those who will view him as a traitor. When sick people came to Rasputin for his prayers, he sometimes got them medical appointments too. The reason Rasputin was assassinated was that he was opposed to the war. The lead assasin, Yussupov, was no paragon of virtue, he was a bisexual who cheated on his wife with other men! Sincerely yours, Robert Litoff





Dr. Finkelstein,

Not sure if you remember who I am, just to jot your memory, you taught my Individual and Society class at NYU the fall of 1996. I'm the Asian guy who aced your class by identifying the author's quotes on the final exam. I recently heard you name on NPR, and thought, "could that be him?" I googled your name, and sure enough, there's a picture of you lecturing at Suffolk University. After your class, I graduated from Stern in 98 and finished law school in 03. I'm working as a public defender in Seattle.

I like you know that I have very fond memories of you. When asked at interviews, "why I want to be a public defender," given my finance degree, I often tell the story our last day of class. I tell the story that I had this professor who made us read Marx, Locke Rousseau and Benda (who the hell is Benda?!). That on the last day of class, he drew on the black board, a peace sign and a money sign. Then he told the class, he would continue to pursue "this," pointing to the peace sign, while "you probably will go on pursuing this" pointing to the money sign. I tell the interviewers that while I can't put into words, what I learned from that class, but that class resonated with me. It felt right.

Well, man, I want you to know that I managed to stay on path of the peace sign. I'm in the trenches battling smug judges and prosecutors. After reading wikipedia, I see you are taking on Alan Dershowitz and perhaps the State of Israel. I can't say much about Israel, but you have at least one up on Dershowitz, he's no where as good looking as you!
Wish you the best in your battle for truth,

(Name withheld to protect the innocent)
Associated Counsel for the Accused



Dear Sir,

I just recently read that some people found it offensive when you mentionned the communist's (and stalin) role in defeating the nazi. Apparently they were offended because it meant that you called Isreaelis nazis, well then I was offended because it also means you are calling hezbollah communists and Nasrallah stalin. It's all a matter of point of view I guess.

kamel, London



Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 00:35:04 -0700
From: juliadansker88[at]yahoo.com
Subject: Things I'd Like To Discuss
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

How are you? I'm sorry to hear about your unjustified deportation from Israel on your way to the occupied territories. For a country which says it welcomes all Jews to their lands (not to mention a country which loves to emphasize its status as "the only democracy in the Middle East" which is supposedly governed on civil, western principles), its policies have sure shown their true colors. It amazes me, how someone so affable and peaceful could be categorized by their government as a "security threat". It's a complete injustice.

There are many things I would like to discuss with you. I am so grateful that I got the chance to meet you when you came to California State University Northridge in February of this year (I was there for the February 12th lecture). You might remember me as the young lady with the keffiyeh who stood up to the woman from the Jewish Defense League (ugh, people like that shouldn't exist, I swear). I felt very fortunate that I was able to speak with you after the lecture. Since your visit, I have continued to speak out at my university. I have to tell you, when the students at my school who were part of the Students for Israel club held their "independence day" festival on the CSUN campus, a few of my friends and I got together and protested. We stood for four hours in front of their festival with the Palestinian flag and signs to show support for the Palestinian people and all others who have been harmed by the illegal actions of the zionists. It breaks my heart that people could celebrate something so tragic, being so oblivious to the other side, and using their celebrations as a cover-up for the history of the zionists' crimes. It would have been against my ethics to watch something like that happen on my college campus and not take a stand. The amazing thing was how many people, both students and faculty, came up to us and thanked us for what we were doing. Dr. Finkelstein, it's incredible how people are starting to wake up and see things as they are concerning this conflict. I'm sure that public perception in the States will start to change very soon.

I recently watched the interview you did with Anas Altikriti on YouTube. There were several points you made during that interview which intrigued me. Probably the most powerful point you made at the very end. It is just disgusting how people have used the Holocaust as a morale tool, to build up public support for their illegal wars, as you have stated. There's a whole notion, as you know of and speak much about, that the Holocaust justified World War II; now it seems like every time this country goes to war it has to claim the war is to "liberate" the persecuted, and that anyone speaking against the war would have sided with the Nazis if this war was during that era. It's just sickening how the warmongers in this country, as well as in Israel, use such a tragedy in history to play with our emotions in order to persuade us into going along with their wars. If anything, the Holocaust should be used as an example to show the horrors of war and social > injustice, instead of a means of building support for such things. I am amazed at how you are able to see through all the propaganda and learn the truth. To do so takes courage, not to mention strong character.

There was another, lesser point I caught from your interview. You briefly mentioned the opinions of American Jews regarding the current "war on terrorism" and how many are diverting from their traditional political stances as liberal democrats. Do you believe, as a scholar of political science, that the Jewish community in the United States will soon be divided politically as other groups in this country have? I'd like to know your opinion, being a political science minor myself.

I look forward to reading your new book, and also to hearing back from you. You have proved yourself as a brilliant scholar. I wish for you only the best. Keep fighting.

Yours,

Julia Pitt

Ps. Please come back to CSUN sometime soon! I'd be very honored if I could see you again.



From: eranizak[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Hello from Israel
Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2008 08:16:04 +0000

Prof. Finkelstein.

Live here first, go to the army, lose your friends, watch your friends and your family get murderd in a bomb on the SEDER on PESACH, live in a fear all the bloody time and than criticize Israel! you call youself a Jewish? well, me Eran Izak, second generation to a Holocaust survivors, embarrassed that you are a Jewish! did you serve in the army?? do you know how moral we are? I lost too many friends that got killed because they didnt want to harm women and children, which were used to protect terrorists! and how can you say anything about the Holocaust? about murder of 6 millions pepole who were brought to their death just because they were jewish?dont say anythinge about that, you here me? what would your parents say if they hear you, ha?? I dont know if you know to speak Hebrew..and you call yourself jewish... be ashame! you will never come into this country again. this country doesnt want you. those pepole dont want you. you are not part of us. you are a stranger, more than that you are the enemy,enemy of the jewish pepole. you are not welcome here. change your last name to Alla or something like that.

Eran.
From: ddhauer[at]rcn.com
To: eranizak[at]hotmail.com
CC: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Kol Ha-Kavod
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 22:27:27 -0400 Hello Eran-

I read your comments to Finkelstein.

Kol ha-kavod on your e-mail to this maniac. You said everything just right.

By the way apparently, Finkelstein knows no Hebrew. So he is not really a scholar in his field, and we should ignore him. I don't understand how someone can assert academic credentials on Zionism or the history of the Jewish people, like Finkelstein does, without knowing Hebrew. Perhaps this is the reason Finkelstein is viewed as a fraud in any serious academic circles. He was denied tenure by a third-tier U.S. university for good reason: he lacks serious academic credentials.

I am very pleased --- as an American, Jew and citizen of the state of Israel --- that my government had the sound clarity of thinking to deny Finkelstein entry into Israel. He is a security threat to Israel and to U.S. Jews as well.

Best regards,

Douglas Hauer (Gilad)
Boston/Tel Aviv





Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 09:30:16 -0700
From: george.muenz[at]gmail.com
To: gila@acri.org.il; normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Norman Finkelstein
CC: oded@acri.org.il; mail@acri.org.il

Take a close look at his website and the letters to him. This is a person that encourages and suppports the most vicious anti-semitism. Most of the letters to him are of the variety "Thank you for saying what you do. I always knew that Jews are evil, but I couldn't say anything. Now that you, a so-called Jew says so, why it turns out I was right, Jews are evil scum"

Why should he be allowed to Israel? Let us send him a clear message "You are free to demonize us in the world, but you are not welcome here"

Naftali



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I am a 24-year-old student starting a degree in Political Science at the University of Alberta in Edmonton this coming school year. I have been researching the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for over a year now on my own time. In doing so, I have come across some of your materials (interviews, books, etc.) and have been greatly inspired by them. I want to thank you for the work that you do as you speak out for millions of people without voices.

I become increasingly sure every day that my life will be dedicated to ending the conflict in Israel-Palestine. I hope, as a result, our paths cross someday.

Yours truly,



So, Dershowitz was invited because of "the excitement he would generate."

An armadillo once wandered into the backyard of my family house. Maybe it was a muskrat. Boy, you want to talk about exciting!

Onetime I was watching "Hee-Haw" and Junior Samples britches began to fall. Exciting?! Wow!!



From: samueljamesgrove[at]hotmail.com
To: letters@guardian.co.uk
Subject: Re: Why Finkelstein was rejected (Thursday 29/5/08)
Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 20:23:28 +0000

Dear Sir/Madam

In a letter printed in The Guardian (29th May 2008) Alan Dershowitz writes that Norman Finkelstein was denied tenure on the basis of a minority report written by three members of DePaul University's political science department. It is significant that Dershowitz has chosen to omit his own role in this affair. As soon as Finkelstein's review got underway Dershowitz began lobbying against it, bombarding DePaul's faculty, administration, and law school with letters accusing Finkelstein's "purported scholarship" to amount to little more than "preposterous adhominem attack[s]".(1) Finally DePaul's administration were moved to contact Harvard stating their "distress about Professor Dershowitz' interference with the College's tenure proceedings," which "risks tainting the process."(2),(3) Dershowitz himself is no stranger to adhominem attacks, accusing Finkelstein of being a close ally of Holocaust deniers (4) (Finkelstein's parents were both Holocaust survivors), and his late mother of being a Nazi collaborator.(5) Finkelstein is not the only person to have come on the receiving end of Dershowitz's invective and slander; they include Robert Fisk (anti-semitic (6)), Noam Chomsky (an agnostic on the Holocaust (7)) and the Public Committee Against Torture (who Dershowitz claims admitted to him that Israel does not practice torture (8)).

Dershowitz closes his letter by stating his opposition to Finkelstein's deportation, on the basis of freedom of speech. If this is indeed the case, then perhaps Dershowitz might explain why he went to such great lengths to prevent Finkelstein's recent book from being published. While he is about it, he might also want to release the letters he sent to the University of California publishers and California Governor on the matter.

For the record Finkelstein's tenure was approved at the departmental and college level.(9) His work has received praise from the leading academics of his field including Raul Hilberg, the founder of Holocaust studies.(10)

Yours sincerely

Samuel Grove
London

1. http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/3247

2. http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=665#dec13

3. http://www.democracynow.org/2007/4/17/noam_chomsky_accuses_alan_dershowitz_of

4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-dershowitz/is-norman-finkelstein-in-_b_36122.html

5. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.aspx?
GUID={C431E949-9FAB-4EE3-8A4F-04ED86C4AD6F}

6. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/robert-fisk-united-states-of-israel-475811.html

7. http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/3532

8. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3774.shtml for Dershowitz allegation see http://www.lookstein.org/dershowitz.htm

9. http://www.democracynow.org/2007/4/17/noam_chomsky_accuses_alan_dershowitz_of

10. http://www.democracynow.org/2007/5/9/it_takes_an_enormous_amount_of



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

Thank you very much for posting the informative video with the All Mighty Dershowitz revealing to the world that not only do you deny the Holocaust, but so does Raul Hilberg! I would have thought just the opposite from reading his work on the Holocaust! Mr. Dershowitz makes Harvard proud, I would have never guessed on my own that Raul Hilberg's old age lead him to denying the Holocaust! Wow, looks like everybody better watch out that they don't get old, otherwise we all might start denying the Holocaust.



Esteemed Dr. Finkelstein,

I read with surprise and regret of your recent detention and banishment from Israel but was glad that Amy Goodman featured your story on "Democracy Now" this morning.

God speed the day when you can return to one secular democratic state in "the holy land" and enjoy your friends of all religious persuasions (or none)!

Your words and actions continue to shine as beacons in the fog and darkness of ignorance and injustice. May you live long and remain strong as a champion for those of who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Best wishes with all that you do, and thanks for all that you do.

Yours for worldwide peace and justice,



From: prochoice8[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Go to Court Because Your Friends Can Not Do It
Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 16:50:08 +0000

Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

this was the first time I detected a flaw in the logic of your argumentation – or at least the follow-up to it. While it was o.k. to go home first and not to delay deportation, now you should take this denial of entry to court!

You said clearly: "Israel has the right to restrict who enters its country, but the West Bank is not its country," so stand by that.

You wanted to go to Hebron, didn´t you?

Well, could you have gone from Lebanon, Jordan, Syria?

The way I could go to Switzerland from Austria, Liechtenstein, Italy or France, if the German bureaucracy should choose to stop me on the straight way? (bureaucracies may still behave like Franz Kafka described them: unintelligible and nightmarish, all right, but I think your experience was different from one inflicted by a run-away bureaucrat.)

And Gaza, if you wanted to pay a visit there:

Could you go to Gaza from Egypt without some Israeli military or secret service force stopping you?

Could you use a boat to cross the Mediterranean Sea? Or did I understand correctly that the boat campaign is civil resistance, and NOT a legal and safe way to enter Gaza?

If there is no way for a visitor to the Occupied Territories to go there without coming into contact with an Israeli bureaucrat, military, secret agent, or whatever, then this is exactly the situation International Law is about to be formed for.

And the decisions of courts (and maybe media coverage), not the hard evidence will decide this form.

Use your chance to shape International Law!

The people whose houses were bombed, even if they can file a claim somehow, it does not help them immediately.

The people who want to study or are invited to lecture somewhere: To report to some police force that the military stopped them from leaving will not bring them out of the OT.

And your friend Musa Abu-Hashhash, can he go to a court and file a claim that he has the right to be visited by you or another friend of his?

Obviously he cannot.

But you can file the claim to get in.

Court actions (not only in or after war times) have always a feeling of strangeness, uselessness or being purely theoretical to them, but the outcome shapes the way the generations afterwards think.

The next ruling of a higher court against the Israeli government provides also the next small chance to shorten the occupation - steady dropping of water will eventually make a hole in the stone, if I may translate a German proverb.

( I did love your argumentation that German anti-war-stances are the experience of our "leaders" having begun and lost two world wars - but do not forget that only publicity makes the little people´s stance count)!

It´s beginning to be difficult to get comprehensive news about the Occupied Palestinian Territory; the incidents - or more probably the information about them reaching Europe - are numerous; but none of the people affected is prominent and (even for European media) newsworthy; the media do never follow up on any incident; you are, and they will follow your actions.

I agree with you that the media live on kitsch and very little argumentation and that this fact is regrettable; but you have star quality. Trust yourself!

American media may still be silenced by the “Jewish” Lobby, inspite of its crumbling acceptance by American Jewry, European media have nearly stopped to bring pure I"D"F-propaganda, the news resemble more those about other war zones with some glimpse of a civilian point of view; (do you believe there is no connection with your relentless work?) and European media love you or hate you, and they cover news about you, so use them!!!

You can turn your case into a constant reminder to militaristic states and their politicians (possessive pronoun and plural intended) that civilian standards ARE standard – and “security considerations” for institutions a weird way of thinking.

Is that worth your time and nerves?

Yours sincerely
Rune C. Olwen



Dear Norman,

I was appalled but not surprised that you were banned from entering Israel. I couldn't help but think of the sociopathic killer who was given citizenship there in order to evade American justice.

< I posted my thoughts on my blog.

http://freedomrider.blogspot.com/2008/05/
sheinbein-yes-finkelstein-no-government.html

You may print this letter if you wish.

Peace and blessings,



Sir,

I am, on balance, a supporter of the State of Israel. I am also mortified by its recent actions.

I disagree with your ideas - but ideas they are. They are not hate speech, they are simply a different viewpoint from my own.

I have always held Israel in great esteem because I believed that it would tolerate dissent. I hope to one day do so again. Until then, for the sake of free speech and that free expression of ideas, I wish you the best and apologize for the irrational actions of Israeli officials and the people who support same.



Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 07:48:08 -0700
From: doodahman37[at]yahoo.com
Subject: Now you're getting arrested!
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear Dr. Finkelstein:

Read that they arrested you and kicked you out of Israel. Congratulations-- you must really be getting to them. It's quite an honor, in a twisted sort of way.

Sorry you can't visit your friends, but maybe this is another opportunity to show how ineffectual a state can be when it tries to stop good ideas. I'd write a letter, but I'm sure it wouldn't be treated any better than you were. Maybe a little worse, even.

Hope your journeys are safe and fruitful.

Regards,
Mike Castellaneta



Professor Finkelstein,

I was away from the 'puter for a week and only just read about these shenanigans in Israel - what boggles my mind here is that here you have a state armed to the teeth, backed up by a superpower such as the Earth has never seen, and yet, in the face of Truth or those who speak it, they tighten the grip even harder. I hope you're alright.

This reminds me of something, remember that story of the little Dutch boy who upon passing a dike on his way to school noticed a slight leak as the sea trickled in through a small hole? Knowing that he would be in trouble if he were to be late for school, the boy pocked his finger into the hole and so stemmed the flow of water. This story is told to children to teach them that if they act quickly and in time, even they with their limited strength and resources can avert disasters. The physical lesson is also taught: a small trickle of water soon becomes a stream and the stream a torrent and the torrent a flood sweeping all before it. When they kicked you out or when they try to deny persons like Jimmy Carter or Desmond Tutu from entering Gaza, it's like Israel pocked their finger in the dike. Problem is there are leaks everywhere and this dike is about to fall apart...

Cheers,



Dear Norman,

The team here at Iranian Workers' Bulletin would like to express both our sadness and solidarity in light of the recent and unjustified action taken against you by the state of Israel.

The anti-democratic establishment is, as always, trying its best to undermine and drown out the voices of honest, independent writers and critics like yourself, this recent incident is another sorry example.

We fully support your courageous commitment to 'the truth' and freedom of speech and likewise your ongoing resistance to oppression in all forms.

We would like to briefly report on this incident in our next edition of IWB and would be more than happy to publish any comments you may like to make or further details to the story you would like to add.

In solidarity,

Andeesheh, Mehrdad, Kwaan and Roja - IWB Team



Dear Mr. Finkelstein,

Today I attended your lecture at the University of Amsterdam. After you lecture ended you were engaged in several discussions and although I wanted to thank you in person, I felt that it was rude to interrupt. I failed to ask you any questions during general debate, not because I was not willing to do so, but merely because I felt that everything I needed to know had already been said, either today during your lecture or in previous instances, by means of your books, articles and interviews.

However, as I replayed your lecture in my head over and over again, going over certain details and just generally feeling content and inspired, I felt that, even though you must hear it a hundred times a day, I should let you know how much your work and your efforts mean to me.

I am still young but have already known many dark moments of cynicism, particularly concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Furthermore, being Lebanese, but growing up in Europe I feel both a deep connection and commitment to both Lebanon and the Palestinians, whom I, literally as well as figuratively speaking, consider to be my cousins ( one of my aunts married a Palestinian) as well as a healthy rage and deep-rooted embarrassment towards particularly the Dutch government's relentless pro-Israel attitude. By healthy rage I mean that I feel an intellectual desire to combat the extreme injustices and the all too obvious brainwashing that goes on in the media and academic circles.

I particularly appreciated your comments on Hezbollah, as all too often in The Netherlands the media make disparaging and flat out demeaning comments about Hezbollah, without offering a more objective perspective. They usually mention Hezbollah by adding 'terrorist organization backed by Syria and Iran', which deeply appalls me. One does not necessarily have to (actively) support their views and actions to offer an objective analysis of their strengths and appealing qualities. One needs to understand why and how they have accumulated such a vast following instead of isolating them, as has been done with Hamas. Denying them a right to exist and denying them a voice is both unjust and disrespectful as it denies the voices of many Lebanese in the process. The obsession with 'bringing democracy to the Middle East' ( or rather: forcing democracy on the Middle East) is a dangerous development, especially when democratic efforts ( which in this particular case resulted in major support for Hezbollah) are demeaningly and carelessly cast aside under the false pretense of a so-called terrorist threat and covered by a veil of an ideological sense of superiority. A quote from Edward Said's memoir "Out of Place"( which has had an enormous impact on me) comes to mind: "I began a lifelong struggle and attempt to demystify the capriciousness and hypocrisy of a power whose authority depended absolutely on its ideological self-image as a moral agent, acting in good faith and with unimpeachable intentions."

So thank you, Mr. Finkelstein, for enlightening me and many others who try to find a balance between the cynicism and idealism that to many of us have become intrinsically linked elements. Both you and Edward Said have given me comfort, hope and courage and will undoubtedly continue to do so for the rest of my life. I know that by stating the following I am merely ' trying to break down a door that is already open' as you so eloquently informed one of the students in today's lecture but I ask you never to stop writing, never to stop fighting and never to forget how your words and thoughts resonate throughout the hearts and minds of many.

If children are indeed the future then I hope that many children will at one point in their lives have the opportunity to read your work and use it to their advantage.

Today you said that you wanted to leave this world a better place than when you entered it, well, I assure you Mr. Finkelstein: if that may be the case, you will have definitely actively contributed to that.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Farah-Silvana Kanaan



From: mrdeeds8[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: you're a professor?
Date: Wed, 21 May 2008 18:48:39 +0000

What a shameful joke you are. In your heart, I believe you know you are a liar, and simply do not have the courage to come out and say, you were wrong and knew you were wrong ...you seek the limelight much the same way a psychopath killer does... out of some form of mental illness..personally, I beileve your parents must have had some part in your warped views...certainly as holocaust survivors, they shaped your personality, and not for the better. You have a lot of nerve teaching kids let alone teaching anyone.

It's a shame you never had to experience the selection line at auschwitz...only then would you have known just how real it all was...the most documented period in our history, and you and irving call it an industry...no one can help you but you...but have the courage before you die to make amends...israel is not the problem, the US is not the problem, dershowitz is not the problem. The real problem of our times are the so called "soft" muslims, the so called non radicals and the ideologues who seek to justify their own shitty existance which they always try to blame on others...and is there anything more lame than someone who blames others for his misery instead of getting up and making the world better for himself, his family, his kids..

if you wanted to really do something good for the young kids of the next generation, tell the truth. stop lying to line your pockets....it's transparent and vile.



To: mshitrit@knesset.gov.il

Sir,

As an American born and bred Jew, a former member of Hashomer Hatzair, a former member of Kibbutz Merhavya, I most strongly protest your denial of entry to Prof. Norman Finkelstein, a fine scholar and a fine agitator among a people of agitators. Norman is a person of the book. You are supposedly the people of the book.

I urge you to reverse your decision to retain at least a modicum of Jewish "status" in open debate and learning. Such a desperate act seems to show your understanding that the writing is on the wall for Israel unless momentous changes are made.

Hazak v'ematz,

Dr. Lawrence D. Hochman, Ph. D., Juris Doc
Livonia, MI



Dear Norman Finkelstein,

I met a video of you on YouTube, posted this on my community-sites and today I read on the Internet that you are not allowed to enter Israel.

In the first place I want to say, that I Love you wholeheartedly, not in a profane way, but you as divine brother of me.

We have a lot in common,

I am Farida, a lot of races are represented in me. I am some years older, was born in 1950 in Jakarta.

My parents are both mixed with many races. also Jewish far away. I am called after my Egyptian mother Farida and my Dutch side grandmother Magdalena My mother is a survivor of the Kempetai, the Japanese Gestapo, the Prisoners of War camps, Adek and Tangerang and the Concentrationcamp Tjideng.

The reaction your mother had was the same with my mother and all that you describe I can put on similar moments from here in the Netherlands. My vulnerability towards violence and hypocrisy, suppression and "sophisticated"genocides is the same like yours.

We are living here in the Cabal. Our Dutch tradition is involved in the cause of misery and I already suspected it just because the things I met during my youth and also during the rest of my life. But especially that what I noticed between my early childhood and my 30th.

the way people make commercial use of the misery of others. How many jobs are created out of it? and finally, when refugees and dissidents from other countries need our support and hospitality our country is demonic towards those who are economically not interesting enough.

With as less as much means they are allowed to stay alive, have jobs an pay tax etc, but as soon as it is a burden politically( new World Order) they are kicked out the country and children are separated from them.

I have personally met the last misery with my sister who married a refugee. Our whole family is destroyed ( the relationships etc) by this due to the lack of humanity in this country.

But as I say, I am living in the Cabal too. they are so used to this system, that they even are not aware of it. Their ethical values are total different from ours.

So II think it very good what you were writing. Unfortunately I am not able to buy your books, but because what I met personally in my life I need only your video on YouTube and some articles. In Holland I notice on internet a lot of wise people admire you.

You are for sure not alone and the Cabal ( Norman Livergood) is more and more under fire.

I also just started my own community on Ning. If you would deside to join( freedom and happiness) you can reach a lot of people here. It is (still) possible to have an own opinion and we should make use of it.

Our politics are also under influence of the New World Order. We vote massively left and we got already for the third time a right winged cabinet. I am wondering what it will be next time. We also have here the Codex Alimentarius, starting in december 2009 and it is kept out of the media since the communities on Internet it is spread just like other things.

I am member ( ethics on this topic) of the Life Science Center Lelystad. Van make use of the facilities of the building. If you want to make use of the lecture hall you are invited.

About 120 people can make use of it.

I can also use it for other lectures than what I am planning to do. info about healthy lifestyle, ingredients in foodsupplements, chemtrails, "medical" drugs etc.

I am sure you will have more contacts in the Netherlands, but a location is often difficult. This location is mine in a way. You are always wholeheartedly welcome.

Love and Light,



Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 19:46:26 -0700
From: rjbrotherhood[at]yahoo.com
Subject: From your friends in Chicago
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

So, lowlife, those terrible zionists didn't let you into Israel, huh?!.. Well, too bad.

Very soon we won't let you into Chicago area as well. When I say "we", I mean russian-jewish brotherhood of Chicago area. Watch your back, you scum! Even your buddies from Hezbollah and Hamas won't be able to protect you. When we're not too happy with someone, that "someone" usually winds up in a sewer. Actually, that's the right place for you and your kind, and that's where you belong. Asta la vista, baby! See you soon! This is not a threat... just a "friendly" warning.



From: ddhauer[at]rcn.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Good decision
Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 22:22:30 -0400

Dr. Finkelstein-

I am pleased that my government refused you entry. You should not be allowed to enter Israel. This is great news.

Douglas Hauer



Norman (if I may be so bold!),

I don't know to what extent you manage the website normanfinkelstein.com and who posts the articles, in particular the Haaretz ones with (very) short comments at the top. I've just read one here:
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=1694

I have to say I'm disturbed by the phrase "Jews, go home" at the top. For all I know there might be a perfectly intelligent message behind that phrase. The problem is how can the reader know if that's all that's written? Which Jews? The ones who wish to 'help' Israel? The ones who emigrated there? The ones who were born there?

Of course, it's infinitely miniscule compared to what the Palestinians endure daily and compared to the kind of propaganda put out by your opponents and the zionists in general. I know that. Is it a reason though? I just think such a phrase does you more harm than good.

Feel free to berate for misunderstanding the message!

sincerely,

--
Jeremy M



Hello Norman,

I just read your views in CommonDreams.org and the reaction of Israel. I agree with you wholeheartedly with your thoughts and views regarding Israel and those they oppose. The very attrocities Hitler perpetrated on the Jewish people, Israel is guilty of regarding the Palestinians...ethnic cleansing.

Thank you for standing strong in speaking truth in the face of greedy, murderous and aggressive Israeli policies. Fortunately, not all Jews believe in what Israel is doing to the Palestinians, only some of them have lost their minds... Thankfully, there are many like you who are standing up for what is right and saying what needs to be said.

Thank you for your courage, moral conscience and your truth.



I got Camp David deja vu when I read the headline to this AP article: "Palestinians reject Israeli offer to hand over 91.5% of W. Bank."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/986883.html

Can't wait to see how Israel turns this into another case of "Palestinian intransigence." Anyway, in my rage a wrote a short thing on it (nothing you don't already know, of course):

http://www.worldaffairswatch.com/2008/05/
israel-offers-915-percent-of-west-bank.html

In a Barak-like attempt to make Israel appear to be "offering" Palestinians something viable, reports have leaked that maps presented by Olmert apparently give Palestinians 91.5% of the West Bank.

The Jeruslaem Post notes, however, that Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has stated that these reports are unsubstantiated and Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that no progress has been made in talks since they begun in November.

A few things to keep in mind when reading news like this: for one, Olmert is facing a corruption scandal that may very well throw him out of office sometime in the near future. A recent poll shows that 59% of Israelis believe Olmert should resign. Moreover, Benyamin Netanyahu, who strongly opposes any "concessions" to Palestinians (or Syria for the matter), is the most popular opposition leader and most expect him to be elected PM were elections held today.

Second, regardless of offers being made, every sign on the ground shows that Israel is no closer to "giving" Palestinians a state than they were in 1991. For example, the number of check points or roadblocks have actually increased since negotiations have begun. Though since last September 103 roadblocks have been removed, 144 new closures have been put in place.

Settlement activity also continues to increase. A recent report notes that Israel has committed itself to building 600 new settlement homes in the West Bank. Indeed, less than two weeks after the Annapolis conference, Israel announced plans to build 300 new homes in the East Jerusalem settlement of Har Homa. Less than one month after the conference, Israel confirmed that it was in fact building 740 new settler homes, 500 in Har Homa and 240 in Maaleh Adumim. Earlier in April, BBC News reported that Israel was inviting tenders for construction of 100 new settlement homes in "Ariel and El Kana in the northern West Bank, despite international calls for a freeze on settlement activity." This, as Rashid Khalidi once aptly put it, is like two people negotiating over how to split a pizza while one side is eating all of it.

Even more important, however, is that this 91.5% "offer," the Jerusalem Post notes (as does Haaretz), does not include East Jerusalem which, as is well known, Israel prefers to defer talks on to a later date--making this 91.5% figure essentially a worthless gage of what is at hand.

Already, one can see how the press will present this as Palestinians being stubborn and unwilling to accept peace (a recent AP headline reads: "Palestinians Reject Israeli Offer to Hand Over 91.5% of W. Bank"), but the truth, as demonstrated by Israel's settlement activity and roadblock increases, is quite different. Before anyone comes to any conclusions, it is reasonable ask what exactly did these map proposals look like. It is easy to remember the hysterical reaction to Arafat's rejection of Ehud Barak's "offer" of similar proportions. What is not so well known is that Barak himself admitted that his proposal would split the West Bank into at least two, with settlements cutting into the West Bank "from Jerusalem through from Maale Adumim to the Jordan River." What's more, Dennis Ross admits that the Camp David proposal would only give Palestinians sovereignty over a maximum of two neighborhoods in inner East Jerusalem. But what is perhaps most revealing is Israel's former Foreign Minister and head negotiator at Camp David, Shlomo Ben-Ami, and his unequivocal statement noting that “If I were a Palestinian, I would have rejected Camp David.'' Clearly, this "generous offer" was generous only to Israel.

So before we revisit the fanatical musings about Palestinian intransigence, let's remember that despite alleged offers, Israel continues its colonization of Palestinian land and the brutal collective punishment of millions of innocent Palestinians. Gaza continues to be, as B'Tselem puts it, "one big prison" thanks to Israel's draconian blockade that Jimmy Carter has called "one of the greatest human rights crimes on Earth." The realization of a Palestinian state will not be found in empty diplomacy. If Israel wants its "proposals" to have any sort of credibility, it would be in its interests to reverse its decades-long policy of destroying Palestine.



To: president[at]depaul.edu
CC: Normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear Sir:

I have been moved to write you after reading of Dr. Finkelsteins detainment in Israel recently. I understand you are the individual responsible for caving to pressure from the Zionist apologists. All I can add is that you have disgraced your institution. So much for academic freedom. Maybe Red CHina would be a country more to your liking for you and your ilk.



Dear Mr Finkelstein

First and foremost I would like to extend my deepest apologise for your treatment at the Ben-Gurion Air port this past Friday throw Saturday.

Unfortunately you and many more people that are agents the on going political stand of the Israeli government have been paying the price of ignorance and fear that is strongly embedded in our culture.

I can go on and on about "why" but that would only be a story telling process about a culture not taking responsibility for there actions.

As part of this culture I cant help but be sympathetic to my fellow Israeli's for there fear of people such as you that are wiling to break the barriers of culture and politics in order to communicate and find mutual grounds on witch to connect even to those we perceive as our worst enemy.

Once a smart man told me "the worst enemy of a man is himself " & I strongly believe that is the case here. As a student i am daily dealing with moral cultural and political questions in the context of social development, witch in my eyes is the facade to the way a culture perceives it self.

I know that on behalf of many Israeli's we feel that what happened to you was just an example of our ongoing struggle to evolve as a society.

once more my deepest apologise hope very much to see you back in the country doing the work witch is so valued yore's fatefully



Dear mister Finkelstein,

I learned about your work and the challenges that you meet every day a couple of minutes ago. It touched my heart. I am a Dutch citizen, but I have lived in Israël from the age of 9 to 16, 1979 - 1986, in Neve Yaacov, a subburb of Jerusalem, which is a Russian - Jewish (mostly Russian, really :) ) settlement on the west-bank.

It must appeal to your sense of humour that my parents went to live there out of christian idealism, partly out of the conviction that we were living in the latter days, and that it would be good to be close the the mount of olives for The Return. my father is one of those people that thinks the purest x-tianity is that one that celebrates judaism, the sabbath, that the islam is The False Faith etc.

I grew up in a completely jewish zionist environment. Herzl dwarved Herz, to my teachers. I remember throwing rotten eggs at the 'evil' shimon peres in 1983, because all my friends and their parents believed that only shamir could save the nation

I was heavily indoctrinated with images of the shoah and the evilness of palestinians. my boys room hang full of model fighter planes of the IAF, (all purchased with help of the US,) and i was appaled at the distruction of Yamit in 1980. (A Jewish settlement in the Sinaï dessert) The images of Yamit people fighting the destruction of their homes is branded into my memory. Seeing them, for the first time I realized I was watching and was a part of history. Back then, I was sure the Israëli distruction of the town was a huge mistake.

These Yamit images today signify to me more than ever the fact that it is good to make ammends for mistakes that you make, no matter the cost. As far as I am concerned, I would be best to pack up the state of Israël and head back into the diaspora, as Phillip Roth suggests. But, since this is not going to happen, the next best thing would be for Israëlis (and indeed, any nation) to snap out of the 'we are gods special people' dream and start loving their neighbours as themselves. It would be wonderful if more people in europe and the US, and indeed all over the planet, would start to face these facts, in stead of the propaganda.

I am a great admirer of what you are trying to achieve, you face some of the toughest opposition in existence. They are very smart and very charming indeed. I wish you as much patience and endurance as you are going to need, I believe people like you are pivotal in our spiritual advancement.

Thank you, and may the life force sustain you,



Dear Norman (or Dr. Finkelstein, whichever you prefer),

I think 24 hours in a holding cell is pretty steep, myself, but I appreciate that you do indeed have nothing to hide, which makes it much less unpleasant, and in fact it seems to me that you probably baffle a lot of people (Shin Bet included) because you think in absolutely straight lines, whereas for most people, thought curves around the centers of social gravity, like light curving around mass in relativity theory.

I fear that it has become unrealistic to imagine that one can any longer pursue a pre-1967 (or pre-1973) secular humanist sort of zionism, though many of us loved that vision very much, and indeed still do. Perhaps we owe it to those unfortunate enough to live there to be frank about this. It may be that they need to escape, rather than continue to try to reform it from within.

Having said that, I admit that my own feelings would make it hard, if not impossible, to resist going there if the opportunity offered, but like you I would be detained, interrogated, and deported - and unlike you I do not even have the justification for my concern and love that would come from 'being Jewish'.

best wishes,
Rowan Berkeley
London
http://niqnaq.wordpress.com



Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 23:15:43 -0700
From: leoxdicaprio[at]yahoo.com
Subject: Message to Dr Finkelstein
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

My suggestion is you get around Israel by traveling from Egypt or Jordan to visit Gaza and West Bank, as long as you don't "step" on Israeli land (West Bank obviously pose a problem thanks to illegal settlements by Jewish extremists).

Wear a concealable bulletproof vest in case and stay out of IDF's sight. Foreign journalists and photographers were murdered by IDF in broad daylight. You might want to request Palestinian Authority or Hamas (legitimately elected government) to provide a security convoy to visit the occupied territories for humanitarian and educational purposes.

Dr Finkelstein, I have written about the subject of Zionism. I hope you enjoy reading "Eulogy before the Inevitability: The Decline and Death of Israel" written by me even if you do not agree with my assertions and even minor grammatical errors (I'm not a good copy editor).

The fact that Israel banished you on grounds of exercising your free speech criticizing Israeli policies proves beyond reasonable doubt it is not a democratic state and its "right of return" policy for Jews is hypocritically selective. It is an ethnocratic state gripped with paranoia and self-righteous delusion in asserting its influence over the Middle East and the West.

Good luck regaining the rights, as a traveler and an academic, so you can continue to assert free speech in quest for truth and justice.

Aaron H.



From: eladmarmor[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: RE: deporting from israel
Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 10:05:24 +0300

Every word is true.

When you mark inaccurate statements it seems that you are avoiding to give a counter argument.

About your passing through and not visiting Israel, I sense a resent to Israel as a state or entity by your phrasing.

The reason that the Palestinian's state is miserable (and it is) is that they never gave up the dream Of a state from the "river to the sea". nor the secular parties and not the religious.

The simple request that they will recognize the existence of the state of Israel is denied by them, Even though that the vast majority of Israelis accepted the idea of Palestinian state although it doesn't exist formally (even the "great enemy" Sharon).

Taking a stand without judging deeply (even if geographically you are "far away") the reasons for the current Palestinian Israeli suffering Seems like a prejudging of us without marking the obstacles that should be removed by both sides.

For instance: a few days ago Hammas allowed a big operation against a passage between gaza an Israel (Erez crossing).

A passage that food and supply is driven through to gaza. As for that 31 cancer sick people were not able to Get into Israel for life saving treatment.

Then you ask yourself what kind of reason set this people.

Israel is not clean.

In the years controlling Judea samaria and gaza we caused suffering and humiliation to Palestinians like Your state' and the british' and the Belgian and others, caused while controlling other people (I believe your country still doing it…)

I was young soldier in hebron when the Oslo agreement was signed at the White House.

The happiness of arabs and jews at that day was beyond something I have ever seen.

But the "great saver" Arraft did not bring an olive branch in his car but terror activists that were ment

To be used as a pressure tools against Israel in the ongoing negotiation although it was agreed that violence is not the solution.

A Palestinian state could have been established years ago.

We are not the only one to be blamed, and there is a limit to a humanitarian patience.

The vast majority of Israelis hurts the death of innocence people no matter their sex and age.

We wish for a peaceful life here and it is not that simple by just saying "end the occupation", we tried and we will keep trying.

I wish you to find friends in Israel to, and it doesn't matter that you think differently.

I believe that a visit covering Israel will show you more about us than just conquerors, and that The holocaust indeed is learned that we and others want enable horrors to come back and not as an excuse to Cause suffering to others.

Wish you the very best,

Elad Marmor



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I enjoyed your event at the University of Ottawa and your lucid and succinct presentation on very complex topics. I wish you success in you writing career.

Kamal Dib
Canada



Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 15:44:39 -0700
From: borisyk[at]yahoo.com
Subject: yours dirty hand out from Israel
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Hi, I am Russian Jew and I am trying to express my self. I came to USA 20 years ago from Russia with my family and we have pretty large community of Russian Jews here in USA and I believe my opinion will be supported by many of us. I don't understand how people became like your .Actually you have in your life everything that your can even dream. You are professor your probably have enough money , Friends and your personal and social life probably is very good. But how your identify yourself what you are thinking about you self, what are your roots and tradition ... And I am just thinking if you satisfy in your life but why You so ignorant and not fare. Suppose Israel is aggressor but why Your "friends" like Palestinians ,terrorists from Ha mas and Hezbollah why they so obnoxious - bunch of killers and racists. Even we ill talk about Israel occupation- why after Israel completely withdrew from Gaza - for them still not enough. Every day they try to kill as more Jews that thy can and they don't care if it will be children, women, Senior citizens...Why "bad "part : Israel trying to defend every soldier and going to compromise a lot but just some living space to exist is going for each chance to make peace with these murders. And I agree with Eran You are not Jew (even your have this last name) you are our enemy like Iranian president, like Hezbollah ,Ha mas, etc. But we will win , don't worry .

Thanks , Boris.



From: igeezy[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: The shameful reception in Israel.
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 17:22:13 +0000

Hello professor,

I have just found out about the shameful treatment you received upon your arrival in Ben-Gurion airport. I wish I had known about your planned arrival in advance because something could've been done to prevent such an unfortunate outcome. I remember e-mailing professor Chomsky some time ago asking whether either of you were planning to visit Israel but back then he informed me that neither of you had any current plans of visiting.

This event at Ben Gurion airport proves once again that not only does the Israeli government want to violate international law but that it also doesn't like to hear about it or have other Israelis hear about it. I can assure you that I'm going to do everything in my power to inform people about the facts of the matter, already misrepresented by the media. I believe that despite the prevailing ideological climate here in Israel people can be reasonable.

Yigal.



Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 11:34:17 -0700
From: shelidov[at]yahoo.com
Subject: israeli
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

How do you call a jew who hates jewish people? Some jews think, that if they speak against jews, than goim will like them. Wrong. Shame on you.



From: kenguru69[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Very good
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 19:43:45 +0000

Heared about your deportation from Israel and i salute Israel for that You are disgrace for this world and everyone needs to ban you all over convert to islam now!!!



From: Designnut777@aol.com
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 15:48:43 -0400
Subject: Just Desserts! Hug Hezbollah, why do you think Israel would let you in.
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Stupid they are not. You are a threat. You pose a danger of incitment and hatred in the State, and should be considered an enemy of the state. I am proud that Israel read all the articles, the emails, saw the photos, and realized the depth of your hatred of the security of the Jewish People and State. Bravo to the Mossad, the Jews and the people of Israel. And, when did you become a Doctor?



From: vine56[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: A Professor?
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 20:00:28 +0000

Mr Profesor,

An academic person should be objective. You are taking sides- this is not what the academy is about. You go visit a terror group- are you understanding what you are doing?

Israel finally returned its honor, by letting you go back to the place you came from. Now, i hope you starting to understand that Israel is the home, the only home, of the Jewish people. How do you feel now- when the home of the Jews didnt let you in? do you feel what our b rothers in Shoa felt???

I hope you start changing your ways and start respect the memorey of the Shoa and its victims. Israel has the right to do anything in order to give a home to unwanted jewish people- we have no otherplace on earth. Reminder- the arabs have more than 25 contries, so they can do alot more.

A good Jewish boy, Los Angeles



Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 13:11:00 -0700
From: kfir_ankry[at]yahoo.com
Subject: 6 milion jews didnt die for nothing,leave us to fight our wars,dont disturb us
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

MR finkelstein

6 milion jews didnt die for nothing,leave us to fight our wars,dont disturb us , your efforts are helping our time nazism - the SHIO_FACISM as a desendent to a survivors of the 30`s and 40`s its easy for me to recognize the 21`st century fascism IRAN and their occupation organization in lebanon and GAZA it would be smarter to fight the new fachism then to support it for reasons gods know why until i will not be welcomed as a tourist in the facist counries there is no reason for you to serve their propoganda machine in the 30`s GEBELS would like you a lot but nontheless he would join you to the rest as our time fachist would do

kfir



Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 23:10:34 +0300
From: maa1[at]internet-zahav.net
Subject: your aborted trip to Israel
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

I just read in the Israeli press regarding your refused entry to Israel. Before then I had never heard of you and consequently took a look at your website. I have no problem that you may object to Israeli policies. As an Israeli so have inmy lifetime. I have actively opposed my own governments policy often utilizing the power of protest and democratic election. But for some silly reason your website really angered me . You are either extraordinarily naive regarding the Middle East and Muslim Fundamentalism , or just another Jew with a chip on his shoulder. I really dont know and basically do not care because fundamentally you are irrelevant. But I am sorry that you were refused entry because you will most likely become even more popular in the Arab world as a result of it and most likely make money on this refused entry as does Israel in your view take "advantage of the holocaust",and as such it, was illadvised by Israel's security services. You are one of those token Jews Israel's enemies nurture and your propaganda value to them is immense so I am sure you will find a warm welcome with them if not with us. I assume that you will be a very happy man when the Hizballa takes complete control of lebanon, drives every Christian out and becomes a powerful proxy for Iran's search for hegomony in the Middle East. Tom atkinson Givat Chen Israel



From: eladmarmor[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: deporting from israel
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 23:16:18 +0300

Hello Mr Finkelstein,

I was very upset to here that you were deported on arrival to Israel.

As a Israeli patriot I'm proud that in Israel religious jews and arab citizens are allowed to express

Their extremist opinions against the state of Israel and for the freedom of speech they are not arrested

Even when they meet the worst enemies of Israel like Achmadinijad.

I believe that as a jew and a human being you have a full right to protest against injustice were you fill.

But by reading one of your answers to a Hisbulla reporter you called any resistance to an invader as just one,

Even if it is done by vicious forces or regimes. By far I agree. But in the long run it was proved by

Hisbulla that Israel intentions by invading Lebanon to remove the threat on israely territories

Made by terrorist groups/Palestinian organizations were right.

Their declarations are of eliminating Israel and the Zionist entity in every piece of land in the historical land of Israel.

They attacked Israel twice after the retry of the last from Lebanese lands.

It seems that for the philosophical principle that you have argued, you are ignoring the vast picture

Of the arab Israeli conflict.

The Palestinian entity was born only after the Zionist movement birth.

The need for a state were jews can live freely (and hopefully speak freely…) is unbeatable.

All over the globe a jewish state would have established on the expense of another people.

The most relevant place is their historical home land.

Un resolution 29.11.1947 gave the two people living here the right to establish a state and demanded

That first they will declare a pre government that will handle the future state. The Palestinian leaders refused

To accept the resolution, and did not established a government by the foresight that jewish state will not be established.

Since then the refusal to accept the existence of the state of Israel is the main milestone in the Palestinian disaster.

For example almost 4 years ago we left the Gasa strip living behind a progressive agriculture infrastructure.

Instead of making it the "middle east Hong Kong" their elected government decided to make it as the

Front base to the freeing the rest of "Palestine" . and the tragedy of the Palestinian goes on.

I could debate with you on every historical crossing that you suggest,

And it won't matter that accidently we kill babies women and men that are not involved in

Ongoing trying of eliminating the state of Israel, which is my home and your true home to.

To remind you in your country there are groups that holds the ideas of the mad Austrian painter and

When time comes your American citizenship won't be acknowledged by them.

I believe that your critic or any critic helps us become better place,

But it suffers from a lack of overall system criticism.

I believe that you should learn the all story, from all views (even if don’t live here),

Then you might even learn about Arab states intentions not to give the Palestinian state become true (Golda Abdulla talks 1947-48).

I wish you (next time) a pleasant visit to your historical homeland and peace to all of us.



Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 15:27:27 -0700
From: astark@graphicadvance.com
Subject: i don't understand
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

mr. norman finkelstein,

i started reading about you by accident on one of the israeli online newspapers and on the denial you received from entering israel. this got me reading on why in the hell would you be thrown out (as a jew) and banned from 10 years of entrance. so i started reading about you, and on your website, and to tell you the truth i am quite shocked.

both your parents are holocaust survivors, as were all 4 of my grandparents. my parents are children of holocaust survivors and this was embeded in me as part of my history and heritage as a jew. now i ask myself, why do you, as a jew, hate jews so much? i don't necessarily agree with everything israel does, did or will do. i am not crazy about a lot of the politics and so forth, but there's a big difference between disagreeing and debating than the true allowance of a people to exist.

not everybody was lucky like your parents and many jews stayed in eastern europe after the war (as my grandparents), whom after th war suffered more abuse from antisemitic communist polaks, and when they chose to immigrate to israel everything was taken from them by the communist government.

as far as they were concerned, as jews, this was almost their only option. this is where they would feel protected, just by being surrounded by their own kind.

i think that part of your problem is that you don't feel what it is to be a jew and if you did you would voice a different opinion. i could never understand jews who were antisemitic. what is it that makes you hate your own people? bobby fischer (the chess player) had the same problem. it makes it worse since you're an educated man.

i don't blame israel for not letting you in. i wouldn't want someone who hates me coming into my house, and thus israel had the right to reject you. i don't understand how after everything your parents have been through, you could go ahead and voice the opinion which you voice? if you don't like jews so much, and you seem to love arabs and muslims, why don't you convert? get it over with and convert...

it hurts me as a human being, as a jew, as an israeli to listen and read about an educated man hate his own kind. in some sense i guess you're an educated cannibal.

i further don't understand your meetings with hezbollah (please check the spelling in your writings). and since you obviously admit to not knowing their politics, how dare you voice your opinion regarding this matter. if israel is so terrible and hezbollah is so great why did they go ahead and kill 200 marines? why did they bomb 2 embassies? why do they keep lebanon in turmoil. here you are lecturing israel on being racist while hezbollah is doing worse. ask sunis, chrstians and druz arabs in lebanon how hezbollah (backed by shia iran) is treating them as lebanese, as muslims, as arabs.

you criticize people for not being well read and educated is various matters but it seems as though you are blinded by your own racial opinions and are basing them on pure feeling and not fact. like i said earlier, israel has a lot fix and learn, but then again it's only 60 years old, and compared with its neighbors who were created around the same time as independent countries, israel is doing a lot better than them.

if arabs are so great and muslims are so wonderful, how come they don't share their wealth of the black gold with each other, how come sunis and shias hate one another worse than they hate jews? how come israel is the only true democracy is a region filled with so called kingdoms and dictatorships, where voicing your opinion will get you hung in the city square for other to fear the same consequence. a place where women have no rights, where people have their arms chopped for stealing, where homosexuals are being killed for their sexual orientations.

your criticism of israel is also spitting in democracies face as you, as an american have the right to be here, you have the right to voice your opinion, and i don't criticize that at all. i just don't understand how a so called educated man stands against his own kind and next to humanities enemies with pride and joy while having to serve no justice for his racist and antisemitic idealisms.

so i, as israel, would not let you in. i would if i could ban you from entering any sort of democracy and have you live with your own people's haters and share their hopes and dreams, since you are so blinded by your pure hate for your own kind and enjoy playing devil's advocate with the devil himself...

one thing i have learned in life though, and that is that life ends up biting you in the ass if you keep on spitting in its face and so goes the saying of what goes around comes around...

yours truly,

aviad



From: wfenio[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Israel
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 08:15:29 +0000

Dr. Finkelstein,

As an admirer of your scholarship and the principles that you consistently adhere to in your actions, I just wanted to express my outrage at the shameful conduct of the Israeli authorities for barring you access to the country to see your friend. It seems that the integrity of your work is being affirmed by eliciting such an overtly vindictive reaction. What twisted times we live in when someone calling for a just and equitible peace agreement is deemed a "security threat".

Anyway, after reading through some of the other letters that you have received expressing hostility and hatred towards you, I felt the need to send you a letter of support. It's to me amazing how consistently irrational your detractors are. It is truly mind blowing. It doesn't matter if it's an academic like dershowitz that claims that you are a self-hating Jew, or just a lay person spewing hatred. Its all without substance...just hurling epithets without dealing seriously with the facts or reasoning behind your analysis. I think that fact is also an indirect acknowledgement of the veracity of your positions.

Anyway, I have exposed some of my friends to your work as well and it has given them a clearer picture of the Palestinian situation too. We just want to thank you for standing up for such an ethical cause and shedding light so that other people can do the same. And doing so in the face of constant inconvenience, animosity, stiffling sabotage, and general negativity. While it pales in comparison to the suffering of the Palestinians under occupation, it is still quite a sacrifice and a burden. Anyway, your supporters are many and we're with you all the way. Take Care.

Sincerely,
Will Fenio



Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 18:36:11 -0700
From: run1500[at]yahoo.com
Subject: Israel blocks US professor from entering country
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

They should have sent you to your friends in Hizbollah.

Long Live Israel despite scum like you and your kind



Dear Norman:

So now you are an enemy of the State of Israel and not simply a critic. You have been banned for ten years from setting foot in the only Jewish state in the world where by law you have the right to Israeli Citizenship. Will this unwanted tenure silence you from telling the truth? No. You have been a firsthand witness too many times. You have already written voluminous pages documenting the excesses and the lies employed by Israel and its supporters. No. In your case it goes beyond mere censorship. You are now being made an example. By arresting and deporting you, Israel has shown its teeth to all Jews who question its policies. Their message is clear. Israel is only home to those Jews who accept Palestinian apartheid and the methods of operation it employs to enforce it. Those methods include beatings, torture and killings. I am sure that while in custody in Tel Aviv, you experienced firsthand the Eretz-Yisrael-brutality continuum. It was to teach you that not only does Israel have the power to determine what brutality element it will employ, it will not be restricted to non-Jews. Jews who do not adopt a siege mentality have no right to return to Israel. The irony is that those Israelis who order and carry out State brutality do not see themselves as victims at all because very few criminals do.

The millions who have read or listened to you express your beliefs about Israel ask only one thing right now. Take heart Norman. You have every right to criticize Israel and those who govern and support it. When Israel expelled you for ten years it turned the reason for its existence on its head. Israel is not a place for all Jews. Be thankful that Israel’s rejection of you is in reality its reaffirmation of the Diaspora. Zionism has never spoken for all Jews, especially those who have the integrity to question the reasons behind the Eretz-Yisrael-brutality continuum. Palestinian apartheid and perpetual war is not a recipe for peace in the Middle East. The gangsters who promote these policies know that. The rest of the world does too. Welcome home Norman.

Your friend,

Barclay



Dear Dr Finkelstein,

I must state that I am very far removed from your political views of Israel and Palestine. Still, I write to you to express my dismay at your treatment at the hand of the Israeli Shabak. There is no justification for not allowing a bona-fide, academic entry into any country and to do so in your case is a bad mistake. This is an example of the short sightedness of those in charge of Israel's security.

Our punishment and your revenge will be the publicity you receive for this, for example I had not heard of you before reading this morning's paper!

Please, please do not give up. The outcry this has caused over one weekend should be enough to change the stupid minds of those who made this bad decision. I look forward to hearing that you have once again visited our country.

Saul Davis
http://benqish.blogspot.com



Dear Prof. Finkelstein,

I want to pay my respect to your uphill-battle. The latest occurrencies (your arrest in and deportation from Israel) prompted me to select your homepage and from there see the interview in Lebanon from January 20, which I enjoyed much. However, the google video has been orwellized in the Zionist censorship of their contents.

As a Dane, I want to add a comment to your remark of the resistance-movements under the Nazi occupation. In Denmark, these were practically unknown until 1943, and the population then sharply condemned these "criminals" (today you would call them terrorists) - until towards the end of 1944, where the defeat of Nazi-Germany was inevitable. By the Danish liberation, scores of 'last-days-saints' were then performing lynch justice at random, occasionally also hitting real Nazi staff. With my best regards

John Schou, M.D.
www.schou.de



Dear Mr Finkelstein,

last Wednesday evening I had the pleasure of listening to your speech on Palestine. (As it was the Wednesday evening, you were in Rotterdam, The Netherlands) I am a sinologist, specialised in Chinese politics.

Unfortunately, I was unable to put my question to you, so I will now send it to you by e-mail:

Why does everyone insist on using the term "occupation" to characterise the situation on the West Bank and Gaza?

Let me explain myself: occupation means you are on land that is not yours and that in the end you intend to give it back. This is also the main assumption behind the term "peace process": in the end Israel will have to admit that it has to "vacate the premises" in order to make room for a Palestinian state.

In my opinion, the Israeli's aren't occupying the West Bank, but colonising it and edge the Palestinians out. (Moledet is only a more honest version of mainstream politics) They have tried to do the same in Gaza, have been kicked out and are now laying siege to it. So colonisation and siege as fitting qualifications are more to the point, don't you agree? The fact of the matter is that if you adopt this perspective, you also change people's expectations. It also fits in better with what has actually been happening: Israel has kept everybody talking in order to gain time and create Zionis fait accompli: all of Eretz Israel from the coast to the Jordan river.

This means that time is running out for the Palestinians.

As Chen Yun said, look not at what people say, but at what they do.
As a former Maoist, I am sure, you know who comrade Chen was...

Best wishes,
Geor Hintzen



Hi Norman,

I hear of the latest "visit" you made to the not so holy land. If there is anything we can do on our part, as activists and supporters in israel&opt - please let me know. I am also familiar with the different attorneys dealing with your case while you were detained at the airport and we could cooperate if needed.

Hope you are well and that you may arrive at israel&opt in the near future.

All the best,
Ronnie



From: paul_cohn[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject:
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 11:07:58 +0000

Well,Norman, with "friends" like You-who needs enemies?

I am happy that my government finally got the guts to chuck You out of my country!

You are enemy of Jewish people and state ,a traitor,and as such there is no place for You in the Land of Israel.Your presence would only pollute and poison the Holy Land and we are friends of the nature protection,Norman!

It won't harm You to start writing truth instead lies,Norman Nasrallah....

How about telling the truth-that there is and never WAS such thing as "Palestinians" in the whole history of mankind?Or did You never study any history at all,an educated person as You pretend to be?

Surely You must know that Arabs came to the Land of Israel as land-robbers in the 7th century CE?That in all the Land of Israel they founded only ONE settlement-Ramleh?And settled in the existing ancient Israelite settlements ,more than 2000 years old already?

I know, I know-people like You are not deterred by truth....You will continue to spill Your Nazi venom around the globe,You'd be a perfect kapo in Auschwitz.

Your being expelled from Israel is a blessing for the world and a happy end for Israel.Amen.



Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 22:37:35 -0700
From: smaugonzales[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Hey

I feel so sorry for you self hating Jew. You don't even deserve any attention but i just wanted to say it anyway. I really feel sorry for your parents, and family

yuk



Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 09:51:11 +0300
From: estherfisher[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: A Prayer for Norman Finkelstein

Every night before I go to sleep I pray for you Prof.

Every night before i go to sleep I pray that when I wake up things will be different.

Every night before I go to sleep I pray that Israel will change the way they treat you.

Every night before I go to sleep I pray that the next morning I'll hear the news I pray to for so long.

Everyone - please join me in this Prayer:

MAY THE MOSAD HAVE THE POWER TO TAKE Prof. Norman Finkelstein to a different world and make ours a better place to live in. then may we have the power to piss on your grave. AMEN!



From: eranizak[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Hello from Israel.
Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 20:22:53 +0000

Prof. Finkelstein.

Live here first, go to the army, lose your friends, watch your friends and your family get murderd in a bomb on the SEDER on PESACH, live in a fear all the bloody time and than criticize Israel! you call youself a Jewish? well, me Eran Izak, second generation to a Holocaust survivors, embarrassed that you are a Jewish! did you serve in the army?? do you know how moral we are? I lost too many friends that got killed because they didnt want to harm women and children, which were used to protect terrorists! and how can you say anything about the Holocaust? about murder of 6 millions pepole who were brought to their death just because they were jewish?dont say anythinge about that, you here me? what would your parents say if they hear you, ha?? I dont know if you know to speak Hebrew..and you call yourself jewish... be ashame! you will never come into this country again. this country doesnt want you. those pepole dont want you. you are not part of us. you are a stranger, more than that you are the enemy,enemy of the jewish pepole. you are not welcome here. change your last name to Alla or something like that.

Eran.



From: yosder[at]optusnet.com.au
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Your Visit to Israel
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 06:35:27 +1000

Dear Professor

I was so sorry to hear that those nasty Israelis had the temerity to not allow you to enter that miserable country that you so abhor.Actually why were you visiting?Let me guess to tell them how to run their lives because you are the fountain of knowledge and the self appointed guardian of the poor Arabs who are so misunderstood.All they want is peace and no Jews in that part of the world.

No one appointed you the deputy sherrif of the Jewish world so you crawl away and live in Lebanon with your Hezbollah familyThey are really model citizens of the world

Warmest

Yosi

P.s isn’t wonderful to feel so loved by your own people.It must warm the cockles of your “Heart”



Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 23:55:52 -0400
From: xrays[at]sympatico.ca
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: good work Israel

Finally they do something right. You should be locked up for your disgusting views.

Hope they keep you out for good.



Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 02:18:27 +0300
From: danlior[at]netvision.net.il
Subject: At least we're not stupid
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

I was happy to hear you were denied entry into Israel.

You can say many about us (as you indeed seldom do) but at least you cannot say we're fools!

Danny
Tel-Aviv, Israel.



From: info[at]yotex.speedlinq.nl
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Dear Mr.Professor-now karikature tomorrow in yours and your parents backyard
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 01:59:11 +0200

You were too coward to go visit Hezbolla in South Lebanon have have chosen to stay in Beiruth, so whats your Bla Bla about the Hezbolla-Your a Galut Jew with big mouth and small balls.

De idiots(the ones that does not know the facts) of Amsterdam in Cafe de Ballie can buy your stupid stories but not someone that knows the facts for real. Come on if you need money look for a decent job, do not spit on your own people.You remind me a prostitue.

Bah

Yoram Stein



From: info[at]yotex.speedlinq.nl
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: why not
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 02:20:46 +0200

If a Galut Jew (proffesor and graduate of mamous US university) can change events led to the birth the state of Israel and make a buisiness out of it, why can not some scum Arab make from Jesus a Palestinian?



Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 14:09:34 -0700
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: La Pasionaria didn't say that - It's better to die upon your feet than to live upon your knees!

*Dear Prof. Finkelstein,

I am one of your fans. Thank you for all you courage when debating the topic of Israel/Palestine.

I was just listening to your youtube discussion on Hezbollah, when you misquoted La pasionaria. *

* *It's better to die upon your feet than to live upon your knees!*

/¡Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado! belongs to Emilio Zapata, not La Pasionaria./
*
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emiliano_Zapata

I also made the mistake once of attributing this to El Che -

I did indeed enjoy your interview, but just thought I would let you know about the quote.

Take care.

and, hasta la victoria....

Linda



From: nclassen[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
CC: info45@davidduke.com
Subject: contribution from the Netherlands
Date: Sun, 18 May 2008 15:55:31 +0200

Hello Norman,

I have great respect for you work and what you stand for. I read your book on the holocaust industry years ago and by cooincidence I recently found some videomaterial on you commenting the book on Youtube on the "Michael Coren Show" many years ago. I think you are a very intelligent and brave man who dares to question relevant historic issues concerning the history that still is a burden on a daily basis to billions of people worldwide. I hope that one day we can all see things in perspective and you will deserve some credits for that. Most probably though, your own people will try to let you be remembered as a 'holocaust-denier' and an antisemite, despite being jewish yourself.

I think the powers you are fighting are so strong (money and political- and mediapower rule the world) that it will be hard to make a difference on your own. History repeats itself is a common expression concerning history as can be seen concerning jewish progroms over the last 20 centuries (http://christenenvoorisraelnl/artikelen/artikelen/
chronologie-van-het-joodse-volk-in-onze-jaartelling_6.html). Why sacrifice your own life for a matter that will have its way anyway? Maybe your 'inside' criticism can prevent history from happening again, but I doubt if your influence will be(come) that strong as you're getting older and seemingly tired of the everlasting struggle you've been in since your birth. My suggestion would be an unconventional one: Why don't you cooperate with David Duke (http://www.davidduke.com)??

Mr. Duke is an intelligent man like yourself and in effect searching the same answers and posing the same questions. Together you could help legitimate historical revisionism based on facts and hard evidence (e.g. DNA analysis of some corps that were supposedly gassed in WWII) and contribute to the solution of the Palestine question and question the US policy of external affairs. Together you could convince and reach a much broader and more intellectual audience than you already do on an individual basis. The synergy between a jew and a former KKK wizard striving the same ideals will be profound and could really make a difference in my opinion. Together you have to look for controvercy and finally penetrate the minds of common people who never heard any questioning concerning double agendas as far as the holocaust is concerned, because mainstream media just won't let that questioning slip through.

In recent month I've started seeing a lot of parallells between the 911 attacks and the collapse of the 3 WTC towers and the way in which is dealt with the holocaust. No critical questions dare to be asked about the collapse of WTC tower 3 which wasn't even hit by a plane and which seems to be destroyed by controlled demolition. people questioning these matters are said to be unpatriotic and not seldom immediately brandmarkes as antisemites, as is the case with people that question the gassing of 6 million jews in WWII.

I hope I can contribute to your opinion and maybe you could give my suggestion a thougt or even contact Mr Duke (whom I don't know personally), whom I also sent a carbon copy of this email.

I'm a 33 year old dutch male, university graduate, living in Germany, who has been asking himself the 'why' question for over ten years. I was brougt up with the idea that jews were sole victims of a terrible regime by a terrible nation (Germans). In the course of time however I started questioning myself questions as to why people could hate the jews for such a long time resulting in progroms nearly every century over the last 2000 years. And how come these jews never asking the 'why' question to themselves but rather fight the people who dare doing so...

My conclusion is that this has been their policy since the last 2000 years resulting in their own holocaust again and again because you can't fool public opinion for too long without the last straw breaking the camel's back. Only people like yourself can help preventing it from happening again, because only criticism from 'inside' has any chance of succes. I strongly oppose all people who are not self-critical. So far for me this meant that I disliked all jews (among others). Fortunately you, Norman, and people like David Cole who dared questioning matters concerning the holocaust as well, have become the exception to the rule. This means a lot to me because knowing how ignorant people can be but that you can't stop history from repeating itself by being ignorant, you are like a messias to the (jewish) people without them knowing it.

I wish you all the best luck in the world in achieving that goal Norman and I hope that maybe we can meet some time for I think you are genuinely a good person with the same sort of cynical humor that I have and that helps us to understand and bear with this world without suffering too much of it.

ps: As you will have figured out, english is not my native language, so never mind the grammar
kind regards

Drs. N.H.M. (Nick) Classen



Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 19:28:08 -0700
From: bsbs8080[at]yahoo.com
Subject: Thank you - you are an inspiration
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I have reasently learned about your website and am listening and learning from the videos and audios on your website. Even as I am writing this e-mail, I am listening to this Audio: How can we help the Palestinian cause? (01.23.2008). Thank you for everything you have been doing and is still doing for the Palestinians and for my extended family in Ramallah and the West Bank.

I also learned that you will be within two hours of my house tomorrow speaking at New College Students Association, I sure wish I could be there and see you in person. But unfortunately I will be unable to attend.

I am grateful to you in joining us in our stand for justice and truth and hope to see you someday in Jerusalem, my birthplace.

In solidarity
Layali Azar



Prof. Finkelstein,

Not sure if you caught the recent documentary detailing Jimmy Carter's book tour for 'Palestine Peace, Not Apartheid', but one of the highlights is the on-air interview with Dershowitz, who quickly works himself into a frenzy. Dersh articulates the widely held (but, smartly, never uttered) belief that the Palestinians 'chose wrong' and that 'freedom has consequences' in choosing the wrong candidate. The scene climaxes as Dersh, nearly yelling, says (paraphrasing), the Palestinians have made their bed and now they must lie in it, and that bed is full of cockroaches. He's seemingly embarrassed semi-retraction is even more entertaining.

For those readers of yours that haven't seen the film, it's worth a rental just for the aforementioned exercise in Israeli apologia, laid bare as only Alan Dershowitz is capable of.

Yours,

Dane Baker



I just wanted to thank you again for coming to The Evergreen State College, answering my question, signing my book, and chatting with me at the end. I asked you to write something rude just because I enjoy your brute honesty, which Im sure is taken as being rude sometimes. I hope you can return to Evergreen or I hope to see you speak somewhere else again in the future. Thanks you very much for all you have done to create a more peaceful and intelligent world.

In friendship, solidarity, and peace.



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I have been an immense admirer of your work and efforts over the years. When I'm most disillusioned, it's to your work and shining example. along with Chomsky, Pilger, Tariq Ali, Said and a few others, to which I turn. I have every one of your books, and most recently purchased your monograph Dennis Ross and the Peace Process: Subordinating Palestinian Rights to Israeli 'Needs. I have been meaning to email you for years (but somehow never got around to it) and know you must receive a tonne of emails each day; I simply wanted to thank you for all of your hard work and unmitigated struggle to cut through the lies and half-truths, which nowadays pass for reality in the mainstream representation of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The historical record speaks for itself and your critics don't have a leg to stand on and so are compelled to throw all the dirt and slime they can muster (i.e. Dershowitz et al). Of course I am not telling you anything you don't know, I just wanted to thank you personally and let you know that your arguments and scholarly integrity deeply resonate with a truly global community. I'm currently working as a journalist in the United Arab Emirates, studied at the LSE, and will return to the UK to undertake my PhD on Iranian nationalism and transnational Shi'ite movements, and sincerely hope our paths cross sooner rather than later the next time you visit the UK.

In respect and admiration



I just read the letter from another one of your admirers commenting on the documentary about you - 'American Radical'. I had not heard of this before.

I want to say congratulations, but that might be inappropriate because a documentary should be objective and be made from a neutral viewpoint. But I feel if its objective and the movie trailer indicates it will be, you and your viewpoints will come out looking good.

I think its going to be a very interesting film. I don't talk politics with my friends very often, but I will tell them about this film and encourage them to see it.

I think the wall of censorship is cracking. This isn't the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany, but the efforts to keep your viewpoint unheard by ensuring your books received little or no attention in this country while they are best sellers in other countries and eventually firing you to keep you quiet, may have finally backfired.

I look forward to seeing this film.

Sincerely yours,

Peter Gebert



Norman, you piece of excrement

look what your muslim friends are doing in beirut

I hope there is a hell for you to go to.

norman finkelstein .......... SELF HATING JEW



Hi, Dr. Finkelstein.

I know I haven't written you in a while, and that's probably best, considering you are inundated with email. However, I felt I had to write you after being deeply moved by watching the trailer to the documentary by Mohawk films, entitled the American Radical. It was my brother who showed it to me. My God, it is powerful. Wow. Dr. Finkelstein, it is hard to do your magnificent life and work justice, but it seems that this film comes pretty close. I am so glad that people are trying to give your voice the attention it deserves. Everything you say and do is truly revolutionary and powerful, and makes me hope for a bright and beautiful future. I know sometimes things may seem bleak, but I have this incredible faith in the victory of people like us. With voices like yours, undaunted and fearless, a beautiful new era will be ushered in, one of tolerance, peace, and of course, (my favorite motto) love for all, and hatred for none. I will pray for that, and will pray for you. God bless you.

Warmly,

Nadia



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

Thanks for your informed and succinct presentation yesterday evening. It was a pleasure to meet you and hear you speak about issues that are so near and dear to so many. Your clarity of thought and accurate depiction are a breath of fresh air as I come to develop a greater understanding of the conflict and seek to find answers about an issue that is all too often over saturated with hypocrisy and fallacy.

Sincerely yours,

Sommer.



Dear Mr. Finklestein,
I was at the University of Ottawa last night when you spoke for the CPJME. I was amazed at your courage to speak out against the abuse of the Israelis and against one sided political correctness, and Zionism. I am especially impressed that you have had the courage to break ranks and speak out against the Holocaust Industry, and the Wall and so many, many abuses. It is so wonderful to me. Really, I thought it was just me, that for some reason, I just kept I don't know, imagining that what Israel was doing was wrong, and that the only people who agreed with me were Palestinians.

Thank you so much for your very thoughtful, brave, and generous words. Thank you for giving me the courage to speak out against the injustices I see, and have not dared to talk about.

Sincerely,
Janet Desroches



Dear Mr. Finkelstein (or should I say Dr. or Professor?) this is yet another letter to thank you for 'The Holocaust Industry'. I began to study the nazi holocaust on a strictly amateur basis in 1965, when I was 19. My interest was inspired by a number of personal factors and triggered by Munk's film 'The Passenger' - I'm not Jewish - and has since extended to other similar events in recent history - Armenia, the soviet purge system, Mao's China, the Khmer Rouge, etc. etc. - to me the most appalling of all these events is the Rwandan genocide, because it shows how easily anyone can be motivated to kill anyone else, including family and friends, for abstract reasons - I live in Belgium and read French as easily as English. I came to the subject after reading 'The Jewish War' and finding the behaviour of the Jews and the Romans equally horrifying.

Over the years I've had the doubtful pleasure of watching the holocaust industry blossom and flourish. I've visited Auschwitz-Birkenau and observed inter alia that Block 21 in Auschwitz I, the site of so many homicidal injections documented in Naumann's account of the 1964 Frankfurt Auschwitz trial, is now the 'Belgian' block, because it was subsequently used to house Belgian prisoners - so is it any wonder that so many Poles feel their sufferings in the camp are ignored? I also noticed in passing that the commentary of a video shown in the camp confused Belsen and Belzec. Long ago I decided that the importance of Auschwitz in the genocide has been grossly exaggerated, for two reasons - there are a lot of survivors, so we know a lot about it (you could live a sort of life there, as well as dying there, so it's comparatively easy to relate to), and a lot of the victims were Western Europeans. The survivor element is particularly important, as I think all the death camps had transports from Western Europe, but the Sobibór Dutch, Lodz-Chelmno Viennese and Luxemburgers, and Belzec Austrians aren't around to tell us about them (Treblinka has Richard Glazar for the Czechs, of course). But the Western European factor is still important; we can identify so much more easily with those victims. For some reason my focus from the start was the Einzatzgruppen and the Reinhard camps, and has now whittled down to Belzec. It's amazing how little has been written on that camp - could it be because it lacks 'human interest'? And oddly enough, the Belzec historians/researchers - O'Neill, Tregenza - are Gentiles.

I got the connection between the future of Israël and the holocaust industry years ago, but sometimes felt guilty for noticing. How can one be cynical about such a subject? But there are minor branches of the industry even here in Belgium, which is also one of those countries that punishes holocaust denial (not Armenian genocide denial, as the powerful French-speaking socialist party depends quite a lot on Turkish voters, and the President of the Belgian Auschwitz Foundation also had doubts as to the reality of that genocide at one point!) I am very careful not to suggest too loudly here that the importance of Auschwitz in the holocaust is a historical fluke, because no other killing centre was still functioning when the nazis captured the Hungarian Jews - that might be considered as holocaust denial. I suspect this kind of censorship encourages intolerance rather than preventing it. As for the uniqueness of the event, what event isn't unique?

I was loaned your book some years ago by the senior partner of the law firm which then employed me (I'm now retired) to correct the English of non-native speaking lawyers. We were then representing some US Jewish activists who wanted better legal means of recovering looted art in Europe. We mounted a campaign which supposedly dealt with all art looted in Europe by all totalitarian regimes inclined to looting, but in practice only concerned art looted by nazis from Jews, and in the end was aborted. Along the way those involved developed a certain cynicism about holocaust victims, or at least their representatives, and I'm afraid I encouraged this by pointing out that most of the victims who had survived were now dead and unlikely to benefit from restored paintings or anything else, and many of the few survivors, especially in the former communist countries, were living out a miserable old age with no financial assistance from anyone, including rich Jews in the West. Naturally, my boss thought I would appreciate your book. I discovered it online yesterday quite by accident - it was on a revisionist website called vho, where I had arrived during yet another googling exercise on the word 'Belzec' - and am now happily re-reading my downloaded copy.

It's a pity there aren't more people like you in the United States. Best wishes, and keep up the good work!

Sash Lewis



As a footnote to the horrible story about the killing of the Abu Meitag family in Beit Hanoun this week, did you notice that IDF spokeswoman Avital Liebovich said that the army was in Gaza on a 'routine search for rocket launchers, snipers and terrorists' when they happened to wipe these folks off the face of the earth (NYT, 4/28)? Not even the usual fig leaf of 'response to provocation' to explain their presence there-it's 'routine' to enter Gaza at will. Thus does horror become normalized. This amazing admission goes completely unremarked, and will in no way stop the next NYT assurance that 'Israel handed Gaza over to the Palestinians' or similar nonsense.
None of this journalistic malfeasance will surprise even the casual student of the US press' capitulation to the requirements of Empire, but keeping one's sense of outrage alive is salutary and wards off cynicism.
Best
Richard



The Israeli lobby is up to its usual tricks again. Last evening it managed to sabotage a teach-in on war, occupation and peace in the middle east held at San Jose State University. The panel was supposed to be comprised of Emad Yahya, Salem Ajluni, Hossein Al-Hamalawy, Gil Villagran and Sharat Lin. However due to the last minute shenanigans of the lobby and the intense pressure it applied, the organizers were forced to include Zionist ideologue David Meir Levi on the panel.



Mr. Finkelstein,

Regarding the civilian casualties, could it be that you are reading and posting the wrong sources, or at least only some sources?

Even Amy (Goodman) broadcast the IDF staff investigations documenting highly reliable evidence that the explosions responsible for those casualties were secondary to explosives actually carried in the backpack one of the struck terrorists himself. So now Israel must avoid attacking those responsible for Jewish murder (or would-be murder) just in case they are carrying more than a slingshot? You also didn't post the numerous Hamas border crossing episodes that have profoundly contributed to the difficulty in getting food and fuel to the Palestians--who remain, essentially, the victims of their own brothers far more than of the Israelis, as they have for the past four decades.

Your really need to be better informed so that you can better inform others. Just because an agency spells Center, 'Centre,' doesn't lend it any credibility. All of the reports of your 'human rights' agencies are nothing more than, well, theatre.

I'll close with a reminder of the theme of Passover just concluded. 'In every generation they rose to destroy us.' But we've survived our enemies for over 3500 years, including, tragically, many from within. We'll survive the contemporary ones too, though a stronger Israeli goverment would certainly facilitate the course of events. Nonetheless, we have the one Ally that really matters. Oops--getting a little religious there.

You're on the wrong side, Norman, and you'll realize it one of these days, and an enormous house of psychological cards will come tumbling down.

Charles Carlton



The NY Times and Int. Herald Tribune published the same article by Jimmy Carter. Notice some of the interesting differences, though:

NY Times version: 'Washington policy in recent years has been to boycott and punish political factions or governments that refuse to accept United States mandates.' (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/opinion/28carter.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)

IHT: 'A counterproductive Washington policy in recent years has been to boycott and punish political factions or governments that refuse to accept U.S. domination.' (http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/28/opinion/edcarter.php)



Norm you twit

Still around hey? That's a shocker!! May you rot in hell for all your ugly behaviour and back stabbing of 'your' Jewish brothers and sisters.

Dave



Dear Dr Finkelstein,

Some years ago I emailed you with a short statement of admiration. To my astonishment you were generous enough to reply. While touched, I was somewhat embarrased and while I have maintained contact with your web and read 'Beyond Chutzpah", I have refrained from contacting you again as I feel finally intrusive on what I see as your unbelievable energy and workload.

So please - read and, I hope, maybe have some reaction, but concentrate on your priorities and don't reply.

But I do feel pressure right now to express my huge admiration for your courage, persistence, scholarship and dogged pursuit of difficult and complex truth in the face of truly monstrous persecution.

Can I just say this as one of, I am certain, many thousands who are aware of your work and situation but who are quietly impressed while lying low.

Bravo! Keep on and don't let the bastards get you down.

Jamie Pearce

PS You might take comfort in reading the disgusting abuse of local Anthony Lowenstein on his website here in Australia



Mr. Finkelstein,
I have never had the opportunity of meeting you in person but took an interest in some of your arguments about a year ago. I myself was also a (Non-Jewish) student at Brandeis (1993) and it pleased me greatly to see that the University allowed you to speak there in spite of huge resistence. On-line I read the comments of many students to get a sense of how your ideas are received in the Jewish community. It would seem that emotionally people are not ready to consider your arguments as arguments. This of course validates many of your claims about a concerted effort to banish or demonize such thoughts. While I was at Brandeis Rabbi Meyor Kahana was allowed to speak on campus and his message caused a great uproar from the students. Personally I can say that listening to his views and all the Torah verses that the Orthodox people were throwing at him was a wonderful experience and motivated me to learn more about things that usually have a set number of "respectable" viewpoints. I commend you for your boldness in talking about things taboo and wish you the best in whatever you decide to pursue.





From: ilya[at]msur.org
(Corrected version:)

Dear Norman

It may be late to go back to the polemics about your visit to Lebanon and your defense of “solidarity with Hizbullah”, but I feel compelled to do so.

Let me start by telling you that I disagree with you on the support Hizbullah deserves. After several trips to Lebanon, I understand the admiration many people feel for Hizbullah and why its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, is the most valued leader in the ‘Arab World’ (1), but personally I feel myself more inclined to the opinion of that Lebanese peasant who told me, back in 1999, when Southern Lebanon was still occupied by the Israeli Army: “Hizbullah is provoking Israel’s attacks and thus brings more suffering to the people, they gain power by the confrontation but it would be better to resist in a peaceful way”. Of course this is a feature that Hizbullah shares with any other armed movement in history.

That being said, I think it should be explained why nearly all insults directed at you, including the Fox News article , are based on distorted facts. Let’s start with the first accusation: you are supporting a terrorist organization. Hizbullah has been labeled as terrorist by the US and 5 other countries (2), but besides the listing itself, what exactly qualifies this militia for being considered terrorist? The Fox News piece says: “Hezbollah, funded by Iran and Syria, engages in terror operations worldwide”. That is simply not true. It is blatant nonsense. The last alleged action of Hizbullah outside the frontiers of Lebanon took place in 1994 and involvement has always been strictly denied by the organization (3). Afterwards, there have been no accusations of Hizbullah being involved in any other actions than those directly addressing the Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory or the frontier conflict between both countries which, not having signed any peace treaty, are legally at war. So the word “engages” instead of “is accused of having engaged formerly” in the Fox News line is strictly a lie. What’s more: the organization distances itself from terrorist attacks like 9/11: 'We condemned this act -- and any similar act we condemn” said Nasrallah (4). That is not a sudden change of mind: Nabil Qawuq, one of the highest-ranking officials of the militia, had a similar view in 1999, shortly after the attacks on US embassies in Kenya in Tanzania, when speculation on Hizbullah involvement was rife. “We don’t employ these kind of methods” he told me (5).

But has Hizbullah really engaged formerly in armed activities outside Lebanese territory? This is not clear. The organisation denies it. There are only three foreign-based actions which are described often as “linked to Hizbullah” (6): the skyjacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985, one attack against the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentine, and another against the Jewish association AMIA in the same city, in 1994. Hizbullah denies any involvement (7) and the case has never been solved (8).

It is quite usual to attribute Hizbullah the responsibility of the terror attack against the US embassy and the attack against the American military barracks, both in Beirut in 1983, but Hizbullah proper did not exist at this stage, not being founded officially until 1985 (9). It is supposed that the groups which carried out the attack had close links to those who established Hizbullah two years later, but this is a very open subject. Even if it was true, it would not qualify Hizbullah for being called terrorist today, much as Israel does not qualify for being called terrorist for having been run between 1977 and 1992 by Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, former leaders of the armed zionist group Irgun which is commonly described as terrorist (10). As opposed to Israeli politicians, Hizbullah renounces today any credit for its possible early-days attacks (11).

Usually, any terrorist organisation in the world does proudly claim responsibility of the attacks they carry out (if they didn’t, their attacks wouldn’t be useful to show their strength and to bargain for their goals). So Hizbullah’s denial of involvement is not a typical feature for a terrorist organisation and could well be true. Another hint ist that Hizbullah is not carrying out terrorist attacks inside Israel, which we must assume they could do if they wished, given that they are far better organised, trained and equipped than any Palestinian organisation.

Taking prisoners among the soldiers of an enemy country, being at war, is clearly not a terrorist act. Hizbullah violated Israeli sovereignty when stepping over its frontier to capture the soldiers in July, 2006, but prior to that there were “persistent and provocative Israeli air incursions (...). The air incursions violate Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”, according to United Nations (12).

The second accusation is that of Hizbullah trying to establish a strictly islamic state in Lebanon, where people like you or your supporters wouldn’t wish to live. I’m strongly against any use of religion in politics but I must admit that, unlike Hamas, Hizbullah shows great respect for the opinions of non-religious citizens and explicitly renounce to impose by force the islamic Sharia law in Lebanon, saying that there is no way you could enforce Sharia, except if chosen freely by the people (13, 14). Hizbullah did strongly condemn the publication of the Danish Muhammad-cartoons –as did Christian authorities– , but was not involved in the protests that set the Danish embassy on fire in Beirut and condemned that kind of turmoil as “dangerous for the unity of the people” (15). The leaders of the Lebanese Gay Rights movement Helem – the only one existing in the Arab world, being homosexuality prosecuted and heavily punished in American-friendly countries as Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Kuwait - acknowledge that Hizbullah never has tried to interfere with their campaign for their rights and that Hizbullah’s Al Manar TV station even > adopted a more respectful wording when speaking about homosexuals, avoiding the term ‘perverted’ which is used in the biggest part of the Arab press worldwide (16).

In short, I cannot agree with Hizbullah’s vision nor can I support its actions, but among all armed groups in the Middle East it is clearly the one which a) refrains from terrorist acts and b) is tolerant on religious issues even if contrary to its own beliefs.

Best wishes

Ilya U. Topper

1) Haaretz , 16.04.2008. The survey gives Nasrallah 26% of approval in ‘the Arab World’, without specifying the countries.

2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah

3) AFP, quoted in www.lebanon.com/news/local/2003/3/20.htm

4) Robin Wright in The Washington Post

, July 16, 2006.

5) Nabil Qawuq, personal interview, 1999.

6) Council on Foreign Relations http://www.cfr.org/publication/9155/#6.

7) AFP, quoted in www.lebanon.com/news/local/2003/3/20.htm

8) BBC , 25.08.2003.

9) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Hezbollah

10) The Times 10.06.2006.

11) Hizbullah spokesperson, personal interview, 1999.

12) Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, S/2006/560 - http://daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/6867256.html

13) Nabil Qawuq, 1999.

14) Hussein Naboulsi, spokesperson for Hizbullah, personal interview, 2005

15) Hussein Naboulsi, published in La Clave, 8.2.2006

16) George Azzi, personal interview, published in La Clave, 29.2.2008



Shavit's article doesn't make sense. It seems it was writen by a 14 year old. And he knows what he's writing is absurd: "Hamas will probably say no" to his proposal, he writes. However, albeit knowing that his proposal, if presented, would sure met with rejection, he trashes Carter's proposal as being "an illusion"! I mean, the guy cannot maintain the coherence over two paragraphs, it's kind of worrying. The whole article, and the way the question is framed, is incredibly childish, and he even seems to know that and to have adopted this framing as an ironic device. But it's so disastrous. From start to finish, it's an article which you can't benefit from - no redeeming qualities. Sheer absurdity. At least the Editorial about the Falashmura helped bringing up the only analogy which is really strikingly similar to Israel's policies: the Nazi analogy. It's really, and that I learned with you, not an exaggeration to draw such analogies, it's not even a tease; it's just about the only thing Israel can be fairly compared with. That editorial, if you substitute "jews" for "arians", you wouldn't know if it was writen by a guy from a German Newspaper in, say, 1938, or by an Israeli. It's racism taken to its most brutal peaks and conveyed with a veneer of reason and common sense.

I lived in Israel for years. I had never read anything like that editorial in the mainstream Israeli press. As my eyes waded through the article and came across such phrases - it was the phrase which the second paragraph, the "development", began with! - as "The Falashmura are not jews. For years they...", I began to pale. I knew I was in for a dreadful experience, and that's what I got - one of the most outrageously racist, low, idiotic, abhorrent articles I have read recently.

Stop the world, I wanna get out. Israel managed, and it's quite a feat, but Israel did manage to make me embarrassed of presenting myself as Jewish. I feel bad. If the person whom I talking to is educated and read such things, I blush. I mean...this is it? Is that the Jewish State? Please...let the Arabs and Ethiopian all in. Maybe they can redeem this wreck.



Sorry to hear that. The two emails I brought to the attention of Professor Finke at Penn are hopefully enough to warrant disciplinary action, though I must admit to being cynical regarding that possibility.

Also, ultimately it's a distraction and nothing more: It's certainly, from a moral perspective, wrong (which is why I contacted Penn), but having been outspoken all my life (from disavowing the irrational faith of my parents, to challenging all kinds of orthodoxies) some things are more important than others, and ad hominem attacks of this nature are surely at the foot hills of moral enquiry.

As an aside, your final thoughts on Bridges with Anas Tikriti, when you reminded us that we may not deserve the opportunity of life, and may well waste it, reminded me of a couple of thinkers: Sagan and Mayr.

Sagan's Pale Blue Dot reminds us of our frailty, and implores us to be more humble, for it is all too possible that we will destroy the planet by our own myopic policies and actions, and be forgotten (along with our various deities, and claims to land and energy resources) by no one. Ernst Mayr said (in spirit), in the first chapter of Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival: Human intelligence is not a prerequisite of survival in Darwinian terms, and that we may be biology's only attempt at higher cognition.

As a formally uneducated person (who left school at 17) to study outside of any institutional framework, I probably will never be admitted to classes you will take, but I will always read your work, as it inspires me to continue to fight for justice and solidarity in the Middle East, and Beyond.



From: arshadkhalid[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: the Tail wagging the Dog?
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 11:34:14 +0100

Dear Norman

On the question of AIPAC/Israel lobby controlling American Policy.

I can see arguments for both sides. Which was frustrating at first as both sides seem mutually exclusive. And yet both sides seem correct, in their own way - Chomsky and Pappe.

But if one tries to think like a low life scum, as opposed to a serious scholar, then a suprisingly simple explanation pops up.

Based on empirical evidence, Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfie/Perle etc, allowed Iraq to fall apart and then feign ignorance due to their "Privatization of War" policy: The Post war-No-bid contracts to their Friends (Halliburton, Blackwater etc). Considering they see themselves as idealistic students of Strauss (Trotskyite?), they certainly seem to have always found themselves in the fortunate position to have personally financially profitted from this "unintended" mess.

AIPAC may have had an influence on US Policy and benifited Israel's short term blinkered ambitions. However, I do believe AIPAC are, like the Neocons, just another group of Cynical White Collar Criminals maskerading as public servants. They don't give a damn about Israel except on a superficial level, Or America, or any of the great unwashed. And the deaths of 600,000 Iraqi men, women and children are not even an after thought.

Naturally, I expect to be called anti-semitic or Anti-American, which these days seems to mean the same in some quaters. But the debate can not be stopped now. Some real light is being shed on all this nonsense without the usual hysterical politically charged jargon.

Just think Cynical White Collar Criminals in the AIPAC/ NEOCON axis and it all seems to make sense. When it comes to greed and duplicity, never underestimate the criminal mind.

warm regards
Khalid

Hope you post this.



Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2008 21:25:02 -0300
From: yaraginzch[at]gmail.com
To: normanGF[at]hotmail.com
Subject: kind of

Dr. Finkelstein,

Kind of funny the logic - or the lack of - displayed by this guy who doesn't really want you to die; his yoke, unlike Jesus', is heavier, not easier: he wants you to be constantly sodomized, probably against your own will, I want to believe, because he's really mean - he wants you to suffer the hell already on earth, he's far more religious than I'll ever be, though I don't know exactly what's the religion he follows. The riddle here is: wasn't Alan Dershowitz the one who supported and defended pornography? There's a lot of, wow, heavy stuff that happens in these movies, isn't that true? So, according to his logic - he's a self-loving Jew, it seems - he should, as his foremost duty as a Jew, direct his attacks against Dershowitz: a consumate plagiarist and a voice of the porno-industry.

That's why a Jewish religious zealot like myself keeps supporting you: you condemn butchering, you don't want it to be carried out in the name of Jews, you are intellectualy honest (being honest in the intellectual life is a very important duty for all of us Jews!), and, well, you don't want Israel to pursue policies that may bring it to a dire predicament!!!

Secular and religious Jews alike should not be ashamed of supporting you and your work. Your opponents are the real threat. The real threat to Israel, by the way, not only to Palestinians. Of course he didn't mean what he said when he stated that Israel doesn't target civilians or infra-structure. Israel does target civilians and engages in collective punishment, house demolition, torture, extrajudicial killing and arresting, well, very pleasant things to be target of, I don't know how come have I lived without all that during all these years. What he did mean is that...well, Palestinians are not civilians by definition - it's a question of faith. They are guilty as a people - they, in fact, are not exactly human beings, though, damn!, they do succeed in misleading us and parading themselves as such.

These Palestinians...always portraying themselves as human beings and deceiving us! Professor Shanon of the Hebrew University said that Moses enjoyed some weed. Or kind of, it was a plant for visionaries, you know? And he based his findings on a plant he discovered here in Brazil. So, if for nothing else, Brazil will enter history as having contributed with evidence that Moses, well, he enjoyed the thing. Though Professor Shanon added a caveat, with which I agree: not everybody who enjoys "the thing" becomes a Moses. In fact, if Moses did use it, I think he must have had his reasons: it was definitely not an easy task to guide Jews back then. Nowadays propaganda makes it easier. But back then? Man...it was damn hard to herd all us Jews - can you imagine, having to govern us without the benefits of the modern Nation States? He really got pissed off sometimes, I don't doubt. "Let me get high for a sec, you're saying and doing too much nonsense - I come here with these simple rules, these commandments, and you can't follow these basic rules, excuse me but now it's time for me to get high". And high he got, as high as anyone could ever have wished: he was THE guy. That guy I really liked, despite all the very reasonable and sound arguments on the contrary by atheists. ;-))))

Israel is a democracy. But people should pay attention to a very important point: how must Israeli Arabs feel like when they listen to such poetic construction as "demographic threat"? Forget about it, Arabs deceived me again with that human being stuff, but only for a sec, I recovered reason!

Take care, I can't believe there's educated people in America who are capable of writing such monstrous letters like that one. Maybe he's capable of writing that exactly because he was educated, I don't know, you guys know better.

Always...terrified by the way you are brutalized in the U.S,

Yara Chiara.



In this video, Dersh says "I remember everything in my books":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5_Fnzp5X2o

As I recall, he didn't remember everything in "The Case for Israel" :-)

The guy has the consistency of a random number generator when he speaks :-)
Cheers,



Dear Norman

I thought you might like to hear about a strange email correspondence I had with one of your detractors who concocted the most absurd series of falsehoods against you. He also attempted to lie. I had responded to his initial foolishness against you, published on your website with a date of 25 February 2008 and the subject MEMRI. He had given his name as Randy S Shapiro and claimed, from his email heading, to be a Barrister and a Solicitor and was in the firm of Parlee Mc Laws LLP of Calgary. His constant behaviour can, in my view, be described as both coarse and vulgar with an overtone of threats against me.

I wrote to the email address supplied (rshapiro@parlee.com ) and said that MEMRI was a front for Israel and offered details but the response from Randy would have none of this. On 27 February 2008 Randy first wrote without giving his law firm details and claimed to have personally debated "Fink" (repugnant language) and to have witnesses to when he "personally cleaned the floor with this guy". He even claimed to have what seemed to have been a personal debate with you. I was to spend hours trying to get details of how, when and where the debate took place but Randy was unwilling to oblige. I examined the electronic record avidly but failed to find any evidence whatsoever for the encounter claimed by Randy. On 13 March 2008 Randy was to make a bad situation worse by writing to you with a copy to me. It was particularly disturbing when he specifically linked my name in a lie directed at you. He wrote, "Michael and I also wanted some elucidation (by now he must have bought a dictionary!) in respect of your other memory lapses ( which occurred within the span of a few minutes after your Mark Twain amnesia), like this one (reproduced from our former exchange )." He continued with what was to look like a shorthand account of his "debate with the Fink". I wasted no time in replying and I was to describe Randy as yet another Zionist fanatic, an exponent of a vile political creed whose advocates planned and executed the ethnic cleansing of most of Palestine, and spreading an apartheid system throughout conquered areas.

By now it was obvious that Randy was just a tad upset at my criticism of him and he showed this by reminding me of his status, and I was to feel that he was the lawyer-lad threatening a low-life (Self) with his language of tort, defamation etc. He was to say," In the mean time (sic) I will pass on your e-mail (sic) to the relevant authorities, as the tone of your increased familiarity with me and increasingly threatening words calling me evil (inverted commas) no less, is no longer just creepy or weird". By 15 March 2008 Randy must have suffered a change of mind since he wrote (r.shappy@live.com) to say he had blocked my emails to the site he had initially supplied and went on to say that .."I can actually respond to your childish insults and threats of tattletale. Lol". I admit that I was to get much "Lol" from Randy in the course of our exchanges but was never to find out its real meaning! If I thought I had heard the last of Randy and his odd behaviour I was quickly proved wrong since another email arrived all of 18 minutes after the above. While still from his most recently advised address (r.shappy@live.com) he told me ..."This email (sic) is now blocked as well". To date I have not heard from Randy S Shapiro (Barrister & Solicitor).

Whilst the emails from Randy were deeply disturbing both in language and content nevertheless humour was not always absent. On one occasion Randy implied (perhaps he didn't really mean it) that he charged for his time but even better was something contained in an email to me of 27 February 2008 and I quote...I showed my common law wife (a Brazilian Catholic with a strong left wing political orientation), who is a respected immigration lawyer, one of Fink's refugee arguments purporting to "debunk" Dershowitz' (sic) stance on the UN changing the definition of refugee solely(out of all the refugee cases in the world) in the Palestine Arab case. When I first looked at Fink's argument from a legal perspective, his argument seemed odd. When I passed it on to my common law who practises in this area, she confirmed that Fink was so off in his analysis that she was shocked anyone could take it seriously". Pillowtalk !!! He must have been hard up for support!

You are most welcome to publish the above on your website.

Best wishes

Michael Shanahan.



Dr. Finkelstein, I must say that you have been one of the biggest inspirations in my life along with Che Guevara. Just like Che was the symbol of justice and the voice for the voiceless in the generation of our parents, you are that symbol for me and my generation. I am neither Arab, Muslim or Jewish, yet the blatant disregard for human life and dignity in the Occupied Territories has drawn me to this sad story in human history. I am an international student here in the United States and I come from a very poor country. When I came here my only goal was to become a scholar so that I could go back to my home country and serve my people and aid in my home country's economic growth.

Now, after reading numerous books about the Israel-Palestinian conflict and watching uncountable number of your interviews and debates I am thinking about changing my life objective, and somehow serving the oppressed people in the occupied territories. Not to say that my home country has become unimportant to me but rather I cannot see any human plight bigger than that of the Palestinians, a plight which is blindly supported and funded by the most powerful nation on the planet.

On a less gloomy note, I am currently starting to read "A History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict" by Mark Tessler. If you have read the book and it is not legally problematic for you, then please let me know what you thought about that book (i.e. is it balanced or not, is it reasonable or emotional, is it just a "ad-hominem compilation"). After I finish this book (which is going to take me a while considering that it is 800 pages), I plan to read Alan Dershowitz's book The Case For Israel and after that I am planning to read your rebuttal "Beyond Chutzpah".

I would also like to let you know that there are people out here who feel the injustice done upon you by DePaul University by denying you tenure. I was deeply saddened and disturbed by the events that occurred. You were too good for DePaul, they just couldn't handle you. Thankyou for all that you have done, not just to the Palestinians, but to humanity and human rights.

To the Che Guevara of our generation, I salute you Dr. Finkelstein.

Ashim Bhattarai
Kathmandu, Nepal.
(Currently doing undergrad in U.S)



I have mixed thoughts about his (and Walt's) book, but their argument on Iraq is by far the weakest part. I need to think this out more and I still haven't read all the key books on the decision to invade, so I don't have a particularly informed opinion (I've read woodward, clark, and skimmed through Tenet's book).

All in all, I think M's argument that Cheney and Co. perceived Israeli and American interests as converging to some extent in the case of Iraq is plausible. However, I do think it is off base to think, as M&W does, that Israeli interests and American interests carry the same weight or are thought of as one and the same--Israel is a secondary concern (if any) to people like Cheney (the only time he ever mentions Israel is when occasionally he is trying to make the case for bombing Iran and even then it is secondary to his concern for "American interests" in Iraq).

The strongest argument you make is that you think it is a mistake to find cosmic explanations for the war. To be sure, M&W doesn't say the Israel lobby was the only factor but the decisive one. Again, this still doesn't make much sense. There was clearly a variety of motivations (oil, strategic interests, "democracy"--when it goes our way of course--, power politics, etc.) and I sense the importance of one or another factor varied depending on who you talked to in the Administration. But you are right in noting that talk about Israel was pretty minimal in the lead up to the war (it is barely mentioned in Plan of Attack).

I wouldn't go as far as you and say that the Israel lobby played no role, I think it probably did but in no way was it decisive. Indeed, I just don't buy Mearsheimer's claim that minus the lobby there would be no war--the people running policy are/were radical nationalists and the lobby helped their case for war but by no means did it hinge on it; they had their own motivations, of which I'm sure there were a few.

Woodward makes it pretty clear that the administration saw 9/11 as an opportunity to invade Iraq, not a change of heart as Mearsheimer implies (indeed, Paul O'Neill said that they were talking about Iraq long before 9/11) . So I'm not sure where he gets the idea that the administration all of a sudden was terrified about "Islamic terrorism" (were that the case, they would have listened to their own intelligence agencies warning that invading Iraq would only make matters worse.)

I would have liked to see your response to the last few things Mearsheimer said, but either way I didn't find him terribly convincing either. Nevertheless, I appreciate him writing the book, however flawed it might be.

take care,
Joel



Norman

Something I have noticed in the more colourful letters you receive. All of them seem bent on personal name calling and invective. This sounds very similar to what KENNETH ROTH, of Human Rights Watch, observed. Even TONY JUDT has had to endure individuals calling his home and making death threats to him. (Which I think is really sick.)

I could be flippant and say these threats emanate from Mossad Agents. However, there is something too infantile in the content to be worthy of even those ruthless killer.

But there is something about these abusive letters which do smack of spoiled Middle Classed Brats living in their own bubble in the suburbs. They are obviously the centre of their own universe and seem like Petty Snobs with too much time on their hands.

Lets hope they get off their pedestal and join the rest of the human race. (If that isn't too goy for them.)

warm regards
Khalid



Dr. Finkelstein,

I have read a little bit about your spat with Professor Dershowitz. He seems to have an unhealthy obsession with defending every Israeli action. This, to me, goes far beyond group identification or Patriotism. Patriotism seems like the wrong word since he, at least I believe, is an American. He treats criticism of Israel like I would imagine the Pope take criticism of the divinity of Christ. This seems odd for a well educated and brilliant man. A man would probably shutter at white southerners denial of the evils of slavery or the KKK support of lynching. A man who would probably engage in glorious academic logical debate on the US Constitution with any Conservative legal mind but engages in name empty calling and hyperbole like a drunk domestic dispute. His fanaticism reeks of a certain insecurity where Israel defines him and a criticism of Israel is a personal criticism. I, as an American, love the ideals of America but I hate many of the things the done by America.

I don't know much about you or your works. I actually came across your name reading when I was reading about Dr. Chomsky's "feud" with Dershowitz. I do have to say that it is very disappointing, if it is true, that you were prevented from gaining tenure for reasons besides incompetence or academic fraud. It is sad when a member of the faculty of a leading university is unwilling to engage in academic debate on an important subject. From the little I have read your positions have merit and deserve to be heard but unfortunately Dershowitz would rather erase you from the debate with personal attacks.

On a side note we have something in common, we both spent time in the SUNY system (I attended SUNY ALBANY) and I currently live 7 miles from your Binghamton University.



Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2008 21:32:04 -0400
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
From: ryi5005@psu.edu
Subject: You are bastard and a traitor

I do not have much to say to you, but I do hope that you die very soon! Penn state should have banned you!
Dear Roman Isayev,

I've read your email sent to Dr. Finkelstein. I'm astonished to read that you wish he (or anyone for that matter) "die very soon". Your email has enlightened me to the true nature of you as a person, an ignorant. I am almost certain you didn't attend his talk last week [in case you missed it, SJP will be posting it talk on on their website* very soon]. Because no one in the crowd was able to challenge Dr. Finkelstein in the Q&A session despite the opposition that obviously existed.

Many esteem scholars across the globe have praised Dr. Finekstein in outstanding scholarship and research excellence. He stands as a moral example for the quest of justice and truth which will prevail.

I suggest you send Dr. Finkelstein an email and apologize to him.

-Sammy

*www.clubs.psu.edu/up/sjp





Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2008 21:20:45 -0400
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
From: ryi5005@psu.edu
Subject: I want to apoligize

Dear Self-Hating Jew,

In my first letter, I was rather harsh. I did not mean to say that I hope you die. Death is the easy way out. I hope that you are sodomized in this life viciously, I hope that you receive that same sort of pain that you bring to the Jewish people with your self-hating disposition, and your vile, half-baked, deductions. I have never, in my life, known of a bastard like you, you are an ugly rarity. You castigate and attack the State of Israel for violating international law, yet you disregard the violations of international law caused by the Palestinians in 1948. You only cite international law or the "record" when it is conducive to the Palestinian cause.

You suggested that the solution is quite simple, that there is no controversy. At the same time, when asked about the 1948 partition decision, you asserted that "the world" concluded and promulgated the creation of two separate states, and that you "trust" the decision of the United Nations, and/or "the world." Why, if the solution is quite simple, were the Arabs in violation of the promulgation implemented by United Nations, a stipulation that you "trust"? You deride and attack the State of Israel for violating international law, yet you disregard the violation of international law caused by the Arabs in 1948. Why are the Palestinians and the Arab states immune from criticism when they violate international law? Why do you adhere to such a vicious double-standard? You are clearly doing whatever is in your power in order to defame the State of Israel and glorify the Palestinians.

Have you even been to Israel? You used the analogy of spraying into a crowd of protesters in order to show that unintended fatalities are tantamount to intended fatalities because the individual firing the weapon knows full well what sort of damage the impact of the bullets will cause. Though, why use such an inflammatory analogy, the Israeli army does not operate like this. Israeli soldiers do not spray rounds into crowds, they conserve their ammunition, and use rubber bullets for protesters. Moreover, you asserted that the Israeli Army fires artillery rounds into civilian areas and cited B'Tselem as the source. Is using a single leftist source wise for an academic when dealing with this sort of issue? The Israeli Army uses guided missiles in civilian areas. Their military operations are not meant to terrorize the Palestinian public, they are meant to prevent enemy combatants from further assaulting and murdering Israeli citizens.

You also spoke of the round-of-applause given to Jimmy Carter at a Jewish university, as if this substantiates the claims that he makes, and you stated that Dershowitz did not receive the same applause from the audience, hence his claims are less valid, or so you implied. What kind of faulty logic is this? And what does the fact that these students are Jewish have to do with anything? How can you be such a blind fool? Are you just trying to stir up controversy? What exactly do you want to achieve by doing all of this?



Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2008 09:26:03 -0700
From: zeina_36[at]yahoo.com
Subject: Solidarity but with Action
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

"So live that people may speak well of thee at thy grave. The just needs no memorial, for his deeds are his monument."

We thank you Dr. Finkelstein for your courage , for your humanity and for your eminent intellect . You have not only been wise in your words but also wise in your deeds. In this wretched world , a very small number of people have raised above the rest in their genuine faith, sensitivity and integrity...the latter traits have become unfortunately very rare these days !!!

My name is Zeinab Mehanna , a Southern Lebanese , an English language lecturer in one of universities in the UAE and the chief editor of an English bi-monthly Islamic magazine published in some Persian Gulf countries . I have been inspired by your ideas and thoughts that I have added a division in my magazine that deals with interfaith religions so that readers are aware of the differences between Zionism and Judaism ....as there is a wide misconception in the Arab world on that issue in particular .

I am writing this letter to ask if I could join your journey in spreading awareness between the youth ... If interested , I can send you my CV and if there is any way I could be of any support ...I am currently forwarding your articles and promoting your books within my circle of friends....Is this enough ?

I hope you take my request seriously as I have reached a stage in my life that I don't think that I can turn a blind eye to the atrocities that are being committed in the name of globalization and democracy in the world .

I await your reply with great anticipation....

Hope this letter reaches you in good health ....

Sincerely,

Zeinab



I hope I didn't come off as a defender of China's policies... I lived there for six years and know just how awful they can be. Of course the excesses of the lamas are no excuse for Chinese oppression and imperialism.

It made me smile that you referred to Obama's following as a 'cult', I quite agree. I grew up on the Liberal-Radical side of the fence and utterly despise Bush and Cheney's regime, but lately I'm leaning despairingly in a Libertarian direction and finding it very difficult to tell the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. I'm baffled at how gung-ho Obama's supporters are. It's like people are so desperate to show how non-racist they are that they'll engage in racism of the "black people sure can dance good!" variety without a hint of irony or even cognizance. I don't care what color his skin his, the man's voting record is short but disgusting (though certainly no worse than Clinton's or McCain's), and his pockets are stuffed with corporate cash just like every other whore in Washington. Once again, we get a choice between cancer and polio, yet the man on the street gobbles up his preferred flavor of delusional truthiness like it's ambrosia.

Actually, I think the political climate we're currently suffering in America is partially a side-effect of the Holocaust industry; Hitler's racism has been so relentlessly over-emphasized that most people are now incapable of recognizing Fascism unless it has some overtly racist component to it, as though Fascism = White Pride. I'm sure you know the old quote about Fascism being the marriage of corporations with the State... it churns my guts when a corporate tool like Dick Cheney can sling arrows like 'Islamofascist' and not be chased out of the room by journalists whose intelligence has been so gravely insulted.

I'm also with you on the bizarre and infantile need to worship a deity of some kind. I've been an atheist since I was eleven, but as a teenager I was very interested in religion and found reading about it and discussing it truly fascinating... now I find that I'm sick to death of all of it. I don't care what religion it is, I regard them all collectively as a terrible wellspring from which war, oppression, willful ignorance, and human misery cascade in an endless torrent. Religion has had all of human history and more to prove itself as the moral underpinning and benevolent salvation of humanity that it claims to be; that dog simply will not hunt and it's high time we all realized it.



Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:09:21 -0700
Subject: Embarrassment
From: den@berkeley.edu
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Mr. Finkelstein-

This is going to be a short, quick note to simply let you know what an embarrassment to the proud and storied Jewish people you are. As a child of TWO Holocaust survivors you should be terribly ashamed of your "academic" career. You certainly fit the profile of a "self-hating Jew", if I ever saw one! You are a shame and a waste of a Jew, no less a human being!

Not that this is anything you have not heard before, but I feel that as a proud secular Jew, I must voice my disgust with your existence. You have created a career based on inflammatory misrepresentations, scandal, and simply playing on an extremely complicated conflict. As a Phd student at Princeton (which I am happy to know has disowned you as a product of there fine institution of higher learning), you cleverly began your "academic" career as a parasite, without any original, innovative ideas of your own. Instead you sought to discredit quality academics and flame the fire of a very highly charged situation. You knew that you had no originality to hope for, so you created this "academic" career, which you now enjoy notoriety and fame from all the wrong people.

Your jealously of quality academics and your own self-hating contemptuous attitude towards your roots are disgusting. I count myself among the many, many people who are proud that De Paul University made the prudent decision it did to deny you tenure and of the difficulties that you will face throughout your life for the ill-advised decisions you have and continue to make.

You should have heeded your close friend and fellow disgraced Jew's advice when you first had this notion of attack and distortion for a career so many years ago. May you suffer throughout the rest of your miserable existence!

Sincerely- David Denney
To: den@berkeley.edu
Subject: Racism
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2008 18:48:05 -0500

Sir your racism is disgusting and disqualifies anything you have stated. You are no better than any other human being. Do yourself a favor and reread the Declaration of Independence.

All humans are created equal but some are more equal?

Can you please send a list of your rankings of the different "races" and ethnic groups?

Racism is what has allowed untold millions to be slaughtered. What is wrong with you? Human beings are human beings. No one is better than anyone else.

Thanks for showing us all the mindset of some of the Dr.'s critics. JL (W.A.S.P. by birth atheist by logic)

Hello sir,

I saw your email on Dr. Finkelstein's site. Interesting criticisms on the foundation of an academic career, I have noted these. However I must ask why a waste of a Jew is different than a waste of a human being, or why must they be mentioned seperately? As a secular humanist (atheist) myself, I must object to the racist implications of your statement. Jews will never truly be free of anti-semitism until they are treated like every other human being, I hope you join me in promoting the idea that Jews are simply humans like the rest of us, no different. It sounds like, unfortunately, you are among those who feel the Jews are "different", thus you share an ideology not with someone like Noam Chomsky (as Norman does) but with people like Hitler, Goebbels, Eichman, and Goering. I sincerely hope Israel can find peace, as all humans deserve it, regardless of their ethinc identity.

Thanks,

Alex.

Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 11:27:08 -0400
From: evanharper[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Denny letter

Hmm, I see that one David Denney, apparently a PhD student at Princeton, calls you "a shame and a waste of a Jew, no less a human being," who should "suffer throughout the rest of your miserable existence."

As we both know, such unprofessional personal attacks divert the conversation away from consideration of ideas, and polarize and simplify conversations that deserve layered and subtle consideration. It's truly regrettable that Mr. Denney will now be ostracized by his university and hounded out of academia.

...won't he?

Evan Harper
(you may publish this with my name & email)





Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2008 19:54:41 -0700
From: freetothink123@yahoo.com
Subject: just curious
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Are you still alive, bitch? It's about time someone should take care of this injustice... hopefully, very soon.



Subject: U of Toronto and Palestinian Apartheid Conference
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2008 18:11:08 +0000

Dear Professor Finkelstein

The article on the above topic which is posted on your website originally led me to be satisfied that the university held its ground in favor of free speech against 70 professors (renowned??) who had bleated that the conference could be divisive.Fine ---I thought. Then I read that on one occassion the university asked the police for its view as to whether talking about apartheid in Palestine could be hate speech. Then I realised how fragile the concept of free speech really is and how timid university administrators really are.

Ask the police? If the police are going to be the final word for the University of Toronto on a question of academic freedom, then there is a really substantive problem.

As far as allowing divisive speech is concerned, I wonder whether the tenured and renowned professors would have bleated in 1850 about a conference on the evils of slavery because it would be divisive? On the attributes of socialism which might be divisive? On atheism? On Darfur? These 70 professors all ought to lose their tenure for acting against free speech and against academic freedom.

They have proven themselves incompetent. They do not need tenure because they are facilitators of general opinion--that is all. Tenure is needed, if it is needed at all, to protect those of independent mind.

Truly the most divisive action is to deprive people of their freedom of speech because their message is unpopular.

Very truly yours,

W. Ferrari





Hi, Norm,

I'm the living proof that you also get along well with "self-loving Jews"! Yes, I always wondered: if there are self-hating Jews, there must be the self-loving ones, isn't that correct? Extraordinarily nice to hear from you! I have been deluged with vicious e-mails - not a plaintive rumination, I assure you: it's part of what I do, and I get them for other reasons as well - by both "supporters" and detractors of you. "Of You", I want to stress that: there's hardly any e-mail with any serious attempt at debating what you actually write, which I assume most people who write me don't read because they're engaged in destroying a character, not in a reasonable discussion about the topic you've been specializing in for so many years now. The fact that you don't give your opinion on just about everything, like people do these days, but only speak and write on the subjects you dedicate so much effort to clarify is just one of the signs of your intellectual honesty.

I get hate mails all the time, and I really don't care. What I do care, however, is that people are still unable to tell a circus-like plagiarist from a serious scholar! I'd like your readers to know that I'm pretty much on the right: I'd like them to know that we probably disagree on just about everything else other than the Israel-Palestine conflict. But that we, Norman Finkelstein and Yara, agree that Israel has been the main obstacle for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and that the international consensus you point to, as embodied in the International Court of Justice advisory opinion, may not work, as I told you earlier, but is the chance and hope we have for Israelis and Palestinians to live and peace. We agree on that, and that's enough: I do think Huzbollah and Hamas are terrorist groups that, pretty much like Israel, don't give a damn about International Law and basic decency, but I also think that the best way of supressing the violence on both sides is giving the international consensus a chance. It may not work, but it's about the only thing we haven't tried yet!

Israel tried - what a menu! - violence, brutality, invasion, terrorist-like policies, retaliation, torture, extrajudicial killings, house demolition, economic strangulation, destruction of infra-structure, and, surprise, surprise, none of those policies worked, but helped increase the tension in the region and the rage among Palestinians.

People don't care about the death tolls. They don't care basically because it's an implicit assumption that Palestinians, well, come on, they are not reeeeally human beings, they don't qualify as such. So if the killing ratio is 4:1, 5:1, 6:1 or 20:1, it doesn't matter because one's just adding zeros to the left of the digit: 1 and 0000001 are the same number, isn't that true? 0 and 0000000 are also the same number. People can't shift the zeros to the right of the digit without running the risk of recognizing humanity in Palestinians.

I'm portrayed by friends (!) as a Jewish religious zealot. I'm deeply religious, but not even in my wildest ethnic fantasies I'd think that my fellow Jews would start equating demography and butchering with redemption! I always ask myself: is it possible that we read the same books and say the same prayers? There's always the seductive hypothesis that I may be an idiot in regard to these matters as well. ;-)) But, I mean, if I'm so idiotic as to think that butchering and redemption can't be squarely accommodated in the same sentence, then I prefer to be an outright idiot - it's my option for being an idiot, it's a choice, I can't blame anybody.

Keep up with the excellent work and the remarkable intellectual honesty. I recommend your books ANY TIME. ;-)) Such a wonderful scholar and professor you are. It's a shame that a vulgar plagiarist has a well-established pulpit whence he can shout out loud all that circensian nonsense while a remarkable and distinguished scholar as yourself is prevented from teaching. At least De Paul had the decency to recognize that you are an outstanding teacher.

Luv ya (Did I come off well as a rapper? I'm even wearing the cap backwards, yo!),

Yara Chiara

P.S.: It's always an honour to get my messages posted on your website. This one would help clarify people as to "where I stand": I stand on the side of International Law, which means that I'm against Israel's policies of torturing, killing, butchering and massacring Palestinians. Torture, extrajudicial killing, land grab, destruction of the basic infra-structure necessary for living and house demolition are illegal - as long as Israel choses to follow this path, it'll be correctly described as an Outlaw State.

P.S.: I hope your readers don't get jealous. ;-)



Dear Norman

If we go by the Woody Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School's train of logic, would "Massive Urban Renewal" also apply to the ethnic cleansing of the Holocaust?

I suspect the advice of "Star; Smile; Strong" is frequently dispensed to his sniggering acolytes. One can't help wondering if all he represents is a particular brand of cynical Self Pitying Fascist Israel.

keep up the good work
Arshad



Hi Dr. Finkelstein,

My attention has been drawn to your work and your situation by the man I give the most credit to in teaching me to think for myself - our beloved Uncle Noam, as I endearingly refer to him.

I've recently tackled a few of your books, and have just finished watching a few of your lectures posted on You Tube, as well as your words to the public in September 2007 regarding DePaul's denial of tenure. Concerning the latter, what a debacle, and my condolences. Concerning the former, I feel ever fortunate to have discovered another rare and reasoned voice amongst the "independent herd of intellectuals".

I just wanted to express my solidarity with you, and to reach out to you with my new found optimism. I'm one of the lucky ones. I've been able to break free from my family's over-arching perception: humans are corrupt, there will always be war, and therefore there's no point in resisting. Like you, I am now facing the difficulties of resisting in the face of unfavorable consequences. Your words and actions give me strength.

I was reading an article by Michael Albert today and I thought I'd share with you his quotation of Bertrand Russell: "Man is born ignorant, not stupid. It is education that makes him stupid." Well said.

Best to you and your future endeavors. If you want to come to Toronto to speak, I'd happily organize!

Denis



To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject:
Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:46:22 -0400
From: wpearlman@aol.com

Aren't you dead yet. Bill Pearlman



I just came from the synagogue. I take Hebrew there. It was horrible, there are 5 old Zionist ladies and me and the teacher. They are nice, but all extremely brainwashed. For them Jews are always victims, they have never done anything wrong, the others are all "anti-shemiut". For me it is hard to stand but it is the price I have to pay for studying Hebrew which is a language I really like and because of my connection to Judaism. But today it was horrible: already last week it was horrible. The teacher came from Israel and was taking about how people were sad about the attack at the yeshiva, and how brutal and animal Palestinians were, attacking innocent students, and bla bla bla. No word about the horrors of Gaza, about the 20 day old baby killed with a bullet in her head, the 130 Palestinians massacred in one weekend, half of them children and women, the indiscriminate killing methods Israel uses, the daily -literally- killings...Today the teacher talked about the guy who came once to fix something. When she told him that she was Israeli the guy told her clearly that he did not approve of Israeli politics. He told her: I served in the army and tanks against rocks is very disproportionate and cowardly. They started talking amicably. My teacher presented the guy with all the myths of Zionist thought: that it was the Arabs that rejected the partition plan, that they could have had a state, that Israel has the right to defend itself, that Israel is a democracy (even more than the US because there is no death penalty), that Arabs can elect and be elected, that Israel is villified in the media night and day etc. I was getting really sick as it is useless to argue with brainwashed people. In my head I had the obvious answers: the Arabs rejected the plan because apart from giving half of the land to a foreign people, it was unfair to them, the plan created an Arab state and a Jewish state with 400,000 Jews and 350,000 Arabs (who would be the majority now given fertility rates), but did not give the right to Israel to extend to 77 per cent of the land as of today (and 100 per cent if we count the stachim "territories"), Israel's right to defend itself does not give right to infringe dozens of UN resolutions, or to occupy a land illegally since 1967, or to kill women and children on a daily basis, Israel is a democracy for Jews not for all its citizens, even entities like the Jewish National Fund do not allow "Jewish" land to be sold to Arabs, Arab villages are underfunded and discriminated, racism and discrimination against Arabs official and in daily life by average Israelis is common as all studies shows, and racism keeps on growing, there is no death penalty because the IDF judges, condemns and executes without trial, torture is prevalent, and especially in the US and not so much in Europe if there are any massacres that are belittled and put in the last pages of newspapers and tv bulletins are those committed against Arabs and Palestinians. Most recently the Israeli gvt which had conducted a PR campaign in the last year to have Arab speakers appear on Al-Jazeera, decided not to collaborate with a TV channel that "foments terror". Their crime ? Showing pictures of dead babies, teenagers and women during the recent weekend orgy of murder in Gaza...I did not say anything other than to point out that if the Arabs are complaining it will be for something and that Liebermann threatened to expel them last week (being Israeli citizens as they are), that people in the territories have not rights, and that recently an Israeli army spokesman threatened them with a Holocaust...The funny thing is that the teacher kept on saying the world is so anti-Semitic, why when a Christian or Muslim says that they like Israel or they defend Israel there is no problem, but when it is a Jew it becomes a problem ?? Well, with blank exonerations of Israel's murderous policies and zero capacity for criticism, there is no wonder why people identify Jew with an Israeli defender and a defender of inadmissible actions...maybe some self-criticism is necessary from the Jewish community in the first place, instead of searching to justify the injustifiable. I remember watching once on tv an exposition of an Israeli young lady in her twenties who had founded an association that was trying to explain the Palestinian narrative to Israeli Jews, and making them understand the Palestinian position, and especially what happened in 1948, and how more than 500 Palestinian villages were destroyed, the lady said that it was difficult, that Israelis are brainwashed, they have created myths and they believe them, like that the Palestinians left of their own volition. And that is there is a problem in this conflict is that Israelis do not know Palestinians at all, and have no interest in doing so as they regard them as inferior. But Palestinians do know Israelis and have to know them, since they are being occupied by them. And even like this they are not racist at all, they complain about the (illegal) occupation, not about the Jews...And most importantly that she felt like a freak, because Israelis including her family do not understand her. Maybe when this lady stops feeling like a freak, when Israelis understand the facts, and the other side of the story, this will be good for Israel also itself and a process of reconciliation and understanding instead of the current absolutism and denial of the other will start to take place...



Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:59:41 +0000
From: schlemihl[at]gmail.com
To: askdoj@usdoj.gov; john.conyers@mail.house.gov; senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
Subject: inhuman, unjust treatment of Dr. Sami Amin al-Arian
CC: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear sirs,

I draw your attention to the plight of Dr Sami Amin al-Arian, currently incarcerated despite not being found guilty of all seventeen original charges in a trial that cost the US taxpayer some $50 million, and in which much of the evidence was apparently dismissed by the jury as "gossip".

Having given concerted consideration to the public facts of the matter, Dr al-Arian's continued incarceration seems to merely be a) a facing-saving measure on the part of the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office, and b) a blatant attempt to coerce additional testimony despite the doctor having already signed an agreement that stated he would not be required to cooperate in any further cases

I respectfully request an immediate and thorough Congressional investigation into the clear and gross mistreatment suffered by Dr al-Arian. Failure to do so can only further jeopardise the public image of the United States, a country that should rightfully pride itself on being a beacon for truth, justice, and the inalienable right of human beings to live with dignity and without fear.

Kind Regards,
Mark Brenchley

--
all that is necessary for evil to
triumph is for good people to do nothing



Subject: Finkadelic

We love you Dr. Finkelstein, your books are the best.



From: macny@live.ie To: askdoj@usdoj.gov; john.conyers@mail.house.gov; senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
CC: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Inhuman treatment of Dr. Sami Amin al-Arian
Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:43:27 +0000

Dear Gentlemen,

The inhuman treatment of Dr. Sami Amin al-Arian demands to be corrected by the US authorities. Dr. Sami al-Arian requires immediate medical intervention in order to arrest the very serious physical harm he has suffered from his hunger strike and refusal to consume water. His protest is against the blatantly unjust manner and unfair treatment he has endured since his apprehension by the US security services.

The US justice system, already infamous in the eyes of decent people, has sunk even lower. The inability of the authorities to successfully prosecute the unfortunate man by due process indicates the political nature of the prosecution. Human decency requires that you correct the lack of medical intervention to assist the Doctor and grant him the release so due to him. As officials in authority you are responsible for need to take such a desperate stand to receive the justice due to him.

Regards,

Nigel McNamee



Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:23:37 -0700
From: brunojantti[at]yahoo.com
Subject: The Case of Dr. Sami Amin al-Arian.
To: askdoj@usdoj.gov; john.conyers@mail.house.gov;
senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
CC: normangf[at]hotmail.com

To whom it may concern,

The continuing imprisonment of Dr. Sami Amin al-Arian is a direct attack on the principle of the rule of law. The case of Dr. Sami al-Arian, as well as that of many other prisoners who are in a roughly comparable situation, is beginning to be more and more widely known in the world and the facts of these cases are so obscene that the legitimacy of the whole judiciary of the United States will be in jeopardy. The utter inability of those who're responsible for the political imprisonment(s) even to disguise what is happening at this very moment will make things even worse, from the simple point of view of their own integrity.

Dr. Sami al-Arian must be immediately released. Besides that the United States Congress must carefully investigate his mistreatment.

Sincerely yours,

Bruno Jäntti
Finland.



From: prochoice8[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: The Spitzer thing
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:14:00 +0000

Was that whole thing cooked up to enable Big Ugly D to show his ugly face and say ugly things on tv again?

I, being old, do not have to be politically correct, I can put on paper that I am anti-downright-ugly!

I am especially hostile towards ugly characters, neocons and warmongers like Big Ugly D.

But of course Big Ugly D manages to be wrong again:

1000$ an hour?

The only prostitutes who get such sums are intellectual prostitutes, a.k.a. politicians, industry lobbyists and incorporation lawyers.

For the great majority of physical prostitutes, male and female, the description victims (of violence since their childhood), the one Big Ugly D denied, is more appropriate.

“In Europe, this wouldn't even make the back pages of the newspaper."

I searched yesterday and this morning and have still to find ONE newspaper which did not have it on the first three pages – all media love scandals.

With high probability the corporate media were directed to Mr. Spitzer, because his politics were not liked by some of Mr. Dershowitz's clients.

However, Big Ugly D is right on one thing this time: "Men don't use their brains”

Self-awareness? Or just a chance to decry these his own words like the Latuff cartoon?



Professor,

It is amazing what a self-serving egomanic Dershowitz is. He only further embarasses himself nearly everytime he opens his mouth about anything especially wrt this recent Spitzer incident. I think it's reached a point where you have already and long ago thoroughly intellectually undressed him for what he is via your DN! debates and book regarding his absurd The Case for Israel rantings and other such nonsense.

Therefore, I hope to perhaps play the role of your (very very unqualified) PR manager, so maybe you might just want to ignore this as I'm sure you've thought about and heard the following rap before by much more intelligent, professional, and respectable people than myself. So now with my own 'impressive' PR resume on the table and reviewed, I would advise you put Mr. Dershowitz behind you. In my opinion, showcasing his idiocy now & henceforth is probably not going to help your cause any, nor THE Cause ie the REAL Cause- as I said, he has been thoroughly disgraced multiple times already and badly. He's a dirtbag and anyone who doesn't think so probably never will because they are just as bad or just stupid.

Despite the fact that he is responsible for some of the cheapest and dirtiest assaults in besmerching your character, reputation, and professional life; and moreover, that I can appreciate the sweetness associated with getting a countershot in on him (or 20); I would say just let the man further diminish and wither away and not even acknowledge he exists anymore. That is, I would recommend just ignoiring him UNLESS he ever has the balls to publically debate you again in the future which everybody knows that he doesn't. He's a coward, a eunuch, & and a complete embarassment to himself, Harvard University, and anyone that calls him a friend...like OJ probably does.

So lastly I say, you're job is through...and no bad pun intended. I believe the climate has been sufficently tempered whereby the apologists and advocates for violence are simply ignored or laughed at (and it's unfortunate that they will also likely ignore the actual issues at hand too). Such liars & lowlifes usually bring nothing to the table wrt real evidence and they speak in platitudes and slogans, so I say fuck them and let's just let them be. You own this man's intellectual testicles already so I don't think you need to further argue your case and further add to the vast pile of mounted evidence against that sorry excuse for a man. So along all these lines, I would also advise: Reserve your webspace and efforts for what it is you do best and for the real issues (& lives) that are at hand.

However, I DON'T mean for you to lose the fire, passion, and intensity...in my opinion that makes you all the more effective...but maybe lose it if only for when it comes to making that jerkoff look like the ass that he already looks like (and has long looked like for a long long time). Now I know that that might be difficult for you and easy for me to say as YOU (& not me or anyone else) are the one taking the heat and the hits from that pig and his vulgar propagandizing constituents. Nonetheless, I thought you might appreciate a 'third party' opinion, and again this is probably an issue that you have already been wrestling with in your own mind...as I doubt you have a PR agent nor would one really be much use to you in your line of business.

So that's just my unqualified opinion on the matter and to summarize: Yes, he's indeed scum but there are bigger fish to fry so maybe in moving forward just wash your hands of it with something like: "Debate me, coward, or just shut your face...THE END".

Best Regards,



From: w.l.29@hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Wow!
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:09:20 -0500

I just viewed your interview on Al Jazeera and it immediately induced a visceral reaction. "Israel is ready to suffer a defeat"? What a bizarre thing to say but for a warmonger. Even your interviewer appeared more moderate, and this from a well-known Israel/Jew hating media source.

How could any person with parents who perished in the holocaust foment a war against a uniquely Jewish nation? You are a weird guy, bottom line. Nobody knows if there is a purgatory or hell where you'll suffer in the afterlife, but you seem to be good candidate.

So, thanks for the nausea and I wish you nothing less than what you've (likely) created for yourself.



Hello Dr. Finklestein,

In the '80's I was an organizer for the Palestine Human Rights Campaign in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I became interested in Palestine after meeting Palestinian Christians in the Eastern Orthodox Church I attended. The information on your website has been very helpful to me and the video and audio has encouraged me to stay active with this issue.

Your personal integrity in the face of unjustified and irrational attacks is quite inspiring. I sincerely hope that you get a teaching position soon, if not here in American then abroad.

Thank-you!

Douglas Brandow
Sturgis, Michigan

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." -Martin Buber



From: andrewkeshmiri[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Dershowitz Comes To Spitzer's Defense
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:38:26 -0700

For once, I actually agree with Mr.Dipshit, whoops, I meant Mr.Dershowitz, when he says of the medias attention to Spitzer's recent troubles, "But I feel that this was a story that we have to put in perspective. Big deal. Married man goes to prostitute. In Europe, this wouldn't even make the back pages of the newspaper." He is right, maybe the media should be focusing on the 130 Palestinians killed and the 300 injured, or the recent Israeli decision to expand settlement blocs. This would be nice to see on the front page of the New York Times or San Francisco Chronicle.



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

It is wonderful to see that you are finally coming to UW-Milwaukee! I attended a lecture you orated at UW-Parkside and found your presence and passion to be as unforgettable as your written works.

Before arriving to our campus I must make you aware of a hideous abhorrence that has clung to our university for decades, that is, the name of the university library. The name of the Golda Meir Library persisted through rounds of protest many years ago (according to news reports) as supporters maliciously labeled those who protested the figure who proclaimed that “There are no Palestinians!” as anti-Semites.

The reason I write to you today is to ask for your help. Please tell the students and the community in attendance what it means to celebrate a person such as this. Please let them know who Golda Meir is and what she and her administration and Zionist ideology have done to the Palestinian people. Please inform them that to recognize and honor such a figure is an injustice not just to our Palestinian and Arab-American student body, but to every student and member of the Milwaukee community at large.

I am only one graduate student with no platform. With your help perhaps enough support will be mustered to begin a campaign that may result in the correction of this injustice. I would appreciate your help with this cause as I’m sure many will once it has been exposed to them.

Thank you,



Dear Sir,

With my best salam,

Indeed, I want to send my regret of not benefiting very much from you during your visit in Istanbul. However, it does not matter, because I have downloaded many of your speeches, conferences and video recordings to my laptop and i-pod. Till now, I have listened most of them. The last one was a debate with Alan Dershowitz at democracynow.org as a video type.

I am sending this e-mail to express my gratitude, best and warm good-wishes to you for your whole life, for good health and good future who are among the dignified and most respected scholars in western world in my opinion as far as I had a chance to compare from so-called scholars focusing on Palestinian issue or Islam. (I mean orientalist, mustashriq scholars)

At last, sorry for taking your valuable time and disrupt you. But I thought to send this e-mail as a duty on my shoulders on behalf of at least for my people living in Turkey who would share same opinions if they would know you, read your articles, books (some of them did - Soykýrým Endüstrisi) and records (video, mp3 and etc)

With my best admiration, appreciation and good-wishes.
Salam



Dr. Finkelstein,

I am sorry, but I must indulge in a rant here. I am sick of hearing about “measured response” and “moral army”. Am I to trust the Israeli apparatus with making rational decisions regarding the Palestinians? The entire Israeli claim rests on a 2,500 year old contract with a sky fairy named “Yahweh”, who apparently was one of many space fairies worshipped in Canaan. This “god” was genocidal, homophobic, sexist, racist, and curiously obsessed with the length of men’s hair. Not omitting his obsession with the menstruation of women. Now the Palestinians are forced to give up land they were living on for centuries because some Europeans finally decide to take note of their space god’s contractual obligations regarding real estate in the Middle East. This is the very same celestial tyrant who informed us the earth was flat in the Torah (Old Testament). Also the same interstellar pixy who declared slavery licit, and that one may sell his daughter into slavery. The very same “deity” who takes suspicious delight in the malodorous fumes of sacrificed oxen wafting to the heavens? Shall I, an ethical humanist, be forced to listen to the feculent morality of Zionists who insist on the authority of this lunar lunatic?

Now this space god sits, arms folded, watching these chosen people on chosen land die in suicide bombings. One could easily assume (erroneously no doubt) that this orbital unicorn god could conjure a flood or pestilence to abate these Palestinian assaults. But, nothing… And still I get to hear about Israeli “cultural superiority” and “moral nature”. A country founded on such an irrational claim, must therefore be an irrational nation. I think I am done listening to Israeli apologetics. Keep up the good work.

AT

P.S. I am out of bathroom tissue, where does one pick up a used copy of “The Case for Israel”?



Hi,

Israel likes to claim it only targets militants, and other casualties are unintended. However, Israel’s 2006 war on Lebanon disproves that. The Israelis even attacked Christian neighborhoods during the war. Israel targets civilians to try to turn them against any resistance movement. That is terrorism: violence directed at civilians for political ends. The 2006 war provided a clear answer to whether Israel targets civilians. Yet one still hears people falsely claim that Israel does not.

Yours,
Paul Tracy



Dr. Finkelstein:

I thought that the following link may interest you; this is from an episode of Glenn Beck's show featuring Alan Dershowitz:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0803/06/gb.01.html

Dershowitz outright slanders "Human Rights Watch" and "Amnesty International;" I was particularly surprised to hear him say that Amnesty International was on the side of terrorists! I specifically remember during the "Democracy Now" debate between Dershowitz and yourself that he claimed to be a contributor to Amnesty International! Hmmm does this mean ole Dersh is involved with a group that supports terrorism? For a Harvard professor he is quite skilled at making himself look like a blithering idiot.

To make matters even worse; the alleged champion of human rights Alan Dershowitz actually advocated the killing of civilians; not only is he a torture apologist but now he advocates passing laws that legalises the murder of civilians whether they are combatants or not! Here some quotes from the above transcripts:

DERSHOWITZ: We have to understand that the people who in Gaza today, as we speak, are cheering for the terrorists who killed these kids, or the people who cheered when 9/11 came and 3,000 people were killed in the United States. These are not civilians. They`re on a continuum closer to being combatants than civilians.

We have to change the law. We have to allow preemptive attacks that target the terrorists, even if they do occasionally kill civilians, particularly civilians who willingly put themselves in harm`s way as human shields. The rules have to change.

DERSHOWITZ: We have to fight Islamic terrorism. We have to take preemptive actions. We have to take some risks. And we have to make the civilians who support the terrorists take some risks. Civilians are not sacrosanct when they solicit help for terrorists.

Ignoring the sheer shocking fact that a Harvard law professor apparently has no idea of what constitutes a "civilian" I cannot help but marvel at how a man can allegedly speak from a perceived position of moral authority as he advocates the outright violation of Article 3 of the 4th Geneva Conventions that demands protection for those not engaging in hostility.

You once referred to Dershowitz as a clown; I believe you let him off far too easily!

Frank



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I am writing to thank you and express my admiration for your tireless and courageous campaign to awaken the world to the suffering endured by Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and other places, and to end the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. I am sure you receive numerous emails and thank you letters.

Admittedly, I have not known of your work for very long and was fortunate enough to have a colleague at work email me your website after he learned I was Palestinian. I arrived in Australia when I was about five. My family and I were living in Jordan, where I was born and where we settled as a result of the war in Lebanon (where we had been living previously). My father's (who was Palestinian, my mother is Lebanese) death precipitated my moving to Australia. My father was naturally deeply committed to the recognition of a national Palestinian identity and a sovereign and independent state offering equal rights and opportunity to Israelis. I have no doubt his deteriorating health (and eventual heart attack) stemmed from his relentless frustration and anguish at never seeing his dream of Palestinian nationhood realized.

I currently live in an increasingly materialistic society, where the lure of success (whatever that means) and acquisition of wealth is seductive and a most effective diversion from what really matters. The last few federal political elections (the war in Iraq has not carried much weight with voters sadly) have primarily been fought on the state of the economy. I have personally been caught up in the web of asset accumulation. Competition in the race for affluence though is increasingly hollow and meaningless. It has been only recently (the last few years) that I have wanted to become more active and actually participate in a cause that is both personal and extremely important for the world. The greatest obstacle for me though has been battling my own pessimism given my father's own experience.

I cannot escape from the thought that Palestinians have advanced very little since my father's death and that the power balance has scarcely shifted. I know from the speeches you have made that you believe there is cause for real optimism. I guess I want to know (and you probably get asked this all the time) the most effective way I can help (although I appreciate it depends on how much time I can commit. I also appreciate it is difficult for you to given advice in this area) convey the message and actually get some small victories. Australians in particular seem ambivalent about the issue. It doesn't seem to stir emotions in the mainstream like the issue of East Timor or even the people of Tibet. I understand that has to do with the media's role and lack of education about the facts, but I think there has been a demonization of Palestinians as terrorists and fanatics. Some have also become desensitized to the problem.

I am not sure which angle to pursue this from. I believe (although I could be wrong) that Professor Chomsky rejects the idea that people should be speaking to power, or politicians or people of influence to help enact change. I guess it should therefore take place at the grassroots level. But can small, fragmented groups or networks of groups (I don't even know if there are any current, functioning groups where I live) make a real difference to the lives and futures of Palestinians? Is there a better way? Sorry, I have so many questions but know very little of the answers. Maybe none of us do. Perhaps I also expect too much, but I just don't understand why in so many decades since the war in 67 we seem just as far away from true progress. How many UN resolutions, World Court decisions, and human rights reports must there be before there is an end to the brutal persecution and oppression of Palestinian people? I know the answer cannot be to give up, but it sometimes feels that I am watching re-runs of a really bad movie - it would be comical if it weren't true.

Any words you can offer would be most appreciated. Sorry for the sombre end to my email.

Kindest regards,

Elias.



About time a Jew with some stones can finally step up and speak out against the wrong doings of their own kind. That, I respect. And I agree with all that's said. And I admit that that is the reason why most people, including myself, have looked at the Jews with disgust, the misuse of history's events to their own gains.

Frank.



From: David Collins drcollins57@yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Sent: Saturday, March 1, 2008 10:55:24 PM
Subject: Reprisals on rocket attacks

Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

Writing you and your supporters on this issue is, of course, absolutely futile, but leaving your site unchallenged on it is even worse. Place your blame on Hamas and every other terrorist organization that is firing rockets and artillery from Gaza, not the Israelis. Over the last several years there have been thousands of rockets fired on Sdorot and other targets, with increasing range and explosives load, and those firing them are very careful to skillfully and shamefully place them in in the midst of Palestian civilian populations. There is absolutely no country in the world that would be expected to allow endless attacks on its citizenry (recently more than thirty attacks daily with increasing fatality), and probably none would have demonstrated the restraint Israel has in waiting this long. I would only query you and your supporters on what you would expect Israel to do? There is absolutely no way to avoid the sort of Palestinian civilian casualties you so indignantly splash across your site without expecting Israel to permitted unlimted attacks. And the Jewish to Arab death ratio, of which you are so fond, is beyond misleading useless. Virtually every innocent Arab casualty by the action of the IDF is inadvertent and unavoidable, and is regretted by the people of Israel. This touted ratio is an absolutely stupid comparison. Every Jewish death is utterly intentional, celebrated by the perpetrators and most civilians, and represents only a fraction of the murder that those launching rockets strive for. The experience with Gaza certainly presents Israel with a taste of what an unimaginably dangerous situation she would have to deal with were the "West Bank" given back. And Mr. Abbas was careless enough to publicly admit, a few days ago, that the use of violence in promoting the cause of the Palestians was, for him, only temporary. There does not appear to be such thing as a "moderate." How surprising.

I will just close with a comment I made in a previous letter, regarding your mother's shielding her eyes from violence: would she be as totally unconcerned about the horrific injury to her own people, to Jewish men, women and children, as her son seems to be? It just doesn't seem to bother him at all.

Dr. D. Collins
From: maxillagardens1118[at]hotmail.co.uk
To: drcollins57[at]yahoo.com
Subject: Reprisals ( Your email to Dr Norman Finkelstein dated 1 March 2008)
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 14:47:27 +0000

DR Collins

Mr Collins

Yet again you have difficulty in finding the truth when writing the nonsense you do. I know you do not like such as Amnesty International , B'Tselem or Human Rights Watch but that makes you little different to Alan Dershowitz. Any chance of taking notice of UN figures? In the last four years Palestinian rockets have killed a total of 13 people in Israel . In the last five-day operation at least 106 Palestinians were killed. UN and Human rights groups ( sorry to bring them in again) report that at least half of the dead were not involved in the fighting. Yes indeed, the spirit of the Nazi state lives on.

Michael Shanahan





Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

My name is George Ramirez, I had met you at a talk you gave at UCLA back in 2006. Beforehand I had told you about Ward Churchill being fired from his University, and since that time I have been saddened to find out that you met a similar fate by not being granted tenure at DePaul. Ever since I have been following the horrific Israeli attack on Southern Lebanon up to the murder of over a hundred Gazans a few days ago. It really is depressing how the U.S. media continually makes the Israeli occupation of Palestine seem like its some complex problem when in all actuality the only real obstacle is the U.S./ Israel alliance. I'm so indebted to your extremely well researched books and articles, and am glad that you continue to speak out about the gross injustices being committed by the U.S. and its favorite client state.

What prompted me to write to you is due to hearing you on the Phil Hendrie show a few days ago. I'm actually a really big fan of his comedy, and even subscribe to his website cause he is a comic genius when it comes to voices. I tuned in to his show at about 10:30 at night and was so pleased to hear him say that he had you on the line, and couldn't wait to hear what he would be asking you. Though I knew he would be critical because when he talks about conflicts in the middle east he basically always favors the Israeli side, which isn't surprising because he also has been a huge supporter of the occupation of Iraq though he claims to be a liberal. I could not believe how absolutely ridiculous this man acted towards you even after asking you about Hezbollah and its origins and ties with Iran, I don't think he let you talk for 20 seconds. As you know he was completely belligerent, and it really sounded like he was trying to interview himself it was so ridiculous. His level of understanding about your work was shameful in asking you if Israel had a right to exist or defend itself. And then to top it all off he had to ask if you believe in the holocaust. Just utterly amazing, he had not a single clue as to who you were, or if he did I guess it was part of his comedy bit. I guess it makes sense when you consider that what Phil is most known for are his comedy bits, but the so-called "interview" he had with you was even beyond being a joke it was truly shameful. I guess however that that is what happens when a comedian tries to interview a serious scholar. It could have been a real opportunity to let his audience get acquainted with an opinion that is so little heard in the U.S., but I suppose we can't expect much from the sub-standard quality of so many broadcasters that operate within the corporate air waves.

Thank you so much for your courageous scholarship Dr. Finkelstein, and lets hope that the truth about the Israel-Palestine conflict can spread throughout this country and beyond despite the ignorance of so many media clowns.

Sincerely,
George Ramirez





Dear Norman,

I thought you should know that despite Alan Dershowitz's frequent trumpeting of his long-standing support of the two-state solution (and deriding of Chomsky's supposed lack of such support), the facts are once again at odds with the professor.

You will recall that on 1 June 2004, Dershowitz claimed in an article for frontpage.com ("Making the Case for Israel"): "I've always favored a two-state solution."

That isn't true. Here is Dershowitz debating Meir Kahane on 11 November 1984:

"I do not think it is Israelis' long-term interest to maintain control over large Arab population centers. I would insist that Jews be permitted to live in any part of the West Bank that they choose to live and be adequately protected in those areas. NOR DO I BELIEVE IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PALESTINIAN STATE; that is, a government which is entitled to a foreign policy -- a government which, like Nicaragua, claims the right to have Soviet MIGs flown in. I do believe that there should be a certain degree of autonomy -- domestic autonomy -- by Palestinians within large cities. To that respect, I generally agree with the Allon plan."

The emphasis is mine. The words are his, and there is no getting around them. Perhaps he's been referring to Jordan all this time.

You can link to the audio here:

http://ia341232.us.archive.org/3/items/
CllectedSpeechesDebatesAndInterviews/RavKahane01m_64kb.mp3

Best Wishes,

Matthew Kelly



Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 15:04:17 -0500
From: mgoldman[at]rogers.com
Subject: Anti-Semite
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Hello Norman Finkelstein,

You must be very proud of yourself today. Your bitter, Jewish self-hating anti-semitic, anti- Israel, praise and pride of hezbollah and hamas (or was it anyone who kills Jews) has contributed to another 8 dead Jews, peaceful children studying their religion (something that you have divested yourself of and perhaps that is why you incite hate against Israel and Jews), critically injured three others, injured more, and destroyed families lives (and Jews to boot)! Chalk up more to your pitiful self hatred! May G-d have mercy on you when your time comes. (Of course you can always allo akbar (or whatever)) Mind you, the arabs won't accept you anyway because you are Jewish. I guess the jokes on you. Are you making any money this weekend from anti-Israel, anti Jewish speeches? Your interview with the arab news station wherein you expressed your admiration for the arab murderers was really funny. They made sure to show your profile so that the world could see this slow talking big nosed Jew with the glasses at the end of his nose spouting his hatred against his own people. I got a kick out of it.

A Jew that loves his people and faith.
NEW! Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 19:43:30 -0800
From: pgg804[at]yahoo.com
Subject: Murder
To: mgoldman[at]rogers.com
CC: normangf[at]hotmail.com
This was reported in the Saudi Gazette:

"ISRAEL killed 116 Palestinians in Gaza last week in an orgy of air strikes and ground incursions, turning the besieged and starved Strip into an unbearable inferno. Hundreds more Palestinians were wounded. At least half the dead and wounded were civilians, including many young children.

So great was the catastrophe that Egypt, under pressure from an enraged public opinion, opened the Rafah crossing into Sinai and sent 27 ambulances to shuttle scores of badly wounded Palestinians to hospital in Al Arish."

From what you said to Professor Finkelstein in your letter, I would venture to guess that if you were the editor of a newspaper, you would not report this (as is the case with American newspapers) or you would say in your report that these murders were retaliation for something the Palestinians did. Maybe one of them through a rock at an Israeli soldier.

You clearly are capable of demonstrating compassion, as you do for the murdered Israeli children. Are you also capable of demonstrating compassion for the murdered Palestinians who have almost nothing to defend themselves with.

Sincerely,

Peter Gebert





On shabbos, my grandson Bradley, showed me this book by Aaron Klein, a frum Jew from Philadelphia. Klein interviews leaders of all the Palestinian resistance groups and the things these mamzerim said are enough to make you plotz!

The Palestinian leaders were candid about their dreams to not only wipe out Israel, but to establish a worldwide Caliphate. Oy.

You and I know that Madonna is a a no good tramp, but these terrorists’ sincerely want to stone her to death!

The terrorists are not only little Israel’s problem. Did you know that they have plans for American society too, once they have established a Caliphate? A deputy commander of Fatah’s al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Nasser Abu Azziz, explained to Klein, "These sick people [homosexuals] will be treated in a very tough way," explaining that the Islamic leadership will "prevent social and physical diseases like homosexuality." All the terrorists whom Klein interviewed agreed that homosexuality would not be tolerated in the US once Islam rules.

Sheik Hamad, a Hamas cleric, said those women who refuse to cover themselves in conformity with Islamic values would be punished either by imprisonment, whipping or stoning. Norman. They want to throw a sheet over me, except I'm not dead yet!

Klein was told by Abu Ayman, the commander of Islamic Jihad in Jenin, that Muslims are strictly forbidden from becoming suicide bombers if they are motivated by anything – including desperate poverty or revenge for Israeli wrongdoing to this individual – other than love of Allah. So it's NOT revenge stupid!

Sheikh Taysir Tamimi, the chief Palestinian Justice and one of the most important clerics in the Middle East. Tamimi lectured Klein that "there is no Jewish historic connection whatsoever to the Temple Mount or Jerusalem," and that the "Jews came to the [Temple area] in 1967 and not before." He says to Klein, "These archaeological things you cite are lies", erasing Judaism’s connection to the Holy Land by ignoring irrefutable and concrete evidence of inconvenient facts. Nasser Abu Aziz made it clear. "We are fed up with this crap nonsense of the Temple Mount."

Potty-mouth aside, how is little Israel supposed to make peace with these thugs? They don't want a two-state solution, they want the whole ball of wax, so how to make peace with them?

Please explain that one Professor.

Bubba Ida



Norman,

I was watching Glen Beck this evening on CNN, as I do daily to tap into my alter ego and observe the alternative facets of conservative mentality, interviewing Alan Dershowitz whom of course was utilizing the recent suicide attack at a seminary in Jerusalem in order to promote his pro-interventionist policies and Zionist penchant for Israel.

He made several aggressive statements about the United States’ bodies of higher education as being institutions which are bent, by student preference, towards employing professors of radically leftist mentality; which according to Dershowitz, are defiling the minds of the students (i.e. “Corrupting the youth) into blatant advocacy of terrorism and Islam.

In light of the attacks on Jerusalem, Dershowitz also devised a new policy for our country’s national security (i.e. Israel’s security). I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard it but he actually asserted that he is in favor of remorseless pre-emptive action towards terrorist harboring Islamic radicals (i.e. Islam). I cannot remember his exact words but it was somewhere along the lines of retaliating against free-radicals with violence, as well as any (Islamic) civilians who “get in the way”, in order to stem the tides of attack. I’m sure he’s been saying this for years; unfortunately, Harvard does not have as influential of a Muslim media figure to challenge his allegations and intents.

In response to Dershowitz’s claims, let me start of with the briefest portion: what he said that I agree with. I do in fact believe that the majority of higher education institutions, particular those which maintain a college of Liberal Arts & Science, are prone to hiring and administrating leftist professors to communicate more effectively with the student populous simply because it is what the student populous wants. Logically speaking, left-minded individuals are more effective at interacting with and educating other left-minded individuals; namely, students. This, of course, only applies to the disciplines of academic studies in which ideological or pragmatic beliefs and values are being exchanged.

On to my not-so-brief portion: what he said that I very much don’t agree with. Given the tragedy of death made recently against a body of potential Rabbis in Jerusalem, a number probably marginal to the amount of unreported deaths of potential sheikhs, Dorshowitz hyperbolized the circumstances, which I’m sure he does regularly given the opportunity, and proclaimed his advocacy of vengeful and preemptive violence against Islam. I am outrageously affected by these assertions; the actuality that Dorshowitz is a reputable scholar and speaks to the many minds of the Zionist populous of America, the actuality that he preaches reactive violence, and the fact that he is insulting the very body of professional associates he depends on and labors with in the realm of academia. If I were to pick three words to describe Alan Dorshowitz they would be: Swaying, Callous, and Pre-Disposed.

I would very much like to hear your thoughts. The interview aired on CNN sometime between 8 and 9pm Central on March 6, 2008.

By the way, my name is Jason and I’m a 2007 DePaul Alumni, graduate of the School of Commerce and Liberal Arts & Sciences. I’m 23 years old, born and raised in Chicago, Roman Catholic, and of German/Italian ethnic background. Non-partisan centrist/confused.



Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2008 00:26:46 -0800
From: criplizingnotaword[at]yahoo.com
Subject: hey
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

"Death to Arabs!" Thank you Israel for finally saying something we all knew you wanted to say for so long! Only trash talks like this. Did the US say death to Asians after Virginia Tech? Did the US say death to white trash after Oklahoma? Did we even say death to Arabs after 9/11? I'm afraid many Jews feel this way about Arabs, and I'm happy some of them are getting the courage to finally say it. Now if the Jews can just muster a little more courage, maybe one day we'll hear how they really feel: "Death to the Goyim!" God bless you Dr. I know your message is one of brotherly peace, and I'm 100% behind you.

But, I know the message of those who belittle you, and I can't say it enough. "Death to Arabs" made it clear this isn't about land or conflict, but about race, privilege and superiority. That wasn't "Death to the Arabs!" Israelis chant in mouths and heart, but "Death to the Arabs..." All non-Jews should know what that "..." means or could mean; but more importantly, the Jews should know what that means. Let's look the numbers. 120 Palesinians for the 3 Israelis (I think that was the death toll before this massacre at the Yeshiva...and I strongly condemn that attack)? So about a 40:1 ratio of jews to non-jews? Are Israeli's sure they want to lock in that ratio? That's ok...The Goyim may not have souls, compassion for Jewish suffering or even brains to appreciate the complicated contributions Jews have had on our world. But we do have the one thing that matters...numbers. We wait for Israel to finish the rest of despicable chant! It should be written across their flag!

God bless you Dr Finkelstein. You are a true friend of the Jews, a friend of humanity and a man dedicated to making sure that chant is never completed.

Sincerely,

Al



From: munkeeluke@hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Phil Hendrie
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 22:50:05 -0800

Hello Sir,

I just heard you on Phil Hendrie and it appears you have no clue on History. No wonder so many schools here in America Suck. THANK YOU! It also appears you don't believe in the Holocaust? You are an ignorant man.

RK



Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 22:50:43 -0800
From: grayhuze2@yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Just another self Loathing Jew. You are a joke and an embarrassment to mankind. Wow!



Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2008 19:50:44 -0800
From: zachvissar@yahoo.com
Subject: Time to celebrate?!
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Hey you, lowlife scum:

Are you going to celebrate with your "palestinian" subhumans the massacre of jewish schoolchildren in Jerusalem too? All your Gaza terrorist friends are celebrating, why aren't you? I wouldn't be surprised if they find out that that Hamas gunman was one of your admirers.

The time has come for you to go to your mom... hurry up, sleazeball. If you need any help to wack you, let us know...



Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 10:57:28 -0500
From: benromansky1982@gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: income

"Dr." Finkelstein,

How much do you make a year being a self-hating Jew. Change your last name, it's an insult to real Jews, none of whom respect you. Were you bullied by the other Jews growing up or something. Why don't you come by Lexington, where I live, grab Chomsky (nobody likes him here), and go move to the Gaza strip. I'm sure you'd be appreciated even more there.

Ben Romansky



Hello Norman

How are you ?? This week the Human Rights Council is taking place at the United Nations in Geneva. On Tuesday we witnessed another case of what I do not know whether I would call conspiracy but certainly I would call the "media lives in another world" event. Either this or we live in different planets, because I was present in the General Assembly room at the incident that I will explain to you. The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Manoucher Mottaki had to deliver a speech. He arrived at the podium and while most delegates were expecting another long (and most times boring) speech from another Minister or Ambassador, Mr Mottaki started recalling the orgy of massacre and death carried out by the Israelis last weekend in Gaza. So he started by telling the audience about Mohamed, 6 months old baby that was killed by the Israelis (or in "Gaza violence" the prefered antiseptic term the western media uses so as not to blame their darling Israel). And then M. Mottaki demanded one minute of silence out of the time for his speech, which was respected. He asked Muslims in the Hall to recite the Al-Fatiha, the first verse of the Koran. The silence was respected, to the embarrasment of Israel and its sympathizers. Proof that it was respected was that the voice of Mottaki hushing the Al-Fatiha from the podium could be heard through the headphones. Then after the minute (which was actually shorter) Mottaki delivered his speech.

Well Norman, according to the press the account was different: Mottaki's initiative as I read in the Associated Press and Haaretz (which refered to Associated Press as the source for the news) did not succeed because nobody stood up. According to the Israeli ambassador, the "international community" (I certainly do not know what a country with professes so much scorn for international rules and international opinion means by international community) did not respond and the initiative also failed because nobody stood up (according to the Israeli ambassador, he would have stood up for a minute of silence for the victims of the Iranian regime). Well journalists of Associated Press and Haaretz, I am sorry to say that Minister Mottaki did not speak in Persian but in clear English and what he said or he did not say, was quite clear. At no time did Mr Mottaki compel or demand anyone to stand up. He simply requested a minute of silence and the minute or so was honored completely. If you need more proof, none of the Iranian diplomats stood because Mottaki did not say a word about standing. At the end there was a round of applause, which I thought was longer than for the previous speaker (the vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland) and the next speaker (Terry Davis from the Council of Europe). Many diplomats talked after the break about the event and remarked the courage of the Minister. If you were not in the room I understand you may have been disinformed. But if you were in the Hall either you have a particular agenda or you are just liars.



Hey Norm

I assume you are aware of the controversy sourrounding the endorsement of John McCain by John Hagee, the nationally known "minister of hate" who regularly condemns Catholics, the Islamic religion, gays, and recently promoted a "slave auction" at his church generally assumed to be a not too subtle endorsement of slavery in American history. McCain is being roundly condemned by Catholic groups and others for actually soliciting this endorsement, and refusing to repudiate it.

Hagee has made millions from "love offerings" from "prayer partners" of his "ministry and was the chairman of the board "in charge of oversight" at Oral Roberts University during the time the Roberts family embezzeled the endowment fund. His removal was a condition of the school being allowed to stay open.

Hagee is also infamous for his advocacy of a total war in the middle east, including the full involvement of the U.S. and a "final solution" of the "Palestinian problem."

Interestingly, although Hagee's reputation as a religious bigot is widely known (see the entry under John Hagee in wikopedia), there is no mention of him in the ADL's Extremist directory. If you click on Search at the ADL site you will find his name twice, identified as a "victim" of neo-Nazi anti semetism!

Apparently the ADL's definition of an "extremist" is somebody who is not supporter of the Israeli extreme right-wing.



From: deadlaughter2[at]comcast.net
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: It's rabbit season... NO DUCK SEASON! NO RABBIT SEASON! No..It's Palestinian season
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2008 15:07:58 -0500

Professor,

Long time admirer and supporter here. I suppose you already knew of the latest atrocities in the OT's - one of the "advantages" of being on the front lines as you have been for years. However, one of the advantages of not being a professional, scholar, activist etc such as yourself is that I have the liberty of being as vulgar and venomous as I like when I try to "publish" my own take on these matters in my pathetic little blog on myspace.

That aside, I admire the level of intensity you maintain and moreover I feel it's warranted and appropriate however professionally detrimental it has ultimately & unfortunately been for you. Therefore, I just wanted to share my latest blog "rant" below on the latest crimes being carried out in Palestine. In my view CNN actually is pulling it's weight for once. Surprising, no? I credit your efforts in part for having tempered the climate and rationality of the typical news consumer. People both within and outside the popular media seem to be more open to the objective and truthful aspects of the issue and hopefully things will continue along the same lines of this apparent trend - a "slow but painful progress" as Prof Chomsky seems fond of putting it.

So as I mentioned, below is my blog entry on the latest craziness. I hope my stated "facts" are solid as I have tried to incorprate much of what I have learned (or attempted to learn) via some of your outstanding talks on youtube and elsewhere.

Regards,
DIG

Score of the War: 78 - 2

Who needs football season when you can wake up on a weekend and find stories like this: Palestinians: 78 killed since Israel began Gaza attacks

This is the latest tally supposedly since Wednesday and it's not like anyone with three or more brain cells couldn't have anticipated something big like this was going on. It was easy to see coming especially with the US putting Lebanon in check with a newly parked Destroyer right off it's coast.

However, today (or their yesterday?) Israel managed to kill about 45 people in trying to target 23 armed Palestinians. I wonder how they can make out such a specific number of armed people and yet when it comes time to target them it becomes a mini massacre. Yeah I know: "They deliberately hide in civilian residences!"

Bullshit. Israel & the US are the worst kind of terrorist states in that they have the propaganda machine to successfully brainwash the public into believing there is no other way. They are right actually. There is no other way to control an area by force then with force. All this talk of trying to grant Palestinians independence while their Hamas leadership prevents it totally is absurd (though Hamas aren't "rocket scientists"...obviously or they would be laucnhing them a little more "successfully" then they have lately - according to the news articles I've read anyway). If "independence" means slavery then ok...maybe you can say there is some legitimacy to this claim. However, for serious and intelligent people the motives and means of the MUCH stronger Israeli-US aggressors is plain. It's expansion over security for Israel. Instead of leaving Occupied Territories per their traditional 1967 borders, they'd rather encroach & enclose the old Palestine piece by piece (to control the water supply actually via the West Bank region).

So not counting the injured of this latest Israel-Palestine clash (which is also overwelmingly outnumbered on the Palestinian side), Israeli is winning by the score of 78 to 2 - where two Israeli solders were killed Saturday according to this CNN article above. To give CNN credit, the above link is a surprisingly blunt and straight-forward article and typically one wouldn't see that type of piece without much much more massive anti-arab sentiment....very objective...more or less. But let's stop sucking CNN's cock for just a second and now re-focus back on the many-many sandnigger corpses at out feet here.

The nature of the war crimes are just too great to try to ignore, so if CNN doesn't run this story then maybe they get a bit of shit (and then some) for such an egregious oversight. That aside now & overall, this is a grand triumph of our military might! We are now standing tall!

.
-DIG

PS. Get ready for the new new new New Antisemitism craze wave which will most definitely be hitting the wires very soon in light of all this flack that Israel will get from the latest atrocities. I hope they winterized their propaganda machine because it's going to be put to work big time in the days to come....unless I'm wrong.

PSS. Democracy Now!

(Above blog article is editted slightly for the sake of "decency" - see my blog on www.myspace.com/digrules to read in it's entirety. Democracy Now!)



Hi Norman,

I have just read your book, “The Holocaust Industry” Second Edition and must say that I was astonished how far these people can go with being questioned by some higher authority and how hypocritical, to the extreme, certain politicians, lawyers, etc. are.

I think someone should start a campaign to have this book issued to every school pupil and let them decide if they are getting a fair and balanced education when it comes to “The Holocaust” and to the treatment of Native American Indians and how there seems to be one rule for one and another for everybody else!

Keep up the good work.

Best Regards,

Gerry



Dear Professor Finklestein,

It has only been within the last year that I have become acquainted with your views and your books about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. I recently obtained a copy of your book "Beyond Chutzpah" which I've read and I am now sharing with friends.

Ten years ago, if I were to have be asked my opinion about the the conflict in Israel/Palestine and my view of what was then known as the PLO, I would have answered that the PLO was just a bunch of terrorists and that there was no justification for their violence. Then, I began to listen to the world public radio network airing from midnight until 6 am on public radio. Quite often, they aired broadcasts from Israel public radio. Ariel Sharon was Prime Minister then and I often heard parts of his speeches broadcast. I think what made me begin to have doubts about the claimed veracity of the Israeli side was to have heard Sharon say so many times how "Israel had the most moral army in the world," "the most moral army bar none." While I knew little then about the history of the conflict, what I do know is that a "moral army" does not exist.

I live in a Jewish neighborhood in Baltimore (I am not Jewish) and about 10 years ago, my neighbor lent me the book "From Time Immemorial" by Joan Peters. It was the first book I read on the conflict, and again, while I really knew next to nothing about the history, it was obvious to me that this book was a major bit of propaganda. I told my neighbor that reading it felt " like looking at the world through a microscope and believing you could understand its complexity from the quarter-sized view. " It encouraged me to seek out other authors, however, and since then I have read Uri Avnery, Jonathan Cook, Michael Neumann, Baruch Kimmerling, Edward Said, and experienced a complete reversal in my opinion.

I think until the State of Israel acknowledges that its establishment came at the expense of another people, there will never be peace. While the United States has done little to make up for its injustice against its native people, at least there is some general recognition that they were short shrifted.

I often feel dishonest in that I know many Jewish people, many of whom I like (some I don't), and wish I could tell them how I feel about what is happening and how unjustly the Israelis have dealt with the Palestinians, but I find that I cannot and that if I did, they would only think me "anti-Semitic."

I also find the argument about "denying Israel's right to exist" difficult. Can it be argued that nation's have rights? Isn't it individuals who have rights? What does it mean for a nation to have a right to exist? If Israel has a right to exist, do other nations have a "right to exist?"

I must admit that my character is such that I always have a special place in my heart for the underdog, so I feel particularly sympathetic for the Palestinians. I remember when I was old enough to read about the terrible events of World War II feeling so horrified and outraged about what happened to Jewish people, and that is why it has been so disappointing to find some Jews behaving so abominably, but it must be remembered that Jews are people like everyone else, some good, some not so good.

Anyway, sorry for the lengthy email. This was only intended to thank you for your books and for speaking publicly about this issue. I am sorry about the denial of your tenure, but you are obviously an intelligent person who will make your way no matter what.

Teresa Schiano



He didn't mean THE HOLOCAUST; he meant just a holocaust...this is probably one of your best satirical headlines, which bluntly indicates to the fact that for once again, how their criminality will be explained away. Right now I feel disgusted to talk about the current slaughter, so I'll talk about something else.

Few days ago I saw Samantha Power on Democracy Now. I haven't finished watching the whole debate between her and Jeremy Scahill, however, after I saw her, my initial reaction was, "what does she want here?" But you know what? It was good thing to do to bring her in. She looked like a complete fool compared to Jeremy. Young journalists like Jeremy are enough to take her apart and make her look like an idiot (she's is the one teaching at Harvard though...ha...ha). In fact, Professor Chomsky should stop mentioning her henever he talks about the intellectual class. Jeremy took her to task and she completely failed to make any point.

You should watch it to have some fun!

Cheers.

Ehtesham.



To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
From: cboylan@nyc.rr.com
Subject: Let me educate you fucking morons
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2008 23:14:44 -0500

You assholes like to carp about the civilian casualties in Gaza and blame the Israelis. But the truth is this: your pals in Hamas and Hezbollah set up their missile launchers in crowded civilian neighborhoods for the express purpose of inflicting as many casualties on their own people as possible. They know full well the Israelis are going to retaliate to the attacks they initiate, so these chickenshits hide behind their own women and children. These are the same assholes who send their women and children off strapped with suicide belts to murder Jews. They are cowards who have no regard for any human life. All of you worthless fucksticks who support them have innocent blood, both Jewish and Muslim, on your hands. You are all despicable piles of shit who should crawl up your own assholes and die. I wish a horrible death on each and every one of you shit flies.



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I wanted to share some quotes attributed to Mark Twain that are found at

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mark_twain.html

In keeping with the spirit of things I haven't made any effort to check primary sources so I can't say whether mistakes are found within or even if they were ever uttered by Mark Twain. (Didn't Yogi Berra say that 'I never said most of the things I said'?)

Most can be directed and applied to Mr. Dershowitz. The final three quotes and especially the last, can be applied to you sir.

A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.

All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.

The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it.

The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.

Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing wrong with this, except that it ain't so.

When a person cannot deceive himself the chances are against his being able to deceive other people.

It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.

It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

Best Regards,

Michael Greenberg



I just read the hatemail you received from Fox Mob. God, It was awful.

It may be too simplistic to call these nutsos "Fascist". They are more likely simply mentally ill. And plain lunatic. I am beginning to think People don't have any ideologies but only Psychologies. The same people who are abusing you would have been Fervent Nazis or Fervent Stalinists if put in Germany and Russia of that time.

Spending an hour is enough to lose any hope that people can wise up at last after being played for suckers for so long. Some Millionaire scumbag says something on Fox TV and Millions of these suckers believe it as God's word.

It's monkey business , Norman. Indeed. Ajit Hegde



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

After reading so many nasty, unintelligent and rather immature emails directed towards you, I thought I would say that you are a man with much courage. You try to tell the truth the way you see it. I can imagine that it must be hard to read such emails day after day. You are someone to be admired.

My best wishes to you.
Chulaka Ailapperuma



Dear Norman,

I am a frequent visitor of your website and I have read some of your books and listened to some of your lectures. I remember the first time I saw you in action was your debate with Alan Dershowitz. It was a debate to be remembered and documented for future generations... your eloquence and vast knowledge was impressive. What is more impressive is your respect for justice and truth. There may be many people who are eloquent and know the truth of the Israel-Palestine conflict but it takes courage and honesty to come forward and confront people like Dershowitz. You are a hero and shall be remembered as one (if there is any justice in history).

I have to admit that I find the 'letters' section of your website very entertaining. When I read how some of these misinformed people call you names and throw insults, I feel sorry for them but I can't deny that I enjoy their outrage. They know that they cannot challenge you on your scholarship and so they do all they can to hurt you verbally. Please ignore their ignorance. I think they are amazed that there is anybody out there who could actually challenge the mainstream view of the Israel-Palestine conflict in a very intelligent and systematic way. I hope after they go through their denial, they calm down and pick up one of your books and read it to see for themselves what you are saying instead of being told by Dershowitz, FoxNews, and Memri.

Best regards,

Mohammad



Date: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:41:38 -0800
From: partisanpatrol@gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: "Some one had blunder'd"

Dear Dr. Norman Finkelstein,

Your intellectual argument for the people of the Middle East has great merit. Your presence encourages discussion and the exchange of ideas in a civil manner.

Your use of slogans would sound better on the battlefield delivered by General Patton. The rebel rousing revolutionary cliches you cite would be very effective in the classroom. But for the savvy media and myself they are a dated distraction.

When criticizing the State of Israel or the country of your citizenship it should not be done on enemy territory. Your visit to Hezbollah, Lebanon was hurtful to the Jewish people. Having parents that experienced the Jewish Holocaust you can understand how important it is to have a Jewish State.

As an historian and academic professor you are naive in thinking that your trip to Hezbollah, Lebanon was helpful. You hurt the Jewish people. And no doubt your Hezbollah hosts are saying "What's up with this guy, a son of Jewish Holocaust Survivors."

Your trip to Hezbollah country carries the Jane Fonda and Military Never go...syndrome with it. I think it was ill advised and will hurt your standing and credibility. I'm sorry to see that happen. I'm still a fan but more cautious and skeptical.

Shalom, Carl, Son of a Partisan



Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:00:54 -0800
From: freetothink123@yahoo.com
Subject: Information about your visit to Lebanon
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Mr. Failed "Loser" Academic:

You've traveled to Lebanon and met with the representatives of organizations listed as terrorist organizations (Hezbollah, Hamas, etc) by the US State Department. Before meeting with those subhumans you were suppose to notify the appropriate authorities in this country about your travel plans. You've failed to do so, thus, you've violated the rules and the law of the land. Are you planning to report yourself to the FBI or the State Department and tell them about your gross violation? If not, I'd be more than happy to do it for you.

Disrespectfully and with despise,
Leon



Dear Norman, wow - what one piece on Faux News can do. It's sad to see so many people so full of fear. Thank you for fighting the good fight! Justice will prevail. In solidarity, Christian



Hi Norman,

Reading through some of the emails you received as a result of that FOX News article, a common theme emerges: you are repeatedly called a "traitor" to both the United States and to Jews, and are advised to "get the fuck out of OUR country" accordingly. The fascist tradition is plainly alive and well.

Incidentally, the FOX News article made a couple of factual errors (leaving aside for a moment the overt general bias of the piece). It quotes you as describing your 'view of Hezbollah' as "rarely heard" in the United States, when you were in fact referring to Hizbullah's point of view, not your own.

The article also paraphrases you to the effect that:

'Jews had to resist the Communists in World War II and the Lebanese people will have to make the same kind of choice about accepting or resisting Hezbollah.'

Again, you said nothing of the sort - as written above the analogy doesn't even make sense. Still, given the source, I suppose we must be impressed that they managed to get even your name right.

Best,

Jamie.



Wow, those latest round of letters you've been getting thanks to the FOX piece are something - what I don't get is why is Dersh continuing to badmouth you when he effectively got what he wanted, namely for you to lose your job and be blacklisted? I guess he doesn't understand limits and bad form.

I have a feeling the Isreal/Jewish/Holocaust groups/lobby/whatever are REALLY on tenderhooks lately, with the overall tide finally turning, they're feeling the pressure and when they see that they might possibly lose a battle of minds and opinions, what do they do? Crank up the propaganda machine again, look for an easy scapegoat and start smearing. You're just an easy target, that's all. I'm just surprised more people can't see it all for what it is - 10th rate journalism which actually serves as brain pablum for people move their lips when they read.

Cheers,
Bobby



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I was just reading some of the hate mail you received from some of the viewers of the FOX News terrorist organization. Is there any other organization that disseminates so much hatred on a daily basis?

Its not surprising its viewers hold the opinions they do. If you are told a thousand times that someone is evil, you can convince most people the most innocent person is evil. These are mostly simple minded people writing you.

I wonder what their opinion is of Israel's murdering of the family of eight on the beach a short time before Hezbollah captured the eight Israeli soldiers. I have no doubt that is alright with them.

Sincerely yours,



Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:49:41 -0500
From: evanharper[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Foxman Briefs Knesset on Internet Hate

I found that ADL press release to be pretty amusing. One line in particular stuck out in my mind:

"The unintended result of the Internet is the dissemination of hate globally in nano-seconds under the protection of anonymity," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director

Assuming that "hate" is restricted to the normal laws of physics, it can only be distributed a few metres in "nano-seconds," since the speed of light is about 30 cm/ns. Latency on the Internet is typically measured in tens or hundreds of miliseconds, meaning Foxman is off by seven or eight orders of magnitude. Your satirical headline about "ten trillion antisemitic incidents per week on Fiji" is actually a pretty good first-order approximation for how far off this clown is.

Evan Harper



From: dp8212@msn.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Responses to the Fox News Article
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:30:33 -0500

It was interesting reading through the numerous e-mails you received in response to the Fox News article about your TV interview in Lebanon regarding Hezbollah. Many of the respondents see you as a traitor to the U.S., as well as a self-hating Jew. And most of them aren't even Jewish! Many of them would like to see you leave the U.S. permanently and move to Lebanon or another Arab country. Who can blame them?

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that you're embracing a terrorist group that was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans in Lebanon back in the 1980s, as well as for the deaths of dozens of innocent Jewish civilians in a bombing at a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994 ordered by Iran. Perhaps your call for Israel to be defeated left a bad taste in people's mouths. Yes, it is a shame that MEMRI didn't include the reasons why you feel that Israel must be defeated, but we get the idea from the remainder of the interview.

The unfortunate reality is that you are a self-hating Jew. I would suggest following the advice of the Israeli military psychologist who e-mailed you who recommended therapy. Maybe it's not too late to get to the bottom of your self-hate problem.

DP



To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
From: cboylan@nyc.rr.com
Subject: Hey cum breath, here's some really good news
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:59:10 -0500

http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=38629

Six rabid Hezbollah dogs killed in one fell swoop.

I only wish you had been riding with them in the car that got hit. Oh well, I guess you can't have anything.

Don't forget to check for lumps. You're definitely looking a bit pre- cancerous lately.



To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
From: cboylan@nyc.rr.com
Subject: Something for you to celebrate, asswipe
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:43:07 -0500

Hey, another innocent Jew civilian killed by Hezbollah! Let's party!

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/
archive/200802/FOR20080227c.html

I know you and all your dog fucking acolytes get your panties all in a twist over the "hate mail" you receive, but another dead Jew? Break out the champagne!.

Funny how all you assholes get upset over words, but the endless killing of innocent civilians by Islamofascists is deemed noble by you cretins. It shows what worthless, evil scumbags you all are. One of your freakshow clowns, Wendy Phillips, actually sent me an email complaining about my hate mail to you. This brainless ass sucker can't tolerate you being told off, but she's all for mass murder of innocent civilians. She, you, and all of your brain dead, loser followers should be lined up and shot for treason and giving aid and comfort to our enemies..

And yes, I still hope you get painful, inoperable cancer, you pile of shit, because that's exactly what you deserve. When the doctor gives you the bad news, think of me. I'll be the one popping the bottle of champagne.



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I was just reading some of the hate mail you received from some of the viewers of the FOX News terrorist organization. Is there any other organization that disseminates so much hatred on a daily basis?

Its not surprising its viewers hold the opinions they do. If you are told a thousand times that someone is evil, you can convince most people the most innocent person is evil. These are mostly simple minded people writing you.

I wonder what their opinion is of Israel's murdering of the family of eight on the beach a short time before Hezbollah captured the eight Israeli soldiers. I have no doubt that is alright with them.

Sincerely yours,

PG



Dear Norman,

I saw your interview on memritv July 20 2008, and disagree with justifying violence; it is far better to promote boycotts and other forms of non-violent resistance.

Gandhi defeated the British with a boycott of salt, today, now that corporations are global, the most vulnerable product to a boycott is Coca-Cola, attacking their share price will give a clear signal that activists have monetized dissent, just as Muslims had monetized their dissent with the boycott Danish produce after the publication of those cartoons of the prophet Mohamed in Danish newspapers.

Coca-Cola is part of the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio which had invested $4 billion in the Israeli company ISCAR (a precision engineering firm) just before the July 2006 war in Lebanon, ISCAR supply Pratt and Whitney who in turn do business with Lockheed Martin and Lockheed Martin, as you know have a joint venture with Israel building the SUFA F16 fighter jet.

Yours Sincerely,

Philip Scott



Dr Finkelstein

I happened upon a reference to Abe Foxman while reading your Letters section. He apparently has suggested to Israeli technology companies that they use their ingenuity to help comsumers tell the truth from untruth on the web regarding Israel and anti-semitism. The reference reminded me of an incident in London 2 years ago this summer. I attended a play at a London theatre called Rachel Corrie.As my wife and I entered the theatre, we were stopped by a man who handed me a leaflet and suggested that I should attend a meeting to be held later in the week to discuss the issues raised in the play from the Israeli viewpoint. I was mildly irked by this because I do not like being patronised by those who are concerned that someone else might give me the wrong idea. I felt I was being pressured because of my choice to see the play.

A few weeks later I read that the play which was scheduled to open in NYC would not do so as planned due to pressures brought by a few Jewish organisations. Later still it did open and played in NYC but in another venue.

This sort of meddling does Israel's cause no good. People with any independence of mind are put off by patronising efforts to control discussion in whatever form.They are also angered by the tendency of some parties to label opposition with some hateful term like "anti-semitic"-- e.g.when that term is applied to those who oppose Israeli policies in the West Bank.

I think this tendency to label has now developed antibodies which are growing daily and which are leading to an increased vigor of scrutiny being applied to Israeli policies. So in that sense, I say thanks to Abe Foxman.

Very truly yours,

Bill Ferrari



Hi Norman,

In Finland, Scandinavia and, for that matter, Europe, the most influential mainstream media outlets have serious problems when it comes to reporting the major issues of international politics, such as the occupation of Iraq, the Israel/Palestine conflict, Latin American politics etc. The international law is non-existent, almost universally, and evaluation of various parties in any given conflict which includes the US, the UK, Israel - and possibly France and Germany, depending on what's the question at stake - is either mythology (all the parties are sui generis, some evil, some the opposite) or bizarre reporting (my friend just sent me a short report by one of the major Finnish tv channels on the grave dangers the German Jews face nowadays, and the report said that "four punks (rockers) had set a dog on the pupils of a Jewish school. The gloomy momoirs of the Nazi Holocaust came back to some people.") where bizarre people are interviewed and given a lot of air time.

Having said that, the complete incompetence and slave mentality of the US media still belongs to a category of its own. The agenda of News Corp, for instance, is that of Pravda in the Soviet Union. Truth ('pravda' means truth) is nothing; the Mission is everything. When I first visited the US two years ago I couldn't sleep after wathing a few minutes of News Corp's "news" because adrenaline had displaced the blood in my veins.

The real tragedy is that most of the people who're sending you the "ASSHOLE" emails (why don't they even try to question the content of your remarks; why 99% of them are like 13 years old kids sending hate mail to the new girlfriend or boyfriend of their ex's?) might be somewhat reasonable individuals whose problem - and I'm not saying it's a minor problem - is that they don't have a clue about the world. Not one clue. Though Dersh ruined the "planet" smear ("Planet Chomsky") the fact of the matter is that these people live - not necessarily out of choice - in Planet Murdoch. It's not a pretty planet.

Most of the world's population - there're polls about this - agrees with the idea of the rule of international law. What you said about Hizbollah's right to defend Lebanon against foreign occupiers, inside Lebanon proper it should be added, holds.

All the best, my friend,

Bruno Jäntti
University of Tampere.



Dr Finkelstein:

The late Edward Said and and Christopher Hitchens edited 'Blaming the Victims' which included writers such as Noam Chomsky and yourself. It has been quite awhile since the book was published and I'm wondering who has emerged the authority on the region.

Is the area so tangled that whether it's Juan Cole talking or Bernard Lewis, nothing really matters anyway. (Blame aside) Take Iraq. With Uday/Qusay waiting patiently behind Saddam, we could have expected more harm to follow had we done nothing. Yet, we invaded and harm followed. I guess I'm asking if there's a futile point. Some of this scholarship seems to amount to ego games more than any earnest effort for the abused and slaughtered.

Tom Chiapelas
Chicago



Subject: Hate Mail

I couldn't help but notice all the hillbilly hate-mail you received after Fox-uh-Goebbels news article from people who called Cuba a "liberal" country. I deeply respect the classical republican ideals America was founded on. Thanks to these fools, American ideals have been bastardized. Most of the people who emailed you are so ignorant, that it would be funny if it weren't downright frightening. They can't even see that Liberalism built their country and allows them the right to be dumb as hell. They probably don't even know the historical comparisons you're making; they probably think WW2 is the codename for a deep fried burger with extra cheese wrapped in bacon. It is because of these people that great nations get destroyed. I couldn't really understand how Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy happened...well now it's crystal clear. They are so afraid of the truth of your positions that they have to doctor your interviews and misrepresent what you say: who are the cowards?! So afraid to let you speak!

You are a true American patriot: speaking out against real tyranny and fighting for truth and justice. And this is what America was built on. These people are so deluded that they think Palestinians are the tyrants when Israel's state-of-the-art killing weaponry is brutalizing defenseless people every day and stealing their land. Finkelstein, true patriotism in turbulent times is hard, but the hillbillies were beaten back by Enlightened ideals in the American Civil War and after that. They'll be beaten back again, the tide is totally in your favor.

GOD BLESS YOU, you courageous man. Please feel free to post this, so the yokels can read it, if they can that is, they will surely be distracted by shiny objects along the way.



Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:51:54 -0600
From: justinloper[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Fox Hunt

Hey Norm,

Just got done reading the letters to you and I have to say, "holy shit?" One of them asks you if you need mental help? Damn, what planet are these people from. Better yet is the person who claims that you didn't just annihilate Dershowitz in the debate. Maybe that person thinks that not knowing the names of the participants in something they took part in is good scholarship.

I guess though what really amazes me (why?) the most is the fascist nature of these Fox viewers. They seem to have been taught some perverse version of US history where dissent plays no part in the nation's founding. The exercising of the rights in the Constitution are un-American, to them. I say that they are un-american since they don't believe in the founding documents of our nation. These people would have hung Jefferson, Paine, and Franklin, especially with Franklin's coziness with the French.

I just want to say I have sent numerous people the link to your MEMRI spliced interview. You are completely correct when you say that only a human freak would compare the birth of a child with the destruction of a nation. Why Americans couldn't see that is odd? I am still angry about 2006. I also loved when you began to tongue-lash the host for having no self respect and then go on to say that you respect the Jews a thousand times more, No to forgive Never to forget. I think that Fox viewers have been so brainwashed by the idea that dissent is unpatriotic that they are digging themselves a grave that they are to dense to see. Unfortunately they hate people like us so much they will never listen, until it is too late.

Keep up the great work

Look forward to seeing you in Wisconsin in March

Mrs. Lipstadt is to be in Milwaukee this weekend with a talk on anti-semitism and Holocaust denial I might just go to rouse some rabble, you know, ask her some of those questions that they can not answer without looking like psychopaths

Hope all is well with you

The only mental help you need is to be taught the ability to be indifferent to the sufferings of millions around the globe, but I doubt that is going to happen thanks for all your work

Justin Loper
P.S. feel free to reprint



Fox News letters ("In Praise of Finkelstein... dead.")



Dear Mr.Finkelstein,

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching your recent and moving interview on Future TV, however I only watched an edited piece provided by MEMRI TV so I hope that what I say below has not already been discussed in the interview. If there is anyway I can get a hold of the full interview please advise as I felt it was a rather special piece of televisioin.

Over the last couple of years, I have kept your email address safely in my contact sheet, I don't believe you remember me, but we met at the University of Toronto's first Israeli Apartheid Week in 2004 , where you were invited as a guest speaker, I briefly coordinated your trip and we had a brief discussion at the Duke of York pub where you also, I remember, expressed your respect for Hizballah.

I also respect Hizballah however I feel in your interview on Future TV you oversimplified matters which is not where I believe the Lebanese situation currently lies.

For one thing, I believe you ignored that there are people from the 'other side' who are willing to die for what they believe in. In your framework of analysis it would mean 'they are willing to die standing' in order to 'grovel at their feet' which would mean a contradiction in terms. And you also ignored that there are people willing to be Syria and Iran's slave.

I think you put the nail on the head when you said it was 'disgusting' that Rice (as well as Blair) were invited a few weeks after the war ended. However I don't think you were as precise with the Nazi analogy and the French Resistance. In the Lebanese case, the French Resistance (in a country the size of Luxembourg) have kicked out the Nazis from their land, but the Nazis however remain as strong as ever on the borders and the French Resistance's two main allies, one of whome actually borders Nazi Germany in this analogy, are pushing the Resistance to liberate all of Germany (through Luxembourg!) while only willing to supply arms and political support - and possibly fire a missile in the distant future - for the cause.

Despite all that, I still personally think the Resistance in Lebanon should stay, I think it should stay and it should be given full defensive autonomy in the case of an Israeli attack. However when it comes to offensive measures, such as those that sparked the July War, I think such measures should be under the command and decision making orders of the Lebanese Army. I personally think pretexts can be avoided and therefore I believe the war could have been avoided.

Then we come to the issue of Syria, which is Lebanon's other big problem and which I don't think can be ignored in any debate on Lebanese policy towards Israel - because both Israel and Syria use Lebanon to play each other off. In the case of Syria I frankly think we should simply not recognize it as a state until they set up an embassy in Lebanon.

For me that seems to be the only policy for Lebanon I can fathom that will give it an opportunity to avoid the two dreaded options of slavery (to the Americans/Israelis or the Syrians) or civil war while also give it an opportunity for independent peace and stability. My point about all this is that despite what I may think about the Future TV lady who interviewed you, I think she was right in saying you have taken a side in the Lebanese case, because (at least according to MEMRI TV :) you completely ignored the Syrian aspect of the debate, which I repeat cannot be ignored because Israel and Syria use Lebanon to play each other off. Lastly another point I would like to make based on the above explanation is that if somebody cares about the interest of the Lebanese people as a whole they have to combine aspects from both sides of the political equation. As a Lebanese, taking one aspect only - though it may be good - is a recipe for civil war.

I hope you are able to read this from what little time you have as I would greatly appreciate a response from you and would be honoured to hear your thoughts on the above,

Best Regards

Sulaiman Beydoun



I would like to assure for you that you are a hero in all what the word means and you were very courage on future tv ( the telivision that is made for attacking Hizbolla) and you said what you thinks without any hesitation . I really think you must teach some people braveness and about she accusing you to be on a side I think that she was the one desperately defending USA friends or slaves as you like to call them and I assure to you that the people suportin Hizola are more than them but thier cheating on hezbolla especially Waleed Jumblat let the took the parlement and I just wanted to tell you that your expression were great going out of a great person .

With my regards,
Mohamed



It was good of you to reply to my request for your opinion on the February 20, 2008 Haaretz article about Nikolas Sarkozy’s plan to institute an education plan that calls for French school children to “adopt” a “child of the same age, who played the same games and had the same dreams, but was unfortunate enough to be born Jewish in the 1940s." You replied that you do not understand the obsessive focus on the Nazi holocaust. You also were nonplussed by Sarkozy’s refusal to shake the hand of anyone who didn’t support Israel as a Jewish state. You then questioned the need for French school children to be haunted by the same nightmares of the Nazi holocaust experienced by your own parents as survivors of slave-labour camps during WWII. Reading about my own childhood experiences may not change your views about Sarkozy’s “cheap exploitation of their horrific suffering for political points”, but it may change your mind about the need for an early education of the evils of totalitarian governments.

I was 11 years old when I read the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I picked what I thought would be the longest war novel to read that summer of 1960. I was fascinated with war. WWll model aircraft hung from every corner of my bedroom ceiling. I assembled and painted them all. I watched war movies and wondered what it was like to fight for your country and risk your life for its survival. As I read chapter after chapter I realized that the glorification of war was the currency of Joseph Goebbels and the rest of the Nazis hierarchy but how could ordinary Germans have been so blinded by the cancer that was manifesting itself in their society? My boyish fascination with war soon turned into a quest to discover why totalitarianism was accepted as a way of life in the Third Reich. The chapter entitled the “Final Solution” made me cry out loud. No other part of the book did. Maybe William Shirer never thought that an 11 year old boy would ever read his book, but I did. It has had a lasting effect upon me. As I matured into a young man I continued to read about totalitarian societies. I searched for alternatives to this dangerous force. In those days, I had nobody to really talk to about the Nazi Holocaust. Even my Jewish friends didn’t seem to be aware of what I had read that summer of 1960. If they were, they weren’t prepared to discuss it with me. Gradually, all of that changed as I entered my twenties and thirties.

However, by then I had read about many more atrocities that had occurred in many more regions of the world throughout history. Was any society capable of genocide? I still ask that question today. I ask that question when I read about the transfer of entire indigenous populations who don’t share the same religion, language and culture of those who have superior fire power. Population annihilation is not a policy of any democracy. It is a totalitarian goal based upon the myth of superiority of race or religion. It requires the marshalling of evil forces under leadership that can justify mass murder to meet the threat of anyone who is an obstacle to the great superiority myth.

Maybe I should have been playing baseball and getting swimming badges during the summer of 1960. The innocence of childhood probably should have been extended as long as possible so that learning about virtue could take root under parental instruction and direction. Would a Jewish pen pal whose parents had survived the Nazi holocaust have been such a bad thing for me back then? I don’t think anything could have been as troubling as the Final Solution chapter of Shirer’s book. I do agree with you about the political opportunism of Sarkozy and you may even be right about him being a criminally insane hoodlum. He is not alone if he is. Totalitarianism is always an option and even the goal of such leaders. The freedoms offered by every democracy are capable of being transmogrified into racism and hatred through its war mongering leaders . H.L Mencken said “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.” Maybe the French people will come to their senses and rid themselves of Mr. Sarkozy and his party. In the meantime, is it not better that 11 year old French students understand one of the terrible consequences of totalitarianism and learn to recognize that its origins are in each of them? Their education should not start and end with the example of the Nazi Holocaust. If the lessons of totalitarian rule leaves a lasting impression upon their young minds, then maybe the rest of their schooling can show them that it doesn’t have to be that way.

Feel free to use my email but you decide if you should also include my name.

BARCLAY W. JOHNSON



Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:46:08 +0100
From: newsletter[at]j-korte.de
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Your remarks concerning Hisbollah

Hello,

I just read a transcript from your interview on Future TV and have to admit, that I'm more then astonished. Even if you don't agree with Israels policies you shouldn't subscribe to terrorism.

And, I may add, I'm so fed up with this liberation movements in the arab world, because they don't give a damn for the people they pretend to "liberate" (btw. a kind of freedom I definetly don't want to enjoy) from imperialismen, zionismen or whatever. Israel is the only country in that part of the world with decent livingstandards, they have build up a country very successfull. And I guess that is the true reason for all this liberation talk: envy, being poor and unable to anything proper (apart from killing each other and foreign people).

And finally I add, your life span would be very limited in "Hisbollah-Country".

Joachim Korte-Bernard



Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:29:41 +0000
From: ejbarbaro20[at]optonline.net
Subject: Hezbollah
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Mr. Finkelstein, I saw your rant on a video on the subject of the "noble" Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Your disdain, no, hate, for Bush is so virulent, I was waiting for the drool from your mouth.

You need professional care, Mr. Finkelstein. But what do I know? I'm not a professional.

But I believe I'm old enough to recognize a fool when I see one.

So, Mr. Finkelstein, from your mouth to the tush of Hezbollah. Fortunately, with "useful idiots" like you on the side of Hezbollah, Hezbollah doen't have a chance.
From: maxillagardens1118[at]hotmail.co.uk
To: ejbarbaro29[at]optoonline.net
Subject: Your email to Dr Norman Finklestein of 19 February 2008.
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:23:12 +0000

Your problems with Hezbollah.

Anonymous person; I can see that you are having problems but I am, with due modesty, the very man to help you.

You must start out by recognising that you were to write to an academic of world renown. To get even a partial idea of his status you must turn to the recommendations of such as Professor Chomsky, Professor Shlaim, Professor Boyarin etc. The list is long but I am unable to spend too much time, at the moment, with a coarse and vulgar person as you clearly are.

Where did you get the idea of suggesting "professional care" ? Surely you could have been just a little more original ? In practice you demean yourself when using such language as "fool" and "useful idiot". Whether you like it or not Hezbollah is a group of patriotic and dedicated soldiers who exercise their rights, under International Law, to defend their lands and people from American and Israeli 'terrorists in uniform'.

In reality, I do not want to dismiss you as just an ignorant and misguided supporter of Zionism, even though you are obviously all of these , and more. I intend to offer my services to you for counselling since you are clearly in need of therapy. Everything you tell me will be in strict confidence and, I would say, my record is pretty good. In the unlikely event of my not being successful I will then remember you in prayers.

Best wishes

Michael Shanahan
UK

P S The thought occurs; what is this shyness about your being unwilling to supply a name ? Could you have an additional problem that requires further study. Be in touch without delay.





From: smascharak[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Thanks! Sincerely, a Stanford "anti-Semite"

Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I want to thank you personally for your contributions to the Israel/Palestine "debate" in American academia. I put debate in quotations because, as a college student at Stanford University currently trying to write a paper about the historical basis of Israel's racist domestic policy, I have found relatively few books to support my thesis and am instead overwhelmed by modern-day Herzls. Your books have been a great help.

Furthermore, as a core member of Students Confronting Apartheid by Israel (SCAI), a group that asks Stanford to divest from companies that actively promote the illegal military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, I, too, am constantly labelled an "anti-Semite". For a college campus in California, Stanford is very pro-Israel. I cannot imagine the representation of this issue in a less liberal atmosphere. I am from Santa Cruz, perhaps the epitome of liberalness and, as you may recall, a city where your talk was highly controversial and protested by the local Jewish community as "hate speech".

Basically, I just wanted to personally thank you for being honest and upfront about the Israel/Palestine issue, regardless of your opinions' impact on your public image. I often just want to stop caring about Palestine because it is too much of an effort to keep fighting to legitimize my point of view. You are an inspiration to me to keep fighting the issue.

Sincerely,
Smita Mascharak
Stanford 2011



Dear Mr. Finkelstein,

As a student of History, a freelance writer and teacher from the UK, I found your debate with Alan Dershowitz a great example of how through committed research, frauds can be exposed no matter how many pro-Zionist newspapers and magazines give the fraud positive reviews. I have never seen a man so renowned as Dershowitz ripped to shreds in so scholarly a manner. Mr. Finkelstein, whilst you know perfectly well the probable consequences on taking on the Zionists in the US for your own career, your commitment to the truth is an inspiration to young people all over the world.

In addition, the support you have voiced on behalf of the Lebanese resistance to Israeli aggression also says much about your courage - this in an age when virtually all Muslim-related causes are derided as "terrorism" by the establishment media in the West, even when the cause is legitimate.

Keep up the good work! Keep courage at the centre of your ground-breaking writings!

Qaiser M. Talib



Dear Mr.finkelstein,

When I was watching your interview about hezbollah (isreal has to suffer a defeat:on future TV) i felt so happy and proud to have an objective party grasping the essence of hizbollah resistance .God Bless and guide You !

I am one of the citezens who lost their belongings in the war but felt very proud and dignified !

peace be upon you

a fan of yours,
joumana



Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:11:16 -0800
From: marylahusyt[at]yahoo.com
Subject: It's a great pity
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

A top Hizbollah militant/superterrorist, Fayez Mughniyeh, was killed in a car blast in Damascus. The question to you, bitch, is: was he one of your handlers also?.. The only pity that I can express is that it's too bad you were not in that car with him. A vermin like you would deserve that kind of an end. I don't think too many people would shed tears. But not to worry... your time will come, hopefuly very soon. You are a piece of human excrement and should be dealt with accordingly.
From: nijali[at]hotmail.com
To: marylahusyt[at]yahoo.com; normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Utterly galling
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:25:42 -0600

Dear Whoever-You-Are:

I can't even extend you the human decency (not that, in this matter, you particularly deserve it) of addressing you by name because you didn't have the courage to leave one after your appalling message to Dr. Finkelstein a few days ago (Feb. 13th). I won't go into addressing the venomous, vitriolic verbage of which your message consisted; suffice it to say, intelligent, thinking people can look at that statement and immediately speculate on the diminished capacity of your IQ, or should I say EQ, as your severe lack of emotional maturity is the whole reason behind why I'm compelled to write you.

No matter what Dr. Finkelstein's views are, and how they differ from yours, don't you feel disgusted with yourself for CREATING AN E-MAIL ADDRESS THAT MOCKS HIS DEAD MOTHER in order to insult him? Even as I write this, the cold-bloodedness of your "prank" is almost too ghoulish for my brain to accept. Political ideologies aside, don't you feel humiliated for making light of Mrs. Finkelstein's plight, for desecrating her name? She is no longer living and cannot defend herself. If you are pro-Zionist, isn't one of the basic tenets of modern-day Zionism the supposed veneration and protection of the survivors of the Nazi Holocaust? Does that not include their memories (the USHMM, Yad Vashem, etc.)? Were not both of Dr. Finkelstein's parents such? I should think they suffered enough. Please leave them alone. Do you think Mrs. Finkelstein - or any of the survivors - would condone your use of HER name to spew bile against her son? Or, to turn the tables, would you permit someone to taunt you by devaluing the memory of your deceased relatives? Does that act fall within the realm of sanity to you?

I assure you, I have a strong stomach and have witnessed much ugliness in life, but I find your deliberate abuse of Dr. Finkelstein's dead mother's name both barbarous and psychotic. You should lock your murder-filled soul away in a dungeon, lest you be tempted to act on your desires. Or, please, just get some help. You are not a spokesperson for anyone but yourself; psychopaths are innately loners (as well as superficial, egomaniacal and dishonest) - your brains lack the wiring for empathy, to relate to humanity in a moral fashion. However, if you do claim to stand for something other than your own gratification, then I'm afraid you bring down shame upon Israel, shame upon Zionism, shame upon the parents that raised you and shame upon yourself for ridiculing the dead. May whatever force that governs the universe have pity on your wretchedness.

Sincerely, Nita Jalivay

P.S. I have forwarded this e-mail to Dr. Finkelstein in order that he post it on his website. Just in case readers overlooked what you had done, let them now gaze on the face of your ugliness with the horror such actions deserve.







The following letter was published by the Süddeutsche Zeitung on 9 February 2008 [German original]. It responds to a 25 January 2008 column by World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder entitled "View from Outside" ("Außenansicht"). The occasion of Lauder's column was "Holocaust Memorial Day" introduced in Germany some years ago to commemorate 27 January 1945, when Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet Army. Lauder drew a direct line from Auschwitz to the founding of the State of Israel, criticized the Arabs and Western “self-ordained good minds” for hating the Jewish state, and reminded readers that nice talks on Sunday would not be enough if trade relations with Iran would be continued on Monday.

Victim forever, culprit never

My father survived Auschwitz and my mother the concentration camps in the Baltic countries. They brought me up in the knowledge that there is a choice between good and evil and that everybody is responsible for his doings: They educated me within the ethics of Jewish religion.

In his "View from Outside," the president of the World Jewish Congress propagated some alternative ethics. We Jews should be above all: victims. And it would be about this that the memorial day of Jan 27 is bound to remind us. Presently, our State of Israel would be the victim of incomprehensible eruptions of hate from Arabs and from “self-ordained good minds.”

I would like to ask Mr. Lauder:

That none of my grandparents survived the Third Reich - did this fact give the right to Jewish franc-tireurs and the Israeli army in 1947-48 to expel hundreds of thousands of Arabs from Israel?

The "Arisierung" of my great-grandfather’s Berlin property - did it give the right to the State of Israel to confiscate lands and properties of the expelled Arabs in the early 50s?

The killings of my uncles and aunts by the SS - does this give the right to the State of Israel to impose a regime of occupation since 40 years?

The shooting of my grandmother Hanna for her going to the barber’s in Berlin without her Yellow Star - does this presently give the right to the State of Israel to starve the Gaza population?

Generally: Does the fact that we European Jews became victims of deep injustice give the Jewish state the right, before God and man, to do injustice to others now?

Can the Sunday’s speeches on "Holocaust memorial day" protect us from being asked this question?

Prof. Rolf Verleger, Ph.D.

Rolf Verleger, born 1951, is a psychologist working at the University of Lübeck, Germany. In 2006, he was elected by his regional association of Jewish congregations to become one of some 30 delegates in the Central Council of Jews in Germany. When the Lebanon war broke out in July 2006, he wrote an open letter to the president of the Central Council, saying that support for this war and the underlying politics are hardly compatible with Jewish ethics. To go one step further, in autumn 2006 he initiated the action "schalom5767" (www.schalom5767.de) where 70 Jewish-German initial signers called upon the German population to support the request to the German government and European Union for the immediate cessation of boycotting the elected Palestinian administration, and for supporting a solution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict along the lines of the Geneva accord. 15,000 signatures were collected.



Dear Norman Finkelstein

Your performance on Memri television [actually it's Lebanese Future TV, not Israeli-propaganda-outfit-MEMRI-TV] has great dramatic force. It is a work of art. The way you call Condolezza Rice a freak, is like a climax from Beethoven.

In April there was a gathering in Oslo of NATO's ministers of foreign affaires. In my view the King of Norway disgracfully violated his neutrality by inviting a mass murderer to the Royal Palace; Rice. Since the gathering had nothing to do with head of states, it must have been outside the etiquette of the King to involve him self. But Rice was the only one of those ministers who was received at the Palace.

It was an odd day. Together with almost 300 other people, mostly demonstrators, but also journalists, photographers and spectators, I was subjected to a collective arrest. There were not enough jails available so we were kept handcuffed and besieged at the sidewalk, then later on in busses. At 2 am, the police was tired and concluded they had fought terrorism convincingly enough for Ms. Rice. We were free to go.



To Chicago Public Radio's Eight Forty Eight show's producers and every one who helped to make it possible:

I am very delighted to listen to Professor Norman Finkelstein who was an invited guest in your program on June 12, 2007. I whoheheartedly thank you for having invited and so given him a chance to speak out his cause.

I have recently discovered Professor Finkelstein and cannot help but follow the new posts on his website. From far away, he has already won my heart. He is --in my opinion-- by far the most honest and hard working scholar in his specialties. I actually learned a lot from him about the Israeli--Palestinian conflict and was surprised to see how just and careful he is in his conclusions. To be honest, I didn't know much about the history of Israeli-Palestinian conflict before I became familiar with his website. And thus, I also became familiar with the injustice and "jihad" raged against him concerning his tenure denial.

To be short, from Stephen Zweig to Noam Chomsky, a lot of jewish scholars have been my teachers who didn't even know me. In a sense, I see all the writers of the books available in my special library as my teachers. I was so impressed by Professor Finkelstein's scholarly works and his cause and the way he communicates with, I very much like to express solidarity with him and --for that matter-- I have added him to my list of professors of whom I consider myself an 'absent' student.

Again, I sincerely thank you for having given him that chance.

Dr. Mehmet Atalay
Assistant professor
Istanbul University, Istanbul (Turkey)



From: shines1965[at]hotmail.com
To: dersh@law.harvard.edu
CC: normangf[at]hotmail.com; frankmentrez[at]yahoo.com
Subject: The Case Against Alan Dershowitz by Frank J. Menetrez
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:34:49 -0500

Dear Alan Dershowitz.

This is shocking: http://counterpunch.org/menetrez02122008.html

I really don't know how to begin. I saw the debate between you and Norman Finkelstein on Democracy Now on 9-24-03. I'm afraid you lost the debate that day, but I had no idea the extent of your evasions and "academic misconduct". As Noam Chomsky might say about a layman, I don't have the wherewithal or inclination to conduct independent research projects to fact-check presumably credible department chairs at Harvard. One can only be grateful to Norman Finkelstein and Frank Menetrez.

You have been caught. You reproduced Joan Peters' book, including her mistakes and lies, yet you cited Mark Twain. In the process, evidently, you tangled with a REAL scholar in Norman Finkelstein who decided to expose your game. You may have succeeded in damaging his career, but the facts of the case are transparent now and are a disgrace to YOUR standing and reputation.

You have provided a neat example of some insidious and frightening academic fraud that underpins public discourse. You owe Norman Finkelstein an apology. You have discredited your institution. I am stunned that Harvard has remained supportive of you throughout this affair. Harvard and DePaul should also publicly apologize. I assume the Nation magazine will publish Frank Menetrez' article and that their editors will endorse Norman Finkelstein's scholarship and help resolve the confusion you have created.

Good day,
Steve Hines



Dear Dr Menetrez,

I have just read your article entitled "The Case Against Alan Dershowitz" that is published on www.normanfinkelstein.com. As a passionate supporter of Mr Finkelstein's work I was extremely disappointed with the treatment he received during his tenure bid at Depaul University. I would venture to argue that his case is symptomatic of an overall sorry state of affairs in American academia. It has become apparent that American academic institutions are increasingly becoming influenced by external political pressures and the lobbying efforts of both individuals and special interest groups. One only has to look at the appalling theatrics of Columbia University president Lee Bollinger upon receiving Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year to confirm this suspicion. In particular it appears that academics who's studies revolve around the activities of Israel are treated to particularly vicious and venomous attacks. Another case that jumps to mind is that of Wadie Said, son of the late Edward W. Said, who's bid for appointment as Professor of Law at Wayne State University was disrupted by attacks from various pro Israel groups. This being the case it is important that voices in support of academic freedom are heard. The ideals that define the roles of academic institutions in our societies must be reinforced and reached for. With this in mind I wanted to write to commend you on your excellent article in support of Norman Finkelstein and the academic principles that were so badly discarded in both Dershowitz's attacks and Depaul's (and Harvard's) reactions.

All the best,

Noor Hammad
Sydney, Australia



Thank you for posting Sara Roy's article, it moved me nearly to tears. I felt two angers simultaneously. One, that Europe allowed the Holocaust to ever happen, how could they! And second that the whole world has learned nothing and is allowing Israel to do it's own abridged version with better weapons right under the eyes of the so-called Free World. The irony of it all, which Ms. Roy's article reminded me of, is growing up my introduction to Judaism was tikkun and the line that I've never forgotten "injustice just can't endure". Israel is no Jewish state, it's an abomination. I often think about what tribal barbarism has done to people, like people who just worship their totems (nowadays called 'flags') in the place of applying their reason. I wonder whether those who consider themselves Enlightened (finally evolved past tribal barbarism) should see themselves as constantly in a state of Hobbesian all-out-war (pen and or sword) with irrational barbarisms? I mean, you can't reason with the barbarian over his totem, it's his and it belonged to his ancestors. Even though his ancestors could have been ignorant, meaning that he is an ignoramous for following them, but that very ignorance acts as a veil against the application of logic, so is engagment futile? And it's EVERYWHERE, the Americans won't give up their guns because "it's there's and it's part of their tradition (read, their great-grand-daddies use to hunt game when the nation was mostly wilderness). Or the Indians perpetuate this absurd caste system because "that's the way things are", I think Weber put it best when he called this nonesense the "authority of the eternal yesterday". Eternally stuck in the mind-numbing past! ________________________________



How you doing ;), just wanted to say thank you 4 ur support of the palestinian and the resistance in lebanon, i watched ur interview on memri it brought tears to my eyes, the arabs are so blinded that they need an outsider to help them see their affairs properly,
God bless you

Mohammad



Hi Dr. Finkelstein,

I just wanted to write to say hello and wish you well. I am sure this is a difficult- and profoundly unfair time - in your life. In a recent news blurb, I learned that you are from Brooklyn and I am proud to say so am I. Your work, although it has brought you great difficulty, has made irreversable contributions to the history, truth, and I think the eventual it will be a crtical contribution to the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and by extension help calm relationships throughout the Middle East.

I am certain you have a lot of supporters and those who are encouraged by your character and committment to truth.

Best regards,

Joe Chiara



I hope this email finds you well Dr Finkelstein. I decided to write to you to offer my thanks and support, for whats its worth. I have been an avid follower of yours for a couple of years now, and have watched many videos of your debates online. Im from a little village 50 miles west of Belfast, here in the north of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Ulster, the six counties....(delete as app). Fear not, i am not going to pretend for one second, that our expeirence here in Ireland is in any comparable to the tragedy of Palestine/Israel. I merely wish to say thanks for shining a light into areas and facts of history that many in the western world would prefer not to acknowledge. Your level of commitment and indeed honesty in highlighting some of the dubious actions and beliefs espoused by those you may even call your 'own people' caused me to try and re-evaluate those beliefs which i hold dear. As i come from a republican (irish tradition) background, and feel very strongly that Britain has no right to govern any part of Ireland, my sympathies instinctively rest with the Palestinians. I make no apology for this, but in hearing what you have got to say, and reading one of your books thus far (Image and Reality...), i was quite surprised when i first stumbled upon your views. I thought 'Here is a man with a Jewish background, who has the courage to speak out against those who might view him as one of their own'.

I doubt if i will ever be able to muster the courage you have shown, to admit the many faults that we here in Ireland have, and the many wrong things carried out in the name of ideals we hold dear. For me, if there was justice in the world, the one state solution would be the way forward, with the right of return acknowledged and encouraged. But as you say, this is unfortunatley most likely unrealizable. i do believe that the Palestine problem feeds alot of the ills in the region and the wider world, and so i can only hope that you and more people like you become the norm (sry, no joke intended), instead of the exception.

as we say here in Ireland, slán agus beannacht !



From: sbadler1[at]msn.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject:
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2008 04:46:58 -0500
Dear Mr. Self-hating Jew:

I'm sure you've heard it all before. We live in England and everyday my lovely, popular 13-year-old son is the victim of some anti-semitic comment from one or more of his English classmates. I blame the other self-hating Jew and the movie Borat for that.

You, Sascha-Cohen and Bobby Fischer obviously have real psychological problems. Why haven't you spent your life on the myriad other inequities in the world? How can you compare what's happening to the "Palestinians" to China's willful destruction of Tibet? Why don't you try to figure out why the whole continent of Africa is trying to hack each other and burn each other to death? Your holocaust surviving parents are turning over in the graves with shame.

Susan Adler
From: maxillagardens1118[at]hotmail.co.uk
To: sbadler1[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Your letter to Dr Norman Finkelstein of 8 February 2008.
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 21:07:15 +0000

Ms Susan Adler

Dear Ms Adler

Writing to a world famous author with a greeting ..."Dear Mr Self-hating Jew" demeans you. You go on to claim a lovely, popular 13 year old son as the victim of some antisemitic comment from one or more of his English classmates. Surely you can do better than this repetitive oxymoron. Madam, you contradict yourself. What is this about the English classmates? They would hardly be Hottentots. Before you set out on the usual practice of blaming others you could well examine your own conscience. It is just possible that the little darling at home (with a doting mama? ) becomes a hideous monster to the detriment of all who come in contact with him. For a number of years I was myself a teacher ( 11-18 age group) and we were frequently to come upon such a situation. I should also add that it was not unknown to receive the remark..." my dad is coming up the school about you". I suppose this was meant to deter the faint -hearted amongst the teaching fraternity.

Another explanation for your problems involves the frequent confusion between Judaism and Zionism. Whilst unlikely, your son might be parroting pro-Zionist propaganda to young and immature minds and thus would suffer as a result. He might, for example, be very proud of the death and destruction visited on the tormented and terrorised Palestinians by the Zionists. Yet another reason for any possible dislike.

Dear lady, whenever the going gets tough the insults come out and invariably "psychological" problems are given an airing. In your particular case I acknowledge a dose of raw and ugly racism. How preposterous that you should write about the " whole continent of Africa trying to hack each other and burn each other to death". Could you , I wonder, be recent arrivals from South Africa?

Best leave the above style of invective to the Dershowitzs of this world. They are at least more experienced in the game.

Michael Shanahan
Pinner,Middx.,

P S I have of course no relationship, formal or otherwise, with Dr Finkelstein.

----- Original Message ----- From: jessy.ryan1[at]googlemail.com
To: sbadler1[at]msn.com
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2008 9:13 AM
Subject: Norman Finkelstein & the Israel-Palestine Conflict

Dear Susan Adler

As a Jew living in London I do not recognise the protrayal of your son's daily life. In any event, what has that got to do with the pros and cons of the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory?

Does your alleged discrimination in England at the hands of bigots justify the 40 year denial of a Palestinian homeland?

I hope your son grows up with just a little more grasp of logic and reason, and maybe he'll find himself in the company of the increasing number - probably majority - of European Jews who do not support the Israeli state's torture and murder of Palestinians and division of their homeland into an Apartheid 'Bantustan'.

They do not do it in my name.

Jessy Ryan

On 12/02/2008, Susan Adler sbadler1[at]msn.com wrote:

My son goes to an international school which is mostly American. The only problem with anti-semitism has been from the few English kids who go to the school. If you live in England, you are living in a dream world if you don't think there is antisemitism there. Adults have learned to mask it but their 13-year-old children tell it like they hear it. It is an acknowledged problem at the school. The assistant principal just called me to tell me there was another incident (with another Jewish kid) and of course an English boy and a Dutch boy.

I didn't realize my letter was going to be made public otherwise I would have edited it more carefully. I am not a public figure and shouldn't have my email given without my permission. My point was that Norman Finkelstein, as an American, may not realize that he is fueling medieval anti-semitism in Europe. This is why I mentioned the bullying in context of his attack on Israel.

I believe the British divided Palestine and gave Israel to the Jews. The UN ratified this in 1948. The other part became Jordan. Many Jews were kicked out of Arab and North African countries in 1948 and they are now in Israel. The Arabs that were in the Jewish part of Palestine are either still there, with more rights than they have anywhere else in the Arab world, or were left to fester in refugee camps by their Arab brethren. There was a funny article in the New York Times recently which said that if part of Jerusalem becomes part of a Palestinian state, the Israeli Arabs there do not want to give up their Israeli citizenship.

What do you mean by apartheid? Do you think the Jewish state should disappear? Do you think all former Palestinians should have a right to return?

I think Israel would love to give back the territories, although no other country has ever given back territory that it won in a war which they didn't start. They pulled out of Gaza and were immediately barraged by missiles - hundreds a day. A good solution would be to give back the territories but keep the wall and let the Gazans and Palestinians get their education, medical care, employment from the other side of their borders.

From: Jessy Ryan jessy.ryan1[at]googlemail.com
Date: 13 Feb 2008 02:14
Subject: Re: Norman Finkelstein & the Israel-Palestine Conflict
To: Susan Adler sbadler1[at]msn.com

Dear Susan

You are living in a never-never world. Records of anti-semitic incidents in England (verbal, written/graffiti, grave desecration and violence to the person - this last so miniscule such that any artificial inflation of which would be an affront to Black Minority Ethnic (BME), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people who suffer all those forms of attack and discrimination to a degree unheard of in our community) are at their lowest for nearly two decades. I carried out assisted research in the late 80s/early 90s on anti-semitism in Europe generally, and Britain in particular. It was at record lows then and has fallen ever since.

I live within 5 minutes walk of the largest Hassidic community in the UK and they would not recognise your portrayal of life in the biggest city in Europe. Nor would virtually any other Jews in London or any other UK city.

No one 'gave' the pre-1967 border territories to the Jews. The Zionist community TOOK it after a war in which Zionist armed forces ethnically cleansed Palestinians in their many 1000s from their homelands. I am not surprised that you seem to be totally ignorant of a recognition of that ethnic cleansing even by supporters of the Israeli state - Professor Benny Morris, internationally respected historian and Schlomo Ben Ami, Israeli Foreign Minister under Erhud Barak up to 1981 as two highly respected international figures. You suffer from the same kind of deliberate, or acquired and therefore deceitful, ignorance of verifiable historical fact that increasingly fewer in our community now sustain.

You also display ignorance of and disregard for numerous UN resolutions calling on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories resulting from the 1967 war. You appear totally ignorant of INTERNATIONAL LAW that forbids any war victor state making *permanent* land incursions it made as a form of 'defence', and it has been declared totally ILLEGAL to settle invading populations on lands occupied in the name of 'defence' - the settlements of (primarily pork-eating non-Israeli 'Jews') in the occupied territory are theft and a disgusting slur on Jewry worldwide - especially when the settlers live in absolute luxury alongside side homeless, poverty stricken Palestinian refugees, who the settlers go one step further in pauperising by selling back to the Palestinians their OWN water!

We all know that the snake like 'Defensive Wall' that the Israeli state has constructed within the Occupied Palestinian territories - the Israeli side having immaculate tarmac'd roads and full utilities and the Palestinian side so bad as being barely able to safely carry motorised transport - has created Palestinian Bantu villages cut off from each other by checkpoints through which Palestinians are regularly refused passage.

The WORLD COURT (recognised and signed up to by the USA, UK and all states including Israel) has adjudicated unanimously that the wall is ILLEGAL and every signatory state of the World Court is duty bound to help REMOVE the wall.

But it is former US President Jimmy Carter - after a long and thorough on the spot examination of the current state of the Palestinian homelands - who has most famously declared it as APARTHEID, and not only that but described it in terms as being in some ways WORSE than South Africa pre-1994.

When you say that no other states have ever given back territory taken in a war they declared was engaged in as a matter of 'defence', you are woefully ignorant.

All in all I feel dreadfully sorry for you as a Mother of a 13 year old English boy because he will, if he has to hear this garbage from you, come to know the truth.

As for your new, 'public' persona, perhaps in future you will take the time to reflect for a few seconds before you rattle off a nasty little email, of infantile proportions of ignorance and inaccuracy, to one of the bravest and most highly regarded Political Scientists of the last two decades. A man who has devoted his LIFE and sacrificed a CAREER in the simple and ethical pursuit of truth and principle. Norman Finkelstein is a real role model to Jews around the world - to challenge those who LIE in our name.

Yours

Jessy Ryan

From: Susan Adler> Date: 14 Feb 2008 01:46 Subject: Re: Norman Finkelstein & the Israel-Palestine Conflict To: 'Jessy' You know, I couldn't let this rest. In the US, Jews are not content to just not have their graves disturbed, or not actually being bodily harmed. I don't think you have kids, and if you do, they may not identify themselves as Jews, but if you know anyone with Jewish kids, have they publicly identified themselves as Jewish in their English school and not been harassed? Like on a daily basis have kids say, Jew, Jew, or whatever stupid thing 13-year-olds say. "No Jews allowed in the gym". My kids went to school in 4 states in the US and never experienced anything like this. The lone Chinese kid is also teased. I just don't understand why every Jewish kid in our school knows that there is antisemitism. Believe me, my son isn't going to school talking about Israel. He just had the audacity to invite kids to a Bar Mitzvah party that he and another Jewish kid had together. Ever since then, as I said, there have been daily comments almost exclusively by either English kids or kids who have gone to English schools. My daughter went to the school last year - in high school. No one knew she was Jewish and she was always overhearing people make fun of another guy because he was Jewish, etc. Talk about blaming the victim. Most Jewish kids say "Are you crazy? I wouldn't tell anyone I'm Jewish".

From: Susan Adler
Date: 13 Feb 2008 13:49
Subject: Re: Norman Finkelstein & the Israel-Palestine Conflict
To: 'Jessy'

Sorry - there is a LOT of antisemitism in England and Europe. In England, probably some of the worst anti-semites are Jews like Sacha Baron Cohen and Amy Winehouse to just name a couple of prominent figures. Amy Winehouse was interviewed and said she would never date a Jewish guy because they're too attached to their mothers.

Please don't refer to my son as English. We're American and will be going back there.

Yes, the territories are a problem but really, there are so many worse things going on in the world. Perhaps it's not just medieval antisemitism but also Dhimmitude which makes the English (and I think French) so obsessive about the Palestinian plight. Why are you not obsessing about the Kurds? Why can't they have a homeland? And Tibet?

Please don't darken my email again. I'm not interested in your views.





Hi,

I finished watching your LSE talk. You are so intelligent which is why it baffles me that you still hold onto your dream of a communist revolution. Communism is folly and inconsistent with human nature (and even where it's been implemented, it always gets corrupted because the human nature factor takes hold).

Jim



Hi, Norman,

I was outraged last year by the spineless Rothschild during your tenure battle. I don't read The Progressive and I didn't even know he existed, but my guess is that people like him knew better but were afraid.

I just dropped by The Progressive's website. Amy Goodman is on their cover this month. They also feature her in an interview, which I think is the centerpiece of the issue. In all likelihood, this cover feature probably had something to do with Rothschild appearing on Democracy Now this morning. Both probably felt his appearance on the show would grant exposure to the magazine and increase its circulation, but it won't work with me. I'll continue to watch DN regularly, but I won't read a word of The Progressive.

I wouldn't be surprised if many in Amy's audience feel the same way.

Frank



On Feb 11, 2008, at 1:21 PM, Matthew Allen Schuld wrote:

Mr. Rothschild:

Thank you for your recent work exposing the FBI’s program InfraGard. It is hard to believe how closely the government and private enterprise are entangled. I always enjoy your magazine. Nonetheless, I still remain disappointed that you defended your political editor Ruth Conniff when she referred to Norman Finkelstein as a “Holocaust minimizer.” By the standard to which you hold Norman Finkelstein, Raul Hilberg is a Holocaust minimizer as well, considering his work is one of the most well respected accounts of that tragic historical event and Finkelstein agrees with Hilberg’s figures. Secondly, the phrase “Holocaust minimizer” has no real definition. It seems to have appeared out of nowhere to slander Finkelstein, since he can not honestly be called a Holocaust denier. I apologize for having to add a caveat to an otherwise complimentary email. Part of me hopes you or Ruth Conniff would issue a statement of clarification which notes that Finkelstein is no more of a Holocaust minimizer than one of the most highly respected holocaust historians.

I respect your work greatly,
Matthew Schuld
From: Matt Rothschild mattr@progressive.org
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 2:37 PM
To: Matthew Allen Schuld
Subject: Re: Recent Dem. Now Appearence

Hi Matthew

I appreciate your kind comments about my appearance on D-Now!

Best,

Matt







Please forgive this email as I am sure many have emailed you about this subject. As you know I defer to your better knowledge on the issue of the one state vs. two-state settlement and your argument is undeniably practical. However, after just reading the article you posted entitled "The One State-Illusion: More is Less", which summarizes all the points I have commonly come across dismissing the One-State Settlement and those who propone this position, I feel it a moral duty to engage these arguments as I have reflected on them considerably and find them logically unsound and quite frankly immoral and dishonest.

1) There seems to be a consensus that the two-state settlement is inherently unjust, since it gives Palestinians only 20 percent of their historical homeland, explicitly recognizes a state based on racism (Jews only), and justifies the wrongs committed against the Palestinians for the last few decades.

Yet, it is argued by those opposed to the one-state solution, that the only truly just settlement of the conflict is the expulsion of Zionist colonizers including their descendents (not as ethnic cleansing but as expulsion much like the French colonizers were forced from Algeria) the payment of massive reparations in the tunes of the billions to be paid to Palestinian victims; criminal proceedings against the Zionist perpetrators, and the punishment of Israeli firms that were complicit etc. And since, the argument goes, this is simply unfeasible and is the only true just solution, the one-state settlement falling short of this is ipso-facto unjust. However, this argument is akin to saying that, although European settlers systematically committed genocide in the Americas, and since the only real solution is giving back all land and kicking out the European settlers, there should be no talk of attempting to right the sins of their fathers but trying to integrate aboriginals within the American state apparatus giving them full rights as citizens, historically as well as financially acknowledging the sins committed against them. However, is this not in fact precisely what has been done to a great extent in Canada, with of course problems, and to a lesser extent in the United States? Everything short of European expulsion has been undertaken: historical acknowledgement of the wrongs, compensation in the form of land reserves or other subsidies (in Canada aboriginals can go to any university free of charge and are exempt from taxes). This is not to say that it has been perfect but it has been done thus it is evidence that it is politically feasible, so that arguement doesn't withstand scrutiny or comparison.

2) One-State Settlement would lead to a bloodbath. The argument goes that obviously the Zionist occupation has savaged Palestinians for decades in the most atrocious and calculating manner, thus it would logically follow that were there to be a one state, the Palestinians would naturally want to exact the most savage revenge.

Was this not the very argument being made in Apartheid South Africa? As most people are aware, the argument was that because of the brutal treatment of the South African blacks by the Apartheid Whites, enfranchising them and giving them equal rights would result in a bloodbath against the whites...that simply did not happen. And it is not like the international community does not have the means to provide monitoring to help ensure this does not occur (as was the case after the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia where the international community continues to monitor today).

3) Resolving an ethnic conflict does not ensure economic and social justice: " If one-state proponents are really so big on justice, why does it sound as if all we need is a single Palestinian state and justice will be done? Shouldn't we be hearing about justice for poor and the marginalized in this wonderful new future? Does resolving an ethnic conflict somehow ensure economic and social justice for all?"

This argument is simply unfortunate. First, it is obvious, hopefully, to any observer that the Emancipation Declaration of the United States that officially ended slavery did not actually end the economic and social marginalization of blacks in the United States, however is there any logic to the argument that thinks economic and social justice would have materialized while institutionalized slavery continued? Furthermore, the Civil Rights movement was successfully in winning great legal rulings (Brown vs. Board of Education etc.) but hopefully few people will deny that further measures such as affirmative action were necessary to further the rights given by such rulings. All in all, it does not follow that a just and feasible way to end oppression is by allowing it to remain institutionalized, in this case institutionalized in the form of the State of Israel which is by definition an oppressive entity.

Moreover, arguments such as this: "Either one-staters are as serious about justice as they claim to be, or they're not. If they are, then they should be addressing all types of injustice in Palestine. But if they are willing to sacrifice justice to practicality, then it's time to consider what's practicable and what isn't", suggest that either one must end every single injustice or there is no point in trying to eliminate any kind of injustice, much less a great overarching justice.

Obviously the great injustice in the Israel Palestine Conflict is the ethnic marginalization and slow cleansing of an entire population by the most inhuman means. Thus, it would seem rationale that a serious individual would want to address this overarching concern (which is the main contributor of other injustices such as poverty and child mortality). To then argue that those who rationally want to focus on dealing with the main issue and cause of the problems, and not say voter rights, are somehow not serious about justice, is just bizarre for lack of a better word.

4) One-State Settlement simply won't work. Basically, the argument here is that the One- State solution is totally politically unfeasible (mainly because Israelis won't accept it, though I don't see why that should be the litmus test since the majority of Israelis don't even support ending the occupation, which is not surprising, the French Algerian settlers certainly didn't support an end to French colonialism and had zero desire to return to France) But more than this, the one-state settlement, the argument goes, won't work. An example cited in this particular article ( also made by others) is Lebanon. The analogy to Lebanon seems simply wrong.

The issue of Israel-Palestine, as admitted to by the author in the beginning of the article, is one in which one group colonized another, is occupying them, claiming racial superiority over them, boxing them in to prisons and disenfranchising them in every way possible. Lebanon on the other hand is a case of people of the same ethnic group, not having anything to do with colonialism, majority of which share the same religion, who are quarrelling over differences due to their faction politics. How it has missed this author that it is not hard to find an example that exactly mimics what is currently going on, namely Apartheid South Africa, is beyond me. South Africa as we all know, was a case of one group that colonized another, proclaimed racial superiority over them, box them in to territorial prisons and disenfranchised them in every way possible. The avoidance of this perfect historical case, or the dismissal of this case as merely "rhetorical politics" is dishonesty of the highest proportions. The fact of the matter is that Israel-Palestine today is the new South Africa and that was settled with a One State Solution, which was and continues to be imperfect, which does have large economic imbalances, but how could any of those injustices be addressed without addressing the putrid source of it all?

Furthermore, let's not forget there are places in the world with much deeper religious and ethnic cleavages, and much more complicated ethnic mosaics that do work on a one-state settlement however imperfect, these include Malaysia, Switzerland, Canada etc.

5) Last but not least arguments against those who propone the One-State Settlement is that they simply have too much faith in democracy. "The fact is that a single state guarantees nothing. Notoriously, the democratic process does not ensure that the will of the majority really prevails". The article continues to argue "It is no good promising that all the nice stuff will come later. How? Presumably a single state is supposed to bring justice, not after mass slaughter, but after elections. Really? Will millions of Jews just leave if a majority says they should?"

This lack of faith in democracy is astonishing and not to mention logically unsound. The democratic process is not perfect, should it then be scrapped or should the kinks be worked on? Furthermore, it is astonishing that the basic principle of democratic societies should be reiterated here: expressing the will of the majority while protecting the minority. And sometimes, as is the case now in the United States, the real fear is not that the majority will dominate the minority but that the minority dominate the majority which is clearly the case now.

Although I can firmly acknowledge the logic of trying to have the two-state settlement implemented because it represents the international consensus and thus as you said quoting Mao, that it is better to unite the many against the few, and it makes no sense to throw away the accumulation of resolutions and the International Court ruling, I do not believe that is fair to argue that it is delusional or in fact political unfeasible for dedicated people to strive for a one-state settlement. Though the two-state-settlement has a so-called international consensus, after 60 plus years of occupation nothing has happened. Can we, Norman, blame the powerless Palestinians for not doing anything with this consensus or can we reasonably conclude that there really is no consensus and that whatever consensus exists is malleable? Furthermore, is it not true that beyond the present international consensus there is a vast historical precedent backed up with solid case studies ranging from the Americas to South Africa to Malaysia where appropriate models can be found, not to mention lessons learned? Why is it that this ethnic occupation and territorial colonization is being treated differently from all past conflicts especially when South Africa, the best analogy is fresh in everyone's mind? If all of the abovementioned cases were politically feasible, why is this one which is no different not politically feasible?

I certainly do not make this argument to pretend that my point of view matters one jot on the political process all I can do is support the Palestinian and other international causes from afar and from the comfrot of my Canadian society. However, if the issue is about the arguments made above, I think that the position of activists who are mobilizing on behalf of the powerless Palestinians, in countries that do have the power to do something, matters in so far as it is about truly helping them when they have been so barbarically disenfranchised. Please excuse the length of this and if you don't mind posting it on your website in case activists have their own thoughts on which method is best for mobilizing on behalf of the Palestinian people, I wouldn't have any problems with that.



Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 13:03:43 -0800
From: palmbeachdave2003@yahoo.com
Subject: Lebanon TV Interview
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Norman,

Seriously, why do you hate being a Jew and hate Israel?

You ARE a useful idiot if I ever saw one.

Shame on you for being Jewish.

Were you beaten up as a child because you were Jewish? My G-D are you dangerous.

Please convert to Islam.

Then I wouldn't be so surprised for you calling on Israel to be defeated.

Live with hezbullah and maybe they will tire of you and cut your head off as the Islamofacists did to Daniel Perlman.

G-D bless the Jews and the State of Israel.

May Israel live and peace, not pieces.



From: das6102m@hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject:
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:57:24 -0500

We had no idea that venomous insects have e-mail addresses. What a progress! We hope your death will be very slow and extremely painful.

We know it is a heretical thing to say for a medical doctor, but there are exceptions. Cannibalistic scropions must be squashed.

Drs. Igor & Irene Abramovich



Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 22:10:33 -0800
From: drcollins57@yahoo.com
Subject: recollections of intolerance of violence
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

In your "Bridges" interview, you recalled a rather dramatic memory of your mother, specifically her having to shield her eyes from television footage of the Vietnam war. I believe you raised this image when asked how your parents would feel about your stance in the Arab-Israeli conflict. This less-than-poignant evocation of your mother prompted me to wonder the following: If she were presented with a imagery of the countless persecutions and massacres of Jews by Moslems from the twelfth through the twentieth centuries, would this be something from which she would shield her eyes. Skipping right to the twentieth, would the spring 1920 Arab riot in the Galilee or the riot a month later in Jerusalem, both resulting in many Jewish deaths, have had this effect on her? How about the infamous, deadly massacres of Jews at Hebron in 1929 or the many smaller attacks in the 1920's and 1930's. And were these, incidentally, because of the Israeli treatment of the "Palestinians," coming before the statehood of Israel and the any discussion of a Palestian homeland? And, what about the later hundreds of Jewish deaths at the school at Maalot in about 1974, or by suicide bombers in busses, at pizza parlors, Bar Mitzvah parties, and Passover seders, and on and on. Would your mother have had to shield her eyes from images of Jewish deaths as much as Vietamese ones?

Although I never met Mrs. Finkelstein, I have to think all of these would have been exceedingly distressing to her. It is a reasonable assumption that Jewish murder in these settings would have been as appalling as it was in her own setting in Europe at the hands of other haters of Jews. And this, Dr. Finkelstein, is what is the most disturbing about your own writing, lectures, interviews, and other public presentations. You never express any sympathy, dismay, or even annoyance with serious injury and death of Jewish men, women, and children. Indeed, I cannot recall any favorable comment on Judiasm or Jewish people in any framework--and no expression of regret at the murder of Jewish adults, children and infants. So even more than your support of the Palestinian cause and indiscriminate criticism of Israel, this is what would prompt any normal, non-biased person to ask, what are the psychological--or psychpathological-- underpinnings of such an outlook from a Jewish man whose family was decimated by Jewish murderers? Even your supporters can not escape this question. I suppose they simply avoid the whole issue. And this is also why I think it is highly unlikely that your parents "would be proud of you." I would assert that their being sickenly appalled by their son is the more correct assessment.

I hope you will post this to assess the response of your readers and supporters.

Sincerely,
D. Collins, M.D.



Dr. Finkelstein,

I just wanted to express my profound admiration for your work. I was completely blown away by the “Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict.” I was actually introduced to your academic writings by a Palestinian professor who, after being relentlessly accused of ‘anti-semitism’ actually quit teaching at my school, Dalhousie University.

Your commitment to the truth, which has come at great personal expense, is nothing short of inspiring. You are a true revolutionary.

Kevin Johnston



Hi Norman,

Just in case you hadn't heard: Alan Dershowitz is apparently writing an opera! (http://www.forward.com/articles/12560/) If precedent is anything to go by, he'll probably just steal the music from a previous opera and launch a campaign to end the career of any reviewer daring to be even mildly critical of it.

Best,

Jamie.

p.s. great talk on Wednesday, by the way. I did a write-up of it here (http://heathlander.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/finkelstein-rocks-the-lse/) and it was linked to by Engage, an anti-boycott "movement" in the UK aiming to expose "anti-Semitism on the Left"
(http://www.engageonline.org.uk/blog/article.php?id=1617). Sadly, you don't seem to have convinced them. ;)



Dr. Finkelstein:

I first learned of you when I came across a copy of "The Holocaust Industry while volunteering at Hope Secondary School in Beit Jala in 2004. It blew me away. We have 2 other of your books and heard you speak at St. Joan of Arc in Minneapolis..It is about time that I write to share a word of appeciation for your extremely detailed writing, your courage, and commitment to justice with all of the consequences you have encountered. I have followed closely your situation at De Paul and the results. I am truly sad that this can happen in our country or any country for that matter.I am writing simply to thank you for your work, and courage and to wish good things for you. It is sad that people on both sides of the Palestine- Israel conflict suffer for the truth....Thank you..Don't give up. Dwight Haberman retired protestant clergy...Isanti , MN.

"Commitment is doing what you said you would do after the feeling you said it in has passed." St Camillus de Lellis 1550-1614.



Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2008 14:37:47 -0800
From: jkennedydelahoy[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

hi, i am an american schoolteacher looking to take part in a study tour of the occupied territories...i have heard of such groups organized in the UK...can you direct me towards any organization. i just read the mersch/walt book and appreciated your comments made at LSE, thank you for your help, jessica kennedy



Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 13:03:44 -0500
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
From: ttonon[at]bluesbox.biz
Subject: question of fact

Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I've become aware of your writings only in the last couple years and saw your lecture at Princeton University a few months ago. Like any good scholar who focuses on an issue, you're able to look at the essentials, and as in the case here, able to prove the remarkable simplicity of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict - simple in the sense that the key, central issues in the dispute are not in contention within the World Community. In many of these related issues (borders, refugees, settlements, walls, etc.) the World Court has already passed judgement - against Israel. It's pretty clear to me the only reason this conflict can continue is because of the misplaced political, economic, and military support by our very own country. I think all U.S. citizens bear some responsibility in the bloodletting, but of course, some more than others. Perhaps for the time being the evil forces are winning, but you and many others are fighting the good fight, while always maintaining a refusal to advocate violence.

My question actually concerns violence, as a legal recourse, and it has two parts, as follows.

As you mentioned in your lecture, and if I recall correctly, the World Court in Belgium has declared that the Israeli Settlements in the West Bank are illegal, according to International Law. That being the case, do the Palestinians in Gaza and/or the West Bank have the legal right to use violence against the Israeli settlers, in the context of self defense from an illegal occupier? And the second part, do these Palestinians have the legal right to use violence against the Israeli military regime either in the Occupied Territories or in Israel itself - again, within a measure of self defense from an occupier who is illegally confiscating their land?

My guess is that the International Legal Community has at some point answered these questions, but I cannot find any definite statement regarding the question. I realize the you must receive an enormous amount of mail and cannot answer every question posed to you, so I'm hoping that, if you post this question on your "letters" section, someone might read it and thus provide me with some needed information.

I was saddened when I heard about the unjust and vicious attacks you endured, with the resulting cowardly decision by dePaul university to deny you the tenure your own academic peers decided was rightfully yours. Apparently, like with most other corrupt behavior, decision makers look at the cash register, rather than at the lives of human beings, or even at their own moral reputation. We're still with you Norman, and some day truth and justice will prevail.

Best regards,
Tom



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

The employed honorific is, I believe, the appropriate one. Please correct me if I am wrong.

You cannot possibly imagine the joy that filled my heart as I watched your address to the LSE. I have watched all of your videos and listened to most of your interviews, so I am conversant with the material covered. Nevertheless, I learned many new facts from the address. I am gratified to have seen that your senses of truth, justice, fairness, and compassion have only deepened and matured. Further, your analogy of your own right to tenure with the Palestinians’ right of return was masterful. Nothing could have provided a better framework for rational discussion of this hitherto obfuscated topic.

Thank you once again for all the knowledge you provide to us who have neither the time nor ability to do this kind of meticulous research. May I also ask you to pass along my appreciation to Professor Francis Boyle? I believe his 18th annual Bertrand Russell Peace Lectures at McMaster University (http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~peace/videos/f1.html), and your address to the London School of Economics stand as the final legal and perhaps ethical, judgments on this entire “controversy.” It seems that you are thriving outside of academic feudalism, as I knew you would. As always, you and yours are welcome to visit our island home anytime you get tired to traveling the world.

Thanx

John Hogan, MCSD



From: stecot@ix.netcom.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Fwd:
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:18:17 -0500

NORMAN,

I could rail at you for thousands of words, but I'll resist wasting bits and bytes on the likes of you. You are a disgrace of a human being and a dupe for anti-Semites every where. Why don't you grow up and stop spewing your vile shit? Climb back in the hole you came out of.

Stephen Tecot
stecot@ix.netcom.com
20290 Fairway Oaks Drive
Apt 273
Boca Raton, FL 33434
Voice Phone: (561)477-7894
Fax Phone: (561)479-3368



Dear Norman,

There are a couple of pictures that will be indelible for me since the New Year. Your vist to the graves of Lebanese victims of Israeli aggression and the thousands of prisoners of the Gaza ghetto crossing the border into Egypt. Sometimes pictures are worth a thousand words. Maybe you'll share your thoughts with us as you walked among and stood in front of those needless graves. That's your decision. The picture speaks. Thank you! It's like going to the municpality of Saint Denis, north of Paris, where an enlightened and compassionate mayor, Didier Paillard, has seen to it that two monuments have been erected in his time in office: the monument to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and the plaque as well as the square in front of the train station being named after the date of the pogrom against the peaceful demonstrators for the independence of their homeland Algeria. On that date "civilized" France filled the canal and gutters with hundreds of blungeoned and drowned victims. Didier Paillard is the son of a survivor of Buchenwald so there is a parallell to your own life. Both of you are not victims of the past.

Didier Paillard does what he can to ameliorate the lives of the French and the immigrants that live in Saint Denis. We owe both of you a debt of gratitude.

The picture(s) of the Palestinians of Gaza crossing the border into Egypt left me without words.Jeff Halper expressed what I couldn't say in the article " Power to the (Palestinian) people".

The prisoners of the Gaza ghetto stormed across the border for the necessities of life, as well as wedding gifts.

He spoke of "sumud", the Arabic word for being steadfast.

Stay "sumud", it's a long haul !

André



I just wanted to say that you are a true hero, i'm sorry to hear about the tenure denial but i'm sure that won't stop you from spreading the truth. I would envy anyone who has you as a teacher.



From: omar_ramlawi[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Dear sir
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:16:18 -0600

Dear Mr. Finkelstein,

I find myself forced to write i want to thank you for your efforts in the pursuit of the truth and the spread of knowledge.

I noticed that many "leased" columnists get a kick out of taking a shot at you Sir, i hope you understand that these slanders are the badges and merits a truthful man receives in the 21st century.

I would like to add that you are a dean in the everlasting University Of Truth. I wish there are more people like you, history has taught us that Those who believed and led a righteous life are the best creatures.

Omar AlRamlawi



Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 23:52:08 +1100
From: cgfjalling[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Hi Norman!

You have an admirer and fan in a 63 years old Swedish former lawyer, now retired, who has followed everything (well, at least a lot) about you on the net during the last two years. I am sorry for what happened to you about the tenure, but I am sure that an intellectual giant like you will find some useful way to not only survive but, more important, to continue your admirable work against the zionists and for the suffering Palestinians. In fact: maybe you lost the tenure JUST for you to be able to concentrate full time and with full energy on the Palestinian cause... I really hope so. We are millions who want to hear more from you. Millions who care for the Palestinians.

I am writing to you about the Palestinians. Obviously they listen to you and admire you. Everyone who has followed the plight of the Palestinians during the last ten years must (or at least should) realize that they are following the wrong policy. They have REALLY no military chance against Israel. It is no idea for them to fight a violent struggle on the streets. It will only help Israel. It is not only a question about military force, the Zionists control ALL US media and most media in Europe. If an Israeli is injured by a rocket from Gaza it becomes first page news in western press but if IDF massacres Palestinian women and children it gets unreported. They should stop sending rockets! The rockets have become the pretext for the most horrible actions of the Israeli governement. Stop sending them and there will be no pretext! They are of no use anyway. Use the rocket money to buy videocameras and digital cameras and spread them among the population. See to that proofs of the Israeli tyranny is available on a day to day basis for the media all over the world. Fight in the media, not on the streets. In our modern world the media mean everything. I know that the media is controlled by zionists, but not to 100%. At least not in Europe and certainly not in the third world. Since military struggle is useless they should concentrate on what remains: the media. And also if the media in USA is controlled by zionists there is still the Internet. Remember that a picture means more than a thousand words. I have plenty of such pictures on my harddisk.

Well, I hope that you have the same opinion and will use your influence in Palestine to forward those ideas. That's why I write to you. I tried to find Hamas' website but couldn't find it. Anyway they will probably not listen to me but maybe to you.

Good luck!



Hey Dr. Finkelstein,

I hope you're well. I've never actually had the chance to meet you, but I've read so many of your articles/watched the madness unfold in your life that I feel like I know you, even if from afar.

I've been wanting to you write you for a while. I'm actually in Paris right now, working on a novel about race and immigration. I tend to be on the outspoken tip, too, which is why I've turned to writing. Take the rage to the page, I say. You have my full sympathy and respect for having the strength to stand on your own two legs when others would see them sawed off. It seems that cowardice is the new American attribute, ranking alongside baseball and apple pie. Enough. I'm a great admirer of both your substance (succinct intellectualism combined with a deep compassion for the abused) as well as your style (polemical, a slight sprinkling of belligerence, but only when well deserved!)

I've also seen both your Democracy Now! debate (with HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED) and the documentary, The Final Insult. Though both subjects were of the utmost seriousness - lies/sham "scholarship" and scores of fleeced Holocaust victims - I must admit, I was laughing my ass off at the timing and phrasing of your comments throughout. The funniest moment was when you were critiquing his footnotes. You said, "A high school curriculum, Mr. Dershowitz? Is that a serious source? You're in TROUBLE!!!" Hahahahaha! He was scared (thus the subsequent manhunt - "Methinks thou doest protest too much.") You beat the sleeves off that man! He was in such raggedy form, completely disconnected from his own research. Lord Shawcroft. Even the memory is potent enough to evoke a chortle. A former high school English teacher myself, I would NEVER let my own students pull a slick move like that in a paper - indeed, the serious students respected me, their reader, enough not to try - so how can an Ivy League professor dare justify it? Well, he's now held hostage by the internet. His follies will live forever in infamy.

I'm sorry about the DePaul debacle, too, Dr. Finkelstein. What a fireworks display of prejudice. You deserve better. Your work is so impressive that it gives many of us a model of excellence to which we can look for examples. Even those of us who never had you as a teacher still think of you as a mentor. The American academy is such a shit environment for not capitalizing on your power. In the words of Dave Chappelle, "It's the United States of Space, $#@%*! With such pollution creeping through the halls of higher education, what other environment remains untainted?

With all of the emotional drain that you've experienced, I hope that you are surrounded by love in your life. I hope that you have good friends with whom you can shoot pool and drink a beer without thinking of your job. I hope you have a hobby or a craft that frees your spirit and makes you smile. And, at the risk of sounding like a groupie, as intelligent and handsome as you are (you have very expressive eyes, a lovely trait from your mother), I hope you have someone to curl up with when you're In a Sentimental Mood. Coming home to a loving embrace reduces Life's stings by more than 50%. Score some hugs everyday! They're the best salve ever. All else pales next to love, falls away into oblivion. This is my wish for you. Stay strong and be well, Dr. Finkelstein.

Sincerely, Nita

P.S. I loved the excerpt from your political memoir, Haunted House. When will it be finished? As an African American, I must admit, that was the first time I'd ever heard a white person - your mom - admiring Malcolm X! I found that fact so touching. Outside the black community, he is frequently misunderstood (even by liberals), and sometimes vilified. But a Holocaust survivor...well, she got it. Her connecting with him makes sense. Thanks for sharing that. Rest in peace Mama Finkelstein.



Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 07:30:36 -0800
From: freetothink123@yahoo.com
Subject: A question
To: normangf [at] hotmail.com

Hey you, lowlife sleazeball:

How much did Nasrallah pay you to meet with him?

I understand that you're on a Hamas and Hezbollah payroll. Did you ask him for a raise? Especially now since you've lost your bid for tenure and will never become a full professor. I'm sure that not a single reputable school in any country would ever consider a tenure for a piece of shit like you. So do what you can do best - travel all over the world and spread you lies... not the best way to make a living, but you're no good for anything else anyway. I only hope that sometime somewhere some angry person will end your miserable life - the sooner the better, or hopefully, you'll become a victim of a shooting between rival "palestinian" factions... again, the sooner the better.



Dear Mr. Finkelstein,

My name is Martin Iqbal, I'm 23 and I live in Cambridge (UK). I've held an interest in the Israel-Palestine conflict for some years now, and I'm humbled to admit that I only heard of you a couple of weeks ago. I had heard a couple of podcasts by Alan Dershowitz (sorry to mention him -- you must be tired of hearing his name by now) on subjects such as abortion and gay rights; I agreed with his views on the subjects. After learning that he wrote a book in defence of Israel, I was intruiged to say the least and intended on buying it -- I find it hard to justify the Israeli government's behaviour by any reasonable means. I began reading up about the book online and I stumbled upon your debate from Democracy Now (how incredibly frustrating that debate must have been for you, Mr. Dershowitz's question-dodging and subject-changing really made me grit my teeth). I've since bought your book "Beyond Chutzpah", and have just begun reading it.

It genuinely terrified me to think that I may have read books such as "The Case for Israel", and taken their content on board without a second thought for their authenticity or truth. I'm sickened to think that some people choose to use their position in society to selfishly push their own views upon others, especially those who wish to learn. Abuse of people's right to education is one of the most perverse I can think of. I'd like to express my utmost gratitude, you really opened my eyes. I'll think twice before accepting anything written by an authority figure, and I must admit I feel a little stupid (rightfully so).

I'm truly sorry about the outcome of the tenure dispute at DePaul. I believe that DePaul has lost a brilliant teacher, and if it weren't for people like you, who knows what we would all believe?

Many thanks and good luck,





First of all, let me tell you how I admire your courageous stand to make public what is happening in Israel, against the stream of distortioned images transmitted by the media. Your books are a very important reference and show how to dissect the false statements by so many politically motivated scholars.

Much remains to be done. On your website I've come across a transcript of your Q&A session at Yale University in 2005. There is an interesting question from a student: "I've heard several times that Jews were kicked out of Arab countries at the establishment of Israel. There's claims that it was done in huge numbers to try to equate it to what happened to the Palestinians. Is there any truth to any of that?" You answered that "there isn't very good scholarship on the topic" and drew a mixed image. It's indeed a good question, because some advocates of Israel's policies try to play down the argument about the return of the Palestine refugees by stating that anyhow, a similar number of Jews were expelled from Arab countries, so that both movements of people somehow sum up to zero and there is no need to compensate anybody. This is a wicked argument, because it plays with the absence of information on the topic, and it is largely untrue.

I can speak only about Morocco, where I did in 2002 a little research on the Jewish community (as a journalist, though, not as an historian). But let's assume the figure of about roughly one million Jews living in Arab countries in 1945 as more or less accurate (I compiled this figure from estimates given by different sources about 10 Arab countries – Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Bahrein, Yemen - and they happen to sum up around 935.000, I found no data for the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia, but in the latter country, I wouldn't expect large numbers of Jews). About 280.000 of them lived in Morocco [1]. So even being just one country, it accounts for more than a quarter of the whole Jewish 'Arab' population (putting 'Arab' in marks because an important part of the Moroccan Jews didn't speak Arab but Berber and some spoke Spanish). Let's just have a look on what happened to them. Today there are more or less 3.500 left, the others having emigrated, mostly to France, Canada and Israel. But were they expelled?

They were not. They weren't even encouraged to leave. On the contrary, they weren't allowed to leave! Two months after the independence in 1956, a law was issued which banned zionist organisations and restricted emigration, so that the Jewish emigrants went underground [2]. In 1961 the law was abolished and collective passeports were issued to emigrating Jews, following a major scandal (and an international pressure campaign): the drowning of 43 Jews after the sinking of the old and overloaden ship on which the Jewish Agency tried to get them out of Morocco [3]. From 1956 to 1958 there was a Jewish minister. Léon Benzaquen, in the cabinet of the Moroccan king [4, 5].

Since 1976, any Moroccan Jew, even if he has lived 40 years in Israel "can get his Moroccan passeport in 15 days if the community proves that he is Moroccan" [6]. So much for the official policies of Morocco.

On the other hand, nobody denies that there were a certain animosity at a popular level in some – not all – places which would convince many Jewish families to emigrate (even if the economic changes of the Moroccan society, which undermined the traditional means of living of many Jewish craftsmen, were an even more compelling issue). (7). However, the only account of deadly clashes I've found lists 43 Jews killed and 155 wounded in 1948 (Morocco was still under French rule then) [8]. Also during the visit of Nasser to Morocco in 1961, the "crisis exploded" [9], but there is no account of victims. In 1967, hatred of Jews was stirred by some media, but "no mistreatment" took place [10]. Several authors put part of the responsibility for the emigration on the zionist propaganda and even on the "zionist provocations" to aggravate tensions in the communities [11] and there is an account of a spontaneous protest in a mountain village to prevent the departure of the Jewish population, which then had to be delayed [12].

Conclusion: Moroccan Jews, the single most important population source for Israel's working class after the independence [13], were not expelled. Their emigration, encouraged by Israel, was considered a loss by Morocco. As for how history went in other Arab countries, I can only suggest that the topic be throughout researched - it might show that the Arab societies had a very different approach to the "Jewish-Arab conflict" than the Israeli society.

I felt I should share this first approach to a little known subject with you and, if you wish to post it on your site, with your readers. Below I give the sources as to allow anybody to check the facts.

Yours truly

Ilya U. Topper

1] Simon Lévy, professor (emeritus) at the Rabat University, personal interview, 2002.

2] André Goldenberg (anthropologist), in: André Goldenberg (ed.), 'Les juifs du Maroc', Editions du Scribe, Paris, 1992, p. 88

3] Simon Lévy, 'Essais d'histoire & de civilisation judeo-marocaines'. Centre Tarik Ibn Zayad, Rabat, 2001. p 138-139.

4] André Goldenberg, in: André Goldenberg (ed.), 'Les juifs du Maroc', p. 88

5] Simon Lévy, in: André Goldenberg (ed.), 'Les juifs du Maroc', p. 90-91

6] Serge Berdugo, former Minister of Tourism of Morocco (1993-1995), personal interview, 2002.

7] Simon Lévy, personal interview, 2002.

8] André Goldenberg, in: André Goldenberg (ed.), 'Les juifs du Maroc', p. 88.

9] Simon Lévy, in: André Goldenberg (ed.), 'Les juifs du Maroc', p. 91

10] Simon Lévy, in: André Goldenberg (ed.), 'Les juifs du Maroc', p. 93

11] Abraham Serfaty, personal interview, 2002; Simon Lévy, in: André Goldenberg (ed.), 'Les juifs du Maroc', p. 93 and in: 'Essais d'histoire....', p. 139, quoting also Victor Malka, 'La mémoire brisé des juifs du Maroc', Paris 1978, p. 58;

12] Simon Lévy, in: André Goldenberg (ed.), 'Les juifs du Maroc', p. 93

13] Simon Lévy, 'Essais d'histoire...'. p 133.



You are a hero Norman and you got the respect and love of thousands who share the same values as you....

I am sorry for your students, they have lost a great professor :)

Regards and best wishes

Nader



It is not everyday I show my admiration for people. But you, dear sir, I admire greatly. I admire you for standing up and speaking the truth, even though you know that truth is not what many people want to hear. You paid dearly for it, but know that your name will be written in the stars. The grand universe does not sleep and all you've done will live today and forever more.

Continue to fly your flag of truth. It is this thing we all attempt to do that will save this world in the end. We cannot back down. No matter what.

Stay strong. And, I hope, stay in touch. I want to know what you are up to for the truth cause.



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I am a medical student from England, and I have had an interest in the Israel-Palestine conflict for some years now. After reading some of the surprisingly flattering reviews of Alan Dershowitz’s books on Amazon, I stumbled upon your name and have begun to read about your work and the feud between yourself and Mr Dershowitz.

I would just like to say that I have utmost respect for what you do in searching for the truth and dispelling the myths, misconceptions and lies that allow the ignorant masses to continue overlooking the one-sided atrocities and hypocrisies our governments commit. As a medical student and scientist I appreciate the importance of honesty, integrity, humility, and the quest for truth.

The world would be so much a better place if our journalists, scholars and politicians displayed all these qualities, the same qualities you have used to demolish the arguments of Alan Dershowitz for example.

I am very sorry that Mr Dershowitz’s hypocritical ad hominem smear campaign has caused problems in your career as Professor at De Paul University, it makes me sick to think that in today’s ‘free’ world not only can people’s freedom of speech be compromised but here in this example it’s not even freedom of speech that’s in question – it’s our right to be told the truth, and your privilege to tell it that has been denied.

Myself and many others stand with you, and I wish you all the best for the future.

Kind regards,



Hi, Norman,

Congratulations on the trip to Lebanon. From what I could gather it was an enormous success. Personally, I can't think of better places to visit than those that have fallen victim to the US and its clients. Even more than the traditional European Grand Tour, such trips are enriching, and lead ultimately to self-discovery, some of it unpleasant.

Once again the Oxford Union has invited you to speak. If I had to guess I'd say the topic is the same as the previous one (two-state or one-state solution), even though the proposals differ. It looks as if they're trying--under a new president--to make up for the grotesque way they handled your invitation last fall. Dershowitz is in attack mode yet again, but I doubt Oxford will cave in. I shouldn't even dignify him by discussing him here, but let me make the obvious observation that it is incredible how stupid Dershowitz looks on these occasions and how much he reveals about himself. First, he didn't attack the Union when they gave a platform to David Irving, who should be a far worse enemy of Israel in his book than you are. His articles attacking the Union were prompted only by the invitations you received. Hence is he concerned about defamation of Israel or about saving his own, unsalvageable, reputation? Second, the audience for his attacks is increasingly a minority of Zionist fanatics, who are growing smaller by the day. No one outside this group can take him seriously, and everyone in the civilized world knows that he's a raving maniac. All in all, these bullying tactics from elements of the lobby will not intimidate but will embolden institutions to host such forums on Israel. And indignation over these tactics seems to be growing. The more you bully someone, the greater his resolve grows, and the stronger he becomes. Your lecture circuit, which continues to widen, along with that of others reveals this most clearly.

One irony of course in all this is that Israel's American defenders reveal themselves as opportunists who don't really care about Israel at all. Despite this, they are feted by various Jewish organizations, both here and in Israel, and they've probably been very useful to both Washington and Tel Aviv, which is what really matters to most of them and which is at the bottom of all this. The "PR" they generate for Israel has helped make the country the second-most hated on earth, if that's not an understatement. This willful blindness or outright cynicism is really something to behold. But aside from the terrible PR, both the careerists and the American organizations--"friends of Israel," as they claim to be--by doing the opposite of trying to make peace with her neighbors, are leading the country inevitably to destruction.

I hope the Union debate goes forward, but if it doesn't, I wouldn't be very disappointed. The name "Oxford" suggests great intellectual culture and high academic achievement, but I wonder how true this is today. Another thing is that the organizers seem to be undergraduates, and while these may be among the most talented in the world, they're still undergraduates. In the Western world, the consciousness of an eighteen-year-old, colored today by video games and reality TV, can really be nauseating. And if he happens to be very clever and on the make, it would be completely on the level of barbarism.

Frank






From: altrafton [at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Your new friends
Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 06:14:11 -0800

Dr. Finkelstein,

I have noticed some interesting emails you have received of late. If I may provide a little psycho-analysis, the constant references to anal sex and the inability to spell the word "fuck". It doesn't bother me that whitemountains02 is a closeted homosexual (he does repeatedly talk about your ass), but what I will not tolerate is the mispelling of "fuck". This is the most versatile and humorous word in the English language, I will not sit by and watch it butchered.

Perhaps I am being too harsh. There is a chance that his fingers are too fat to properly hit the appropriate keys, and that, after wolfing down his 14th hot pocket of the day, he decides he is too exhausted to read through his extensive email to check for spelling.

Another,

designnut777@aol.com

She points out that you shouldn't return to the democratic United States, because if there is one thing not tolerated in a decent democracy, it is a dissenting opinion. Uniform credulity and stupidy are turn ons for this gal. I also wonder with a name like designnut, if she could have perhaps actually designed an argument to go with the pointless abuse.

Do any of these buffoons ever throw in an argument to complement their obnoxious pseudo-sexual whimperings?

AT



I think you made an excellent point (as usual) when you were in Lebanon at a site where Lebanese were massacred by Israelis and said: "The third feeling I have is disgust; Why are the Lebanese welcoming the US president here? Whenever a foreign diplomat travels to Israel, he or she has to go to Yad Vashem [the Israeli holocaust memorial]. So why don't the Lebanese have at least that much dignity to say that [US President George W.] Bush has to come> here before he meets them?" I believe that unfortunately the answer may lie in the fact that by law the Lebanese President has to be a Christian, despite the fact that 60% of Lebanon is Muslim. It appears the Lebanese leader does not represent the interests of all his people, only the Christian minority. I don't know how much publicity your trip is getting in the middle east, but I hope its a lot. From what I've heard, the Palestinians think Bush is their enemy and a mass murderer. Anyone who reads what you have said knows that you are for justice. While I suspect the sight of Bush only enrages many Arabs, the sight of you can only improve relations between Arabs and Jews and Arabs and Americans. Good luck on the remainder of your trip. Sincerely yours, Peter Gebert



Dr. Finkelstein,

I wanted to you to know that I have enjoyed reading your work and believe ou are performing what is in effect a great public service. I quite enjoyed your recent essay on Raul Hilberg.

Doug Dollinger



Dear Mr. Finkelstein

We were already appalled by the University of DePaul not granting you tenure, no doubt also for your stand against the Israeli inhumane occupation of Palestine, now we are disgusted by the campaign against you concerning your last visit to Lebanon.

You may remember us, we wrote to you last year concerning our appreciation (and admiration) of your article on the shameful HRW press release, and your work in general. We now would like you to know that we fully agree with your statement: " After the horror and after the shame and after the anger there still remains a hope, and I know that I can get in a lot of trouble for what I am about to say, but I think that the Hezbollah represents the hope. They are fighting to defend their homeland". We, ourselves, deplore that the Hamas, democratically elected by the Palestinian People in 2006, is excluded from all peace negotiations. In our opinion all parties should be around the table as no peace agreement will last without the Hamas being involved.

If someone is working for peace in the Middle East, it is undoubtedly yourself and we will support you in any manner we can.

We returned from Palestine last November when we helped during the olive harvest. We thought that you might be interested in reading our latest experience in occupied Palestine, where the situation is much worse than when we were there in 2006 (we had also sent you our report covering our mission to Palestine in June 2006 "Returning from Palestine...through Israel").

With our very best regards
Caroline and Nathan Finkelstein
Tannay - Switzerland



I have to admit reading Beyond Chutzpah, was the most I've laughed out loud while reading a scholarly work (though it was funny in a sad way). Speaking of contrivance here is a funny little story for you, you may have heard it already. In 2007 a small village in Quebec published a "code of conduct" of the town and it banned things like female genital mutilation, stoning of women etc. declared that boys and girls swam in the same pools together and "might still see crosses that tell our past. They are an integrated part of our history and patrimony and should be considered as such". So this town of about 1,300 got widespread media attention, satellite trucks, the whole full media coverage. The leader of the ADQ (right wing) got all emotional and called the code of conduct "a cry from the heart". In the middle of all this I said to myself, "wow, this town must be awash with aliens doing all sorts of unsavory things, if the town had to go this far".

Then shortly after this, and many other "incidents" Quebec opened a "reasonable accomodation commission" (Bouchard-Taylor) headed by the venerable political theorist Charles Taylor, great fanfare and public debate followed. Here is the interesting part: the town of Herouxville had only ONE, immigrant family in the whole town and had exactly zero issue with immigration of any kind much less Muslim immigration (which the code was erroneously directed at) Nobody checked this though, until the situation peaked and when it was 'exposed' that fact simply became a footnote since the commission already began and the ADQ (right-wing, anti-English when it suites them, slightly foaming at the mouth with rhetoric) used it to go from a third-rate party that always fought to achieve a single seat to the official opposition with 48 seats....and get this, a Quebec group began publicly talking about laws that would restrict immigrants and pretty much anyone who didn't speak french from GIVING money to any political parties (by the way the main justification for reasonable accomodation hearings was the protection of Quebec's liberal democratic values). How's that for contrived?

Hope you're having a good one and are not in hotwater over your Lebanon trip, I was really proud to see you there!



Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:17:10 -0800
From: whitemountains02@yahoo.com
Subject: way to go
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

fuck you you pervert and drop dead Hizbillah will fuck you up the ass



Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:18:26 -0800
From: whitemountains02@yahoo.com
Subject: GET NORMY
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

fuck you and drop dead you ass hole
May hizbollah fuck you up the ass and



Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:26:25 -0800
From: whitemountains02@yahoo.com
Subject: Up yours
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

up your Mr Nazi finkelstein drop dead fuc you



Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:29:05 -0800
From: whitemountains02@yahoo.com
Subject: fuck you
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

fuck you a piece of shit Norman
dershowitz is the Best you fuck head!



From: Yondanesq@aol.com
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 12:09:13 -0500
Subject: (no subject)
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

You know, Norman, it just occurred to me why Mr. Nasrallah didn't take you hostage. I mean he doesn't like Jews, let's face it.

He realizes that no-one with anything to bargain would pay anything to get you back.

How profound.



Hi Norm,

The months before and after the decision to deny you tenure were very intense even for me. Not that I hadn't been aware of the abjection of those in power before the DePaul fiasco, the events that unfolded were simply too much for me, intellectually and emotionally, in every way. My primary political interest has been the Israel/Palestine conflict since I was 14 or 15 and, as it quickly turned out, all the dirtiness in the world that I can imagine - the flat-out lies that are being spread consciously, treason, brutal, obscene and calculated violence and torture carried out sadistically and arbitrarily, the strategy of justifying massive crimes using fundamentally perverted, irrational pseudo-explanations that don't last the light of the day for a second, the cold denial of facts and lying even more, you name it - can be found in this lugubrious context. What happened at DePaul managed to sum up the inequitable side of the world. Not only towards you, your supporters and the undeniable fact that you should've received tenure c. two decades ago, but also towards all of what our somewhat disintegrated camp has been and still is fighting for. The ending of the story was such a blunt blow to the face of all of us.

No matter how optimistic I want and try to be, sometimes there's literally no way to avoid the excruciating pain and indignation caused by the plain, good ol' injustice. I remember you saying, in the time of the decision, that although you’ve friends around you constatly reminding that there're also other issues at stake, other than strictly you receiving or not receiving the tenure, you had long since forgotten them. Or that they weren't the first things ringing in your head. You reckoned that you’ll be able to see the big picture in retrospective. I can believe that this was the case. Having said that, I also saw a lot more to it, that there were much bigger bets at stake than just the right or wrong being done to any single individual as your struggle inevitably dragged in many of the major issues of today’s politics. Lynne Barnabei, in my view, put it well: "the microcosmos of the struggle within the country over American foreign policy."

Although "biased", someone would perhaps say, I followed the events not as your student or as an insider in any way and, let me tell you, you won't probably believe how transparent it all looked like. Everyone knows what it takes, according to the PR version of the universities, to get the life-long professorship. And everyone should be aware equally well that you fulfill those criterias better than most of the professors anywhere in the world. The recognition of that doesn't entail that one has to agree with your politics, by the way. But what happened, what was the decision? What I'm saying is that whatever irreversible negatives the wrong decision caused, it is quite apparent that virtually anyone who followed the process from any serious sources would reach the same conclusions. (True, quite many didn't follow it from any serious sources, but that's unfortunately the case with almost all social issues.) And in that sense the other side didn't win completely. That doesn't necessarily alleviate your extreme state of annoyance and frustration, but that is definitely something for your students and other supporters to consider, as they do, that how to report what happened and translate that simple story into massive political capital.

I also want to share something else: the headlines in your webpage are a source of one-of-a-kind humor. Actually, your humor and jokes in all your material are inimitably great, not only funny, but profoundly intelligent. I literally have tears in my eyes sometimes because of those jokes, and my brother, a youngster of a harsh sense of humor, and girlfriend would gladly join me.

I remember you saying that, during the DePaul affair, you witnessed sleepless nights - surely a tiny part of all the nuisance this year has brought about. I'm suffering from severe insomnia, it has been around for a while, and literally without exceptions I'm thinking of at least the Israel/Palestine conflict, the Holocaust and how it's often portrayed in the contemporary culture, and you and your arguments. “Whatever II (For chronic insomniac only)”, “For Incurable Insomniacs” and “For insomniacs and masochists: More Dershowitz” are postings that made me feel lucky, I think for the first time ever, for being an insomniac, maybe even an incurable one. I would "wake up", meaning standing up after a completely sleepless night, go to my computer, check your webpage as the first thing in the morning as I often do, and find those headlines. In that state you don't smile, let alone laugh, easily. But you got me, time and time again. Then my girlfriend wakes up, upset by my sleeplessness, and asks me that what the hell was in your head, once again, during the whole night. "The Nazis, Dershowitz, Finkelstein, a little of Chomsky and the Israeli occupation.", I answer.

In the midst of all the bullshit, losses, frustration etc., when thinking of you, the image of you as a martyr repeatedly strikes me. I mean that in a neutral way, in fact I dislike the entire idea. You and your struggle remains a symbol and battleground which united, to some extent, both us and the enemy ranks. All this happened, one could argue, at your expense. However, you if anyone would know that easy and convenient very rarely equal desirable and therefore sacrifices are, whether for better or worse, the resource for right choices.

As I already mentioned, the future and your place in it as a public intellectual is up to your supporters. If we’re able to translate (literally, as I hope to be able to translate your Beyond Chutzpah into Finnish) your arguments and reasoning into powerful political capital and assure that your ideas reach millions and millions of people, the preposterousness of the North American academia, its ties with corporations and governments and obediant succumbing to outside pressures, wouldn’t have stopped you nor your reflections. You belong to the category of epoch-making thinkers and to make this a “fact on the ground”, regardless of the major efforts trying to prevent this from happening, is completely doable.

Best wishes,

Bruno Jäntti



From: designnut777@aol.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 01:40:49 -0500
Subject: You should lose your citizenship, and stay in Lebanon, a traitor to the Jews and to America

I hope you never come back to the USA, you don't deserve to live in a democracy.

Allyson



From: Yondanesq@aol.com
Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 18:05:23 -0500
Subject: Oh paleez!
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Nice job, Norman. Do you feel special now that you've met with Mr. Nasrallah?

I'm amazed at the lengths to which people will go when they're fighting themselves in order to attain self-importance.

What a sad fellow you are. Would you have met with the Nazi killers of your relatives to make yourself feel better? Rhetorical question I suppose.