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Translation of Neue Zuricher Zeitung review Editor's note: German edition of Beyond Chutzpah.  Criticism of Israel and Anti-Semitism: Norman Finkelstein's polemic against Alan Dershowitz Translated by MAREN HACKMANN Ernest Goldberger, "Kritik an Israel und Antisemitismus: Norman Finkelsteins Streitschrift gegen Alan Dershowitz," Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 10 December 2005. In his latest book with the weird title Beyond Chutzpah, Norman Finkelstein, a professor of political science at Chicago's DePaul University and the author of the polemic and hence controversial book The Holocaust Industry, passionately fights against those who make false allegations of anti-Semitism and distort facts and history in an effort to shield Israel from criticism. Finkelstein's discussion is both emotional and sharp-tongued, which can mostly be ascribed to the author's personal rivalry with Alan Dershowitz, a famous and controversial defense lawyer teaching at Harvard University. Dershowitz churns out a new book almost every year, for readers who have a penchant both for verbosity and theses without depth. In August 2003 his book, The Case for Israel, was published. It became a national best seller, and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs purchased a large number of copies and distributed them. In this book Dershowitz, for instance, calls Israel's human rights record in the occupied territories "superb," and discredits all human rights organizations which have, for many years, been documenting – in meticulous detail and with undisputed accuracy – Israel's serious violations of the Palestinians' basic human rights. Dershowitz even ventures so far as to assert that Israel is not at all bound by international law and that, therefore, it needn't pay attention to it. He sticks by his principle, which he has publicly aired on multiple occasions, that his job, as he sees it, is to gain acquittals for the criminal offenders he defends in court, even if he is aware of his clients' guilt. The largest part of Finkelstein's book, Part Two, is titled "The Greatest Tale Ever Sold." Here he responds, with meticulous precision, to Dershowitz's assertions, relying on authoritative studies and documents by human rights organizations like B'Tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International. Furthermore [sic], he denounces the targeted killings of terror suspects, the use of house demolitions as collective punishment, the arbitrary land confiscations, and other assaults. In the first part of his book, Finkelstein presents a searing indictment of those forces who seek to immunize Israel from criticism by automatically smearing its critics with the anti-Semitism slur. Arguably the most prominent protagonist of that faction is the leader of the influential Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman. This has been on full display in his 2003 book, Never Again? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism, but even more so in his almost daily attempts to equate criticism of Israel with hostility toward Jews generally. Foxman even goes so far as to assert that the mere frequency of reports on Israel by certain media is a manifestation of anti-Semitism. Finkelstein offers hardly any new facts; rather, he has compiled, with the utmost diligence and with the help of numerous sources and correspondents, a substantial amount of documentation, which, alas, makes the book difficult to read. However, while the two issues in question are not new, Finkelstein deserves credit for the fact that – since his name is well-known and the book has been written for a large audience - his book does help to enlighten the public and make people more sensitive to these issues. Regrettably, he focuses almost exclusively on combating his ideological opponents, so ample space is given over to their often absurd theses. As a result, the book reads like a polemic, which is not very helpful. This is probably why the pressing, larger questions are painfully missing from the book. Considering, for instance, the search for identity, the attraction of belonging to a certain group of supporters, or the misconceived notions of solidarity, one might ask, What drives intelligent people to use wrongful means to make criticism of the current Israeli government a taboo, and what are the likely consequences for the future of Israel if the critical perception is being suppressed? In nationalist and religious Israeli circles, authors like Dershowitz are perceived as friends, while Finkelstein and his supporters are perceived as enemies of the state. If, however, we consider the outcome of their work, we might well reach the conclusion that in fact the reverse is true. Had Finkelstein elaborated on this, he could have widened the scope of his book. In his eagerness, however, Finkelstein did not reach beyond his anti-thesis. Therefore, one puts the book down with the uneasy feeling that these two American-Jewish intellectuals might after all be more concerned about being right, and about selling their books, than about the fate of the far-away hotspot, Israel. Ernest Goldberger SHARE THIS POST:     |
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Video: On the place of civility in academic life (10.18.2007) Finkelstein's talk at the academic freedom conference Tenure Denial Letters (June - November, 2007) On How Actual Survivors Were Cheated by Jewish Organizations:
Communication for Middle East Journal. (02.19.2006) Alleged Errors in Beyond Chutzpah. (2005) MEMRI NAZIS (again) (10.23.2006)  New evidence of old lies (2005) Under the heading DIABOLICAL PLOTS, I stated in Beyond Chutzpah...    Articles and Reviews Related to The Holocaust Industry  Preface to German edition of The Rise and Fall of Palestine Postscript to German edition of The Rise and Fall of Palestine The Dershowitz File:
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