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 SANTA CRUZ | CALGARY | GEORGETOWN | TORONTO | CARNEGIE-MELLON CALGARY Columnist smears Finkelstein Mon, April 12, 2004 Anti-Semites evolving New breed practising on university campuses By Ezra Levant -- Calgary Sun Twenty years ago, Holocaust revisionists in Canada were a handful of middle-aged men, like Jim Keegstra. They were relatively harmless -- lacking any media savvy, organizational skills or funding. How I long for those days again. Today's Holocaust revisionists are the opposite. They're left wing -- so they know the language of victimology, which is more effective than Keegstra's blunt hate. They're young -- perversely, they thrive on campuses, not in the boondocks of a would-be "Aryan Nation." They're well-funded -- often from the coffers of Canada's tax-subsidized left-wing activist coalitions. Imagine if Keegstra could have done that! I speak, in particular, of the Palestinian-Canadian Student Society at the University of Calgary. Their name is a misnomer, not just because many of their members are Canadian leftists or Arabs from everywhere except for "Palestine," but because their major events don't seem to be about Palestinians. They're about Jews. More specifically, they're about discrediting Jews, Judaism, and Judaism's claim to the Holy Land. And last weekend, they were about discrediting the Holocaust, too. Just like Keegstra did. The first PCSS event I attended was stunning. It was about how true Jews couldn't be Zionists. As I wrote in the Sun last February, the crowd cheered when an Arab student said "Jews planted bombs in synagogues. Do you think the same thing was done on Sept. 11?" So Jews aren't victims of terror -- they bomb themselves and blame the Arabs. 9/11 was a Jewish conspiracy. No talk of "Palestine." No talk of Israel. Just talk about those damn Jews, Jews, Jews, and how they lie, lie, lie. Keegstra would have loved it -- and he would have been impressed that such a meeting was held in the bosom of a university, with a Jewish president, no less. Last week, the same club brought in Norman Finkelstein to speak. His greatest asset is that he has a Jewish last name, and that his parents survived the Holocaust. What a perfect deodorant for his toxic views. Like Keegstra, Finkelstein denies that six-million Jews died in the Holocaust. He calls it The Holocaust Industry -- indeed, that's the title of his book -- and he claims that Jews trump up the Holocaust for profit, and as moral cover to be Nazi-like themselves. Again, this has very little to do with "Palestine." But if you find someone with a Jewish last name who is willing to do your anti-Semitic work for you, why not? Keegstra doesn't get a lot of speaking invitations. But Finkelstein does. Not by scholarly panels or conferences -- his "studies" have been roundly discredited, even by scholars Finkelstein himself relies upon. For example, Finkelstein praises Professor Peter Novick, and cites him in The Holocaust Industry. Novick, however, knows the difference between controversial scholarship and hate-mongering. He called Finkelstein's work a "hate campaign" and accused him of "a paranoid belief in some sort of global conspiracy of the Jewish elites." And that's Finkelstein's friend talking. Neo-Nazi groups and Holocaust deniers aren't so picky. At Calgary's PCSS, they know a good thing when they see it. Finkelstein can say what they feel -- and he can get away with it, because he's named Finkelstein. A quick look at his upcoming speaking engagements shows that he's become the favourite amongst the anti-Semitic set -- and he will tell them what they want to hear for his significant speaking fee. Anti-Semites should not be arrested. But they should not be tolerated, and excused, and subsidized, as Finkelstein and his university hosts have been. Levant is the publisher of Western Standard Email: ezra@ezralevant.com University pressured to cancel Finkelstein's speaking engagement Dr. Emily Tall Associate Professor Emeritus Romance Languages & Literatures [phone number and email address omitted] Dear Emily, You'll never guess what's happened! omebody called Dennis Black (who's in charge of Student Services, WBFO, and Allen Hall) and tried to have the Finkelstein lecture cancelled! Black responded with a copy of the printed-out UB policy on free speech and academic freedom. What a fine response to such a craven gesture. Needless to say, the lecture will proceed as scheduled, and all the recent set-to will no doubt prove to have increased attendance. There really isn't any such thing as bad publicity! I wonder who the sneak was? truly, Jim Holstun Who could it be? Sent : Friday, April 23, 2004 4:23 AM To : "James Holstun" Subject : Re: Jim: I have no idea. Emily Mystery solved From : Ellen Goldstein [email address omitted] Sent : Friday, April 23, 2004 3:23 PM To : "'jamesholstun@hotmail.com'" CC : [22 addresses omitted] Subject : issues surrounding Norman Finkelstein appearance Dr. James Holstun SUNYAB Professor Dear Dr. Holstun, I am probably the "craven" person -- the "sneak"-- you are looking for who contacted Dennis Black at UB as part of my "craven" job as Community Relations Director at the "craven" Jewish Federation of Greater Buffalo. I was contacted by a student at UB, because he was concerned about Dr. Finkelstein's purported appearance at UB. The Jewish Federation, where Jewish community dollars support Jewish student services at Hillel and Chabad in Buffalo and at most every other university in the US, watches out for issues of concern to the Jewish community in Buffalo, and the Campus of SUNYAB is Buffalo. Actually, the issue was two issues. First, was Norman Finkelstein really coming to UB because it was not on any schedule, and second, if so, would it cause danger, damage, harm, violence, backlash, anti-Jewish incidents-as has happened in other places -- to the students at UB. Because I was trying to do my job, I called and e-mailed my friend, Dennis Black to ask if such an event was indeed taking place. He confirmed by e-mail that it was taking place. I do not recall asking for the event to be cancelled either on the phone or by e-mail. Nor had we considered asking for the event to be cancelled. I have a copy of the United States Constitution in my drawer and value the freedom of speech we as Americans are afforded. But I also know that, as Americans, we are not free to yell fire in a crowded room. And we are not free to call people hateful names. Why would I be bringing up free speech issues? Because you did, accusing me or someone else of sneaking off to Dennis Black. And although you teach students, you don't have to worry about what happens to Jewish students after they are attacked by a mob at places like Berkley, Concordia University, Milwaukee and other places when pro-Israel demonstrations take place or speakers such as Benjamin Netanyahu or Dr. Daniel Pipes come to speak in very Jewish-unfriendly settings. I do. My organization and the 130+ other members of the Federation movement in North America cares for Jews and non Jews in Greater Buffalo, across the US and Canada, In Israel, in South America, in Eastern and Western Europe and the Former Soviet Union. And in case you are too busy reading your academic journals, Jewish students have been and are being verbally and physically attacked and abused around the world because they are Jewish. But it appears that caring about the welfare of Jewish students is unfashionable these days. But I do care, and Jewish professors on Campus do care, and Jewish community members do care, and UB alumni do care what happens to its students. Like it or not, I will continue to stand up for Jewish students in my "craven" way and inquire about speakers in our community, and the Jewish Federation in Buffalo and in the 50 states around the United States and the provinces in Canada will continue to care about Jewish students and Jewish people whether or not it's academically fashionable or not. I spent time writing this letter to you, not bothering to debate fine points of academe as my friend Mr. Lenard, or discussing other issues as my friends Dr. Tall and Dr. Dauber have done, so that you know that there is a big world out there outside of the campus. We "craven" community "sneaks" have no intention of letting you browbeat or intimidate Jewish students, or subject them to harassment in the disguise of academic freedom. Sincerely, Ellen Goldstein APR Marketing & Community Relations Director Jewish Federation of Greater Buffalo 787 Delaware Avenue Buffalo, NY 14209 [phone numbers and email address omitted] www.jfedbflo.com Organizer replies Ms. Ellen Goldstein APR [address, phone numbers, and email address omitted] www.jfedbflo.com Dear Ms. Goldstein, Thank you for writing. First, I'm delighted to hear that you didn't call Vice President Black in an effort to have Professor Finkelstein's talk cancelled, though I can't help noticing that you don't go quite so far as to deny having done so. Rather, you use the strategic Watergate-era idiom, "I do not recall asking for the event to be cancelled" (emphasis added). The person at WBFO who told me about your efforts said that Vice President Black responded to your call (whatever its intention) with a copy of UB's academic freedom/freedom of speech policy-if so, I wonder how that came up, in the absence of any effort to have the event cancelled? And it is baffling to me why you should have called Vice President Black (who has the power to cancel events to be held in Allen Hall) rather than me, whose name and email address have been attached to every notice on campus of Professor Finkelstein's lecture. Why not go straight to the person who openly scheduled and openly publicized the event? Still, I'm happy to hear that you believe in freedom of speech, and that you would never dream of trying to silence a pro-Palestinian voice in a backhanded and craven way. Second, you've made a number of erroneous statements: 1. Finkelstein's visit was "not on any schedule"; not true: it's been on WBFO's schedule for about a month now. And on Saturday, April 3rd, I invited Mr. Dan Lenard (one of the many distinguished "copies" on your message to me) to the talk. If I know Dan even a little bit (Hiya, Dan! Love the website!), my guess is that you found out about the talk shortly thereafter. But if not, I apologize. I'll be happy to put you on the Task Force's notification list regarding its further activities in pursuit of peace in Israel and Palestine, so that you're not caught off guard again. 2. Professor Finkelstein's appearance "in other places" has "cause[d] danger, damage, harm, violence, backlash, [and] anti-Jewish incidents." Please substantiate or retract, in some forum as public as the one in which you made the charge. The "violence" is the most striking charge-so please tell me, as specifically as possible, how Professor Finkelstein's appearance has caused violence in other places. I will take silence or bluster for an implicit retraction. 3. You imply (without quite having the nerve to state) that I am inclined to "browbeat or intimidate Jewish students, or subject them to harassment in the disguise of academic freedom." I take anti-Semitism very seriously, and hate (yes, hate) anti-Semites with a passion. I also take very seriously any faculty member who harasses students on the grounds of their religion, ethnicity, or political position, so I take your semi-accusation very seriously indeed, or at least semi-seriously. So please, once again, please either substantiate your semi-charge or retract it. I will take your silence for an admission that you were simply throwing mud and hoping some would stick. It didn't. I don't know why you bring up these anti-Jewish incidents in this context, except to try for guilt by association. But it doesn't work. I'll stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you in a protest or letter-by-letter with you in a written response to any anti-Semitic bastard who wanders this way. So will Workers World Party (local Trotskyites who organized the demo against that pathetic Nazi thug, Karl Hand, of Lockport). So will a lot of Arabs I know. If Mel Gibson dares to show his smarmy, disingenuous, Jew-hating face around here, let's give him a Nickel City welcome. Give me a call-I'm in the book! Thanks for reminding me of the bigger world outside the campus, and beyond academic journals. To tell you the truth, I have a harder and harder time reading academic journals these days, and fixing my attention on the smaller world of the campus. I find that most professors write like idiots. But there's some good stuff out there too, passionate and lucid: for instance, I recommend strongly Professor Finkelstein's magnificent Image and Reality in the Israel-Palestine Conflict . If you haven't read anything by Professor Finkelstein (and nothing you've written suggests to me that you have--negative reviews and op-ed pieces don't count), that would be a good place to start. The classroom is a different matter-that's always a big world. I taught a class in Palestinian literature last semester that was a great success, I think: Palestinian-American students, Jewish students, students who were neither, sitting, talking, learning, and never insulting each other. The best paper in the class . . . was by a Jewish student (it was magnificent, and long! ); next time I see him, I'll ask him if he feels I browbeat, harassed, and intimidated him. And if you're genuinely (as opposed to strategically) worried about any violence or disruption at Professor Finkelstein's lecture, you should know that I've asked Campus Security to keep an eye on Allen Hall next Wednesday. I hope to see you there. With any luck, we'll all learn something. all the best, Jim Holstun P.S.: if you write back, you will have the last word. If you decide to forward this letter to your community of correspondents, I'd be grateful if you'd forward the whole thing, without alteration. Danny sets Jimmy straight From : Dan Lenard [email address omitted] Sent : Saturday, April 24, 2004 11:21 PM To : Subject : RE: response to your letter Oh Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy, That was the funniest letter I I've ever seen. Is was so pithy, so light, so incredibly witty. NOT! Your are by far one of the most smug, nasty, anti-religious bigots I have ever encountered. You hate people who have faith or affiliate themselves with any organized religion. It sticks out of your rhetoric like a sore thumb. I've read lots of anti-religious and anti-Semitic trash, and your thinly veiled anti-Jewishness is amongst the most disgusting. Oh, yeah, your a communist. You think that all religion should be violently put down. (How peaceful) How wonderful a world you must live in where you're the only one who has the answers. It's amazing how idiots like you can reference one confused Jew in a community of 10,000 (in WNY) and say "See, this Jewish student agrees with me, (based on the lies and distortions you presented him) "The rest of you small minded Jews must be wrong!" The other people cc'd on this list are some of the most brilliant people I have ever met. In combination, they represent, literally hundreds years more of education (Plus, 5000 years of tradition) than you have. Your letter to Ms. Goldstein, (and the rest of us) talked down to all of them. It didn't makes us feel small. It made you minute. It was beyond insulting and I think you owe Ellen an apology. How dare you infer that she would alter the contents of your correspondence. Think about this. Your hatred of faith based philosophy has put you on the side of Islamofascism. (Al Queda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, The Al Aksa Martyrs.) These folks will not welcome you into their fold upon Israel's and America's demise. Your head (or something else) will be on a pike like everyone else's. They make no distinction as to who you are except an American. Your Euro-Socialist ideals blind you to this fact and that makes you look like a fool. I have more pity on you than disgust. It makes me vomit that my tax dollars help pay for your salary while you poison the minds of UB students with your unbridled hate. My challenge to debate you out in the open stands for eternity. Drrrrrraw your sword knave! Take care and may G-d bless, Dan L. The event proceeds; No danger, damage, harm, violence, backlash, or anti-Jewish incidents May 1, 2004 I'm an English teacher at SUNY Buffalo (UB), faculty adviser to the Graduate Group for Marxist Studies, and a member of the Task Force for the Peaceful Resolution of the Palestine-Israel Conflict at the Western New York Peace Center. The GGMS and the Task Force invited Professor Norman Finkelstein to come to Buffalo to give a talk on April 28, 2004. We booked an auditorium in UB's Allen Hall, and began conducting some publicity, hoping to attract a diverse and lively audience. An announcement of the talk on my union's list serve brought several sputtering denunciations of Finkelstein. The week before the talk, I received a terse email from a colleague, Professor Emily Tall, demanding the event's sponsors (which I cheerfully forwarded) and how much we were paying Finkelstein (all too little! but I encouraged her not to concern herself with that). On Thursday April 22nd, I stopped by Allen Hall to check it out, and was told that someone had been on the phone to Mr. Dennis Black, UB's Vice President of Student Affairs, expressing concern about the lecture, prompting Vice President Black to discuss the University's policy on academic freedom. I then wrote the following letter to Professor Tall, and this correspondence with Ms. Ellen Goldstein and Mr. Dan Lenard ensued. I first met Mr. Lenard through our dueling radio commentaries on the local NPR affiliate, WBFO (also housed in Allen Hall) on Israel's Apartheid Wall: his pro, mine con. The logic, spelling, and, alas, punctuation in Mr. Lenard's message are all exactly as I received it. The hall was packed for the lecture, and Finkelstein was superb. This was a particularly welcome event, given the concerted government assault on Yemeni-Americans in nearby Lackawanna during the last year and a half, and President Bush's gloating appearance in Buffalo on April 20, before a hand-picked audience. Protestors leafleted people coming in; the Task Force leafleted people inside. The debate before, during, and after the talk was lively and impassioned. As of this morning (Mayday), Ms. Goldstein has not documented her charges, and I have heard no reports of Professor Finkelstein's lecture having incited violence against Jewish students. Jim Holstun TORONTO Canadian Jewish Congress versus Norman G. Finkelstein 9 June 2003 Finkelstein was invited to appear on a Toronto television talk-show with a member of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC). Although the CJC initially agreed, it subsequently pressured the producers into canceling his appearance. Another Canadian Jewish organization, circulating the letter below, then sought to block his appearance at the University of Waterloo. ----- Forwarded message from "Antisemitism.on.Campus.Watch" Antisemitism.on.Campus.Watch [at] rogers.com ----- Delivery-date: Sun, 08 Jun 2003 14:46:55 -0400 Date: Sun, 08 Jun 2003 15:00:34 -0400 To: president [nospam] uwaterloo.ca ;, pres [nospam] watserv1.uwaterloo.ca ; info [nospam] wpirg.org From: Antisemitism.on.Campus.Watch [nospam] rogers.com Subject: Norman Finkelstein Talk at UWaterloo Cc: letters [nospam] imprint.uwaterloo.ca ;, editor [nospam] imprint.uwaterloo.ca ; "Bnai Brith" < arosenblum@bnaibrith.ca >;, "Canadian Jewish Congress" < rons [nospam] cjc.ca >; "Simon Wiesenthal Center" < CdnDir_swc [nospam] pathcom.com >; "CounterPoint Newspaper" < counterpoint_letters [nospam] yahoo.ca >;, "Canadians Against Antisemitism" < caas101 [nospam] sympatico.ca >; "JSA President"; "The Media Action Group" < sahaber [nospam] sympatico.ca >; RE: Norman Finkelstein talk on Tuesday, June 10, at the University of Waterloo Dear President of U of Waterloo, President of Feds, and President of WPIRG, It has been brought to the attention of the Antisemitism on Campus Watch that your organizations have condoned and even financially endorsed an upcoming talk by Norman Finkelstein - a known holocaust revisionist, anti-Semite, and anti-Zionist. Mr. Finkelstein's offensive material has been already banned in educational institutions in Toronto - citing his material, the Toronto School Board concluded that his material is "Anti-Semitic". Finkelstein gets associated with the likes of Neo-nazis and white supremacists. Does the University of Waterloo Federation of Students, WPIRG, and the University of Waterloo proper wish to align themselves with such hate-groups? We are shocked and appalled by the financial and moral support of this event and view it as an attack on the minority Jewish community of Waterloo - especially its students. This type of hate endorsement has the potential to gravely damage the University of Waterloo's reputation. Additionally, we were informed that the Jewish Students Association (JSA) nobly answered the Muslim Student's Association's (MSA) request for support in what it described as Anti-Muslim hatred. The JSA joined the MSA and WPIRG in the "United Against Hate" alliance, which barred Rev. Mark Harding from giving his scheduled talk in Waterloo. Now, the Jewish students are seeking similar anti-hate support. Unfortunately, the response is moral and financial support by FEDS and WPIRG for this Anti-Jewish hatred event. We sincerely hope that the decision to support the Norman Finkelstein talk resulted from lack of information about the illegitimacy of this extremist speaker, and hope that you immediately cancel this event. This is NOT an issue of freedom-of-speech as this man is inciting groups of people to hate through his generalizations, and fact-denying theories. Please be aware that several larger Jewish organizations as well as newspapers have been contacted and have received a copy of this letter. We intend to continue this monitoring activity of the University of Waterloo event calendar, and hope that such events are discouraged in future. Sincerely, Antisemitism on Campus Watch CARNEGIE-MELLON Don't Tell Anyone! From: MichaelLevin To: NormanGF[at]hotmail.com Subject: Fw: Norman Finkelstein at Carnegie Mellon University Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 17:18:01 EST Excerpt from [SPME] Faculty Forum 3.13.05 [Scholars for Peace in the Middle East] Norman Finkelstein at Carnegie Mellon University March 14: "Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History"
"Grave Repercussions" From: Scott Kennedy kenncruz[at]pacbell.netACLU to observe Santa Cruz talk From: kenncruz[at]pacbell.net more here > GEORGETOWN Editor's note: See follow up items up to The Washington Post publishes a retraction. Anti-Defamation League Letter to Georgetown University President Libels Finkelsteinhttp://studentorgs.georgetown.edu/israel/ADL-letter.pdf Contact the ADL at: E-mail: washington-dc@adl.org Phone: (202) 452-8320 Fax: (202) 296-2371 Text of ADL letter: November 22, 2002 Dr. John J. DeGioia President Georgetown University 204 Healy Hall Washington, DC 20057-1789 Dear President DeGioia: We are shocked and troubled that on November 18, 2002, Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies Department, Justice and Peace Center, and the Young Arab Leadership Association (YALA) sponsored a lecture by a known Holocaust denier and anti-Israel propagandist, Norman Finkelstein. The Anti- Defamation League is recognized as a champion of the First Amendment and the free exchange of ideas. However, Mr. Finkelstein's lecture was a one-sided program, intended to promote hatred of Israel and perpetuate classic anti-Semitic stereotypes. In his highly publicized book, "The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering," Finkelstein argues that the Holocaust "has become a straight-out extortion racket." Finkelstein is well known for his anti-Israel rhetoric and his claims that Jews have exploited the Holocaust to make money. He has said that he "truly honored" Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon for "having inflicted an exceptional and deserving defeat on their foreign occupiers," and that, "I can't imagine why Israel's apologists would be offended by a comparison to the Gestapo." To have Georgetown University provide a platform for a Holocaust denier to spread his hatred for Israel is profoundly disturbing to ADL. Finkelstein's views about Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are widely known. Mr. Finkelstein's appearance at Georgetown occurred simultaneously to troubling reports that another Georgetown University faculty member, Hisham Sharabi, professor of Arab Culture at Georgetown University, told students and faculty at Balamand University that the Arab world is under a "neocolonial attack" but that " . . . in the long run, neither the Jews nor Americans will be able to subdue us for we are not (Native Americans)." He warned the audience that "Jews are getting ready to take control of us . . .". We would be very pleased to meet with you to discuss this matter. We look forward to your response. Sincerely, David Friedman Regional Director CW/DCF:sfc Marc Fisher attacks Norman Finkelstein in Washington Post (12/03/2002) Campus Should Cultivate Its Seeds of Debate The Washington Post | METRO; MARC FISHER; Pg. B01 December 3, 2002 Tuesday BY Marc Fisher Every college campus worth its name boasts professors known as much for their fringy ideas as for their prestigeful publications. That's the whole idea of a university. The John Nash who is taunted for acting bizarrely turns out to win a Nobel Prize for his work in game theory. Or flip it around: The same William Shockley who brings renown to his college by winning a Nobel for helping invent the transistor goes on to hawk wacko ideas about race. Today, both Nash and Shockley likely would be drummed off many campuses because they espoused views that the speech police would consider "hateful" -- Nash railed against Jews, and Shockley urged the sterilization of blacks. The proliferation of campus speech codes and bans on posting political statements on dorm room doors are, to draw from history's discarded vocabulary, un-American. But here's a tougher one: What if, unlike Nash and Shockley, whose extreme views were unrelated to their academic work, professors hawk poisonous positions in their own field? That's the question at Georgetown University, where Jewish students and faculty are outraged by the comments of Hisham Sharabi, professor emeritus at the school's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. Speaking in Lebanon, Sharabi accused Jews and Americans of seeking "to subdue us." According to the Daily Star, a Beirut newspaper, he said, "Jews are getting ready to take control of us, and the Americans have entered the region to possess the oil resources and redraw the geopolitical map." Sharabi is not alone. Halim Barakat, a Georgetown professor of sociology and Arab studies, earlier this year wrote in a London Arabic daily that Zionism is "a wild, destructive beast . . . acting outside the will of man" and that Jews' "humanity has shriveled." Meanwhile, the university's Young Arab Leadership Association and Arab studies center sponsored a lecture by Norman Finkelstein, a writer celebrated by neo-Nazi groups for his Holocaust revisionism and comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany. All of this, says Daniel Spector, president of Georgetown's Jewish Student Association, amounts to "intimidation and intolerance . . . meant to provoke anti-Semitism." Another student leader, Julia Segall, last week told a campus rally -- which attracted about 120 of the 400 Jews at the 6,000-undergraduate Jesuit school -- that "We will assert our right to support Israel without the fear that we will be laughed at or jeered." The school last week issued a statement distancing itself from Sharabi's comments. And the Jewish leaders I spoke with said they face no overt anti-Semitism on campus, that Georgetown works hard to welcome non-Catholics, that it was one of the first schools to hire full-time Jewish and Muslim chaplains and that Jewish and Muslim student groups have co-sponsored successful discussions. The problem, according to Rabbi Harold S. White, the Jewish chaplain since 1968, is that some professors in the Arab studies and foreign service programs infuse their teaching with anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist remarks. "These academic arms of the university are constantly denigrating Israel and exploiting students and sponsoring programs denigrating to the university," White says. Colleges shouldn't be in the business of policing their professors' speech. But Georgetown's decision to accept donations for its Arab studies programs from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern donors taints those programs. Colleges trust scholars to present a worldview while encouraging students to question the instructor's position. If professors present extreme and aggressive views, students have every right to speak out against them, as these Jewish groups have. But there is something deflating and sad about the way too many college students cry "intolerance" these days. Rather than squaring off to debate ideas, they whine about feeling "devalued" or "depersonalized." Listening to students at the rally, I couldn't help bemoaning their hypersensitivity. But later, I listened as a dozen Jews and Muslims argued under a tree on the campus lawn. They debated into the night about the rationale for Israeli troops arresting Palestinians, about the meaning of objective fact, about the nature of history and reality. No one hit anyone, no one cursed. There were even some laughs. This, whatever the ravings of extremist professors, was a university. E-mail: marcfisher@washpost.com Finkelstein, Sharabi and Barakat by MARK HAND Acouple of weeks ago I praised Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher for providing some of the least objectionable commentary in the newspaper. I noted at the time, however, that he tries my patience when he tackles topics outside the D.C. metro region. Fisher's column in the Dec. 3 issue of the Post is a perfect illustration of why he should stick with local issues. The column is a hatchet job on Norman Finkelstein, Hisham Sharabi and Halim Barakat. He describes Finkelstein, who recently spoke at a Georgetown University event sponsored by the university's Young Arab Leadership Association and Arab studies center, as a writer "celebrated by neo-Nazi groups for his Holocaust revisionism and comparison of Israel to Nazi Germany." Fisher didn't include a response by Finkelstein to these claims and declined to say whether he had attempted to contact Finkelstein for comment. Fisher normally invites responses from local officials whom he targets. So, why did Fisher apparently rely solely on articles from the Georgetown University student newspaper and intelligence collected by the Campus Watch website in branding Finkelstein a hero of neo-Nazis and Holocaust revisionist? Finkelstein tells Press Action that he has asked Fisher both in writing and over the telephone to supply the evidence to support the "disgusting" and "libelous" claim that he is a Holocaust Revisionist. "If he cannot provide any evidence, and I'm certain he can't, either he must print a retraction or I will take legal action," Finkelstein said. Here's what Finkelstein wrote in a letter to Fisher dated Dec. 3: "In your article, 'Campus Should Cultivate Its Seeds of Debate' (3 December 2002) you state that "Norman Finkelstein [is] a writer celebrated by neo-Nazi groups for his Holocaust revisionism and comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany. "You are certainly aware that labeling someone a 'Holocaust revisionist' is a serious charge. You are certainly also aware that to label the son of survivors of the Nazi death camps a 'Holocaust revisionist' is a doubly serious charge. I therefore ask you to explicitly cite even one phrase of mine that, in your opinion, merits the label 'Holocaust revisionism.'" Sincerely, Norman G. Finkelstein Finkelstein said he will wait two days for Fisher's response "explicitly documenting the charge of 'Holocaust revisionism.'" Allowing Finkelstein to defend himself likely would have taken column inches away from quotes by those who lament the common practice of professors and writers saying bad things about Israeli government policy. "These academic arms of the university are constantly denigrating Israel and exploiting students and sponsoring programs denigrating to the university," Rabbi Harold White, Georgetown University Jewish chaplain, told Fisher, as reported in his column. What about the academic departments and professors across the country who are constantly denigrating Iraq? Denigrating Cuba? What about the professors who denigrated South Africa under Apartheid or the Soviet Union before its demise? Were they denigrating their universities when they spoke ill of these nations? Of course not. As he did with Finkelstein, Fisher denigrates Sharabi, the Palestinian-American and long-time professor at Georgetown University, without offering Sharabi an opportunity to defend himself. "Jewish students and faculty are outraged by the comments of Hisham Sharabi," Fisher writes. Could they be outraged because Sharabi holds an unfavorable opinion of Israeli government policies? Fisher also notes that Sharabi had been quoted in Beirut's Daily Star [the link to the article has been removed from the Daily Star website] newspaper as saying, "Jews are getting ready to take control of us, and the Americans have entered the region to possess the oil resources and redraw the geopolitical map." For this comment, Fisher labels Sharabi an "extremist professor." Is not Israel a Jewish state? Did not Israel confiscate Palestinian property to build a Jewish presence in Israel? Should not Palestinians be concerned by the aggressive policies of the Israeli government during the past 50-plus years? Did not the Israelis take away Palestinian autonomy a long time ago? Evidently not, according to Fisher. Why else for the disdain for Sharabi's views? Because he reportedly used "Jews" and "control" in the same sentence, Sharabi is accused of "provoking anti-Semitism." In this same vein, then, shouldn't we condemn those who highlight the fact that the Taliban were mostly non-Afghan Muslims who sought to take control of Afghanistan? Are we also not permitted to recognize the fact that nations in which Muslims predominate tend to be ugly dictatorships that seek to control the lives of their residents and those in surrounding nations? Does this recognition make us anti-Islam? Sharabi certainly could not be faulted for still feeling rage over what happened in the wake of the creation of Israel. Here's what was written about Sharabi in a 1982 issue of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs: "While Hisham Sharabi was doing graduate work at the University of Chicago in 1948, he had to face, almost overnight, a stunning realization: he might never again be able to go home. For home was Jaffa, a Palestinian city which had just been absorbed into the newly established state of Israel. This event, as was the case for a multitude of other Palestinians in similar circumstances, was to change his life. "The student has now become a professor at Washington's Georgetown University, and has emerged over the years as one of the most active, persistent and articulate advocates of the rights of the Palestinians. He has never returned to Jaffa. "Having become a U.S. citizen in 1962, Professor Sharabi could now go back to visit his birthplace as an American tourist if he wanted to-but declines the opportunity. 'Until there is a just settlement of the Arab-Israeli problem which gives the Palestinians their rights, I will not set foot in Jaffa again,' he says." Sharabi actually did step foot in Jaffa again, in 1993 on a trip there with Israeli writer Amos Oz as part of a documentary by the BBC. An act of a raving extremist, indeed. Fisher notes that Barakat, also a Palestinian and a professor of sociology at Georgetown University, has described Zionism as "a wild, destructive beast," and for this, Barakat also is labeled an "extremist professor." At the end of the column, Fisher admits that he couldn't help "bemoaning" the Georgetown students' "hypersensitivity" over the comments of Finkelstein, Sharabi and Barakat. And yet he still finds it easy to label those who disagree with his stance on Israel as extremists. Mark Hand is editor of PressAction.com. He can be reached at mark[at]pressaction.com Letter of Support The Washington Post, on December 3, published an op-ed piece by Post columnist Marc Fisher entitled "Campus Should Cultivate its Seeds of Debate." This article attacked professors Norman Finkelstein, Hisham Sharabi and Halim Barakat as "extremists" for having the temerity to criticize Israel. It may be read in its entirety at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1254-2002Dec2.html This is not the *worst* article ever written on the subject--it doesn't give excessive credence to claims of prevalent anti-Semitism on campus--but it is yet another attack upon academic freedom in the context of "patriotism" and defending Israel's "right" to oppress the Palestinian people. In his discussion of Norman Finkelstein, the son of two Holocaust survivors and the author of _Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict_, among other works, Fisher writes: "Meanwhile, the university's Young Arab Leadership Association and Arab studies center sponsored a lecture by Norman Finkelstein, a writer celebrated by neo-Nazi groups for his Holocaust revisionism and comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany." On the contrary, Finkelstein has never been a "Holocaust revisionist." He has repeatedly cited and celebrated his parents' strength in surviving the horror that was the Holocaust, dedicating his work to them. He has criticized organizations that have, in his words, "exploited Jewish suffering," for financial and political purposes. Never, however, has he diminished or denied the Nazi holocaust against Jews and others. Instead, he has seen it as an imperative lesson to struggle against injustice where it exists today. Write Marc Fisher (at marcfisher @ washpost. com) and the Washington Post at (letters @ washpost. com) (spaces added for yahoogroups purposes, delete when sending) to express your concern for academic expression and to tell the Post that Norman Finkelstein isn't a Holocaust denier because he insists on justice in Palestine. When sending letters to the Post, don't send attachments, as the Post won't open them, and be sure to include your address and phone number--these are required to consider a letter for publication! Please forward!! -Charlotte www.njsolidarity.org Exchange of Letters: Washington Post and Finkelstein ----- Original Message ----- From: Eric N Lieberman Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 12:57 PM To: NormanGF@hotmail.com Cc: Marc Fisher Subject: "Campus Should Cultivate . . ." Dear Mr. Finkelstein: This will respond to your e-mail correspondence with Marc Fisher in which you ask him to substantiate the statement in his December 3, 2002 column that "Norman Finkelstein [is] a writer celebrated by neo-Nazi groups for his Holocaust revisionism and comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany." Mr. Fisher's statement referencing the beliefs held by neo-Nazi groups about your views of the Holocaust is well-substantiated, as evidenced by the following examples from pertinent websites (more of which exist, but were cumulative): 1. The Zundelsite, Z Gram: Where Truth is Destiny, February 20, 2002 (www.zundelsite.org/english/zgrams/zg2001/zg0102/010220.html), which contains a defense of Canadian neo-Nazi Ernest Zundel by Mark Weber of the Institute for Historical Review that is excerpted here in pertinent part: Finkelstein's "Holocaust Industry" In going through The Holocaust Industry, Christie and I highlighted Finkelstein's indictment of the way that organized Jewry has fostered a deceitful and self-serving perception of history. As I repeatedly pointed out, Finkelstein's views echo points that revisionist writers and scholars have made many times over the years. He writes, for example, that given the "nonsense churned out daily by the Holocaust industry, the wonder is that there are so few skeptics..." He also writes: · "The challenge today is to restore the Nazi holocaust as a rational subject of inquiry." · "Articulating the key Holocaust dogmas, much of the literature on Hitler's Final Solution is worthless as scholarship. Indeed, the field of Holocaust studies is replete with nonsense, if not sheer fraud." · "Because ["Holocaust"] survivors are now revered as secular saints, one doesn't dare question them. Preposterous statements pass without comment." · Israel "invents stories about the Holocaust" in order to "receive more money from Germany and other Western establishments." · "In recent years, the Holocaust industry has become an outright extortion racket." Finkelstein also refers to "this double shakedown of European countries as well as legitimate Jewish claimants," and to "the Holocaust restitution racket..." "The Holocaust," he concludes, "may yet turn out to be the "greatest robbery in the history of mankind,." Commenting on one of these passages, I stated: " It is a startling thing for revisionists that Finkelstein explicitly says what revisionists have emphasized over the years: that Israel and, by extension, others in the organized Jewish community, invent stories about the Holocaust in order to receive more money from Germany and other western establishments. This is a point that has been made repeatedly by revisionists over the years. It is startling for revisionists to see a Norman Finkelstein, a professor at Hunter College, affirming that same view as, in fact, he does in this passage. " 2. The National Front (www.nationalfront.org/holoind.html). The site (1) suggests the organization's belief that The Holocaust Industry supports a revisionist view of the Holocaust; (2) quotes from a newspaper review of The Holocaust Industry stating that "Norman Finkelstein is bunched with 'anti-Semitic holocaust deniers' because his 'accusations will cause grave concern among all Jews and give great comfort to their persecutors;" and (3) states that "Finkelstein says that much of the literature on Hitler's final solution is worthless as scholarship. 'Indeed, if the field of holocaust studies is replete with nonsense, if not sheer fraud." 3. Final Conflict NewsEmail 24th July 2000 Issue 1371, "America: Finkelstein Continues Upsetting Zionists" ( www.geocities.com/fc_archive2/fc1371.html), which states in relevant part: Finally, an absolutely stunning article penned by Dr. Norman Finkelstein, was discovered by Zundel researchers on the Index on Censorship Magazine website [citation omitted]. I urge all of my readers to go and read it for themselves. Let me just give you a whiff of the flavor by running the first paragraph: 'Holocaust awareness,' the Israeli writer Boas Evron observes, is actually 'an official, propagandistic indoctrination, a churning out of slogans and a false view of the world, the real aim of which is not at all an understanding of the past, but a manipulation of the present.' Please note: Revisionists did say this first ? for decades!" We appreciate that you may disagree with the characterizations of your work by these and other groups, and would be glad to ask our Editorial page to consider publishing a letter to the editor explaining your objection to Mr. Fisher's statement. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss this matter further, or if you would like to pass on any other information that you believe would be helpful for us in reviewing your concerns. Very truly yours, Eric Lieberman Associate Counsel The Washington Post 1150 15th Street, NW Washington, DC 20071 Tel 202.334.6017 Fax 202.334.5075 Finkelstein responds to Eric Lieberman: ----- Original Message ----- From: Norman Finkelstein Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2002 3:30 PM To: Eric N Lieberman; NormanGF[at]hotmail.com Subject: Re: "Campus Should Cultivate . . ." Eric Lieberman, I couldn't care less what anybody else writes about me; although if Fisher had any regard for truth and wasn't just a malicious slanderer, he'd note that the world's leading authority on the Nazi holocaust, Raul Hilberg (author of the definitive three-volume study, The Destruction of the European Jews ), has repeatedly praised my work. The point at issue is simple: Fisher makes explicit claims about what I've either said or written. He states that the praise of neo-Nazis springs from "his" - meaning my - "Holocaust revisionism." I want Fisher's evidence that even a phrase of mine can be in any way construed as "Holocaust revisionism." Otherwise this is a grotesque libel, and I will seek legal redress unless a retraction of equal prominence is published. I've no interest at all in entering into a correspondence on your editorial page. What are we debating: am I or am I not a Holocaust revisionist? Are you aware that both my late parents survived the Warsaw Ghetto and the Nazi death camps, and that every member of my family on both sides was exterminated? Can you possibly be the moral imbecile that your invitation suggests? I repeat: Evidence or retraction. Norman G. Finkelstein A conversation with Marc Fisher ----- Original Message ----- From: Norman Finkelstein Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2002 4:23 PM To: marcfisher [nospam] washpost.com; NormanGF [nospam] hotmail.com Mr Fisher, This is to confirm in print the substance of our telephone conversation this afternoon (5 December). I repeatedly requested that you cite even one phrase of mine documenting your claim that I am a Holocaust revisionist. I stated that the claim that I am a Holocaust revisionist means that I doubt whether my late parents endured the Nazi death camps and that their respective families were gassed to death. You stated that this isn't what you meant by Holocaust revisionism but rather that I was revising the conventional understanding of the Nazi holocaust. I replied that the first and still authoritative study of the Nazi holocaust is Raul Hilberg's The Destruction of the European Jews. I asked you to cite even one phrase of mine that calls into question any of Hilberg's facts or conclusions. At this point, you hung up. Unless I hear from you I will assume that this is an accurate rendering of our conversation. Norman G. Finkelstein Marc Fisher responds: ----- Original Message ----- From: Marc Fisher Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 12:54 PM To: Norman Finkelstein Subject: Re: >Check_Subject Mr. Finkelstein: Thank you for your email about your phone call to me of Dec. 5. I do not accept your characterization of our conversation. As you have indicated that you are considering legal steps, the Post's counsel have requested that all communication take place through them. You have been in contact with Eric Lieberman of the Post's legal staff, which will be in touch with you. Sincerely, Marc Fisher The Washington Post The Washington Post agrees to publish a retraction ----- Original Message ----- From: Mary Ann Werner Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 1:06 PM To: NormanGF@hotmail.com Cc: Eric N Lieberman Subject: Marc Fisher column Dear Mr. Finkelstein: I apologize for injecting yet another Washington Post person into the discussions about Marc Fisher's column, but my colleague, Eric Lieberman, is out of the office today, and we didn't want to wait for his return before responding further. We have no objection to clarifying the point that seems to be at issue in these discussions and would propose to publish the following language: "Marc Fisher's Dec. 3 Metro column about academic freedom mentioned writer Norman Finkelstein, who lectured recently at Georgetown University. In stating that neo-Nazi groups have cited his work in support of their theories, the column did not intend to suggest that Finkelstein has denied the existence of the Holocaust." I would be glad to take steps to get that into the paper as soon as possible. Sincerely, Mary Ann Werner Vice President & Counsel The Washington Post 1150 15th Street, NW Washington, DC 20071 wernerm[at]washpost.com 202-334-6575 Washington Post publishes a retraction (12/08/2002) Click here Academics Play Second String To Athletics The Washington Post | December 8, 2002 Sunday By Marc Fisher When a family or business hits bad times, every expense gets a thorough scouring. But in Virginia, where financial woes are forcing major bloodletting and the governor warns of plenty more to come, one expense stands untouched: The state's colleges must raise tuition, cut staff and close entire departments, but heaven forbid touching the golden calf of athletics. Terry Meyers, an English professor at the College of William and Mary, has spent years crusading to get his school to lance the idol and spend some of those sacred dollars on academics rather than games. Failing that, he'd at least like some honesty in how colleges raise money for sports. The great myth is that the big-money collegiate sports make a profit. At most schools, they don't even come close. (William and Mary's football team brought in $ 1.7 million in revenue in 2001. But the program spent $ 2 million.) So athletics are supported by student fees; at William and Mary, each student pays $ 885 per year in intercollegiate athletic fees. But that title appears nowhere on a tuition bill, nor in catalogues or publicity materials. Rather, the athletics fee is subsumed in a "required annual fee" of about $ 2,600 covering sports, recreation and health services. (Compare that with the University of Maryland's $ 303 athletics fee -- clearly separated from other student charges.) William and Mary, like all public colleges in Virginia, recently announced a hefty tuition increase; in this case, a 16 percent jump, to $ 5,820 a year for state residents. "Students have been told that finding courses and seats in courses will be harder," Meyers says, "and even the governor has warned that some students might have to take an extra year in college to find the full load of courses." Sports for mere mortals are dispensable: Meyers notes that William and Mary is saving money by doing away with its physical education requirement, but athletics for the chosen few remains untouchable. "It seems unconscionable for colleges to charge so much for something so peripheral to their missions," Meyers says. He proposes that for every $ 100 increase in tuition, the athletics fee be trimmed by $ 50. "That would cushion the rise in overall costs for students and their parents. It would also make an important, though still largely symbolic, statement about what programs are central." The professor won a small victory this fall when the college agreed to shift a small portion of the student fee -- all of $ 40 -- from athletics to academics, something administrators had long argued could not be done. Being coy about the river of money that flows into athletics is hardly unique to Virginia's colleges. But it's all the more offensive given the rough waters that state governments are navigating right now. It's even more objectionable given the powerful findings in William Bowen and James Shulman's book "The Game of Life," which studied 90,000 alumni and students nationwide to show that winning teams don't result in more donations to universities, sports programs at all levels lose money, athletes play no special leadership role on campus, and athletes are much more likely to finish at the bottom of their class. The challenge facing the NCAA's new president, Myles Brand, is to use those findings to restore sanity to college sports -- to stand tall against TV networks and corporate sponsors, to send a message that college kids can play sports without the commercialism and careerism that seep down into high schools and threaten to create something akin to the old East German Olympic breeding program. Brand has the standing to do the right thing; he's the college president who finally sacked Bobby Knight at Indiana. But in an interview with The Post's Liz Clarke last week, Brand sounded defeated before even starting. The only way reform will come is if people such as Brand and Meyers win support from parents and students who pay tuition -- and those sky-high hidden fees. In Tuesday's column about academic freedom, I mentioned writer Norman Finkelstein, who lectured recently at Georgetown University. Although neo-Nazi groups have cited his work in support of their theories, Finkelstein has never denied the existence of the Holocaust, and I did not intend to suggest that. NEW HAVEN Folly and Fact at Yale: Transcript & video of Finkelstein's Q&A session and talk.
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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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