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Note:

Finkelstein responds (see below):

This is the second email I have received in recent days stating I should not post letters disgracing my late mother. Although having initially adopted a policy of no censorship, I have become convinced that an exception must be made in this case. No emails making negative references to my late mother will henceforth be posted.





NEW Reader letter re: "Should Decent People Subscribe to the Progressive?"



Dear Professor Finkelstein:

Thank you for eloquent and excellent article in CounterPunch on President carter's book. The Zionist lobby and its apologists need such honest analysis from a great authority like yourself. But, Alas, they will not be moved. But we hope that many others will have an open mind and begin to see the light.

Best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year.

Yours Sincerely,

Ismail Zayid,
Halifax.



Norman ,

In the light of the fairly recent Ahmadenijad ( sp) conference in Tehran, and the recent release of David Irving -- I think the MEMRI video clip on your website which shows clearly how you have been made to look like a "holocaust denier" in some media outlets, whilst of course, you certainly have never denied any of the horrors of the mass slaughter of Jews in WW2 -- is particularly important.

For what it's worth, I do think your message is gradually getting through to more and more people, step by step.

And in my view, that's a good thing -- because currently, debate of that period of WW2 history is , broadly speaking, left to two camps, and two camps alone.

1. Either it is left to the creepy obscure weirdos with equally creepy suspect agendas ( Butz and Leuchter come to mind ). Or it is left to racists like David Irving, a man who used to be a respected historian, but is undeniably a supremacist and a racist in my view, so his findings, however challenging they may be in some respects -- are surely ideologically skewed which undermines them.

or --

2. It is left to the Zionist fanatics, who feel they have the right to wildly falsify history, and use it to shut people up. These Jewish groups and their right wing Christian apologists are despicable. How despicable it is to use the genuine suffering of millions of murdered Jewish men , women and children -- for their own gang mentality agendas. And they have the gall to wonder why people find them so deeply objectionable.

Anyone else who honestly wants to look at that period of history, just as any period of history needs to be constantly observed as new materials and records come to light -- is marginalised and runs the risk of losing friends, job, livelihood,family -- or actually being beaten up or locked up.

This is a terrible state of affairs -- and as you have said, it is this locking of debate, this profound mystification of a period of history, this almost mystical clouding of the issues surrounding the Holocaust -- that actually PRODUCES these nasty, lowlife creeps who believe no Jews were murdered, or that Hitler had no hate towards Jews.

Sadly, there are going to be those people who see Jewish groups, Zionist groups and right wing Christian groups creating such a mystique, such a blurring , obscuring cloud around the Holocaust -- that unfortunately, some are going to conclude that the Holocaust was no more than a state sanctioned hoax and that it never happened.

Why should anyone be surprised at the ( unfortunate,lamentable ) growth in these holocaust denial groups, creeps as they are?

So -- more power to balanced -- non racist, non prejudiced -- men like yourself, and hopefully there will be more people like you who can look at the effect of this period of history with no fixed racist/supremacist agenda running as a thread under their work.

Best Regards,

Greg.

PS Norman, if you want to print this on your website, please go ahead, but don't show my email ad -- I don't want right wingers spamming me. Thanks!



Dear Professor Finkelstein:

I laughed out loud when I read your report of the Boston Globe's comparison of the churned out ravings of Dershowitz to the monumental and masterful Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas. What's next for the press? A compare and contrast essay pitting the smell of Dershowitz's socks against Chanel perfume? Or perhaps a glowing review of his performance in debating you in his own mind?

Best regards,

Craig Heimbichner



Hi there. I just finished reading your book, The Holocaust Industry. I found it very enlightening as it explained quite a bit about today’s Western society attitudes towards Jews and Israel. I also found it very amusing at the amount of deception and bluster from various Jewish organizations.

Let me introduce myself. I’m a Canadian of Chinese heritage born and raised in Montreal. I’m currently living in Toronto. Ever since high school, I was always perplexed at the amount of media devoted to Israel and the conflict in the Middle East. I’m in my mid-thirties now. Back when I was at Vanier College, I even took a course in Jewish culture and history. I was the only Asian in the class as it was almost entirely filled with Jewish teenagers. I didn’t learn very much about Jewish culture as almost every class was devoted to debating whether Israel had a right to exist. After weeks of debating, I was pretty much fed up with the class.

I only came across your books because some antiwar columnists mention how the mainstream American media ignores people who are opposed to Israel’s brutal occupation citing your writings. It’s very refreshing to see somebody take the Palestinians side. I have your other book, Beyond Chutzpah, which I’ll get to reading one of these days. In Canada, the mainstream media is solidly on Israel side usually attacking the stubborn Palestinians or the new Hitler Iranian President Ahmadinejad. Israel’s atrocities such as the artillery shelling that wiped out the Palestinian family on the beach in June got no coverage on Canada’s TV news channel. The slightest criticism of Israel always prompts cries of anti-semitism. It’s enough to kill ones career. Meanwhile when Palestinian suicide bombers hit Israel, it’s front-page news or the first news items of the day.

Reading the Holocaust Industry, you mention that the number of so-called Holocaust survivors greatly exceed the numbers who could have possibly survived the camps. I can attest to that. When I lived in Montreal, I was told that the city had the largest population of Holocaust survivors in the world with tens of thousands. Now that I live in Toronto, there seems to be endless number of survivors. Every time an elderly Jew dies, he or she is always referred to as a Holocaust survivor. I have the strange belief that when I die decades from now, there would still be some elderly survivor around.

I’ve noticed that there been strong criticism on China’s control of the Internet, censoring unfavorable news. The unspoken premise has always been once the Chinese people learn about the benefits of democracy and freedom would rise up and overthrow the evil Communist government. That’s one of the great benefits touted of the Internet, bringing democracy to the masses. What these people didn’t seem to realize, the Internet would also bring different opinions of the conflict in the Middle East to our side of the world. Issues that are never debated on our so-called free press are routinely written about on various websites. Opinions and comments critical of Israel can be aired without fear (sort of). I’ve learnt more about the Middle East and the Western nations exploitation of the Third World than I ever did reading the Toronto Star or the Montreal Gazette.

BTW, if you’re planning to post this email on your website, could you please leave out my email address. I don’t want any emails from cranks.

Take care,
WKL



From: "meir riem" amprush[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Another year!
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 20:24:26 -0600

Hey you, helpful idiot:

Another year in your miserable, uneventful and lonely life... I feel so sorry for you. It's time to get it over with. Need a rope? I'm sure many descent people will give it to you for free. Think about it... It's time to end your misery.



hey Mr.. finkelstein

just a fan of your work that read some of the latest postings by Alan Dershowitz and the other fellow about Jimmy Carter being tied with Saudi. At first I laughed and then I cried. I think you're coming to my campus next semester at UCF. I'm really excited.

I just finished up on In the Shadows of the Holocaust by Yosef Grodzinski. I don't know if you've read it, but it's absolutely amazing. I don't remember you ever citing it in any of yours books, but it's a real treat and I'm sure you'd appreciate it as I have in my studies. I don't know what category Grodzinski would belong to...maybe "Jew-Hating-Hitler-Loving-Arab-Fuckers" by Dershowitz. I'm heading a Palestinian-Israeli seminar for my organization, Students for a Democratic Society, next month during our regional convention. Just thought that you'd feel good knowing that the peace movement really supports yours and Mr. Chomsky's work...you're well respected in academia...so don't let those corporate-bribed assholes get you down! I'm using a lot of Beyond Chutzpah to go over the bias and such...I'm sure you can understand how people even in the peace movement get their facts mixed up!!!

btw, when is your next book coming out? I've heard rumors this coming year?

kind regards,
Jimmy



From: alfred[at]agpatents.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: re: "Your Commendable Work in Support of Scholarly Truth Research and Consequent Peace with Justice"
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 12:54:23 -0500

Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I must commend you profoundly for your scholarly endeavours embodied in works such as "The Holocaust Industry", "Beyond Chutzpa", inter alia.

Your intrepid, courageous, principled, disciplined focus on debunking mythology and exposing the plethora of deliberate falsehoods propagated for decades to misinform us on the subject of the opportunistic exploitation of the "Holocaust" is truly awe inspiring and comforting.

The "Holocaust" should be appropriately characterized, from my perspective, as simply that what it really was, namely the Nazi murderous atrocities against Jews, since it seems inappropriate, hypocritical, and therefore offensive for me to conceptualize that one people’s holocaust, namely the Jewish people’s, is somehow more important than any other people’s and therefore deserves the characterization using the proper substantive (proper noun) "Holocaust", i.e. with the "h" capitalized.

Of course, if one accepts that Jews are "God's Chosen People" then the misusage of "Holocaust" becomes consistent with that fallacious and appallingly nonsensical assumption. Likewise if one accepts that racism against Jews is somehow more egregious than racism against other people, then the racist support of the Zionist leaders of Israel for the odious Apartheid regime and for the racist / fascist dictatorships of Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Chile (inter alia) becomes consistent with that fallacious and appallingly nonsensical assumption, since the supra noted regimes targeted the non-whites in South Africa, and the indigenous populations and their left of center secular and religious humanist active supporters, particularly in Central America but also in Chile.

I am of Jewish ancestry, guide myself by secular humanist values, and therefore naturally am opposed to the machinations in support of hegemony by the Neocon coalition allied with Jewish Zionist extremist and with Evangelical Zionists, as they undermine the quest of peaceful coexistence by respect for human rights on the basis of social and economical justice for all concerned. I also am an active supporter of a team of documentary producers of the organization Alternate Focus (www.alternatefocus.org) who endeavour themselves in bringing historical and contemporary reality of the atrocious Israeli occupation and attempted annexation of the Palestinian lands to the American people's awareness to help foster a cultural climate more prone for peaceful conflict resolution.

Thanks to devoted scholars such as you, the time will come when the critical mass will occur for the educational / cultural reforms to occur so that we no longer have to fear power structure usurpation by the coalitions of greed and lust for power infested demagogues who spread fear by obfuscating and repressing the spread of truth, and thereby lead us into terribly destructive wars ...L

Thank you so much, Professor Finkelstein.

Sincerely,

Alfred Gluecksmann
Silver Spring, MD



From: hobbsilla[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Happy Holidays
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 23:12:14 -0800

Dear. Prof. Finkelstein,

I would like to applaud you for putting up with Alan Dershowitz's slandering remarks of you're excellent scholarly work and your late mother, as well as the slander from various other agencies and people that make up the ignorant critics of your work.

It is disturbing that David Duke (a true anti-Semite) quoted you in trying to make a point to support his opinion/belief that the Holocaust never happened. I find his quotation of your work should be disregarded to help support his horrible view, your mother was a Holocaust survivor and she shared her experiences with you which you wrote about in many of your books. It's obvious that you don't deny the Holocaust yet why do your critics equate you to an anti-Semite and a Nazi-collaborator?

I would also like to thank you and your website for providing me links to articles of various international articles on the Palestine-Israel conflict. I feel more informed then many of my other classmates (I'm in high school) on Palestine and Israel and the general Middle Eastern politics. I will be sure to read some of your books in the near future but keep up the good work and make sure scholars and people such as Alan Dershowtiz are exposed of their lies and the slander they spread.

-Hobbs



From: N. Geststner engestetn[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2006 22:16:51 -0800 (PST)

You are a dishonest idiot



From: theresecw[at]gmail.com
Date: Dec 23, 2006 5:53 PM
Subject: Thank you
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com

Dear Norman, You may remember me from the Eye Witness Israel trip we took together back in 1989. I am still very much involved with the peace movement as a member of the Catholic Worker. I have since that time been to Israel/Palestine 8 times and have developed many friendships with Palestinian and Israelis working for peace and justice. I was also involved in the campaign to free Mordechai Vanunu. Beyond Israel/Palestine, my wife Claire and I have done peace work in Bosnia during the war, in Iraq during sanctions, in Afghanistan shortly after the US bombing in 2001, and in Darfur Sudan in 2004. I am constantly amazed at how much coverage our trips get from these countries and how little exposure we get from our work in Israel/Palestine. I sometimes feel like returning to the US is returning to some kind of madhouse with regard to the Palestinians. Although I am a pacifist, I have been called an apologist for terrorists and an anti-semite and other similar tags that I'm sure you've heard before a thousand times as a "self-hating Jew."

I wanted to write to you today because I have been reading Carter's book alongside Dershowitz's "Case for Israel." I agree with your assessment of Carter's book completely. The history in the beginning was quite favorable to Israel, but his conclusions about the wall are on target. Dershowitz gets a lot of play here in the Boston Globe. His influence is nothing short of terrifying. His book leaves out so much and distorts so much more. I was in Jenin only three days after the attacks. I saw bodies of women and children in the morgue in Ramalah. I was at Kiryat Arba by the grave of Baruch Goldstein. I know that the way Dershowitz spins those events is deceitful. I was also in the museum in Hebron which the settlers in the old city have established to recall the attack on the Jews in 1929. Neither the settlers or Dershowitz recall that many Jews were saved by Arab neighbors. I have watched Palestinians practice nonviolence in heroic ways in a vain attempt to stop the wall from taking and dividing their land. Your writing is a breath of fresh air for me. I want you to know how important it is to those of us who are trying to speak about our first-hand experiences in Gaza and the West Bank.

I remember sitting with you in Beit Sahour with the Palestinian family who sheltered us after the protest. It was so painful to hear that women talk about how violence was growing in her heart from the delay of justice and daily increase in oppression. I am heartbroken to think how much worse things are each time I go back. From Bethlehem to Jenin required 9 checkpoints. East Jerusalem is vanishing. The house I stayed in in Rafah has long since been demolished. A Palestinian farmer I know who lives right up against Kiryat Arba has suffered nearly constant attacks by settlers who burn his cars, crops, and side buildings. They seized more than half his land and uprooted almost a hundred olive trees for an area that they have left barren. It's so painful to know these people and read Dershowitz and see Mario Cuomo praising him as "brilliant."

I just wanted to thank you so much for your vital work. Keep it up. Do not get discouraged. Know that your work is being cited by others like me who are trying also to get Americans to have a more accurate picture of what is going on in Israel/Palestine and to develop a more compassionate and rational foreign policy in the region.

On last hopeful note, years ago, you came to Clark University to speak about Eye Witness Israel along with Susan Akram, Susan Atkins, and me. We were nearly shouted down by the students. I spoke at Clark twice this year and was received well. At a forum on Darfur, I opened the presentation with a description of genocide and a plea that it be recognized everywhere it occurs from Turkish Armenia, to Bosnia, to Rwanda, to Darfur, to Israel/Palestine. I reminded the audience that the worst ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian war was done by Croatian Catholics who drove out 300,000 Serb civilians, but the Catholic Church turned a blind eye. The Pope even went to the Croatian capital to celebrate mass without a word about it. Jews need to speak out, not only on Darfur where Muslims are the victims and perpetrators, but also in Israel/Palestine, where Muslims are the primary victims. The audience was quite positive. So some things are changing a bit.

All my best, Scott Schaeffer-Duffy



To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Steve said I should send you a message
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2006 04:38:46 +0000

Steve sent me a message on myspace a while back telling me how Amazon, in their desire to garner more of the 18-24 deomgraphic decided to make a huge push for another college campus untold stoes book about drunken frat boys peeing in unconscious girls' hair, they also pulled your book because it was "offensive" or something.

I think it wasTessla that said: "All truth passes through three stages: First it is ridiculed. Second it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident." Then towards the end of his life he was put under house arrest for being too damn right all the time.

I'm sure you're well aware of all the prophets, scientists, and mathematicians who were maimed, killed or otherwise tortured not for being wrong, but for being right.

You said in your last message: "I do my best, which is never enough. I have stopped thinking in terms of hope vs. no hope. I just do it because it's the right thing to do."

If I am learning anything in this life, that has to be it. Goodness is its own reward, it has to be, because the rest of the world will punish you for it.

Seeing tribal politics growing up, embezzlement and such, I don't find the things you say to be beyond belief, rather they seem commonplace. But I know most people who have not been touched by tragedy have a difficult time accepting the cruelty of the world. In those moments, when faced with irrefuteable evidence, they choose to ignore and become offended, clutching desperately to any explaination to justify the safe feeling they want to preserve in the comfort of their beliefs. I feel pity and grief for these things, because I know how deeply the truth cuts, how painful it can be, but at the same time I cannot deny it without feeling like I have lost a part of my soul.

I am sorry humanity has not grown past its infantile behaviors. I am sorry you suffer for this reason. It is my sincerest hope that you find peace or comfort, and all the things you need. I do, and will continue to pray for you.

I know you post all your mail, but I would prefer if you didn't post my e-mail address as spam bots like to collect those things and send me viagra ads. Also you might want to change Steve's name as I'm not certain if he wants his full name on there.

Sincerely,
E.A.

* * *


Dear Dr. Finkelstein

I had the priviledge of attending your talk on Israeli-Palestinian relations at the Joan of Arc church on unday. Aside from the loud group sitting behind me that kept yelling questions, then laughing as you were tryig to respond, I was pleased with your lecture.

I thought I would write you for two reasns: 1) there is a sheer shortage in the amount of people who argue using facts these days 2) there is a loud nzi inspired lie big and talk louder crowd that work tirelessly to drown out the former. Additionally, I thought yo ought to hear from a woman, and at that a young one, to know that this generation isn't all but lost to hering the whisper that is the truth.

I grew up in between a military base, an Indian reservation, a small town and agriculture out in the open prairie. I am part Mexican, part Native American, part Jewish, Castiian Spanish and a hodge podge of white. Being in the middle both ethnically and geographically, I got a sence of the politics and mindset towards merican Indians early on. There is a myth in my hometown that somehow the Federal and State governments ave settled their debts with all the tribes, and every Native American born gets a sizeable government check very month and money for college that comes out of the groaning hard work of all the famers and loyal axpayers. This is, of course, what serves to feed an attitude of "stop whining" whenever a voice is raised for tribal sovereignty. Native Americans, occupying such a small percentage of the population, have little chance to refute these myths that they are somehow now being made rich and drinking all that money away.

I could go on about this issue, but my point is mainly that the lie is louder than the truth, it is emotional, and appeals to many because it relinquishes the guilt and responsability that they might feel accepting the truth. This attitude I see often in many "controversial" political issues made such simply because emotion is tied in with the argument, albeit intentionally.

I found it so fitting that you made such a stunning comparison with the treatment of American Indians by the American government, and Palistinians with the Israeli regime. Like our colonial forefathers being branded by King George so too Jews these days are black listed for disagreeing with the politics of a goverment that happens to be Jewish (Israel), and, in a twist of irony, so too are Americans being protested as anti-American for their criticisms of our goverment at large. I could make a very long additional comparison with the politics of Germany during the gestapo era, but I feel already this e-mail is getting rather long.

After the lecture and question and answer period I asked you a question that I honestly wanted to ask during the question and answer period, but was unfortunately thwarted by the group sitting behind me that stood up and took over the floor for the remainder of the night. I did video record the question and answer, as I wanted people to hear what you had to say, because I felt it important. The clip can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAUUkc-tbF8

In the small populace of hearing individuals who can filter out the bullshit propaganda and actually hear the facts, there is a growing number of apathetics, because in the honesty that comes from hearing the truth, one can't help but see the lonely spread of ocean and air that spans the distance between that place and the rest of the world. A person can't help but realize the smallness s/he has then. In that whisper, a person's heart sinks feeling no amount of toil that can be wrought by human hands can ever make a difference. Hoplessness sets in only to welcome apathy.

I feel in a generation that has been all but disenfranchised by mass media, political agenda, and greed, there is a growing need for encouragement. What you said about miracles was damn near perfect, and I didn't get a chance to thank you. So thank your Dr. Finkelstein. I am much obliged.

Sincerely,

E. A.



From: "Jeff Manevich" jeman444[at]verizon.net
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2006 20:38:51 -0500

Hi Norman,

You cited Pravda and Izvestiya. What a knowledge! But did you hear about Stalin's definition of "helpful idiots"? By all means, you are the greatest helpful idiot besides your friend Noam. It always amazes me where shmucks like you are coming from?

Jeff,
former Soviet citizen, former Israeli soldier.



From: "Joe hanrahan" hanrahanman[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Your parents
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2006 09:00:01 -0700

Professor Finkelstein:

I don't believe your parents were Holocaust survivors. No Holocaust survivor would make the statements you attribute to your mother. You apparently fabricated that family background to lend credence to you anti-Semitic writings (or should I say rantings).

Your personal attacks against Alan Dershowitz prove as well that you are not really a historian and seeker of truth, but rather a petty-minded idealogue bent on vindictiveness.

If you are indeed Jewish, you are perhaps the most pathological case of the "self-hating Jew" syndrome that I have ever heard of.

Please consider emigating to Iran or Saudi Arabia. I am sure that you will be welcomed there with open arms. And I am willing to bet that all of your publications will be trumpeted from the front pages of the media in those countries. Your works will join other celebrated works on Judaism freely distributed and widely read in those countries, such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Mein Kampf.

I feel both contempt and pity for you. You may benefit from psychiatric help, but I doubt that you have the insight to seek it,

Sincerely,

Joseph Sterling



Norman.

I found astonishing the fact that you are still "at it" with Dershowitz, i guess it tells a lot about the standards & ethics of American Academia. Alan Dershowitz the man who by himself confirms that concocting a fraud is still a great American tradition... You have to admit that the Man is doing his best, to steal & rival Ann Coulter's academic accomplishment, there is certainly peculiar entertainment value somewhere......

Why don't you sue the bottom feeder in a court of justice, i am aware that it certainly requires a large amount of money, but i am confident that many of us would be more than happy to contribute to a legal fund to help you in this endeavor.

Apparently there is still a large number of a-historical & uneducated farcical neophytes who are engaged in the constructive name-calling activity.

I have a real relish for inflicting pain on these great conversationalists, by suggesting these moral & intellectual midgets to educate themselves, and break the sacro saint bond of Israel & Jewish infallibility, their entitlement to sanctification, victimization & politicization of victimization.

To impose on themselves the burden of historical facts, about the racist nature of Zionism itself & its leadership (Theodor Herzl, Vladimir Jabotinsky, Max Nordau etc...). the modernist-racist ideology of Jewish separatism, & race purity philosophy of Maurice Samuel, Martin Buber, outright Jewish self-hatred by Zionist thinkers such as Yosef Chaim Brenner, Micah Yosef Berdichevsky and others.

I have one word for the "Finkelstein haters" out there, Your understanding, interpretation and analysis of historical & geopolitical perspectives, is fallacious at best, and abysmally dishonest at worst.

My very best wishes for the new coming year.



From: "Sayeed Yusuf" sayeedy[at]hotmail.co.uk
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Happy Christmas Norman
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 17:15:52 +0000

Dear Norman, a poem ...

When courage is few and far between
'Tis refreshing to listen to Finkelstein
Not afraid to speak truth to power
He ventures from where others cower

With peace and justice as his slogan
Seldom have truer words been spoken
To that end he campaigns
For the innocents wounded and slain

Apologists for Israel concoct wild claims
In a bid to besmirch the professor's good name
“Holocaust denier, self-hating Jew!”
The venomous dribble They like to spew

Anti-Semite is any critic of Israel
According to the ADL
AIPAC too their partner in crime
The former defames, the latter throws slime

Yet still worse, is Alan Dersh
His moral character is quite perverse
Plagiarising frauds is his thing
And Holocaust survivors, slandering

All a day's work for Dersh you see
No limit to his depravity
No depth too low for him to sink
Nothing this sorry excuse won't say you'd think

Finkelstein fights on undeterred
So the truth might be heard
To protest the plight of the dispossessed
And be the voice of the weak and oppressed

Armed with the truth he comes out swinging
To the ropes, his opponents are clinging
He swings a left, he swings a right
Go Norman, fight the good fight!

One courageous freedom fighter
Not to mention a wonderful writer
As he lands blow after blow
From ringside I'm yelling "go Finkelstein go!"

Like Chomsky, Zinn and Said
A great scholar he is indeed
In our hearts will he be
This champion of integrity.



From: mnargizian[at]aol.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: re you
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 20:58:31 -0500

You are simply a disgusting human being. Regardless of any point you think you do or don't make you can't hid your true disgusting colors. Your joy is debasing others, though you sometimes try to couch under some 'academic' guise, if you are not in incendiary arguments and generating 'heat' you would simply fade away and be ignored. On top of that you consistently lie, the only question is why others haven't nailed you on them yet? My friend took your class and said just about everyone found you insulting and boring. It's not shocking why you are such a miserable lonely guy.

Mike N



Dear Mr . Finkelstein ,

I was saddened to see the degenerate mail you have received , if unfortunately expected . For every thug that sends you rubbish there are many decent people that look to you and your works for a source of truth . God bless you , keep up your invaluable work . I will continue to distribute your works ,touching as many people as I can . From myself and my family I wish you a happy and safe Christmas and New Year .

With my Kindest Regards,

Mr . Michael . Vejrych



From: Designnut777[at]aol.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: re David Duke and Norman Puke Happy Hanukkah to you both!
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 17:01:31 EST

A poem for the two of you.....

David Duke Hater of Jews
Went to Iran and made the News
His rants and rave about the numbers
of Jews murdered by gases or in their slumber

He credits his buddy, good old Norman the Fink
who hate the Jews as much as you think
While getting paid two hundred bucks a speech
making money on the Holocaust, my what a leech

He blames Elie Wiesel, Abe Foxman and Marvin
for making up stories about people starvin'
he says they are fake and only tell lies
Whilst forgetting that over 6 million have died

He kisses the Pali's, the Mufti's and the traitors
while living the life as a celebrated hater
He waxes poetic about his degrees
While never making more than his two hundred dollar fees

I hope there is a place in hell for this capo
who G-D willing, we can put to a stopo
His lies and his hate only do more damage
than even a right winger like Michael Savage

I hope if there is a hot hell
that Norman my dear, will go there, I'd kvell!
He does not yet realize the damage he has done
to help the world hate the Jews, and then some.



From: Zig Ziglar zigzigtash[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: where were you?
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 16:07:52 -0800 (PST)

Hey schmuck:

How come you couldn't make it to that conference in Teheran? Your buddy, David Duke, was there, other Holocaust deniers were there... all lowlives were there except you. What's the matter? The pay wasn't too good for you? Next time make sure you attend conferences like that - you'll feel at home among those people, and you don't even have to impersonate yourself into all that scum, because you ARE scum.



From: amprush[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: I'd be offended
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 21:43:43 -0600

Hello scumbag:

How come the iranians didn't invite you to their Holocaust deniers conference held in Tehran? If I were you I'd be offended. Even David Duke quoted you on a few occasions there. What a wonderful and appropriate claim to fame for you!!! Happy New Year, scumbag, and let's hope that you won't live long enough to see your next birthday.

riem



From: shamrocknyny[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: David Duke Reference
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 20:47:45 -0800 (PST)

Hi, you'll be pleased to learn that KKK'er David Duke quoted you today on national TV as questioning the Holocaust. Proud of yourself? Too bad you didn't go to the ovens. I'm Jewish, but I would have enjoyed seeing that, you scumbag



From: Collatgeo[at]aol.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Happy Holidays
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 16:39:44 EST

Mr. Finkelstein,

I would like to wish you a Happy Holiday. Keeping spouting the truth. It's the best ideology. Remember > Without virtue patriotism is impossible.

Yeah it's hard but it's worth it.

peace
George Galvis



From: davesam54[at]aol.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Dershowitz's latest
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 22:11:29 -0500

Prof. Finkelstein

Did you see that on today's frontpagemagazine.com, Dershowitz claims that a neo-Nazi website listed you as one of the prominent speakers at the Tehran Holocaust Conference? He gave a link to the website, which did have a list but of course you were not on it. Is he delusional, or perhaps joking? Simple lying no longer explains this kind of bizarre behavior.



From: bubblesperson[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Re: For your website
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 06:37:30 +0000

Dear Prof. Finkelstein!

For many months already I have been wanting to write to you to express my thanks for your brilliant work, plus the most sincere admiration I have for your integrity, courage, strength, and most of all, for your enormous intellect AND the true objectivity ( great professionalism) as a political scientiest /historian shown in all your works (yes, I have studied all 5 of them and have learned from each) which absolute objectivity and ability to stick to nothing but facts is SUCH a rare thing, sadly even amongst historians. You have my utmost respect.

I am shocked and astounded at the vitriol you have to contend with too often, when doing nothing other than truthfully informing and educating your readers and listeners - I for one am exceedingly grateful to you for providing this opportunity to learn.

I very much wish for your continued well-being - so you can write much more - and your SAFETY, plus that you finally get the respect you are due from everyone - and hopefully a little less hatred and biased venom from those who do not read properly, but judge on the basis of too much emotion only.

THANK YOU for your continued work and quest despite all you had to suffer for it....

All my best wishes to you,
Kate W. Trenkel



From: FSHPX[at]aol.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
CC: afareed2003[at]yahoo.com
Subject: (no subject)
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 12:09:54 EST

Keep up the great work, and thank you for the fearless disclosures of the truth concerning he plight of the Palestinian peoples.

Jamal Hakim MD
Orlando, FL



From: ghassan981[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Dr. Finkelstein
Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2006 03:49:09 -0800 (PST)

Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I'm writing you today to let you know how much i appreciate your work. I have read all your recent books and i have to say i do commend your bravery and your moral principles, i truely wish we had more people like you in this country, keep up the great work, looking forward to read your next book...

Love and much respect

Your biggest fan,
Ghassan AL-Hardan



From: robert benson robertajbenson[at]yahoo.co.uk
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 22:30:08 +0000 (GMT)

http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/
video_480x360.asp?ai=214&ar=1180wmv&ak=null

Hi there,

Just want you to watch the introduction to your interview on lebanese television which states that only 50,000 people died in the Holocaust, popularly believedin the middle east. Secondly watching the interview you sound like a retard, are you, I know people in USA are pretty stupid but I have to say big up to the USA for giving PHD's to retards.

Have a great shabbos, if you know what that is, if not let me enlighten you, it is the day of rest from sunset on friday, until sundown on saturday the 4th of the 10 commandments and one of 613 mitzvahs G-d (remember him - he created the universe)

See you in gehinnom
(hell)

rob



Professor Finkelstein,

A quick note to express my continued appreciation for your work. You are one of the literally handful of publicly visible people that I have encountered who merit profound respect.

Best regards,



From: "Multisync Wiznetca" multisync[at]magma.ca
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: gaza is dying
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 08:37:42 -0500

I am proud that as a Jew even in the face of the hate and violence against Israel, that is obvious and voluminous,that we still have the intellect to include authors such as yourself ,to criticise our own actions.It amazes me that Jews still find it possible to find fault in our actions,particularly that there is such a huge and disproportionate attack on Israel,that does not need the assistance of a Jew. We are truly a great nation of people.Keep attacking Israel,this will go down in history as being the clear distinction between those who hate Jews and Jews themselves.In the Palestinian case,historians will never be able to find self criticism of thier actions against Israel,or thier own men ,women and children.Even though there is no doubt that Palestinians have brought to thier own people more violence,and hate than any Jew could ever imagine,on an enemy sworn to thier destruction.You are an example of how we shine as a people.Even when we are attacked by a Jew,when even that Jew would not be spared by the people whose "cause"he is defending.Unprecedented and unbelieveable.

I am doing a project where I track the list of Jews who criticize Israel and Jews,versus Muslims,including Palestinians who also are self critical.So far it is the Jews who are winning this contest,as all Palestinians who criticise thier own have either been killed and called "traitors"or are hiding from a fatwa against them.Many have changed thier names and have moved to the United States.

In the name of all of the six million who have died in the holocaust,keep up your attacks on Jews,and you can include my family in that list.After all it was Jews like yourself that rounded up other Jews on behalf of the Nazis.And we still survived and brought humanity to the world.

Thankyou
Shlomo



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I just finished reading your book Beyond Chutzpah and think it is an incredible contribution to our understanding of the Palestinian situation, as well as our own pathetic US situation. I was glad to pay for the hard copy and hope you are making some money on this. You are a real hero - you and a few others seem to be fighting such a huge network of pro-Israel activists - but you are making headway. Just recently, I was in the process of sending a complaint to NPR (hopeless, I know) about a groveling NPR interview with Richard Perle when I came across the CAMERA site. Whew, what chance does one person have? Well, as one person, you are making progress. Just checking your website, I was impressed with the emails to Alan Dershowitz requesting his letters be made public, and his ridiculous replies. Have you thought of copying these to someone at Harvard Law - a Dean, for example? Over a few minutes, the reader gets a clear picture of the freedom of speech, as well as academic freedom, issues that Dershowitz attempted to squelch. Also, his responses show him to be a raging lunatic. The guy is tenured, so I guess there is nothing Harvard can do, but how do they justify housing this guy and providing him such a prestigious post from which to pontificate. Does he even teach? You made it abundantly clear in your book that his prolific publication record is heavily reliant upon vast plagiarism - as well as the work of his staff. So, how is it that this guy is at the top of the academic heap? I noticed, looking at his history on Wikipedia, that he was hired at Harvard Law in 1964 as an Assistant Professor and was a Full Professor by 1967! What did he do in these few years to deserve this?

Best of luck with all of your endeavors. You are doing people everywhere a huge service. You may not be the FF Professor of Law at Harvard, but you are a true scholar; AD is a huckster and worse.

Best,
M. M.



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I've been thinking about your policy change above in discontinuing the web site publication of e-mail messages with derogatory references to your mother. From what you've related about her, I believe your mother would chastise you for allowing your most despicable antagonists to have any influence whatsoever in what you publish anywhere. I believe she would further say that she would have no interest whatsoever in the opinion of any reader who couldn't perceive the scurrilous distortions and bizarre overstatements flowing through the venomous attacks of embittered fanatics like Alan Dershowitz. Lastly, I think she would note that such exclusions would prevent readers from judging such churlish antagonists accurately.

I respectfully submit that you publish everything as a serious sign of respect for your enviable mother and a sign of the resonant admiration of others.

Sincerely,
Aubrey Soper



Good Afternoon Mr. Finkelstein -

I am about 2 chapters into BEYOND CHUTZPAH and am already grateful to you for having written it. I am a huge supporter of Palestinian rights and to a peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. I'm also a Jew who grew up with a father who has, what I like to call, "Nazi Paranoia". To this day he still tells me that I must always "keep my 360," meaning that everyone is out to get me simply because I am Jewish. It's utterly ridiculous and as I've gotten older I'm able to see him for what he is, a well-meaning crazy bastard. J

I always knew that all the talk of "Israelis just want peace" and "Israel is the size of New Jersey, why can't the Arabs just let them be?" from my father and others around me just didn't make sense. I'm a believer that most people are sane and rational, so the thought of everyone out to get the Israelis, unprovoked, just didn't add up. After Hamas was elected I realized I was old enough to do some serious searching on the topic. What I've found has confirmed my initial gut reaction that this conflict is not as one-sided as people have led me to believe.

This morning, something hit me while I was reading your book. All while growing up I heard the story of the Naïve German Jew. The German Jews who thought they were German first and therefore safe from Hitler but when they didn't run they were "carted off to the camps like all the other Jews". And while that may have been the case in Nazi Germany, it was told to me as if it could happen at any time, hence the need to "keep my 360". I finally realized, this morning, that when I get into discussions with my father now, or the Zionist guy at work, and I tell them that they are paranoid for thinking that we, as Jews, are in grave danger of a Nazi/Holocaust revival, I am silenced by the notion that I may be the New Naive German Jew.

Anyway. Thank you so much for your books. I look forward to more wisdom from you.

Gabrielle



Dear Mr. Finkelstein,

I came across your writtings very recently and it absolutely changed my outlook in so many powerful ways. For that, im forever grateful, thank you very much. I thought i would write to you to express my gratitude but also to ask you something. I am from the UK and altough the media does not mystify what goes on in Palesine as much as in the US, nevertheless i don't know of any strong and powerful voices speaking for justice for Palestine over here. So, is it at all possibe for you to come over and give lecture somewhwere in London?

All the best for you Sir; and i sincerely hope Justice will prevail, in middle east and all over the world.

Yours,

Yuriy Volvyne.

P.S. i am from ukraine.



dear sir

i have been reminded of your heroically honest and pragmatic stance having come across a reduced copy of your momentous "The Holocaust industry" today -and it prompted me to check out your web site. and having checked out that i wanted to say that it seemed to me that it is jews such as yourself that represent the only hope for judaism and for some sort of sane and balanced settlement in israel/occupied palestine.

i hope you are well. i know you will persevere. god bless and every success.

yours

salahuddin cummins ( a scottish convert to islam...saddened by the misery prosecuted in the name of religion!)



From: robertapt[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Die Finkelstein-debatte . Petra Steinberger. Piper Verlag Munich 2001
Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2006 21:29:12 +0000

I read the book mentionned above (in German) and would like to tell you that you have no right to talk about the Holocaust. You claim to protect the memory of your parents. I do not believe you. You are only after provocation with little understanding and little feelings. You represent only yourself. Nobody will ever follow your thoughts which are so absurd, except may be for some fanatics somewhere. You are not carrying information ("Der Bote ist der Schuldige"), you twist it, color it & transform it. I am shocked and reject your unacceptable words on the subject.

Sincerely
Robert Apter



From: gzentelis[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: your presence on the internet
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2006 21:23:42 -0500

Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I have come to depend upon your website as a llama depends on the Andes, and I wish to express my hearfelt thanks to your rare integrity, humanity, and joyful intelligence in the midst of an incorporated world where the sun and the stars are, insanely, of secondary worth.

respectfully,
gk zentelis



To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: The new anti-semitism or paranoid schizophrenia?
Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 11:13:27 -0800 (PST)

Dear Professor Finkelstein,

After finishing up on "Beyond Chutzpah", I was able to get a copy of Phyllis Chesler's book and had a look inside myself. What you had written about her and other Israel apologists piqued my interest since some of the statements were just so down-right absurd that I had to go have a look myself.

Well, I certainly wasn't disappointed. As I continued reading, many of the statements started to remind me of something I had read years ago under completely different circumstances.

Some of the hallmarks of paranoid schizophrenia according to the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders - Fourth Edition, American Psychiatric Association) include:

- Confusion

- Inability to make decisions

- Hallucinations

- Changes in eating or sleeping habits, energy level, or weight

- Delusions

- Nervousness

- Strange statements or behavior

- Withdrawal from friends, work, or school

- Neglect of personal hygiene

- Anger

- Indifference to the opinions of others

- A tendency to argue

- A conviction that you are better than others, or that people are out to get you.

- delusions of persecution, reference, exalted birth, special mission, bodily change, or jealousy;

- hallucinatory voices that threaten the patient or give commands, or auditory hallucinations without verbal form, such as whistling, humming, or laughing;

- hallucinations of smell or taste, or of sexual or other bodily sensations; visual hallucinations may occur but are rarely predominant.

Hmmm...I wonder to whom portions (if not all) of the above applies to?? Phyllis Chesler perhaps? Gabriel Schoenfeld? Alan Dershowitz? Steven Plaut? Martin Peretz? Ruth Wisse? Oliver Kamm? Barbara Amiel? I'm sure you could add to this list ad infinitum...

I somehow can't shake the feeling that some of these writers and so-called thinkers actually *want* to see a return of rampant anti-Semitism because it then somehow justifies and validates their own darkest suspicions about certain segments of humanity.

Judging from some of the quotes which you've included in "Beyond Chutzpah" it would seem that the reality of the situation calls for the lot of them being placed into several years worth of intensive psycho-therapy (and even then, I'm still not sure they can be re-wired or deprogrammed) because those dark suspicions they carry about "the blood-thirsty Arabs", "the barbaric Muslims", "the uncivilized Palestinians" are in actuality direct reflections and projections of certain aspects of themselves and of how they see or more precisely, how they want to see the world around them. Rather than accepting the reality of the world out there as it is (i.e that there is no new anti-Semitism to speak of in Europe according to surveys and the like) this gang seems to want to bend reality and the facts to suit their own worldview. Add to this the benefit of lucrative finincial publishing deals or powerful, influential positions of authority and you've got one really heady and toxic mix.

What do you think? Should we start a mental health benefit drive for them or should the men in the white jackets simply be called in?

Best to you,
BA



Professor Finkelstein,

I had been wanting to write to you for a while regarding the interview series that was done with your mother. It was about two months ago that I first listened to the interview series that was done with your mother. Since then I have periodically returned to it a number of times, listening to different excerpts. Each time I listen I get something new and insightful out of it. One thing I particularly identified with as a Palestinian, is the amount of disgust she had with the collaborators and scoundrels. There is a tremendous amount of hatred that one has toward their direct tormentors, but there is something even greater, even more deep that you feel about those who collaborate with your tormentor, especially when you feel that there is something greater at risk than your own life. It is not the feeling of betrayal either, because betrayal implies that there is a sense of surprise to it. Rather, I think Maryla nailed it by linking it to the feeling of total despair that one has towards the species as a whole. Where you really internalize the idea that if things continue as is, we are not going to save the species from itself. I deeply feel that and identify with it everyday.

zaid



Mr Finkelstein,

Up until yesterday i had never heard the name 'Norman Finkelstein'.

I was just browsing through YouTube, when i came accross your name.... I had searched under the title 'Israel Lobby'. This first video i chose to see was the one titled 'Finkelstein VS Dershowitz'.

I hadnt laughed that much in ages. You may be wondering why i laughed? I have never seen a man totally destroy another just by the truth. I think my laugh was actually covering the great burden thats borne by every Muslim on the planet, the Palestinain conflict. I dont think there is a Muslim or any truth seeker on the globe that is not constantly trying to pull this thorn out of there minds. Nor will there be any respite until Justice is done.

I watched you... I watched you patiently and honourably wait your turn to slice up his book, with total amazement. This was a perfect example of how people try to hide the truth, but as we know the truth always rises to the top, it can only be supressed for so long.

Then i felt regret. I felt regret because i thought to myself that i should have known of you sooner so that i could have learnt more about your honest ideas and books on the conflict. But better late than never.

As you only know too well that honesty comes at a price, and its a price you have been only too willing to pay. We both have a common value, your job of finding the truth and writing, talking and teaching about it, and me looking and searching for the truth.

Its the truth that has brought me to you............



Dear Norman

The article posted on your web site The beverly Hillbillies Aid Mission to Israel would have been hilarious had it not been so pathetic.They should have been called

evangelical protestants since I do not think most evangelical catholics are on this boat. I am a transplant from NY and now live in the rural south and this mentality is rampant here which is quite liberal and dangerous. Liberal in the sense that I do not find these people the least bit conservative when they promote the indiscriminate killing of arabs thinking that they are all muslims when in fact many arab christians are suffering as a result of this evangelical protestant philosophy.

The real issue in Israel is not religion but LAND and it is difficult for these people as well as the Limbaugh's;Hannity's;Bennetts to grasp this since they would have to radically alter their positions and give up being self-righteous.

The first time my wife and I traveled to Israel 12 years ago we had this same perspective. I returned april of 2006 and stayed in a convent seeking the truth about this crisis and I was lead to some eye-opening research.

These people need to read Bishop Chacour's Blood Brother's;Arthur Koestler's Thirteenth Tribe;Colin Chapman's Whose Promised Land? and David Hursts The Gun and the Olive Branch to gain an understanding that it is biblical and historical nonsense to believe that this army with a country called Israel has no nexus whatsoever biblically nor historically to the Israelites of the Bible.

This hate philosophy is pretty much what is being presented in most of these evangelical protestant pulpits on sunday morning and has led to the slaughter of many innocent people including christians.This philosophy has nothing to do with the four Gospels of Christ but the fifth gospel which is that of these so-called christians who disregard Matthew;Mark;Luke and John.

Thank you
Dennis



Norman,

You have the greatest physical blessing a man can have--you have nuts of steel.

I'm sure you get plenty of support, and I'm sure you probably don't even need it, but don't give the bastards a fraction. The only thing you should allow them, is that if they want to kneel down and see what it's like to lick nuts of steel, they may do so.

michael



From: Robert Strauss robert17thst[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: refugees
Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 23:56:02 -0800 (PST)

Dear Professor Finkelstein,

With years of discussion and writing about the Palestian refugees, have you ever commented on their counterparts, Jewish refugees forced out of Arab countries. I don't recall criticism of those countries, and certainly no sympathy for their victims. Thought a little reminder might be in order:

Discriminatory and Differential International Response to the Plight of Former Jewish Refugees

The response of the international community to assist Palestinian refugees arising out of the Arab-Israeli conflict was immediate and extensive. There was no concomitant United Nations’ response, nor any comparable international action, to alleviate the plight of Jews fleeing from Arab countries.

Both Palestinian and Jewish refugees were determined to be bona fide refugees under international law, albeit each according to different internationally accepted definitions and statutes – the former covered by UNRWA and the latter by the UNHCR.

As far as the response of the United Nations is concerned, the similarity ends there. The contrasts are stark:

a) Since 1947, there have been over 681 UN General Assembly resolutions dealing with virtually every aspect of the Middle East and the Arab Israeli conflict.

b) Fully 101 of these UN resolutions refer directly and specifically to the ‘plight’ of Palestinian refugees.

c) In none of these 681 UN resolutions on the Middle East is there a specific reference to, nor any expression of concern for, the 856,000 Jews living in, or having been displaced from, Arab countries.

d) Numerous UN agencies and organizations were involved in a variety of efforts, or others were specifically created, to provide protection, relief, and assistance to Palestinian refugees. No such attention or relief was forthcoming from these UN agencies for the Jewish refugees.

e) Since 1948, billions of dollars have been spent by the international community - by the UN, its affiliated entities and member states - to provide help to Palestinian refugees. No such corresponding international concern or financial support was ever directed to ameliorate the plight of Jewish refugees.

Maybe you should cover this in your speeches. As a responsible academic figure, let alone Jewish one, a little balance might be appropriate. And while your'e discussing it, you might also query your audiences on why all the Arab countries have refused their "brethren" while Israel absorbed everyone. (I think Black September killed more Palestians with intentionsl malice than the Israelis have altogether. And you might remind everyone that Israel is the only country in history to accept black Africans for the purpose of assistance instead of for that of persecution. Now there's an historical fact few think about.

And a closing thought. Next time you and Amy have one of your congenial discussions on "Democracy(sort of) Now," why is it that she it unremittingly blisteringly critical of the one country in the Middle East that treats members of all religions, women, homosexuals, etc., as well as western states, while every single Islamic state persecutes all of these groups. Does this ever bother Ms. Goodman, or you, for that matter? Please ask her, for the benefit of the audience. Maybe some of your website readers will have answers if you post this letter.

Plenty of intellectual dishonesty and lack of integrity here. Maybe some of your website readers will have answers when you post this letter (please do).

Robert from Manhattan



From: donohuej4[at]earthlink.net
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Rutgers
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 06:01:24 -0500 (GMT-05:00)

Hello Dr. Finklestein, I recently attended an event at Rutgers where you were the keynote speaker. When you were concluding your speech you talked a little about Dershowitz and the claims he made about your mother. I felt bad for you and saw the pain in your face. I don't know where you find the strength to continue your quest for truth, but thank God for people like you. Stay strong, Jim Donohue



From: Phile37[at]aol.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: (no subject)
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:50:14 EST

Dr. Finkelstein, I am an older gentleman who has been active in protest movements since the 60's. I have followed your public career for so many years since your Brooklyn College days. Of all the hot button issues, the Palestinian/Israeli situation was one where few "progressives" would tread. Seeing and hearing you speak out about the injustices being done to the Palestinian people was and is a breath of fresh air. That you continue to speak out and bring truth to your audiences while undergoing the outrageous attacks of the Zionists and its thugs is most admirable. The "lobby" does not forgive. I can only imagine that these attacks on your character and reputation must give you pause. But at a recent event at Rutgers University you stated you will not be silenced. Carry on sir, you are admired and respected throughout the States and world where your words have allowed people to truly understand the situation in the middle east. You, and a few others, have been able to open up discussion on this terribly important part of the world against the vast propaganda machine that has perpetuated the image of Israeli victimization. And you have also shown the the role of the US in its sinister designs. The Dershowitz's of the world cannot silence you. Thank God. A friend from Brooklyn, Philip Eways.



From: Nicholas nicholaslondon[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Disgrace
Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 19:18:13 +0000

Hi there

All I have to say is that whilst reading your work throughly I find it an absolute disgrace the way you make up and exploit lies. We as the Jewish Nation, a light unto the nations, persue truth unlike most Arabs and other nations of the world. You being a Jew (obviously ex-communicated by now, thank G-d) are pathetic because your works are based on misinformation and ignoring Arab terrorists who blow their babies and children up and use them as human shield.

The time will come in Olam Hazeh v'Olam Ha'ba where you will pay the ultimate price. Let's see if you have the courage to reply because a pathetic humans like you generally are cowards.

Yours sincerely

Nicholas



Mr Finkelstein,

I have in recent time taken to studying an era of history I was previously unfamiliar with. I should say, first of all, I am not an academic in any sense. Only someone who enjoys reading about history and politics. For me, the Israel/Palestine conflict was something that had happened in the shadow of the cold war, not of any great concern to a North American. As events of last few years have circled around 'terrorism', culminating recently in the Israel/Lebanon conflict of this past summer, my attention became drawn closely to the region of Palestine.

What became most obvious when I first engaged others on the subject is how emotionally people charge their opinions. I try to be objective, as hard as that is sometimes. But I make no apology. I am, and always have been to some degree, a member of the (far) Left. For me the concept "objectivity" implies a certain emotional and ideological detachment from the subject. What really bothers me about the subject of Israel/Palestine, though it generalizes, it is most clear in this case, is how easily people confound fact with opinion and criticism with defamation.

And for this I have to thank you. When I first watched one of your lecture videos, I wasn't sure what to expect (the assail of your detractors precede you) but given even a cursory search into your statements, it becomes immediately obvious that you are none of the characterizations I had heard about. I thought at first the allegations were consciously falsified, however, having read many of the emails you receive, I reconsider. For example, in the case of Dershowitz' comments against your mother: is he cognizant of the error, or does he truly suffer from some crippling comprehension disorder? Much of the hate mail you receive, I think, falls to the same speculation. I can't deny that many of them are familiar enough with your work, but I'm aghast at the complete misunderstanding they show. One would think they would analyze the argument, and if it conflict with their point of view, locate the deviation in the two opinions, reflect on the differences, come to a rational conclusion. The vast majority of criticism seems to presume your reasons for dissent, rather than understand that point of view. Examples are numerous, and you are more familiar with them than I, so I'll leave the evidence to your own thought.

At the risk of running long I do think its interesting to speculate from where these attitudes emerge. There is a parallel, as I'm sure you have noticed, concerning the conflation of political criticism with Israel and antisemitism, and the criticism of American policy with anti-Americanism. I even recently heard that Chomsky's Turkish publishers were facing persecution for the crime of "insulting Turkishness" in affirming the Armenian genocide. It is amazing to me that people so readily equate the actions of a small clique within the society to the quality of the culture that embodies that society. The error in judgment this requires is just staggering. Yet I fear it has become a pervasive attitude among citizens of the West, and I see it too when I read opinions about the Mid-East 'crisis'. I risk here fronting an unpopular point of view, I say: it seems Israel is more rather than less prone to this error. I say more so because in the case of Israel (as ironically too in the case of Nazi Germany) there is also the equation of ethnic identity with nationality. This I think is the chief difference between the so-called anti-Americanism and the New Antisemitism. American culture is not an ethnic identity, but Israel, it is no secret, is a Jewish State. In this way political criticism is not only conflated with insulting the citizenry, but for Jews who identify with Israel as a part of Jewish ethnicity, criticism would seem to them an accost of Jewish identity. From that perspective it would be antisemitism. However, if we have to be objective, then we can't let our personal feelings toward the State impinge our judgment, regardless how much our identity is bound up in that symbol of Jewish culture. If we're objective it immediately becomes clear that for a nation to have affinity for an ethnic group, being in its national identity, this is necessarily ethnocentrism, which is racism. One cannot have affinity for one thing without necessarily diminishing value of others in the same category.

This is my opinion having studied the topic for no great length of time. I would be curious to hear your own reflections on that opinion. I would also like to say, personally, from me to you, that I have admiration for what you do. It is not easy advocating such an extremely unpopular stand on such a controversial subject. That you manage to suffer the blows of academia and the insults of lesser minds everyday and keep on with the struggle is an act of intellectual heroism. If you ever return to Calgary I want to take you out for beers.



Dr Finkelstein,

I am a 4th-year university student in southwestern Ontario and I must say that it has been refreshing to find a critical voice as courageous as yours in recent days. I picked up your book "The Holocaust Industry" on a recent trip to a conference in the USA; up until now I have not had the opportunity to read any of your works. I must say that it has taken me a few weeks to work up the courage to read it, however something happened (and I hope it happens to many more people out there) that made me think that I should finally pick it up and read it cover to cover.

In recent years at the University of Western Ontario (UWO) students have found that their university’s student council has displayed a very particular… shall we say, reluctance to speak about issues that concern Palestine, or indeed any discussion of Israeli foreign policy at all. In a final straw, the Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) chapter at UWO, after holding a legal protest on university property, was de-ratified (denied official sanction) for a total of two years. Their protest, which featured a "mock [apartheid] wall" of brown paper with some statistics written on it, was investigated by the local police and declared NOT to be a hate crime. The protest was cleared by the university student council (USC); otherwise it would not have taken place. (Perhaps not surprisingly, this support was withdrawn after an outcry from the Israeli Action Committee on campus, who has members on the USC executive. All conjecture, of course.)

Still, under auspices that completely elude me to this day (though one can conjure any number of conspiracy theories) the appeals to have the club’s official status explained (never mind returned!) have gone unrecognized. Confidentiality agreements, a condition in order that an appeal would be held, went unsigned. One can only suspect that they would have hidden the complete white-washing of any fair adjudication of the denial of official status to SPHR-UWO. So, no appeal for its reinstatement was heard. This is the only group on campus designated with the specific mandate of speaking about the Palestinian situation. However, other groups have faced resistance in speaking politically on the matter. In fact, the overall climate on campus has become one of suspicion and censure.

I offer this context as the backdrop to a silent protest held on-campus on 6 November 2006. A legal protest, it was specifically directed not to support Palestine or the reinstating of SPHR in any way, shape or form. The organizers framed it as a general critique of university administration (supposedly, the people that we students elect to represent and respect our political views) and was generally watered down into some vague message about the freedom to speak and debate on the university campus. Of course, I was not surprised that, upon participation, I received a message from a Jewish acquaintance: "I heard there was some sort of Palestinian rally on campus today, what was that about?" In fact, no, we were trying to make a point—that certain groups were allowed to speak on campus, and that others with urgent, important views were not.

What was surprising was the vehemence and rudeness with which such a protest was received. Not only was the protest meant to be silent, in a symbolic gesture of solidarity all protesters were encouraged to wear black and also to wear a piece of duct tape over their mouths. What was disturbing was the fact that our fellow students –some recognizable as being active with various pro-Israel or other Jewish groups on campus – took this opportunity to come up to us and pose for photographs. Certainly, an auspicious use of time—how effectively these brave defenders of Israel and Judaism stand against the clearly (clearly??) threatening, SILENT protesters who warrant deliberate baiting and mockery! At one point, when I’d removed the tape from my mouth to remark on the fact that they were making things into a spectacle, I was informed that I ought to re-cover my mouth for I had "nothing worthwhile to say anyway."

So this is the extent of debate on the Israel-Palestine conflict on many Canadian campuses. In other instances members of the IDF have come onto other university campuses and similar attempts to protest the IDF’s clear responsibility for egregious human rights abuses are told that they, too, have nothing worthwhile to say. Well, if it was the Jewish people suffering under years of occupation, and if it was Israel that was being partitioned off against their ancestral farms and sources of water, and if it was Israeli children who were being killed by unexploded armaments deliberately fired onto the civilian population, most certainly a different tune would be whistled around campus. But God forbid that as a Gentile, and as a Christian, and as a Chinese woman, I could say these things and be anything other than anti-Semetic. How could I be anything else, right? It makes my head spin.

I end this letter saying that I hope, with a most fervent hope, that it is Jews who speak most strongly and vocally against the depravity of treating the Holocaust as a carte blanche justification for all sorts of horrendous things. In the sense that as Christians we have a history of "killing in the name of God", I can only hope that history will not show that Jews and Israel have been guilty of "killing in the name of the Holocaust." Thank you again for publishing such an interesting volume.

Regards,



From: ilikelosjeans[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Zionist update from the Mountains
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2006 19:46:07 -0800 (PST)

Dr. Finkelstein,

Hey, I emailed you a while back just giving you some praise, but I actually have a point to the message I'm sending you now.

Virginia Foxx, our Congressman here in Watauga County came to Appalachian State to talk about Israel with a Zionist professor here. Dr. Finkelstein, you have no idea what kind of crap was coming out of their mouths.

They skewed numbers, said that Israel was a good example for the middle east in the realms of democracy and HUMAN RIGHTS. Foxx even said something to the effect that the Israeli side of Jarusalem was nice and the Palestinian side was disgusting without citing much of a reason, which sounded pure racism.

Then the QnA portion came in. Sir, you wouldn't believe how they dipped, dodged, and deflected questions. It was very similar to how Dershowitz dodged questions and stats that you dropped on him in your debate on Democracy Now. They would justify Israel's terrorism saying that it was a anti-terrorist measure. Seems kind of hypocritical, but not to the Congresswoman.

Sorry for the long message, I know you're a busy man, but I thought you might be interested to hear how the Zionism has spread even out to the sticks like where we are.

Take care,
Jackson Cooke
Appalachian State University
Boone, North Carolina



From: wjferrari[at]comcast.net
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: The Holocaust Industry
Date: Tue, 07 Nov 2006 15:16:58 +0000

Professor Finkelstein

I have just finished reading The Holocaust Industry and must congratulate you on a very important contribution to public understanding of a controversial series of issues. I know from reading a selection of the letters you have posted on your website that your commitment to truth and clarity has resulted in very unfair and pungent criticisms which are often based on lies. It is a lesson in the price to be paid for real scholarship.

A case in point is the ridiculous letter from a Dr Larry Rubinski which is posted on your website. The good doctor does not indicate the area of his "expertise", but he manages to be patronising and vitriolic while uttering a series of allegations without indicating any foundation whatsoever. Perhaps Rubinski is a professor of classical fallacies, since his usage of ad hominem assertions is really impressive.

It is beyond the call of duty for you to publish such inane assaults. Reading Rubinski's letter is like wearing a hair shirt for any intelligent reader. He says he is trying to be fair while suggesting and then retracting his psychological assessments of your parents for goodness sakes. It puts one in mind of the good Dr. Frist who diagnosed Terry Schiavo's condition on the basis of a four year old video.Pure idiocy.

Rubinski says that you have forsaken your people. I think he has joined the zionist vigilantes. There are millions more like you who are Jews who are less interested in being separate from everybody else and more interested in common humanity and truth.

There is no doubt that you deserve to be granted tenure and that the Rubinskis of this world(the vigilantes) will always oppose a truly independent and principled mind. It is actually a badge of honor for you.

Bill Ferrari



Hi Mr Finkelstein.

I hope you are well sir. I still visit your site almost every day....although I like to read the letters page, I cringe at some of the appalling mail you get...I suppose the website team puts it up to show all the different types of mail you get - the good, the bad and the ugly....

Sir may I make a comment on some types of mail you get that in my opinion the team shouldn't put up as it's so disrespectful...it's those regarding your late, honourable mom...sir, some of the mail you get about your beautiful mom are disgusting and if I feel sick then I can only imagine what that must do to you....do those really have to go up...I like to read everything on your website as I find it beneficial and because I hold everything you say in high esteem but I feel sad that the website team have to put that up to show what kind of disgusting mail you get...can they not leave the disgusting, dirty ones about your mom and family aside as I think it's demeaning and insulting to you...

anyway, just thought I'd share that with you...I hope you and your family are all well and that everything is okay with you...

Take care sir.



Hello Dr Finkelstein, I just wanted to commend you on your on going task of raising awareness on the reality of the palestine issue.I have read image and reality,holocaust industry and beyond chutzpah all three are essential reading, I almost force friends to read them,they need to be read.

It is amazing how your detractors email letters with abuse instead of any constructive criticism or any attempt to explain their point of view.This obviously shows that this is a most grossly unfair conflict with very clear victims and perpetrators .



Dear Dr. Finkelstein

I had the priviledge of attending your talk on Israeli-Palestinian relations at the Joan of Arc church on unday. Aside from the loud group sitting behind me that kept yelling questions, then laughing as you were tryig to respond, I was pleased with your lecture.

I thought I would write you for two reasns: 1) there is a sheer shortage in the amount of people who argue using facts these days 2) there is a loud nzi inspired lie big and talk louder crowd that work tirelessly to drown out the former. Additionally, I thought yo ought to hear from a woman, and at that a young one, to know that this generation isn't all but lost to hering the whisper that is the truth.

I grew up in between a military base, an Indian reservation, a small town and agriculture out in the open prairie. I am part Mexican, part Native American, part Jewish, Castiian Spanish and a hodge podge of white. Being in the middle both ethnically and geographically, I got a sence of the politics and mindset towards merican Indians early on. There is a myth in my hometown that somehow the Federal and State governments ave settled their debts with all the tribes, and every Native American born gets a sizeable government check very month and money for college that comes out of the groaning hard work of all the famers and loyal axpayers. This is, of course, what serves to feed an attitude of "stop whining" whenever a voice is raised for tribal sovereignty. Native Americans, occupying such a small percentage of the population, have little chance to refute these myths that they are somehow now being made rich and drinking all that money away.

I could go on about this issue, but my point is mainly that the lie is louder than the truth, it is emotional, and appeals to many because it relinquishes the guilt and responsability that they might feel accepting the truth. This attitude I see often in many "controversial" political issues made such simply because emotion is tied in with the argument, albeit intentionally.

I found it so fitting that you made such a stunning comparison with the treatment of American Indians by the American government, and Palistinians with the Israeli regime. Like our colonial forefathers being branded by King George so too Jews these days are black listed for disagreeing with the politics of a goverment that happens to be Jewish (Israel), and, in a twist of irony, so too are Americans being protested as anti-American for their criticisms of our goverment at large. I could make a very long additional comparison with the politics of Germany during the gestapo era, but I feel already this e-mail is getting rather long.

After the lecture and question and answer period I asked you a question that I honestly wanted to ask during the question and answer period, but was unfortunately thwarted by the group sitting behind me that stood up and took over the floor for the remainder of the night. I did video record the question and answer, as I wanted people to hear what you had to say, because I felt it important. The clip can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAUUkc-tbF8

In the small populace of hearing individuals who can filter out the bullshit propaganda and actually hear the facts, there is a growing number of apathetics, because in the honesty that comes from hearing the truth, one can't help but see the lonely spread of ocean and air that spans the distance between that place and the rest of the world. A person can't help but realize the smallness s/he has then. In that whisper, a person's heart sinks feeling no amount of toil that can be wrought by human hands can ever make a difference. Hoplessness sets in only to welcome apathy.

I feel in a generation that has been all but disenfranchised by mass media, political agenda, and greed, there is a growing need for encouragement. What you said about miracles was damn near perfect, and I didn't get a chance to thank you. So thank your Dr. Finkelstein. I am much obliged.

Sincerely,

E. A.



From: Doug Henning doughenning19[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Hi Norm
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 00:33:40 -0500

You are an enemy to the Jewish people. Probably one of the biggest in the world at this point. Which is why the neo-nazi and islamic radicals love you so dearly.

Please get cancer and rot to death.



Dear Mr. Finkelstein,

Sometimes you post mails with disgusting things about your mother, like the one from Zig Ziglar, dated 1. November. Why do you do that? Shouldn't you spare your mother that disgrace? I have four sons my self, and I would have disapprouved it strongly ifone them even considered posting such things about me on the internet.

Helene

Finkelstein responds:

This is the second email I have received in recent days stating I should not post letters disgracing my late mother. Although having initially adopted a policy of no censorship, I have become convinced that an exception must be made in this case. No emails making negative references to my late mother will henceforth be posted.



From: Larry Rubinsky drlarry77401[at]yahoo.com
To: normang[at]hotmail.com
Subject: a different perspective
Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2006 20:39:57 -0800 (PST)

Dear Mr. Finkelstein,

Getting the volume of letters that you do, you likely prefer something that offers a little different perspective on your writings, speeches, and selected article comments. I do hope you'll post this with your website letters.

There is a fairly well-known, true story about Alfred Nobel. In 1888 he encounted a premature obituary of himself in French newspaper. "Le marchand de la mort est mort ("The merchant of death is dead") it proclaimed, and went on to say, "Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday." As a result he had the very rare opportunity to preview his recognized legacy in the world--and proceeded in his remaining years to very much alter it by endowing the Nobel Prize.

Although you're still pretty young and do not read French newspapers, I would say that you are the ideal candidate to reassess your contribution to the world and to try to alter what your legacy would be. At the moment it could hardly be worse. To the world at large--at least those who know of you and even care enough at all (probably not a large population)--you would be recognized an otherwise insignificant university professor who exploits his being Jewish and his being a survivors' son to blast Israel under the guise of concern about the "oppressed and occupied Palestinan people," and who relishes belitting of the suffering of all Holocaust dead and surviving other than those of his own family . What is notable is that this is not just an campaign of his--it has really become his raison d'ete. What is further notable is that while claiming to be only anti-Israel, not anti-semitic, his articles, speeches, and those adolescent, mindless, and contemptous little comments he appends to his carefully selected website articles show him in profound opposition to every Jewish person, group, or concept that he addresses. Furthermore, his tenacious and nauseating attempts to link his own people to the people to the organizations of German National Socialism leaves any clearheaded, objective, reader with the unmistakable impression that this is a man of some real psychopatholgy, seemingly from some bitterness in his home as a child (that's only speculation, but in one of his speeches he did allude to domestic argumentitiveness, though under a thin cover of humor).

Now, Mr. Finkelstein: you are no doubt comforted by the fact that at least you will be remembered well by all those enthusiastic crowds at your university speech venues, by the fair-minded, unbiased listeners of unbiased Amy's "Democracy Now," and by the multitudes who buy and read your (critically acclaimed, NY Times best-selling ) books. But I don't think you should count on that. Historically, Jews who turned on their people or, in by modern parallel, turn on Israel, are neither beloved, respected, nor remembered by the Jew-haters by whom they were exploited and later contemptously discarded. Although you attempt to be what Mr. Churchill (Winston, not Ward) described as someone who feeds the alligators to avoid being eaten yourself, there will be, in the long run, no benefit. Jewish history is strewn with Norman Finkelsteins, many smarter and more historically significant, but all, in the end reviled by their own people and either reviled or utterly forgotten by non-Jewish history. Will there be students for whom your legacy will be important? Well, I don't know that, but you haven't been acceptable enough to remain on one campus long enough to win those coveted prizes of decades of beloved students. And of course, I have no way of knowing your legacy to your family, but somehow I just don't detect much warmth or compassion and certainly no Jewish meaning in your written or oral demeanor. But--okay, it's not fair to try to evaluate that. Just a guess.

On the other hand, your're still young, Mr. Finkelstein. Hopefully, you will not get your tenure at DePaul (it would be utterly inexplicable if you were awarded that), and without that single platform to separate you from the countless other haters of Israel and the Jewish people, you will have quiet time to try to evaluate your outlook on the world and on life. Most of all, perhaps you will realize that with the loss of almost all your family in mid-twentieth century Europe, you are about the only remnant of a very large family. Maybe you can learn a little more about Judaism and regain some compass to your life. And bring a little merit to the souls of your parents and perished family members.) It would certainly be good for you to learn the lesson that Alfred Nobel did--without having to seen an obituary.

Dr. Larry Rubinsky



From: stevestenslie[at]stevestenslie.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Your appearance tonight at St. Joan of Arc
Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2006 23:27:17 -0600

Dear Dr. Finkelstein:

Thanks so much for your speech tonight at St. Joan of Arc and for signing my copy of The Holocaust Industry. I can now cross one of the "things to do before I die" off my list - "shake hands with Norman Finkelstein." I should get working on crossing off the task of shaking's Noam Chomsky's hand - he's getting up there in years.

I would have loved to have asked you this question at St. Joan of Arc, but there were people waiting for you, and I like to think of myself as a considerate guy, so I'll ask you via email and let you answer it at your leisure, if you would be so kind: What are the philosophical roots of Israel's apologists as regards the Palestinian issue? I understand the Holocaust Uniqueness argument, but I'm trying to dig a bit deeper than that. I am thinking here of Leo Strauss and the philosophical roots of neoconservatism. Is there a philosophical anologue for Irsrael's policies regarding the Palestinians? Other than simply making things up (Joan Peters, Alan Dershowitz, et al), I'm not seeing any underlying framework. Any ideas?

I truly appreciate your pursuit of the truth. I say this as a former conservative who drank the Neocon Kool-Aid and asked for seconds. You, Chomsky and Zinn, completely by a fortunate accident, removed the scales from my eyes. To save you time, you have my permission to post this email on your website if you choose to do so.

Steve Stenslie



Dear Norman. I check in to your site daily, and I do respect your sometimes raw honesty and your provocativeness --

Yes, I enjoy your provocativeness -- I feel it's sometimes necessary to wake people up to reality, to see events as they are in their bloody realism, and not seen through the manipulative prism of the mainstream media. This often requires a direct pugnacity, an open laying down of the gauntlet.

To me then, this is a kind of (justifiably) "intellectually violent" challenge that you are making in your work -- In my view, this is almost like a strategy that was common in the full force performance art of the 60's and 70's -- That may surprise you, or even strike you as a pretentious, shallow, vain comparison, but it is a comparison I feel is a relevant analogy in your case. Both your work and performance art typically shocked people into opening their eyes to the unpleasant, and sought a transformation from that point of provocation.

However --

Much as I do respect your support of the Palestinian cause -- and here I must say I agree with your take on events to a very high degree -- I can't help but feel that whilst you champion the Palestinian cause -- the problem lies deeper, and that there is a fundamental desire in humans to rape, murder, and to conquer, and to lay waste, to seek fame and reputation, however petty, squalid and small.

It may sound like naive high school angst musings on my part -- but it never ceases to amaze and depress me how frequently throughout history humans have taken pleasure in the mass slaughter of their fellows, be they Xtian, Jew, Atheist, Capitalist, Communist, Anarchist or fascist.

By this I mean -- The Palestinians are the aggrieved party here. There is little question here in my mind in this regard -- they have been wronged, and I see very little ground for defence of Israel, from its inception until now.

But given the fundamental violent inclination of humans -- I can only instinctively predict ( judging also from the wider historical record of human and state behaviour worldwide under diverse ideologies ) that when the Palestinians rightfully reclaim their land ( as I pray they do ) -- that it will only be a matter of time before we read of false imprisonments, torture, religious and social repression, civilian murder at the hands of the state and so on -- but this time, all carried out by Palestinian Xtians and Muslims.

Very depressing. I will be honest; I have very little faith that humans living under ANY ideology can change this apparently insatiable part of their personality. History doesn't show much optimistic evidence does it?



From: atahindi[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Rutgers Presentation
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 23:29:44 -0800 (PST)

Hello, Dr. Finkelstein, my name is Ata Hindi and I just wanted to thank you on such an appropriate, flawless, and wonderfully constructed lecture at Rutgers Monday night. It was absolutely awakening. I am a Rutgers student, just having finished my Political Science coursework for my Bachelor's degree and throughout my time in the university, I have always referred to your work. Though I have not completely finished reading your books, I have read a few of your pieces and watched the many debates you have had on video. My favorite is where you find Dershowitz guilty of quoting a high school website on Democracy Now! I was first exposed to your name by reading Blaming the Victims by Edward Said, and seeing your great scholarship in discovering the Joan Peters Hoax. I am still amazed as to how you discredited her, yet you still deal with men and women who still praise that book. My Contemporary American Foreign Policy professor recommended that fraud of a scholarly work to me and the first thing I told him was to read your work and how you exposed her lie. I am a member of the Palestinian Organization @ Rutgers Newark as well and I hope one day, perhaps in the coming semester, we may be able to bring you to speak at Newark as well. I was raised for half of my life in a poor village in the West Bank, coming back here to go to college, and being in America has exposed me to great literature and writers such as yourself and the works of the New Historians, which many people will not hear about here. I am greatly passionate about the Palestinian cause, giving how I have lived it, and ashamed of the great men who spoke for us, then became victims of their own greed. If you are ever doing research around these areas and are in need of an assistant in any way, I would be more than happy to help in any way possible given my extreme respect for your research tactics and academic integrity. Again, Dr. Finkelstein, thank you once again for enlightening me.



NEW reader letter, re: "Should decent people subscribe to The Progressive?"



From: Zig Ziglar zigzigtash[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: my dream
Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 16:35:19 -0800 (PST)

Hey Schmuck:

I saw a dream the other night: your nazi helper mama was giving a blowjob to Yasser Arafat and Nasrallah. Boy, she is a pro! You should be proud of her.



----Alkuperäinen viesti----
LÃhettÃjÃ: paso.leati[at]reppu.net
PÃivÃmÃÃrÃ: 26.10.2006 4:47
Vastaanottaja: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Aihe: your books

Sir, I've read your book Holocaust Industry and found it essential reading. While I am a Gentile and ardent pro-Israel (for reasons I can tell you if you wish) supporter, meaning that I disagree on the Palestinian issue, your book's view on the industry exploiting the holocaust is spot on for we Finns have suffered from them as well. I sincerely hope that the holocaust could be deprived of its exploitation and be discussed like any other historical event.

If that happened, I believe we would witness a drastic reduction in anti- Semitism in the world.

Yours,

Jukka Juutinen
Finland



From: "Isaac Essebag" isaacessebag[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Gimme a Break Doctorb (not a spelling mistake)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006 16:06:53 -0400

Mr.Finkelstein,

I'm glad my initial e-mail was noteworthy enough to make it to the top of your list.. However, unlike you, I don't propagate hate, and would like it to be removed. I've learned everything I need to about you, and am extremely happy with what I found (same with Noam Chomsky). See, I'm so disturbed by what's happening in the world that I've dedicated all my free time in the past 6 months researching anti-Israel, and most importantly, anti-Jewish propaganda, literally looking for an excuse not to join the cause in Israel. As a leader in your field of hate, I've learned from you (as well as Noam, AKA puppet master) that leading anti-Israel propagandists are either brainwashed, or have severe emotional problems, so severe that I can't begin to explain my level of shock. You are one of the privileged few that is brainwashed AND has severe emotional problems......WOW! I know what the truth behind all of yours and Noam’s deception.... I just find pathetic that neither of you have the balls to say it (you know what I'm talking about, your opinion of the greater good, ring a bell?) or the balls to join. I have no respect for people who hide behind the very shield they attack. If you had any heart, you’d say what you mean, and live amongst the people you’re trying to protect, so they could protect you in return… what’s the matter, afraid? You should be, because you’d last about as long as a free chili-dog at baseball game. Sorry, I'd just respect you a little more if you were living in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Syria (there's no shortage of places, so you can't use that as an excuse). So what is your excuse??? I hate fast food….maybe I’ll go to McDonalds for dinner…. Good logic, keep on shining. I’m not sending this to probe a response norman (or should I say shanahan), hahaha, it’s strange you guys sound remarkably alike, I can help you with that. I’m not sending this to change your way of thinking (you’re far too over the hill for that; without your bullshit propaganda you’re no better than Joe Shmo giving hand jobs for crack). The reason I’m sending this is to have you remove my original e-mail. I’ll even meet you halfway, you can replace this one with the first one (hahahahahahahaha).

Isaac

P.S. I already know what you’re going to do.
P.P.S. LOL
P.P.P.S. Have you ever had a falafel? LOL

From: altrafton[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: A Certain Issac Essebag
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006 22:21:45 -0700

Profile:
Isaac Essebag.

Profession:
Currently on six-month sabbatical from university position to research anti-Israel propaganda (unemployed, fired from last job as elementary school janitor for crass remarks regarding boyfriend Joe Shmo and stealing tater tots from the cafeteria)

Education:
MA in Rhetoric, PhD in English Literature (room temperature IQ, two semesters of junior college, dropped out to pursue personal passion of independent custodial studies)

Publications:
Two Emails on the Norman Finkelstein Website, one of which he did not want posted, but supplied witty and trenchantly written follow-up, thus smiting Finkelstein, and enrapturing readers. Personal Views on Middle East Conflict:
Is self-described "expert" who only respects critics of Israel who have the testicular fortitude to live in Gaza, Syria, Lebanon or, Iran.

Favorite Words:
"Islamo-fascist" "homicide bomber"

Favorite Books:
"The Middle East for Dummies" and RL Stine's "Goosebumps".

Hero:
Nerdy Jewish guy with whiny voice on Family Guy.

Proudest Moment:
When his email made the TOP of Norman Finkelstein's "letter's to Finkelstein" page. Text messaged everyone he knew on his Cingular 'Go-Phone'. However cried himself to sleep into 'Power Rangers' pillow after he realized the page simply listed most recent letters at the top of the page.

Most Embarrassing Moment:
Caught without pants in the back seat of his Geo Metro with Joe Shmo. His mother had to pick him up from jail.

Recent Revelation:
Decided to give up trying to change the mind of academics, will now focus full time on research on why Israel is the greatest country in the world simply because Jews live there.

Upcoming Publications:
"Colloquial Use of AOL Instant Messenger 'Lingo', The LOL, PS, PPS, PPPS, and Its Application in Academia."

Do these people keep getting dumber or am I simply getting more indignant?

Alex Trafton.





From: "Michael Pinter" mpinter[at]fmm.net
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Israel
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 09:39:15 -0400

What a horrible excuse for a human being you are. You support murderers of innocent women and children and defame their victims. Your complete lack of morality prevents you from seeing the clear difference between the good guys and the bad guys. The entire Israeli conflict can be summarized in two sentences:

If the Arabs put away their weapons, Israel would negotiate with them openly, give the Palestinians a state and leave peacefully.

If the Israelis put away their weapons, every Jewish man, woman & child would be brutally murdered.

If you can’t figure out who is right and who is wrong in this conflict, I feel sorry for you.

Michael Pinter
Vice President
Meridian Residential Capital
2636 Nostrand Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11210
718-906-6132

From: "Ross Vachon" To: mpinte[at]rfmm.net
CC: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: $
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:57:12 -0700

10/24/06

Dear Mr. Pinter,

I'm an independent CPA and investment advisor. Recently, the government of Qatar awarded Professor Norman Finkelstein the sum of $2,000,000.00 "In appreciation of his sincere work to end the Israeli Occupation". He has asked me to solicit you for investment advice. Apparently, he values your expertise. Please respond at your earliest convenience.

Best,

R.C. Vachon
V & K Ltd., Inc.





From: Joe T freetothink123[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Do you report?
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 08:04:00 -0700 (PDT)

Norm:

A question for you: Do you report to the IRS all the money you get paid under the table by your arab masters for all the lies you spit at Israel and jewish people?

If you are a law abiding person, then you should report all this money.



New reader letters, "Feedback to Mr. Peretz," 10.18.2006



Dear Mr Finkelstein,

I am writing to congratulate you and express my admiration for your work in supporting and spreading the truth regarding the Palestinian issue. I am currently completing my PhD in Organizational Studies in London, UK and I just wanted to take this opportunity to emphasize two points that really concern me as a member of the academic community.

First, it is really astonishing how academics are often willing to disregard or forget the historical facts when it comes to political issues, despite their "rational" approach to their own academic research and irrespective of their discipline. In academia, the only elements that count when trying to solve social problems and advance theory are scientific observation and verification of facts. I recently organized events in support of the Lebanese people during the recent Israeli attack on their civilian population & infrastructure and I was amazed to see the shock, surprise and even reluctance of the academic world when it comes to facing the injustice in Palestine and the Middle East.

We are brought up in a society that often pushes intellectuals to become servants of power by imprinting on them the notion that the West is always right and that the information we are exposed to is always correct. Which brings me to the second point regarding the indoctrination of the academics and the economically upper classes in the established truth. Here, "rationality" is lost because our media and politicians always know better.

In both the above cases, your work is an example of what academia should stand for: search for the truth, reveal the truth, fight for the truth based on FACTS and nothing else.

Your bravery is truly spectacular.
All the best,

Konstantinos P.P.



Cher M. Finkelstein,

J'ai eu le privilege d'assister à une de vos conférences à l'université de Yale l'an dernier. Et depuis j'ai envie de vous témoigner mon admiration et mon soutien.

Ce monde à besoin de personnes comme vous, justes, rigoureuses et humanistes.

Des personnes comme vous embellissent ce monde.

Merci
Leila Ait Hmitti - Jamai

PS. Vous avez une maison à Casablanca



From: Boris Gintchanski syberax87[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: You call this research
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 17:22:18 -0700 (PDT)

I have never seen a more one sided presentation of a set of ideas. And you call conservatives one sided. I read the news and history books every day, and it doesnt take a professor to realize that your using completely factual information. I could prove you wrong in no time.. Furthermor I have never seen a more self hating Jew in my life.. If I were ever to meet you and I hope I will ; certainly you will get what u deserve .. Along with your Nazi collaborating Arab friends..Who are fighting to destroy the free wolrd that you so dearly yearn for. God bless america God bless Israel .. Evil never triumphs.



From: buttrey[at]usc.edu
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Tenure
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:30:14 -0700

Greetings Dr. Finkelstein,

I do so hope you receive tenure despite the protestations of the peanut gallery (who seem to have reverted to the same old lies). If there are contacts that I could write to that would somehow help restore the balance, I would be more than willing to do so. I am appalled by just how vicious the personal attacks against you have gotten.

Best regards,

William Buttrey



New reader letters RE: "DePAUL PROFESSOR DEFAMES CATHOLIC EDUCATION: DONOHUE DEFENDS DERSHOWITZ"



New reader letters RE: Steven Plaut -- "Heinz Beans Professor of Zio-Flatulence Studies Lets Loose Another Lethal Emission"



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I appreciate you integrity , and indeed your courage, in posting the crass letters and articles of your adversaries on your website. As an Israeli peace campaigner who resides now in London I , and many of my colleagues, often have to face vile comments by pro-Israeli supporters. We respond to these street-level's insults by sarcastically retorting "your intelligent and high -level debate is most appreciated ". Yet, none of these abuses has ever sunk to the lower depths of the vulgar and dim-witted expletive deletive spouted by Marl .l. Bzik (letter 9 october).

Having lost my grandparents in the Holocaust and witnessed personally the injustice inflicted on the Palestinians by the State of Israel , I fully support your brave stance against the "holocaust industry" and against the misuse of anti-Semitism in defending Israel's intolerable repression of the Palestinians.

You may be re-assured to know that you are not alone and many thousands of Jewish people in Israel and across the world back you quest for just peace for the Palestinian and for a Palestinian statehood

Yours sincerely
R.T.



From: Shara608[at]aol.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Comment
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 01:52:14 EDT

Mr. Finklestein,

I have read a bit of your writings and it has given me some very interesting information. Being a person who is curious about Jewish behavior during the Holocaust, I always wanted to know about Jewish psychology during the Nazi era. In particular, I wondered about collaborators. Were these Jews scared witless because they knew that the ferocious hatred targeting them and everyone they knew and loved would end up in death for them all? Or, in an attempt to escape from reality did they identify with the Germans and make that hatred their own? Did they voluntarily separate themselves from their doomed families so they themselves could live? Might some of them actually turn in other Jews to curry favor with the Nazis? Or maybe they were just people who hated everything about being Jewish, enough to punish other Jews whenever they got the opportunity. I wonder if conversion to another religion would be enough. Evidently not.

I also wondered, if any of them survived, how they would feel today. I wondered if they would be so traumatized and maybe feeling just the smallest amount of guilt that they try to overcome it by rationalizing that the Jews really deserved what they got because of who they were and the horrible things they did to humanity. Maybe they also need to feel that the Jews of today are continuing to harm the world. Well, I think you've answered many of my questions about who these Jews might be today.

S. Cannon

P.S. Where do you think these kinds of Jews would like the new concentration camps to be to finally finish the scourge of Jewish existence? Maybe these kinds of Jews will just have to bide their time until Iran devises a delivery system for its nuclear weapons and destroys Israel. That might be a good start. Of course, these Jews would blame Israel, after all, didn't Jews lie about the Holocaust for their own reasons? Maybe Israel really did bomb the World Trade Center. Maybe they even caused the Katrina hurricaine to destroy Louisiana and the tsunami that wiped out Indonesia and their surrounds. One never knows the true power of "the Jews."



From: Marl L bzik_01[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Your books
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2006 17:52:10 -0700 (PDT)

Hey, shit:

Your worthless "works" should be considered as hate literature and added to the list of forbidden books. Also, I think that the parody named "DePaul "university" should grant you your tenure. This shithole is graded so low among other schools that it really wouldn't matter at all. You, scum, are doomed to rot in DePaul for the rest of your miserable life



Dear Mr. Finkelstein,

In the important times of disillusions, when so many of us are seeking the facts and truths, but the resources are hard to reach.

I admire your wisdom, intelligence, knowledge and detail seeking personality. I am not a scholar, but wanted to let you know that your work is invaluable in present times to both scholars and laics, and I fully support your stance on subjects you are presenting. Reading through some of the letters of disapproval of your work written to you I can only refer to a great statement you once said in the interview with Amy Goodman - :

On the topic of Anti-Semitism you said - " It's a public relations extravaganza production to deflect attention from facts, and from realities" - it is so true and so well put.

I agree with you, because we often are so blinded by one sided pushed on us views from all the media and schools... Isn't it the best to know all of the sides? Keep doing your incredible and brave work in this world! I wish I could listen to you more. Hope to see you soon in the Bay area of San Fran. Will you be here in the near future? I admire your intellect and great resourcefulness.

All the best to you,
Beata



From: "andrew blake" agblake76[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: tenure
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2006 17:06:17 -0500

Hmmm, Another leftist quack hoping for tenure....at a Christian institution, no less!

Your work is truly eye opening, and thoroughly discusting. What an incredible waste of God-given talent!

Why are you in the USA? Wouldn’t you enjoy living with others of your ilk (such as the Iranian President, et al).... oh, I forgot, then you wouldn’t have the freedom (as a result of the personal sacrifices of generations of American blood and treasure which you certainly do not appreciate) to produce the useless drivel you author. We live in a fallen world... and you are documented proof!



Norman, I have written to you a few times over the years -- I am currently planning my PHD thesis proposal ( on Israel ) and I always check your site.

I believe you are radically changing the face of scholarship on "the Israel/Palestine question". Indeed, it will be most interesting to observe the "post Finkelstein" research that emerges on the topic, since clearly, a large number of readers/scholars are being deeply effected by your work, which sheds quite a different light on history. How many questions are being thrown up by your work? This will be fascinating to watch.

I have read around the subject intensely for around ten years, and your discoveries shifted my "insights" overnight, significantly, and I am sure this is true for many who read your work.

I am currently reading two very revelatory studies -- revelatory, but also intensely claustrophobic -- all the same, I feel quite essential reading, particularly in the light of your emphasis and perspectives on Israel's history.

The first book is "The Third Reich : A New Study" , Michael Burleigh's 950 page study of the emerging evil of the nature of the fascist mind, and the subsequent murderous encircling of the Jews, the gradual closing off of all avenues of escape for them, followed by their carefully, coldly planned humiliation, and then their mass slaughter. It really is a chilling account. There really were very few avenues of escape for Jews, all over Europe. I sincerely believe this reality must never be forgotten, overlooked or flippantly dismissed, albeit as a kind of tragic footnote to history, as the left is sometimes inclined to do these days.

Interestingly, Michael Burleigh seems to have reached the very same conclusions as you regarding the serious abuse and cheapening of the memory of the tragedy of the Holocaust --

In an indictment of the veracity of David Irving's "scholarship", Burleigh, like you, also addresses the serious problem of misuse and historical cheapening of the Holocaust -- writing in The Daily Telegraph ( 22/02/2006 ) he says :

...."In the course of 30 years Mr Irving has gone from being a respected, if sensationalist, military historian of the Second World War to being the sinister "Pope of Holocaust-denialism", as one camp survivor put it....Irving is not without responsibility for his own fate, however much his website claims that conspiratorial "enemies of free speech" (most of them Jews) have done for him.

Irving's mistake was a failure to spot how studies of Nazism had changed in his own lifetime. Being what academics call an "archive man", shifts in the realm of ideas are not Irving's strong suit, a common failing in the relatively unsophisticated field of military history that is his forte. Thirty or 40 years ago, the burning issues for historians were Nazism as one facet of a broader totalitarian challenge to free societies, or, if one was on the Left, how Fascism had been produced by capitalism to defend itself from communism. ....By the 1980s these approaches had been superseded by an emphasis on "race", while some Jews insisted on the ultimate significance of the Holocaust. "Holocaust studies" developed into a huge industry, with dedicated chairs, institutes, and a proselytising drive to create Holocaust museums in every American city. This Holocaust industry amounts to a secular religion. Tony Blair's Government has encouraged establishing this cult through a wholly unnecessary Holocaust Day. The cult has its priesthood, ever ready with words of encouragement or censure from far away Los Angeles.

And it has nasty sectarian jealousies, with some Jews resentful of any mention of persecuted gipsies or homosexuals, and the latter resentful of compensation paid to Jewish people. It has several articles of faith and taboos. In these circles, it is taboo even to broach the fact that, in the 20th century, communism happened to kill many times more people than Nazism. It is not done to query such vulgar, anti-Catholic presumptions as the alleged culpability of Pius XII for his supposed silence during that period. It is also not done even to refer to "the Holocaust industry".

The industry is also not very good at asking such questions as why we need to know, down to the last pornographic detail, everything that happened to Jewish people in Hitler's gruesome imperium, or whether there should be university courses in Holocaust tourism (management thereof)."

( End quote )

The second book I am reading is "By Blood and Fire" ( Thurston Clarke ) , which is an account of the then emerging Jewish terror groups in Palestine in the 30's and 40's. These terror groups went on to form the foundation of the IDF and were manned by notable future Israeli leaders such as Begin.

What is clear is how tragic this all is -- the Jews were being rounded up, grossly humiliated and slaughtered all over Europe, and most countries did close their doors to them as escaping immigrants -- US and UK allowed a fixed figure to seek sanctuary, but the cut off figure was fairly low. Many other countries such as Australia refused Jewish immigration on openly racist grounds. So in ( understandable and justified ) desperation, the Jews tried mass illegal /secretive/underground immigration to Palestine. The British , who had already ( naively ) signed the Balfour Declaration, were doing their best to stop the flow -- because it was innocent Arabs who were suffering by having their land robbed by the incoming Jews, who were -- understandably -- desperate to rob the land by any means they could. And the tragedy is, who could blame the Jews for trying to get to Palestine by any means necessary? And equally so, who could blame the Arabs for looking at the unfolding tragedy in utter desperation and horror too, and planning resistance to the incoming millions of Jews?

In the end, the Jews stepped up their terror attacks on British targets such as the King David's Hotel, and other planned assassinations of high ranking British officers --the Jewish underground stepped up their terror attacks on Arab targets, the Arabs of course, justifiably responded, terrified at seeing their country robbed from under their noses by ( also justifiably ) truly desperate Jews in escape from Hitler's gas chambers......and the rest is the history we see unfolding in all its awful sadness...

What a sad chain of ( understandable ) events.....

To be honest, I have very little faith in Islam or Judaism at all ( and indeed right wing Xtianity ) and their respective secular or orthodox leaders to end this awful mess now..... Like Benny Morris, I see a bleak future, as Jews hold on with gritted teeth to what they have got, with their history of ( very real ) persecution driving them relentlessly on, making them ever harder, more brutal, becoming more and more a mirror of what "history'" has done to them, and I see ( justifiable ) Arab resentment and sheer murderous hatred rising in response....How could this mess be resolved? The hatred and persecution on both sides has such deeply fixed roots.....

Greg.



Dear Mr.Finkelstein,

I would like to comend you on your invaluable work for the sake of truth in the world . Also for just being there . The task is enormous , but for people like myself in locations around the world (rural Britain in my case) trying to open bigoted and racist eyes (most having never been a combatent in any war) to the TRUTH , instead of the lies and manipulations your books and web site is an extremely important resouce . I have purchased many of your works handing them out to all faiths and persuasions and importantly I receive astonished responses of begrudging acknowlgement that they have learnt somthing . I am now a partialy disabled commercial oilfield diver who is informing as many people as I can about your web site and books. Never forget us , when you are being intimidated world wide there are many people looking to you for mutual support in this incredibly important work.I offer you my support and help if needed .

My Kind regards,

Mr.Michael .Vejrych



To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Khaled Hosseini on Diane Rehm today
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 11:37:59 -0500

Hi Norm,

I called into the Diane Rehm show on NPR today, she had on Khaled Hosseini (author of "The Kite Runner"). He was just named a "Good Will Ambassador" for UNHCR, so I asked him about John Dugard's recent report that the Palestinians have lost hope that the UN in New York and Geneva will do anything for them.

Dr. Hosseini responded by saying UNHCR is a nonpolitical organization whose purpose is to find people who have a "well founded fear of persecution" better lives, and then refused to comment on the situation in Gaza. Of course, he didn't hesitate to comment on the terrifying situation of refugees in Sudan, Afghanistan, Chad, DR Congo or anywhere else, nor did he explain (even when Rehm pushed him, to my delighted surprise) why "a well founded fear of persecution" can't be found in Gaza or the West Bank. Only there, it seems, is human misery a political issue that UNHCR representatives can't comment on.

--
Peace,

"They destroyed our school in the village, but we will teach the children under the trees. And we will teach them to hate Israel and love the resistance."

- Nuha Srour, a schoolteacher in southern Lebanon



Editor's Note: Finkelstein defended UBS against the Holocaust industry's blackmail tactics: No good deed goes unpunished.

To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Banned at UBS!!
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 18:44:35 -0700

Well, Norman,

Welcome to a very select club: your website now has been banned ("access denied as unsuitable content, etc") by my employer, UBS Financial Services Inc, where, having read your books, I was able flesh out my knowledge by reading your posts as recently as two days ago. Have Morris Dees and fellow hucksters at the SPLC been on your case? Generally, my employer appears to slavishly follow the SPLC recommendations/condemnations and hence in the past have had removed American Renaissance and other so-called "hate sites' - which in almost all instances are not "hate sites" at all. Alternatively, it may be that Brother Bronfman and Heavy Friends exercised some more of his prodigious influence to freeze you out, given that a few years back UBS coughed up a billion dollars for him in atonement for Unspecified Cimes Against The People, alleged to have occurred before most if not all of us shareholders and employees were even born. It is ironic in this context that the virulently anti-semitic website of Louis Farrakan/Nation of Islam continues to be available to all UBS lunchtime websurfers. You might wish to inquire about this dichotomy.

Best wishes,
Mike



RE: Kill Arabs, Cry Antisemitism

Dear Professor Finkelstein

In your comments about the report of the All-Party Inquiry into Anti-Semitism you quoted the report as saying - "we received no evidence of the accusation of anti-Semitism being misused by mainstream British Jewish community organizations and leaders" . This statement is a sheer travesty of the truth . The organisation to which I belong - Jews for Justice for Palestinians - submitted an official submission highlighting (amongst other things) the apparent misuse of anti-semitism by the jewish community in Britain who use the claim of anti-Semitism as a weapon to fend israel's policies . I myself submitted an unsolicited submission to the Inquiry into Anti-Semitism which was never acknowledged by the Chairman - Denis MacShane. As a result I sent the gist of my submission to the international website of Media Monitors Network (www.mediamonitors.net who published it under the title of my submitted article: New Anti - Semitism - a Reality or a Misused concept? I (4 may) also included some of my points in my review of your book - Beyond Chutzpah - which was published in the summer 2006 issue of International Socialism Journal under the title Israel's Advocates in the Dock. Likewise, I included a number of the submitted points in my recent article in the Morning Star (23 August 06) about New Anti -Semitism. When the report of the Inquiry into Anti-Semitism came out I again tried to make my points public by sending letters to the national press in Britain but , unfortunately, none of them published my letters. For your information, I enclose the main points of my submission which could be found on the website of the MMN.

"In the course of my work with peace organisations in Britain I encountered , along with my colleagues, the phenomenon of reversed , or, "inside-out Anti-Semitism" - namely, being blamed for being anti-Semite by Jewish groups and individuals who could not tolerate the fact that a Jew, or an Israeli like myself, is prepared to advance the case of the Palestinians. Like many Jewish peace campaigners I am listed on a defamatory S.H.I.T list (Self-Hating Israel-Threatening jews) issued by an extremist Jewish website in the States (www.masada2000.org) which includes the most sickening slurs against thousands of jewish activists.

In the light of my experience I felt compelled to make the following points in an unsolicited submission to the All-Party Inquiry Into Anti-Semitism which was set up by the British Parliament in November 2005 :

* - For historical reasons Anti-semitism is referred solely to the Jewish race. Yet, anti-semitism as a modern phenomenon may have direct links to, or implications for, other religious and ethnic groups. An inquiry into Anti-Semitism ought, therefore, to be concerned with the manifestations of hatred and abuses inflicted on all religions - i.e. Muslims, Christians Sikhs, etc. ,and consequently embrace a much wider agenda."

* - In light of the British Government's policy, and its strategy document - "Working together - Cooperation between Government and Faith Communities" - any working definition of Anti-Semitism should equally apply to other religions or ethnic groups. This will also fit in with the British Government's plan to set up a new Commission for Equality and Human Rights.

* - The all-embracing definition of Anti-Semitism, as well as that of other religiously-motivated abuses, should be tightened up in order to prevent it being exploited as an emotional term which may trigger outrage and highly-charged statements by some interest groups (e.g. the Jewish community and Israel's lobbyists on one hand and Muslim groups on the the other hand). That is to say, that the definition of Anti-Semitism and of other religiously-motivated abuses ought to be closely related to the existing Race-Relations Act which has been long seen as an integral part of the British society and its legal and law-enforcement bodies

* - The monitoring of Anti-Semitism and other religious-hatred incidents should be conducted in an objective and methodological way. Therefore, it has to be defined by precise categories referring to the type and severity of the abuse - i. e, hatred-inciting public utterances as compared with, malicious damage, arson and violent attacks against individuals. A public body should, therefore, be set up to monitor and record all religion-hatred abuses rather than to leave it to partisan groups which are set up by the community in question. Thus, reports published by the national media ought to refer to the (statistical) records issued by a public body rather than to inflammatory accounts issued by certain interest groups - which carry the danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy (an example for such an emotionally-charged statement could be found in the recent Leader of Jewish News proclaiming - "and while the numbers detailed differed slightly, the CST statistics for 2005 confirmed that in Britain incidents of Jew-hatred were indeed down... But let us not be deceived. However we seek to interpret the statistics, the reality is that the world and UK still suffer from the scourge of anti-semitism" (2nd February 2006). Moreover, religious-hatred incidents, such anti-Semitism, or Islamophobia, should be considered in relations to the rise in violence in the host society and not be regarded in isolation from the present political, social and economic circumstances (e.g. hostility towards asylum-seekers which may ignite hatred towards Muslim refugees ,and the volatile situation in the Middle-East which triggers hostility towards both Muslims and Jewish people).

In conclusion, the above points highlight an aspect which should be recognized and acknowledged by any pluralist democratic society - that is, a multi-racial and multi-faith society ought to have a coordinated and consistent policy whereby no ethnic or, religious, group, should be considered in isolation from other such groups. Thus, an All-party Inquiry into Anti-Semitism which singles out one particular religion may constitute an unwelcome precedent that may lead to undesirable, if not harmful, effects". (4 May).

I hope that the above -stated principals will indeed guide the future action of the newly- established British Commission for Equality and Human Rights

Ruth Tenne

London





To: letters[at]thecrimson.com
Cc: normangf[at]hotmail.com
From: info[at]freedombin.com
Subject: re: "Mercy of the Court of Public Opinion," 9.27.06
Date: Fri, Sep 29, 2006 8:52 am

Dear Editor,

The parts of M. AIDAN KELLY's article ("Mercy of the Court of Public Opinion," 9.27.06) that mention Dershowitz, especially his statements, are quite outrageous. Take, for instance, his claim that he didn't copy his quotes directly from Peters' book. So far, neither Dershowitz nor Billington, his research assistant, have addressed this comment from Finkelstein:

"Billington et al. claim that they themselves checked Dershowitz's references against the originals. Yet, they never explain how, if this was the case, The Case for Israel exactly reproduces Joan Peters's errors of transcription from the originals, as I copiously document in Beyond Chutzpah."
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=49

Even if Dershowitz did actually check the originals, as he claims, that gives you a clue as to why he wouldn't just cite Peters, as the custom goes. Peters' book has been widely discredited as an academic fraud by publications like The New York Review of Books and The London Observer. For a recent example, see Paul Blair's piece in Capitalism Magazine (April 16, 2002, http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=2135)

Tamudjin



From: lindamgeorge[at]mac.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: thanks!
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 10:44:18 -0400

Norm,

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the incredible lecture you gave at The University of Louisville Wednesday night. This was the first time I've heard any of your work, and my husband and I walked out and said, "Finally, we feel sane again!" I could not have imagined such a well-put together piece of work, couldn't have imagined such brilliance in your tactic of dismissing all the arguments of whether there are any disputes to begin with, and moreover, couldn't have imagined your humor, grace, and steadfastness after having dealt with the brutality of the issues both intellectually and personally. My hats off to you.

I have a lot of personal history in this issue - I am a second generation Lebanese American. I grew watching Lebanon invaded time after time – my mother shouting Arabic and nearly crying at the television - morning after morning, evening after evening. And even in the midst of the destruction of 'the old country' never did she (nor do I) question the right of Israel to exist. As a child I could not understand the depth of her anger and sorrow - and actually it wasn’t until this last invasion of Lebanon and my heart was nearly broken. Having grown up Lebanese in a small rural southern town and hearing my parent’s stories of prejudices they encountered, anti-Semitism or anti anything was never on the menu at our family meals. I can still hear my father saying, ‘We’re not all that different – just because there’s a line saying one country ends and one begins – we’re all the same people.” My father has passed away and my mother has dementia and yet, this same cycle of war continues and the violence escalates with each war - with each introduction of new technology - this time cluster bombs and phosphorous litter southern Lebanon. Next time, what will the children of Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine have to endure? This is not a war over religion – this is a war over land. Religion is just a guise.

As you so poignantly said in your lecture, the World Court and UN agreed that the 1967 borders are the legal borders for the region, and that any territory gained in war was gained illegally, and that the 2004 wall in Palestine should be taken down and the Palestinians should be compensated. Yet, it’s still shocking to me that the US continues to support and promote (perhaps selfishly) policies in Israel that ultimately undermine the long-term safety and security of Israel. It’s an odd symbiotic mysterious kind of a relationship to the layperson. One only needs to look at our 9/11 experience, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s report on terrorism, and Iran’s uncompromising stance on nuclear capabilities to see that the present tactic that Israel and the US are pursuing are lousy short term solutions at best and ticking time bomb disasters at worst.

Having been raised Catholic, we were always reminded to reflect - and I've reflected often on the old adage - "We become what we hate". I can't help but wonder if that's the weed we must constantly pull out. Certainly, when I look at some of the email you've received, and open up the newspaper or listen to the radio, it's alive and spreading. As a counter point, I've rolled over my tongue many times your response to your own question, "is there reason to be hopeful?" Yes, because truth is on our side. Thanks for keeping the truth alive in this country. It's no easy task. I hope that University of DePaul has the wisdom and fortitude to realize what a gem they have.

Best,

Linda George



Dear Mr Finkelstein,

I've read Beyond Chutzpah and Image and Reality and I want you to know that it's people with your courage and decency that spark the minds of people who will one day decide that enough is enough. Your writting is a relief from the everyday propaganda and nonsense that I, as a Canadian resident, have to endure on a daily basis. The Canadian media, as I'm sure you probably know, is disturbingly biased against Palestinians. I say this semi-sarcastically, but it's a good thing that Canadians as a whole are completely indifferent about the occupation of Palestine, and therefore don't pay much attention to what the media is telling them anyways, or else we'd have a real problem.

I'm not sure if it's the propaganda or the indifference that bothers me more. I belong to a nation-wide group which focuses on raising awareness about human-rights issues in Palestine, called Solidarity for Palestinian Rights, University of Ottawa chapter. I know that you've done campus tours in Canada in the past, but I'm wondering if you have any plans for another Canadian tour in the future that would perhaps highlight different issues than you may have discussed in the past. I think if people just knew that much more about the nature of the occupation, their indifference would change to curiosity, curiosity would change to outrage, and outrage would lead to a real change in this country. I see you as a catalyst for this change. Please consider it. Many people (not all) in this country need a HUGE wake-up call.

I'm sure you've heard this countless times, but thank you for your honesty. All those who criticize you have no foundation for their accusations. Your critics are so lame, they're almost laughable. They discredit themselves through their spineless attacks, and anyone with half a brain knows how hypocritical they are. Please know that it's people like you, along with the amazing people I've met, who opened my eyes to the realities of the Occupation. I don't think you'll ever truly understand how powerful that is.

Regards,

Jessica



From: fpena445[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Comment
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2006 10:55:22 -0700 (PDT)

I saw you speak quite awhile ago at UCLA (the event was co-sponsored by MECHA). I wrote you then but you didn't have the courage to reply. How dare you attack Jewish people? You are nothing but a hateful, evil, self hating anti-semite. Jewish people have assisted my Latino brothers and sisters in getting justice in this country (and often these attorneys work for free). Do you understand that white trash Americans stole this land you call the "USA" from Mexico? We have every right to be here, you people are the invaders!

Many Jewish attorneys regularly defend undocumented migrants towards receiving their rights and their justice. Jews and Latinos are united in a common cause to create justice for undocumented migrants from Mexico and all of Latin America. Attacking Jews is the same as attacking Latinos. You are one sick person and you need serious counseling.

Fernando Pena

Los Angeles, CA

From: info[at]freedombin.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Fernando Pena

All Latinos are the same, all good, none bad. All Jews are the same, all good, non bad. Latino terrorists Luis Posada Carriles and Orland Bosch are good just 'cause they're Latino. Murderous Latino dictators from Castro to Pinochet are good too only because they're Latino and Fernando Pena tells us we can't attack any Latinos because they're "Latino" and "white-thrash" commanded by James Polk stole land from Mexico. In his brilliance he moves on to apply the same logic to Jewish lawyers -- there're Jewish lawyers out there who help Latinos, hence all Jews are automatically the Divine caste of Western society who're above criticism and therefore Nazi holocaust survivors, The Jewish Week, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Forward, The New York Times are anti-Semitic because they attack the "greedy ruthless element" within the Jewish community like Burt Neuborne. And ofcourse Finkelstein is an anti-Semite because he attacks ethnic cleansing supporter, torture advocate and academic fraudster Alan Dershowitz, supporter of white collar criminals, clumsy Hasbara-propagandist and staunch supporter of Ronald "SS officers are victims of the Nazis too" Reagan -- Abraham "Grand Wizard" Foxman, laughable charlatans like Phyllis "India is an Arab country, damn it" Chesler and the list goes on.

Fernando Pena -- what a moron!

-- Tamudjin





September 22, 2006

Dear Professor Finkelstein,

First I want to say that I'm reading your book "Beyond Chutzpah." In your book, you state some things that I strongly agree with. I also had the opportunity to watch you on Democracy Now a few weeks ago. I am also concerned about the influence of the Israel Lobby and over use of the term anti-semitism by the traditional elete Jewish organizations, such as the ADL. I say this as an American Jew whose family came to this country to escape Nazi Germany.

Another issue that concerns me is the U.S. Attorney-General's Office Of Special Services overzealous deporation of people who worked for the nazis during WWII, and later came to the U.S. This agency is headed by Eli Rosenbaum. Of course, I'm all for bringing anyone who participated in the holocaust to justice. Nobody who committed crimes against humanity, should be allowed to hide. However, I believe that the Office of Special Services goes to far. Here are a couple of links to articles that appeared in the September 20th and 21st editions of the San Francisco Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/20/MNGNDL90B71.DTL AND http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/21/MNGPDL9LSF1.DTL about a German woman who was recently deported for everyone to read. There is ABSOLUTELY NO MENTION by anyone that this woman actually committed an atrocity against anyone. Apparently, she answered an ad for a job, and once she responded to that ad, she had no choice but to take that job. Some years after the war, she married a Jew and was active in the Jewish community in San Francisco. The woman is 84 years old and we're talking about a year of this person's life here! Unfortunately, I have met worse people in my life who commit unjustices to people in this day. What happened to this woman is another example of the Israel Lobby having too much influence in our government.

Walter Ballin
Chico, CA



From: nora.helene.fjose[at]bsh.oslo.kommune.no
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: why mostly men?
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 21:42:20 +0200 (MEST)

Dear Professor Finkelstein

I wonder why the majority of mail you receive apperntly come from men. Are not women interested in the topics you focus on? Or do women more often object to have their mail posted?

You may post this one if you like.
Regards from Helene, Norway



From: ADoyle9876[at]aol.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: President Ahmadinejad's UN address
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 21:58:46 EDT

Norman,

I listened the CNN's presentation of the Iranian President's address to the United Nations with great interest last night. To their credit they presented the entire address although because of time constraints we were deprived of US Ambassador's Bolton's follow up comments. I think this was lucky for Bolton. I can't imagine what he could have said without looking like a complete ass.

The US media seem to have gathered their breath have decided to ignore completely everything of substance which Ahmadinejad said. He delivered a number of carefully thought out critiques of the United Nations reform efforts and dealt directly with the conflicts in the Middle East from an historical and current standpoint. He touched on the need for control of nuclear weapons for all nations, not just his own, and the present conflict in Iraq and of the Israeli abuse of the Palestinians. Major areas of importance no doubt. None of which have been reported in detail in our press as far as I can see.

What did we hear tonight on CNN? Nothing of substance. Not a single word of discussion of any of the substantive issues raised by the President of Iran. The CNN answer to Bill O'Reilly, their own feisty Irishman, Cafferty, launched into a series of ad hominem attacks on President Ahmadinejad, including the criticism of his dress, and a snide and stupid comment that he had dared raise the subject of UN reform in a speech before the UN -- that's all -- not a word about anything of substance that he had said except, oh yes, the now familiar introduction heard on every network story reporting on his talk that he is the person who has called for the "destruction of Israel" [or words to the effect] even though, actually, he did not say that. It is a mistranslation of his actual words in a speech he delivered some time ago. I think I heard President Bush repeat it tonight. Like "weapons of mass destruction" the truth is now immaterial. Only the slogan counts. My God, what has become of us?

Albert Regan Doyle



On 9/18/06, Tatiana Miotto wrote:

Dear Professor,

I have watched the Aipac vs. Finkelstein debate last weekend. As soon as I heard you talking for the first time I mentioned at home that I thought "you were not a journalist", I don't want to reduce Journalist's work, but given the fact we are bombarded by "Fox News", we cannot really take those guys seriously, I honestly cannot watch it for the sake of making fun of it.

After a small (internet) research I came across a letter from Professor Noam Chomsky about your work ( http://www.chomsky.info/books/power01.htm)

I just would like to let you know that I strongly admire your work (and I don't even know much about it yet), your thoughts and your way of communicate, I had a lot of fun watching the debate and it made me have a little more faith in this nation or some of the people in this nation.

I am Brazilian, leaving in US, or better, in San Francisco, which I don't know if is still considered part of US anymore, and I am really disappointed with US International Politics. I cannot wait to be able to vote.

Thank you for bringing us some light!

With much appreciation,

Tatiana



From: Zach Vissar zachvissar[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: If you have that urge...
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 15:15:18 -0700 (PDT)

Professor Goebbels... oops!.. sorry, professor finkelschmuck:

If and when you happen to experience a sudden and unbearable urge to take a dive from a rooftop of an appartment building (preferably, some skyscraper) - don't resist that urge nor fight it. Do it! The sooner, the better! The Earth would be a much cleaner place without sleazeball and scum like you. And if you need any help with that, I'm more than sure that there will be a huge line of those who'd be more than happy to assist you.



Dear Norman,

First time I heard about you was in 2000 when the Holocaust Industry came out. I instantly read the book and found it very interesting and courageous. It challenged orthodox dogma and wasn't afraid of putting things on their head. I made sure my secondary school in Stockholm, Sweden ordered the book, which they gladly did! The book was subsequently translated to Swedish thanks to Ordfront, which is a left-wing cultural magazine (http://www.ordfront.se/InEnglish.aspx), which has its own publishing house. The Holocaust Industry was almost unanimously received as speculative, exaggerated, polemic and by some anti-Semitic. Arguments were set aside. The story was crystal clear: the Holocaust Industry had been concocted for political ends, and didn't merit much comment. The two biggest newspapers in Sweden (Dagens Nyheter, which ironically calls itself independently liberal– and Svenska Dagbladet) discarded the book as a travesty. Lundmark (Dagens Nyhether Sept 5, 2001) calls the book a 'malicious' 'pamphlet' invoking the same rhetoric and 'tone as anti-Semites'. Lundmark meticulously regurgitates myopic things that have been said about the book in Ha'aretz and other newspapers but conveniently ignores to discuss or dissect any of your arguments. Mikael Tossavainen (a phd-student at Lund University) says that the book is >replete with falsehoods and slanted representation of sources, and concludes by asking why a serious (or at least pseudo-serious) publishing house like Ordfront decides to publish such a well-known 'hoax' – a hoax refuted by so many. But he neatly omits any sources or names to support this claim. And now to your new book: Beyond Chutzpah. To my knowledge it hasn't been reviewed let alone mentioned in the mainstream Swedish press. Interestingly, Niklas Ekdal, Sweden's Thomas Friedman, or at least so he wishes, calls Alan Dershowitz's The Case for Israel a well-documented book containing 'strong argumentation' and a 'proof of Jews right of a place of residence in the Middle East'.

Another recent example of Swedish media's selectivity is the fact that not a peep has been said about Jostein Gaarder's 'Guds utvalgte folk'/'God's chosen people' published in Aftonposten. Set against the fact that Norway once was part of Sweden and is Sweden's closest neighbour geographically, culturally and linguistically it's a emarkable accomplishment. It was also interesting to see Swedish mainstream media's typical hypocritical invocation of freedom of speech as defence of Jyllands-Posten's cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. Niklas Ekdal (Sweden's Friedman) solemnly declared the importance of showing solidarity with Denmark and that the interests of Denmark now became Sweden's. Amusingly, the same people in Sweden that forcefully condemned the Arab world and spoke about lofty ideals of freedom of speech had a very different opinion about Lars Hillersberg, one of Sweden's most powerful critics of Israel. Hillersberg was above all a provocative cartoonist (think Latuff) who caused mainstream media and right-wing people to play the anti-Semitism card. Hillersberg for example famously said in his typically sarcastic voice when asked whether he was an Anti-Semite that he "didn't not only hate Jews but in fact all peoples, and that's part of the genre". An example of Hillersberg's cartoons is the following from 1967 of the Israeli military leader Moshe Dayan. The text says 'For Israel' http://home.swipnet.se/hillersberg/polemik/polemik1b.html.

Whilst Hillersberg was until his death in 2004 harassed and mliciously condemned by the powerful media elites as an Anti-Semite, his right of freedom of speech was completely ignored. An example of this schizophrenic attitude is former leader of the Swedish liberal party Per Ahlmark who publicly denies Hillersberg the right of freedom of speech and calls him an Anti-Semite, simultaneously as defending the publication of the Danish cartoons and calling the reactions of the Arab and Muslim world as a testament of their lack of it. Needless to say I'm also an advocate of the right of freedom of speech. But I think it should encompass all view-points – not only the ones I agree with. I just read your article 'Kill Arabs, Cry Anti-Semitism' and thought I should draw your attention to a report published in March 2006 byLiving History Forum (Forum för Levande Historia) in Sweden: Anti-Semitic attitudes and conceptions in Sweden. (For an English summary of the report see pp. 129-139: http://intolerans.levandehistoria.se/article/article_docs/antisemitism_print.pdf) Henrik Bachner, the co-writer and researcher of the report, together with former curator of Living History Forum, announced upon publication of the report in Sweden's biggest and most influential newspaper Dagens Nyheter: "One in four Swedes don't want a Jew as prime minister – New report about Anti-Semitism in Sweden: 41 per cent have a completely or partially negative view of Jews. 25 per cent of Swedes are negative to the idea of a Jewish prime minister. Equally many believe Jews have a big influence over the world economy, 15 per cent believe that Jews have too much power over the world" (Dagens Nyheter, March 14 2006).

The report was almost unanimously embraced (with a few dissenting voices) as a pivotal document demonstrating the widespread anti-Semitism and exploitation of Jewish stereotypes and myths in Swedish society. The report was happily cited in the news channels (also by the state-owned SVT 1 and SVT 2) as a meticulous and well-researched report. To my mind the report felt exaggerated and inconsistent with things I had read elsewhere and I felt compelled to read it for myself. To begin with it's a travesty that the Swedish government appoints Henrik Bachner as key-researcher and writer of the report – a person who came to fame through publishing a revised version of his phd-thesis in 1999 titled: The return:Anti-Semitism in Sweden since 1945. Need I say more than that the title pretty much sums up his 600-page study. Firstly, I'm critical of reports that solely rely on how individual srespond to negative statements on different attitude scales through ticking a box. I'm confident people would express themselves differently if they could. It was also evident, as I looked closer at the report that the statements where formulated in such a way to elicit certain responses. 18 per cent answered for example affirmative to the statement: 'The Jews have major influence on the media'. That the statement collectivizes Jews and has undertones of prejudice may not be evident to someone who thinks of the famous Swedish family Bonnier, which controls a substantial part of Swedish media and owns around 250 different companies in 20 countries.

Another example is that 26 per cent of all interviewees agree completely or partly with the statement 'The Jews have major influence on the global economy'. Once again this formulation exploits collectivization (The Jews as compared to Jews) to elicit a prejudiced response. It was also interesting to see how Henrik Bachner in the public discourse deliberately ignores the indications of Islamophobia in the report (which are included in the English summary). The report shows for example that a negative attitude towards Muslims than Jews is four times more common among adults (19-75 years) and 5-6 times more common among young people (16-18 years). It's evident from the articles Henrik Bachner has written following the report that he is not true to his findings in the sense that he deliberately juxtaposes or omits data in such a way to extend his thesis from1999. There is much more to say, but I have already taken up too much ofyour time. Last and foremost keep up the good work! And I hope you are planning to come to Sweden or the UK in the near future. It would be an honor to attend your lecture!

Best wishes,
Petter Frühling



RE: Kill Arabs, Cry Antisemitism

Dear Professor Finklestein

There are some truly suspect definitions of anti-semitism and the authors/sponsors of this would have done well to read "Beyond Chutzpah" to ensure this exercise does not go the same route it has across the pond. I will say though that the UK Jewry have seemed to me to be a far more moderate than the bunch that ive been reading about in your books and on your site. I think a Dershowitz or an Abraham Foxman would be given short shrift here; on the whole most UK Jews seem to be more sympathetic towards the Palestinian issue and were more vocal in their opposition to the invasion of Lebanon, with notable exceptions of course. The BBC for example was regularly accused of being anti-Semitic in its reporting on the war which i thought was nonsense.

You have to remember though that the Muslim population in Britain have elements within it that do support violence against Jewish people and have been so brainwashed in their hate that discussion is impossible. There are many who are disenfranchised and others from second generation middle class families looking for meaning in their otherwise miserable lives and finding the wrong answers. I personally do not think these groups are the main source of any increase in what i call real anti-semitism (violence and verbal abuse). These groups have the means and if they wanted to inflict harm they probably would have caused serious damage by now; rather this is directed at the US as we have seen in the recent attempt to blow up transatlantic planes. There is however another group: the rag tag, anti-globalization mob who have, in consort with some British Muslims, high-jacked the ME issue. Although their hearts are, for the most part in the right place, they find it difficult to engage in debate without becoming irrational or violent. And then there is of course the problem of alcohol. Having lived here for 10 years and knowing as I do the propensity of English people (esp in london) for serious drinking, its not hard to imagine someone watching the bombing of Qana, then consuming half of bottle of whisky (not necessarily in that order), walking down the street on a friday eve and thumping the face of the first frumadik he sees. The Orthodox community in Stamford Hill referred to in the report live cheek by jowl with Muslim communities (not far from me and incidentally less than a mile or so from the infamous Finsbury Park Mosque) and relations seem to have been good in the past. But I wont deny they have of late become targets for abuse and Ive seen this myself on the tube one evening when some drunk kids launched into an unpleasant political tirade at a man with his 2 children. Although i agreed with their general sentiment I felt ashamed afterwards that i did not stop them. Its a complicated business being Jewish and angry at Israel's actions.

I dont think this report is timed to quell critisism of Israel because many of the signatories are openly opposed to Israel's policies. So totally disagree that its a public relations stunt. In the area or physical and verbal abuse its a response to a real issue but one that I dont think should be blown out of proportion nor used by Zionist groups for their own ends.

Regards

Brian Rom
London



The very fact that you have had a priveleged upbringing and despite that refuse to perpetuate the status quo is unusual. In my relatively brief 10-12 years in this country I really find it hard to say that I have met anyone here who has the courage to speak up and speak out. I have lived in a relatively academic and liberal environment for a good many of those years and frank political discourse across racial/ religious lines is, frankly and simply, "not done". For many, we are still the "natives" expected to fall into roles that have long been defined- and which most of us comply with as part of our post-colonial heritage. I have had far more opportunity and freedom to discuss matters across a broad political spectrum with my friends and family in the South Asian region that I belong to (despite despotic governments and all!) than people do over here- which was astounding to me. Why would there be self censorship of this nature and to this degree in a democratic advanced and liberal country such as this- this even before September, 2001. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that we have to work that much harder in this country to accomodate all the different religous and cultural sensibilities. Or perhaps that is too simplistic.

But I meander. I do have a question, however. Do you have any upcoming speaking engagements in Toronto over the next few months? Do let me know. I may finally be in a region where there is the possibility of actually attending one of your lectures and I am loathe to miss it.

Thank you

Eram Chaudhry



From: jonbeggs[at]gmail.com
To: Normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: An appreciation
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 15:29:27 -0700

I have heard you speak on Pacifica a few times and today I came across your website. I admire your scholarship, intelligence, integrity and most of all your courage.

Thank you,
Jonathan Beggs



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I just finished reading The Holocaust Industry, and found it to be a real eye-opener. Concise, with every page filled with useful and well-documented information. It's an invitation to more study.

I wonder if you feel that the search for looted art is part of this same scam. Someone was just on Charlie Rose talking about it, a multimillionaire named Lauder, I think. (Maybe it's Lauber). He owns a museum called neau gallerie, I'm pretty sure.

As a follow-up I went to the h-holocaust web site, and found some threads. The vehemence of the attacks against you reminded me again of how ubiquitous this Zionist machine really is.

Locally (Ann Arbor, Michigan) a small group of people dubbed "the vigilers" has been picketing for the past couple of years at a conservative synagogue. I think about half of them are Jews. They want the rabbi to let them speak to the congregation about what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians. I guess he won't. They also picket outside Hiller's Market on Sundays. The owner proudly states that he gives a portion of his profits to Israel. People have gotten very angry with the vigilers. Some church leaders came out against them, and in response they threatened to start picketing the churches.

I wrote a brief letter to the editor at The Ann Arbor News expressing my support for the vigilers, and received an anonymous threat that maybe 300 protesters will descend on my home. The anonymous letter writer sounded foreign, and I figure he's probably an Israeli who spends time here, too. Just by coincidence, I guess,one of the local Jewish web sites says there are 300 Israelis living in the Ann Arbor area.

My one other comment about your book is that in a way you seem to let the rank and file of Jews off the hook, somewhat. At one point in the book you say they are being duped. I have a little trouble with that if you mean it to apply more generally to Israeli policies rather than just to the question of the search for looted money from the Nazi holocaust.

Still, your book is refreshingly iconoclastic; I learned a lot by reading it, and I'll refer to it a lot in the future.

Kevin L. Walker



Dear Mr Finkelstein,

Just a quick note - I know you are very busy.

You probably don't recall but back in 2001 we exchanged emails for a few months. I was then completing my MA in Political Philosophy (Marx and Justice) at The University of York (Enlgand), and we spent some time discussing, amongst other things, your great writing. I remember we also talked about Eric Hobsbawm and John Rawls! I now agree with you about Rawls - mind numbingly boring!!

Anyway, I wanted to say that I have continued reading your work, and found both The Holocaust Industry and Beyond Chutzpah to be fantastic. Your level of textual analysis, and your level of scrutiny and honesty are awesome and empowering. I also think your decency, humanity, bravery, and compassion are inspiring.

When we started corresponding, I was a bit jaded with things - the world was (and is) pretty depressing. Anyway, your encouragement in those emails was inspiring. I continue to read all sorts of great writers, usually found in the New Left Review or the London Review of Books, and have been since inspired to get involved in lots of local activism. Me and my partner are quite active in CND locally, and Stop The War, and in purchasing ethically - we ensure all our Olive Oil and soap comes from the Olive Co-Op, helping Palestinian farmers. He is involved in educational programmes as a youth worker, and can see the positive results of it daily.

I remember the disaster and tragedy of September 11th was the last day we emailed. I just wanted to say now, keep up the great, great work. It really is so vital and necessary, and I hope you realise that. I think the side of decency, honesty and justice has a great ally in you.

All the best.

Robert Davies



From: sasami[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Great appearance on DN!
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 12:13:51 -0700

Your arguments are always so compelling and well-thought that it is hard to argue against them. I suppose this is why instead of engaging in debate of facts, most merely throw insults and try to bully. I learn something new everytime you're on DN! For instance, I was not aware that Reagan had actually said the Nazis soldiers that killed innocent Jews were victims, too! Can you imagine an Arab politician coming to America and telling us, "The hijackers that flew the planes into the World Trade Center were victims, just like the people that died in the buildings and on the airplanes." I would be even more outraged if someone gave him a medal despite this!

I am always pleased to see you on DN! Hope to see you on again soon!

Derek



Dear Norman Finkelstein,

I am a Polish American and have read your books, The Holocaust Industry and Beyond Chutzpah to learn more about Polish Jewish relations.

Thank you for being an honest historian and a beacon of intelligence and compassion. Thank you for using your considerable wit and talent for justice. Thank you for your courage. And for my own sake, reading through the facts, thank you for your sense of humor.

I want Polish and Jewish children to be able to hold their two heritages in high regard, and until I became aware of you, I was in despair.

Thank you for your monumental good work. You are a treasure.

Vaughn Judson



Dr Finklestein,

I would like to keep this email short, despite the paragraphs of potential text whirling around my head that I feel like putting into writing...

Many thanks for your efforts in seeking the truth against such a tirade of vitriol. The world needs more people dedicated to the pursuit of truth. Thank you and please continue with the energy you have shown thus far...

I would like to address the email sent to you (cc: ?) from Bob Selcoe to Jessica dated 8.2.06 - what a wonderful piece. I wish I could articulate my (shared) thoughts and beliefs so well - please pass my thanks on to this gentleman for his wonderful (and un-hate-filled) efforts to answer so many accusations against you and against so many victims in this world who dont have a voice. (he didnt post his email address).

Thank you once more for your scholarly efforts and integrity.

RJ



From: BobFadal[at]aol.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Thank You
Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 22:02:29 EDT

Dear dr. Finkelstein,

Never in my seventy years did I ever expect to find anyone who would expose the inhumane situation in the occupied lands of the Palestinians. For that I would love to thank you for educating, not only myself, but anyone who would be interested in policies so unlike the America we know and love.My Father's family were immigrants from Beirut in the early twenties, and to know the kindness of the Lebanese people is truly something to be proud of, and thank you sincerely for your work, and may God bless you always for the truth you so eloquently deliver to the world.

Dr. Robert E. Fadal
Waco, Texas



From: Marl L bzik_01[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: still waiting
Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 18:08:22 -0700 (PDT)

Hey Finkel:

I've heard from people who know you very well that mentally you're very unstable person. Have you ever considered to seek a psychiatric help? I know very good JEWISH psychiatrists, they'd more than happy to help you. Also, you still didn't give me an answer to my questions: 1) Do you screw your kappo-mama in your dreams?; 2) How much do your Hezbollah masters pay you? And please, tell that idiot of yours, Shanahan (or whtever the fuck his real name is), not to bother to respond for you. I put a block on his e-mail. A "professor" of your kind is doomed to rot in a shithole (DePaul university, that is).



From: "jason becker" beckerburn[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: It is a great shame
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 19:57:38 -0500

That your parents didn't get gassed before they had you; they unleashed the black plague on Judaism. But you have made me a Zionist. THANK YOU!



From: PBlobbb[at]aol.com
To: NormanGF[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Comment
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 22:39:37 EDT

Norman Finkelkike is an oven warmer in the yellow star batallion of the jews for jihad brigade in the Seig Allah army of islamic nazis.



Sir,

Let me begin by saying that I am great admirer of you your work and incredible standard.

Having said this, I honestly don't know how you are able to remain sane while you endure insults and sheer stupidity by liars and people of low moral character such as Dersh & Graulich.

I would not be able to take a fraction of the nonsense you have to hear and put up with.

People like this seem to have 'carte-blanche' to do and say what they want without impunity and that is the most frustrating thing of all.

The truth is with you sir, and I pray that keeps you going on.

I noticed on on Dersh's last rant (Norman Finkelstein's Obscenities) that he has the habit of trying to discredit you every time by stating that Neo-nazis love to cite your work. He (among others) always seems to do this! If I'm not mistaken, the KKK love to point to the Bible to pull references, scriptures etc. Is that the fault of John, Peter Luke or Mark or Matthew....???? Does that make the Holy bible Evil and racist???? I suppose he must resort to this asinine argument as (exactly as you say) he cannot point to any errors on your part.

PS. I LOVE his new tag for you...."Holocaust-justice Denier" What an idiot.... I guess he's given up trying to label you as a Holocaust Denier. A lawyer if there ever was one.

God Bless and stay strong !!!!!!

-Paul



From: "Isaac Essebag" isaacessebag[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 12:48:47

A self hating jew... you truly are a stereotype. You'll be singing a different tune when the genocide comes to you... you think you're safe in the US, in your little Prof Office? You're living in the cradle of the devil, and your truly weak brain is being washed by dark forces... no wonder you teach at a second rate school. Noam Chomsky is truly brilliant, but I don't think his mom breast fed him either, and he's probably crossed the line of insanity. As for you, I don't think you're smart enough to be insane, or you'd be at Harvard alongside Dershowitz. WAKE UP, YOUR PEOPLE ARE IN TROUBLE!!!

Are you actually naive enough to believe nasrallah's intentions are any different that hitler's, you fucken degenarate... maybe you didn't get laid in high school... good luck!!

Isaac



Dear Prof. Finkelstein,

Thank you for posting my email on your website. And regarding what you said, I did a very tiny bit of research myself.

The Barnes and Noble bookstore in DePaul Universities downtown branch has Beyond Chutzpah and two other books, I don't remember their names. (The books definitely weren't The Holocaust Industry or The Goldhagen Thesis.)

The Borders store in North Ave, (near the North/Clybourne Red Line station) has Beyond Chutzpah. I bought a copy there. They had the Holocaust Industry listed in their database but I don't 'know if they had stock.

I couldnt find your book in the Myopic Used bookstore in 1539 N. Milwakee St. but I didn't ask the people at the store. They might have a copy.

I'll look in other stores and see which books of yours they have for sale.

If you choose to have it, I have written a transcript of your speech at Yale University. I saw on your website that there is only a trasncript of the Q&A session. I've done the first part of your speech there. In time I will (hopefully) do the second half also.

There are a few places where I couldn't fill in the words, mostly because of my ignorance in biblical references. You must fill those blanks. One place is when you describe your group JAIML, namely:

,--
| I used to say it was the second biggest catastrophe after @ | and @.
`--

another place is

,--
| And whenever I had doubts about my convictions --- and | occasionally I entertained one or two doubts --- there were | always people in authority, who I deeply respected, Harvard | professors, @ professors, who, whenever I had those doubts, | managed to dispel those doubts by saying my convictions were | right.
`--

the last two places are

,-- | And it was a kind of exhilarating feeling and as my good | friend, the late economist, Paul @ later said to me, | discovering a fraud is every scholars eureka. And this was | my eureka moment. I got up from my bed and I started to | pace my little studio apartment. @ type setting for those | of you who've been a graduate student and I said, ``I did | it, I did it, I did it.''
`--

I hope you will forgive me for any errors I have made in the transcript. I did not concentrate too much on words such as "ah" where you pause.

The actual transcript follows:
----



From: diablomohammed[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Sheikh Nasrallah of Hezbollah
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 09:57:20 -0700 (PDT)

Sheikh Nasrallah of Hezbollah is widely quoted as saying

"If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli"

"If the [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide"

"It is an open war until the elimination of Israel and until the death of the last Jew on earth"

Do you think Jews should take him seriously? Or should we copy your brain dead parents and get led like sheep to slaughter?



[Freedland is a prominent British columnist]

Von: dbell[at]debitel.net
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 17. August 2006 09:11
An: 'jonathan.freedland[at]guardian.co.uk'
Betreff: guardian articles

Dear Mr. Freedland,

First of all let me say how much I enjoy your articles and admire your journalism. I read the Guardian Unlimited regularly from my home in Berlin and always read your contributions with great interest. There have been one or two occasions when I was somewhat surprised by your comments, but I only finally decided to write to you after reading Norman Finkelstein's "The Holocaust Industry" and thereafter discovering your review of 14.07.2000 in The GuardianТs archive. I found this to be such a misrepresentation of Finkelstein's arguments that I felt a letter was in order. I'd like to start with one other point from your writings, if I may.

1)"Nor was this burden solely a matter of the past. By entering Jacob into this covenant, I was enlisting him into a current conflict - one of the world's bitterest. Strictly speaking, the battle between Israel and its neighbours should have nothing to do with Jacob - born in London, like his parents; a British citizen, like his parents. But it will." (12th Feb 2005)

This seems to me a terribly sad idea -- that a new-born baby is automatically enlisted into a violent conflict involving people half-way across the world purely by virtue of his parents' cultural background. For his parents to enlist him in it from birth is surely a matter of their choosing, not of necessity. Of course, your son may choose to involve himself later in life in the conflict; but he could equally well find that he cannot relate to it at all, or may even choose to depart from his parents' religious tradition altogether. I do not relate at all, for instance, to my mother's Methodist background, and will be fascinated in turn to see which aspects of my culture my own children can relate to -- indeed, it's important to me to leave this kind of choice open to them.

Consider the case of my own young half-Japanese son growing up in Europe, and its parallels with your own. Japan is a geographically small, culturally homogenous country surrounded by larger neighbours resentful of its greater economic success. It has an ongoing territorial dispute with Russia, including issues of displaced persons; it also has an increasingly strained relationship with China over historical injustices. Despite being under the military protection of the US Japan feels its existence threatened by an unpredictable nuclear-armed North Korea on its doorstep, particularly having been the victim of a previous (nuclear) holocaust. I would submit that a neighbourhood of Russia, China, and North Korea is perhaps not hugely more reassuring than one of Iran and Syria. But to claim that my son, living in Europe, is automatically УenlistedФ in these potentially violent conflicts solely by virtue of his motherТs ethnicity would be pretty bizarre. Moreover, I think to instil this expectation in him from birth would be grossly unfair.

2)"The Holocaust Industry" - Of course, one may agree or disagree with Norman Finkelstein's arguments, but your review attacks him for positions he simply does not take.

You claim that he promotes himself as a Уbrave prophetФ confronting issues no-one else dare raise, yet he frequently refers to ongoing debates within the Jewish community, for example:

"Holocaust writers like Yehuda Bauer maintained that the Gypsies did not fall victim to the same genocidal onslaught as Jews. Respected holocaust historians like Henry Friedlander and Raul Hilberg, however, have argued that they did."

You claim that "Finkelstein sees Jews as the authors of their own suffering", yet he never once attributes blame for the Holocaust or other anti-Semitic persecution onto Jews themselves, and even clearly states: "The point, of course, is not that anti-Semitism is justifiable, nor that Jews are to blame for crimes committed against them"

His one suggestion along these lines is that negotiations for reparations payments in Switzerland contributed to an increase in anti-Semitism in that country in the 1990s Ц a not unreasonable idea, considering the acrimony of the negotiations and the well-documented virulence of the anti-Swiss rhetoric amongst American Jews at the time.

You also write that the book contains Уvast generalisations about the whole of world JewryФ, but I have not found a single instance of this in the book. It is, rather, a very specific attack on organised American Jewry post-1967.

You even claim that Finkelstein Уsees the Jews as victims or villainsФ and is Уa Jew that doesnТt like JewsФ. Yet he frequently quotes Jewish writers and academics whom he clearly respects, and concludes his forward with the following:

"Like his scholarship (Raul) HilbergТs integrity humbles. Perhaps itТs not an accident that the Jews also invented the word Mensch."

The book certainly contains what you describe as Уsplenetic attacksФ and Уscathing languageФ directed at certain other Jewish individuals, but these are amply supported by some quite breathtaking quotations from his targets themselves, such as Elie Wiesel.

The fact that your review does not confront his arguments directly but rather misrepresents them in order more easily to dismiss him suggests that even left-of-centre liberal Jewish opinion does not want to face the kind of radical criticism that Finkelstein represents. It also implies that the impulse to cry Уanti-SemitismФ, or in this case, Уself-hating JewФ, is indeed as automatic as he contends. I must confess I was disappointed to read your review and particularly your final comment that Finkelstein is closer to the Nazis than to their Jewish victims. Having accused Finkelstein of insensitivity, your comment does not rate much better, aimed as it is at the son of concentration camp survivors. But the review is after all 6 years old Ц would you react any differently to the book today?

Should you have time to respond I would of course greatly welcome it!

Yours sincerely,
Daniel Bell



From: Terry Schuster clutterfree1[at]earthlink.net
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
CC: Gordon Raz raz_home[at]gordon.org.il
Subject: You
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:32:03 -0400

You are one sick fucker. Terry Schuster Fair Lawn, NJ



From: Dybbuck dybbuck100[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: It won't matter
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 06:54:27 -0700 (PDT)

For all your ranting and self hatred and claims that your mother cooperated with the Nazis and Israel did this and yada yada...Means nothing. When the opportunity comes they will kill you all the same. What are you going to do? Get a blood transfusion? Its in your DNA and you can't do a damn thing about it.



Professor,

So, only 159 anti-semitic incidents last year in The Netherlands. Actually, it went from 326 to 159. Good stuff he? Yup, that's in Europe! You know, the continent with the rising 'new Anti-Semitism'.

We have 16 million people over here. Comparable to New York(right?). I think it's safe to say that there are more than 159 anti-semitic incidents in New York per DAY.

But wait, there's more. Since we can't have the situation in which anti-semitism is not much of a problem anymore, Ronnie Naftaniel, head of CIDI - spokesperson for the 'self-loving jews' (not for you, Norman!), stated that the 'serious incidents' spiked last year(a whopping 26). That's such a relief. I was almost starting to think we don't have a problem anymore.

Actually we do have a problem with the anti-Muslim incidents, but who cares? Not CIDI, that's for sure.

Another member of CIDI (Dutch ADL/B'nai Brith) went on the radio to say that with the situation in Lebanon right now, it would give people the 'opportunity' or an 'excuse' to be anti-semitic again. Excellent news. Next year, there will be a worrying rise in anti-semitic incidents.

I mean, where would we be without the 'opportunity' to be anti-semitic. It's our second nature. Ranks up there with complaning about the weather, talking about football etc etc.

I don't need an excuse to be anti-semitic. Do you? Well, maybe YOU do. But since I'm a non-jew, I have this DNA disorder that automatically makes me an Anti-Semite. Sweet huh?

If it wasn't so tragic, I could laugh about all this.

Take care,

Franco



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I just read your article "Should Alan Dershowitz Target Himself for Assassination" and found your reasoning incisive and irrefutable and your writing engaging and very funny at times, despite the serious topic.

Also, thanks for kicking Dershowitz's ass on "Democracy Now!" I especially enjoyed you pointing out to Dershowitz that he had graduate students write his book for him and "hadn't read it" and didn't even know what was in it!

Paul Fretheim
Independence, CA



Dear Professor Finklestein,

I enjoyed "Beyond Chutzpah" immensely and I'm ploughing through "Image and Reality" which seems to be a magnificently detailed and, I have no doubt, accurate account of events.

My observations derive from personal experience of living and growing up in South Africa a country which like Israel was in a profound state of denial for many years over the brutal manner in which it treated its indigenous population.

Having examined ad nauseam the rights and wrongs of the past (and they were legion), a breakthrough occurred in the late 1980's in SA ? quite miraculously it now seems ? when the white population finally accepted that a restoration of rights to the indigenous people would not lead to the total destruction of the country and its economy, this despite years of racist brainwashing and evidence to the contrary from States in the rest of Africa. Comparisons between SA and Israel are often made; quite rightly in some cases but, I have to say, they are problematic in others. For one SA is infinitely larger where there are critical land and resource shortages in Israel/Palestine. Furthermore a unitary state as opposed to a 2 state model was, in SA, the only real outcome. Having traveled to Israel and the occupied territories a few times before the current intifada, the hate and fear between the 2 sides seems far worse than it ever was in South Africa.

Although SA had massacres aplenty prior to the changes in the 1990's, the ultimate objective of Nelson Mandela and militants to his left in the Trade Unions and the SA Communist Party was not to drive every white person into the sea, ruin the economy with failed Marxist ideas and dispossess white people of land stolen by their forefathers. True there were many who did (and still do to this day) but the white population were soon convinced that this was never a real or possible objective of the ANC. It was from that realisation, coupled with end of the perceived threat posed by the former Soviet Union, that FW de Klerk, the then PM of white SA took a "leap of faith", negotiated with his sworn enemies and eventually relinquished power. Im making it sound simple but that was it in a nutshell.

We hear much from Israel today of the so called "existential threat" posed by Hizb, Hamas, Syria and Iran. One would have to be naive to deny that there are many in the Arab world who wish to drive Israel out for good (and the line between this and real anti-semitism as opposed to "new anti-semitism" is, I have to say, a little hazy here) but despite all the rhetoric and Arab bombast, most do not; certainly the demand for compliance by Israel of UN Resolution 242 clearly implies a recognition of its existence and the Arab League have clearly indicated recognition.

Israel is no shrinking violet and threats of annihilation by Iran and others are (or should be) mere words to them. They are an angry response to suffering experienced by Palestinians. One wouldn?t of course want to test this theory, but no Arab state and certainly not the Palestinians would realistically have the means to invade Israel. If Israel has failed to drive out Hiz on its home territory, Hiz and Iran would I believe be obliterated if not by Israel then by its western allies were they to launch a ground or air campaign into Israel. Iran, Syria and Hamas know this.

From the outside then, talk of the "existential threat" appears exaggerated and designed to paralyse the peace process from within. There are those within Israel and the US who feverishly capitalise on this fear for their dubious ends. There are others in Israel that are genuinely terrified at the prospects of an independent Palestinian State and it helps no-one to belittle those fears which are amply borne out by the response by Hamas to any withdrawl of territory by Israel. Unless you and I can put ourselves in the position of those living close to a hypothetical border of any new Palest. State with Israel and the danger that this could pose to our respective families and loved ones on a day to day basis, the hard historical analysis which you brilliantly provide becomes, I respectfully suggest, somewhat empty.

It is only by connecting with those Israeli's that have not been completely brainwashed and seeking to allay their fears that Palestinians can convince them, as Nelson Mandela and others did, to take that "leap of faith". Hamas will need to be less ambiguous on the issue of Israel's existence (whether in private or public) or else there will be little incentive for Israel and Israel needs to find a way of side-stepping recognition as a pre-condition for negotiations lest the deadlock remain for ever.

God only knows how Israel will unscramble the mess they have created in the suburbs and enclaves of east Jerusalem and in the west bank and a land swap elsewhere may be the only alternative. The detail and patience required to unravel this can only take place in a situation of calm when rockets and suicide bombs cease and Israel needs to show more restaint if they are to ever elicit good will on the side of the Palestinians. I have no doubt that Nelson Mandela would sadly still be in jail had the ANC continued to adopt the current strategy of Hamas and South Africa would be a rather different place to what it is today had FW De Klerk refused to negotiate with Mandela because of his links to terrorism.

Finally I can relate one small anecdote about Mr Dershowitz. Many years ago he gave a talk in Johannesburg to a group of lawyers. It was shortly after the first democratic elections and one would have assumed that as a "civil rights" lawyer he would be addressing the burning racial/political issues of the day. Instead he spoke at length of the "new Anti-Semitism" which to the South Africans in the audience was about as relevant as you giving a seminar today on global warming to Palestinians or Israeli's. It was insulting (and bizaar) to say the least and I'd completely forgotten about him until I began reading your books recently.

Keep up the good work and all the best. Is there any chance you will be coming to London at some point ?

Kind regards

Brian Rom
London



From: christopherpreciado[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Re: RE: An Admirer
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 10:53:05 -0500

Dear Professor Finkelstein

My name is Christopher Preciado, I am sixteen years old, reside within the United States, and I absolutely admire your efforts in exposing truth, despite the overwhelming opposition from the despots, their lackeys and their sad-subjects the world round.

A few years ago, I, regrettably interpreted the world in the unrealistic manner of seeing it only as "it is", rather than what "it can be" or simply comparing different institutions of today to those of yesterday.

The knowledge I have obtained and continue to obtain from people like you is...entirely uplifting, a transition [as many use this analogy] "from darkness into light."

Ive read critiques and theories pertaining to the 'correct' way society ought to function[or not function], from anarchism, conserving capitalism, towards constructing Communism and only the latter I conform to because it is homogeneous to reality, to science. I am only 16, but I believe in a Socialist/Communist future, I believe in mankind, in those powerful tools for our development, cooperation, and its extension, compassion.

Ive heard you openly declare yourself of "still being a Communist." You said so in what sounded like a reluctant manner, was it or were you just excercising relaxed breathing from such a long lecture?

You say youre a Communist but, from the mainstream of your site and books, I read nothing that would turn people to Communism directly. Some would say the Arab/Palestine-Israel conflict is irrelevant to Capitalism, but I dont believe it is--especially when the U.S. Imperialist power is involved.

Im just a bit curious and Im not trying to stack you with more tasks to provide enlightment, because we both know, the future doesnt rest in the task of one individual, or in the beliefs of one individual.

Im sure youve been told this a thousand times over, but thank you Norman for dedicating yourself to the rightful place in humanities struggle for a better time. I know how many more times material wealth you can accumulate by simply switching sides and retarding our knowledge, in affect, retarding our development, but instead you do not. Friend, brother, father, youre living proof that we have long been due and are capable of an immense transformation in the relations of society.

Thank you for existing and living honestly Norman. Thank you for extending yourself to me and so many others.

-Christopher Preciado

P.S. You dont believe in an after life, but when will you ever die? Babeuf has not, Jesus hasnt, neither Mohammed, Marx, Debs, King Jr., Lenin and so forth, so long as humanity exists.

Sorry for the long e-mail.



From: "Ahmed Aden" ahmedaden[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Brilliant & HONEST Scholarship
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 11:57:33 -0400

Dr. Finkelstein,

First off, let me say that I admire the diligence & intellectual honesty you have brought towards the issue of the MidEast. I understand in this era of conformity & third-rate experts, it can be pretty frustrating for you to have to be subjected to the attempted marginalization & alienation of the academic community. This must be all the more agonizing when you can, and have, run circles around the 'experts' making frequent appearances on the circus media networks. The fact that the issues experts like you & Noam Chomsky are never on mainstream networks like CNN or FOXNews is effective censorship in my mind. I wonder what it will take to get a free press here.

Secondly, I have listened to your debates with Alan Dershowitz and I must say you were the undisputed authority. But then again, you are a lifelong honest & objective student of the issue while Alan Dershowitz is a professional specializing in the ability to eloquently defend criminals against the rule of law. Despite showing only a superficial understanding of the issue at hand, his constant interjections & his ability to creatively articulate nonsense provided for his only defense against the factual onslaught he was subjected to. I guess with recent reports of grade inflation among the student body, and apparent plagiarism & dishonest analysis among the faculty, Harvard University is not what it once was.

I think it was quite shameful and reflected very poorly on Mr. Dershowitz that he kept interrupting you any time you began to formulate a point, despite you remaining perfectly silent throughout the duration of his time, I just saw right through that. You might as well have debated Bill O'Reilly. I guess the technique of 'silencing the opposition' is such a common technique that it works even in face-to-face debates. Your reductio ad absurdum was quite entertaining.

I think you are making more of a difference than is readily apparent. Unfortunately, it says much about the current state of honest research/scholarship when Amnesty Int'l is replaced for Sony Pictures as academic sources. I look forward to reading all of your books.

I encourage you to put this e-mail on your website in the hopes that Mr. Dershowitz can have an opportunity to see how the average person feels about his lack of professionalism in scholarly debate forums.

I have just purchased your book 'Beyond Chutzpah' and plan to read it in conjunction 'Failed States' by Dr. Noam Chomsky.

Thanks,
Ahmed



New Reader letter Re: "Should Alan Dershowitz Target Himself for Assassination?"



From: wjferrari[at]comcast.net
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Definitions of "Anti-semitism"
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 13:22:51 +0000

Dear Professor Finkelstein

I learned much from "Beyond Chutzpah" and have begun visiting your website which I find useful.

I wonder whether you are aware of the three definitions given for the term "Anti-semitism" in the Merriam-Webster International Dictionary. Opposition to zionism and to the policies of Israel would each meet one definition, and the third definition relates to the irrational hatred of Jews because they are Jews. The dictionary maintains that the definitions are based on usage and that they have been in place since the fifties. apparently there are no plans to revisit this anamoly in the near term.

The obvious problem is one of conflation. Those who describe criticism of Israeli policy as anti-semitic make use of the same conflation with the intent of smearing the party being critical of Israel with the opprobrium of being an anti-semite in the irrational sense. The Oxford Dictionary has but one definition going to the irrational bias against Jews so that the same conflation is not contemplated or insinuated.

I do not know what can be done about this muddle, but the discourse in the US is muddled enough without this obviously loaded semantic confusion.

Were you aware of this situation? What should/can be done about it?

Keep up your important fight for truth and integrity. People like Dershowitz need to be tackled. Academia in general has not been up to the task with a few exceptions, although your ranks may be swelling--Cole, Mearshimer, Walt, and Said(decsd).

Very truly yours,

William J. Ferrari



To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Thank You!
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 09:14:25 -0500

Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I recently visited your website and had a chance to listen to your lecture called "Is Criticism of Israel Anti-Semitism?" Being an American-Muslim who was born in Afghanistan but raised here in the U.S., I am always angered by how horrible Muslims, especially Arabs, are depicted in the media, while Israelis are made to look like they are defending their right to exist against the "evil Arab war-mongers" set on "destroying them." As you can imagine, it was a breath of fresh air to listen to your lecture, which I found both informative and scholarly. I just wanted to take a few seconds of your time to thank you for your honesty and to let you know that I greatly admire your courage (as I'm sure you have to stand up to pro-Israeli groups constantly attempting to attack your character). You have my utmost respect.

P.S. - I just ordered a couple of your books and look forward to reading them as soon as they arrive!

Kindest regards,
Hemayat



From: "WL Fencl, Tracey" WilliamsLeaOperator9227[at]orrick.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: What is wrong with you?
Date: Sun, 13 Aug 2006 09:52:55 -0400

How can you be so stupid and purposely obtuse? Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, backed by Iran & Syria, bent on the destruction of Israel and all Jews of the world. Did you not realize you are a Jew and as soon as they get the chance you will be one of those they want exterminated?

Why would you not believe monsters when they say over and over again that they want you dead?

You are exactly like the appeasers of the Nazis in 1939: On the wrong side of history and endangering all of us.

You are a silly, stupid, reckless man. And I hope one day you will see the error of your ways and have the opportunity to apologize for it.



From: Marl L bzik_01[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf [at] hotmail.com
Subject: just curious
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 16:32:05 -0700 (PDT)

Hey "professor":

Incidentally, are there any former students of yours among Hezbollah "fighters"? Or among those muslims that were arrested in UK for plotting a terrorist act on planes heading for US? ..... I wouldn't be surprised...

I'm just curious. Also, does your kappo mama comes to you in your dreams when you sleep. Do you have sex with her in your dreams? I'm just trying to find a proof (based on your example) of Zigmund Freud's theory. You are a classic example.

Another question: did you get a raise for your selfless work from your arab masters? You are on their payroll, aren't you?... Again... just curious.





Dear Norman,

You've been posting very useful material in your website.

The images of young Isreali girls writing messages to the shells were revealing and your title "Hitlerjugend" was an appropriate choice. To comment the note of the writer who urged you to change it - the members of Hitler's youthmovement obviously didn't know what they were supporting. As innocent and warm as a child's mind usually is it can be easily twisted by propaganda, telling false and cheap tales about the enemy who want to see all the kids and their parents and siblings dead. Pictures of Jewish little girls writing to missiles which are intended to traumatize and wipe out hundreds of children are undoubtedly an immemorial reference in the annals of the Jewish people who are finally becoming, as disgusting as it is, an isolated and hystrerical group of fanatical supporters of massive, open and terribly destructive war crimes, aggression and massacres.

I recommend my fellow-activists and those who're interested to visit your website as a great source of information on the ongoing war, so don't slow down!

Yours in the struggle for truth,

-Bruno.





Hi,

Thanks for the kind reply. Below is the letter to Jessica, as you requested. Thanks for putting on the web site. I resisted revising or adding adding anything to the letter - including the recent Human Rights Watch report specifically documenting the destruction of infrastructure in Lebanon as excessive and highly unrelated to defense against Hezbollah. I'm sure others will note that on the site.

I finished "Beyond Chutzpah". Very provocative and informative. I'm literally heading off for vacation in a few hours, but will follow up in a couple weeks after I return.

BTW - how do you prefer to be addressed - as Norman, or Prof. Finkelstein?

***


8/2/06

Jessica,

Several weeks ago, I considered writing a reply to your posts of June 24 and July 7, but time did not permit. And you've written again on July 20. In light of recent events in Qana , what you've written - and my desire to respond - seems almost trivial; but I believe your sentiments to be passionate, heartfelt and honest. So I am writing now. I hope you take my words in the same spirit that I have taken yours.

June 24:

You write the following: "As for [Finkelstein's] book 'The Holocaust Industry', just imagine an African American professor writing a book entitled 'the Slavery Industry'? Imagine that same author lambasting African Americans for 'exploiting' the suffering of blacks centuries ago, complaining that there are too many black Colleges, charging that all black organizations are corrupt, and protesting that America celebrates Black History Month every year? Sure, Bubba and the brainwashed bunch in the KKK (and pretty much anyone else that dislikes blacks) would praise this author for having the 'courage' to write such crap. But would that really make any sense?".

Notwithstanding your bigotry toward southerners (I'll give my regards to "Bubba" for you), at best, your analogy is excessively strained. You're obviously implying that African Americans (and, for present purposes, let's extend that to other black African descendants) and Jews are both "oppressed groups", but that you believe it's too politically-incorrect to "lambast" African Americans, while it's quite easy and "acceptable" to do so to Jews. In the real world I'd rather not suspend such disbelief; but I'll give you benefit of the doubt for the moment and accept these premises, unconditionally.

Now, I agree with you that it would be "senseless" to argue that blacks are "exploiting" the concept of slavery, because they have been the victims of exploitation and oppression historically under slavery; and the inequities which have accrued as a result of those historical realities persist today. Certainly, Jews also have been exploited and oppressed historically, culminating in the horrors of the Holocaust. And to the extent that Jews continue to suffer as the result of those historical realities, such criticism that they are "exploiting" the concept of the Holocaust is equally senseless.

But consider a hypothetical scenario: Suppose there were a nation founded by freed slaves (some of whom from America) - Liberia, for instance. Let's suppose Liberia was founded by driving a large population of indigenous non-slaves (for our purposes, "non-blacks") from their homes, and later occupied its neighbors' lands, in contravention of myriad UN resolutions. Let's suppose further that they have systematically brutalized non-black segments of their own population, and created an apartheid-like system favoring blacks. Let's suppose they've created a Bantustan-inspired system of land distribution, separating non-black populations culturally and physically, and retaining prime land, resources and infrastructure for themselves. Let's suppose that Liberia inflicts upon its non-black population ignominies which make daily life oppressive and virtually impossible, including caging vast numbers of them into a tiny area with unsuitable access to food, water, shelter, employment, education, medicine and living space, and forcing them to spend most of their time jumping through hoops at interminable numbers of checkpoints, where they are routinely harassed, humiliated - and even beaten and killed. Suppose they routinely use collective punishment against non-blacks, raiding homes in the middle of the night and terrifying them, imprisoning thousands without charge or trial, and bulldozing the family homes of the "suspects". Suppose the non-blacks and some of Liberia's neighbors lash out and resist, despite having virtually no way to defend themselves - using rocks, crude bombs and poor weaponry, and even resorting to suicide bombings as an act of (what should be obvious to everyone) utter desperation - against the Liberian Defense Force, which coincidentally is by far the strongest military force in the region (and which uses the world's most sophisticated weaponry, supported economically, politically and militarily by the world's dominant superpower). And let's suppose that while major human rights organizations uniformly (and rightly) condemn many of the non-blacks' and their neighbors' brutality, these organizations are far more vehement in condemning the nature and scope of black Liberia's brutality, noting that they are in clear breach of international humanitarian law, and often commit atrocities tantamount to war crimes, far more often and excessively than do their counterparts.

Now, given this hypothetical situation, suppose Finkelstein, or I, or any non-black speaks out against Liberia's policies, and Liberia complains that we're all just a bunch of bigots, because they're the descendants of slaves. Would that even pass the laugh test?? Or suppose Cornell West writes a book about Liberia called "The Slavery Industry", arguing that the "slavery card" is immaterial here because the facts on the ground clearly indicate that black Liberians have now become the aggressors and oppressors, and that (some) black educational institutions and groups like the "American-Liberian Public Affairs Committee" intentionally distort these facts to deflect criticism - and blacks accuse him of being "anti-black" or a "self-hating black". Would you - or any reasonable person - even consider such a ludicrous accusation??? Of course not.

But Jessica, you are asking us to do precisely that.

Perhaps you take comfort in playing the blame game and revising history, by denying that Israel acts in precisely the manner as this "hypothetical Liberia". But Israel does - and no amount of denial changes this. The horrors of the Holocaust do not ameliorate or justify its brutality and ruthlessness. Criticism of those acts - and exposing those who exploit the Holocaust to insulate themselves from such criticism, as Finkelstein does in "The "Holocaust Industry" - should not be conflated with "anti-Semitism"; on the contrary, it casts legitimate claims of suffering in a more meaningful light.

But you can take comfort in knowing that you are not alone. After all, there is precedent for such denial. Nazis - taking one example - were quite cunning and sophisticated in portraying Jews as victimizers, justifying "ghettoization" (perhaps now to be re-named "Gaza-ization???) and expulsion (hmmmm), then isolation in concentration camps (hmmmmmmm) - while condemning Jewish resistance as the acts of law-breakers and "terrorists".

And you may take comfort in pointing out that Palestinians and Israel's neighbors are capable of ruthlessness and horrific brutality - rightly condemned to the extent it occurs. But oppressors always demonize the legitimate resistance methods of the oppressed. "Good Germans" had a knack for it; so did slave owners, and those who massacred Native Americans - as well as the British Empire in the 18th Century, portraying colonial resistance as "terrorism", using today's parlance. Sadly, "Good Americans", "Good Jews" and "Good Israelis" have a knack for this kind of demonization now.

But right now, under current circumstances, there is no comparison between the brutality perpetrated by Israel, which commits far more extensive and heinous aggression and "terrorism" than their counterparts in Palestine and Lebanon, including Hamas and Hezbollah. Much of the resistance shown by occupied Palestine (and now Lebanon - again) is justified, your protestations to the contrary (and the fact of the Holocaust) notwithstanding. Unless you are completely misinformed, or wantonly self-deluded, or value the lives of Jews a priori over Arabs, there is no other conclusion to draw. Focusing on the relatively small amount of Arab/Palestinian brutality is absurd. (And let me emphasize "relatively" here - this is not a justification of Arab and Palestinian brutality, which is never insignificant, no matter how little in comparison to Israel - and those who deny or justify brutality toward Israel are equally guilty of self-delusion).

Now, before you start bashing me for "comparing" or "likening" Israel to the Nazis - a favorite tactic of the right, Jewish and Gentile alike - let me assure you that is NOT my point. As brutal as Israel is, it does not reach such horrific standards of inflicting suffering; nor do I subscribe to the notion that Israel has genocidal intentions. I only use this example to point out that Israel justifies its own viciousness by using the same flimsy type of argument (and propaganda) as so many other vicious oppressors of the past - they just use a slightly different "spin".

Jessica, undoubtedly you are an intelligent person - but I challenge you to look in the mirror and re-evaluate your own moral position, as you so passionately plea Finkelstein to do. You may be surprised with what you see.

A couple quick additional points re: the June 24 post:

- You offer NO evidence to support your assertions that Prof. Finkelstein criticizes Jewish organizations, inter-alia. I doubt you can offer any, because none exists, as far as I can see. Finkelstein criticizes some organizations, but certainly not all. But I'm open to correction, so I challenge you to find any documented example where he criticizes ALL of them, or even most - please let me know if you do.

- Perhaps your criticism is fair that Finkelstein doesn't appropriately (or vehemently enough) condemn Palestinian and Arab brutality. Perhaps he should do a better job (on his web site and elsewhere) of reinforcing the idea that one atrocity doesn't justify another. I have two requests in this regard: 1) Since I don't know your writings, I can only presume that you spend equal time posting criticism of similar bias on the countless pro-Israeli web sites. After all, since there are all sorts of "one-sided", "Finkelstein-type" summaries of Palestinian aggression on the web (like the one you've presented on June 24 as an example of bias), please refer me to those sites where you've posted your criticism. If you have not done so, then your assertion that you're concerned about "correcting bias" is specious. 2) Please provide any legitimate example, in-context, where Finkelstein ever provides such a silly type of list - or even implies that doing so would be of any value. Please remember - the operative idea here is "in context".

- You make the following assertion: "So stop your propaganda [Prof. Finkelstein]. Have some integrity. Look at both sides of the coin. Why don't you write about how the Arab world, including Palestinians, teach their children that Jews never lived in Israel, that the Holocaust is nothing more than a myth designed to create the State of Israel, that the Jews conspire to dominate and corrupt the world, (etc)? What about the fact that anti-Jewish propaganda books like 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion" are used in their schools? Hatred toward the Jews is fed to students like fuel to fire. But you don't write about that, do you?".

A couple points in response: 1) I have heard such claims, but have yet to see independent evidence. Could you please provide examples of how widespread this disinformation campaign is, using independent sources (the operative word being "independent" - AIPAC, the ADL and Israeli State Dept. and their affiliates don't qualify). 2) Again, in your desire for "fairness", please show me where you address "the other side of the coin" on pro-Israeli and pro-Jewish sites. After all - as I'm sure you've heard, too - among other erroneous historical revisions, Jewish Israeli children don't learn about the Occupation, are told the land was barren and sparsely populated when Israel was founded, and learn justifications for Arab subjugation. Recently, Israeli children wrote cute little messages on rockets, which are to be used on Lebanese children (oh, forgive me - I mean "terrorists"). And I wonder - do they still learn that "There is no Palestine"?? Again, I'm sure you've adequately corrected such disinformation on those sites, and I look forward to reading it. 3) What's your point about bringing these issues up?? When I was in school, in the U.S, I learned to salute the flag and recite "The Pledge Of Allegiance" before I had any idea what the words meant. I was taught that "Columbus discovered America", and never learned a thing about the wholesale slaughter of Native Americans. I learned that all the "Founding Fathers" were "great men", that America is the land of opportunity, welcoming all and loved by all, the greatest country ever - and everyone wants to be just like America! Capitalism good; communism bad - and communists conspire to dominate and corrupt the world. (Oh goody, now we have "terrorists" - my kids learn about "them"). We don't dominate - we spread joy and hope. We only go to war when we have to, and we have the most compassionate military ever, which fights for freedom and democracy for everyone around the world! We learned that slavery was bad but that we know better now, and everyone is free and equal and we have no class system, and everything is a meritocracy here and everyone has the same amount of opportunity. We are unique, better and the envy of the rest of the world. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...

Get my point??

Perhaps Finkelstein doesn't address these issues - I suppose he could, but my question is, why would he bother??

- You wonder why Prof. Finkelstein is so "one-sided" with respect to Palestine. I won't presume to speak for him, but here are two possibilities to explain his approach: 1) Israel is in a far greater position of power over Palestine and its neighbors, and abuses that power to such an extent that it deserves the lion's share of criticism. 2) Despite overwhelming evidence of Israel's abuses and aggression, mainstream U.S media are so biased in favor of Israel that someone has to provide balance. Americans are inundated with detailed accounts of Israeli suffering and casualties when they occur, but hear virtually nothing about the (far worse) suffering of Palestinians and other Arabs at the hands of Israelis - especially in the context of daily life under suffocating, miserable apartheid-like conditions in Gaza. I don't know what country you live in, or what news media you use, Jessica; but here in the U.S, the pro-Israel bias borders on the comical. If you are American, unless you're fortunate enough to get Pacifica, or BBC, or some other foreign news source, you can be forgiven for thinking Finkelstein is "one-sided" - America's propaganda machine demands nothing less.

- Lastly, your questioning Prof. Finkelstein's "Jewishness" couldn't be more irrelevant. I am at a loss as to why you even bring this up.

July 7:

You accuse Prof. Finkelstein of "manipulating facts". You use the links to newspaper articles which his supporters use, in an attempt to discredit those supporters and bolster your own position.

Sigh. This is a wonderful example of how taking things out of context can be so compelling, yet be completely inappropriate and lead to egregious logical errors. Here goes:

1) I listened to the debate on Democracy Now in full. I have re-read the transcript. You are correct - Prof. Finkelstein did say that Sharon hailed the bombing of Gaza, in which 14 Palestinian civilians died as "one of the greatest acts in Israeli history". AIPAC's Josh Block, and you, call this a "lie".

Let's look at the situation, and the facts. This comment came at the very end of the debate, where the ever-obtrusive Mr. Block interrupted Finkelstein, to where he could barely get a word in edgewise, and Amy Goodman immediately ended the debate before there was any opportunity for clarification.

Yes, I suppose this was a poor choice of words on the professor's part - but under the circumstances, I doubt any of us could have done much better. But more importantly, it was (or should have been) obvious to everyone that the debate was addressing a military operation, so perhaps Prof. Finkelstein should have said Sharon hailed this as "one of the greatest successes in Israeli military history", in case anyone out there was unable to see the forest for the trees.

If you really want to quibble over the word "success" vs. "act" in the context of a debate which was ending under heavy interruption, then by all means, go ahead and quibble. I'd rather not waste my time.

But wait - you claim that Sharon was hailing the (ahem, illegal, extra-judicial) assassination of a "terrorist" (yes, illegal, despite your belief that it shouldn't be), and that Israel "apologized" for the loss of civilian lives associated with this "great success".

Israel "apologized" - really?? According to your own logic, that's a LIE - because 1) Sharon merely expressed "regret", he did not "apologize". I regretted the loss of life, too, but I hardly would apologize for it. Regret does not equal apology - apology confers admission of responsibility for one's actions, and the attendant consequences of those actions. Regret confers neither - legally, ethically or logically. 2) Even if you believe Sharon's comments were meant as an apology, they were not given in an "official" capacity. Had he done so, there would have been prima facie legal ramifications.

Finkelstein's "lie", as you call it, was under the pressure of a poorly-moderated oral debate; you had time to research and write your comments. What's your excuse???

Ahh, but that's just a semantic quibble - as I said, why bother, right???

So let's say, for argument's sake, that Sharon's comments truly amounted to an apology - even an official one. Let's then turn to your "evidence" - the links to the two web sites - which you claim constitutes "proof" of how "gullible" Finkelstein's supporters are.

First:

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/07/23/mideast.reaction/index.html

Yes, indeed - you are so right, Jessica - Sharon called assassinating the Hamas "terrorist" a "great success" and gave the attendant comment about regret - along with the nonsense about how Israel is always "sorry" when civilians are "struck" (struck? like a slap in the face???). How touching.

But here's the real context - the article begins as follows:

"JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has described an attack on a residential area of Gaza City which killed at least 15 people, including seven children, as "a great success" because it killed its target -- a Hamas military leader.

But the airstrike has received widespread condemnation from across the international community, including Middle East nations, the European Union and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. (Full story)

The White House said Tuesday that the action was 'heavy handed' and 'does not contribute to peace.'"

The point of the article is that ISRAEL RECEIVED WIDESPREAD CONDEMNATION FOR THIS ACT - EVEN FROM THE BUSH WHITE HOUSE. And the link to the Full Story above goes into greater detail, citing specifics of official condemnation from all over the globe.

And then:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,762246,00.html

Again, the lead paragraphs:

"Israel faced searing international criticism yesterday after an airstrike which tore into a teeming neighbourhood of Gaza City, killing a Palestinian militant leader as well as nine children who were sleeping nearby.

As the international community lined up to condemn the attack, the United States, normally Israel's staunchest ally, called the missile strike 'heavy handed'. Arab politicians were less mild, describing the attack as a war crime and a massacre.

The Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon had earlier hailed the assassination of the founder of the military wing of Hamas, Salah Shehada, as a 'great success', despite the total death toll of 15".

Yes, a "great success" - DESPITE the total death toll of 15.

The second article continues in similar fashion to the first.

Read both these articles - what is there to misconstrue??? Note how no one - well, no one sane, anyway - accepted Israel's laughable "justifications", including the ever-popular (and unconscionably cynical) "human shield" ruse. This is especially tragic and ironic, considering Israel's most recent "defensive maneuver" in Qana - same atrocities, different decade.

Who's "gullible", Jessica?? And who "venomously manipulates facts"????

For the record, if you want to justify Israel's aggression, have the integrity and internal consistency to do so without speciously citing references which actually do the opposite. But more importantly, Jessica, you speak of "morality " - so does it really, truly matter to you whether or not someone says "great act" or "great military success" in a debate, when the world decries the results?? Does it matter if Israel expresses regret, or apologizes, considering it continues the same pattern of abuse, aggression and lies, over and over again?? Is that really the kind of "morality" you cherish?

July 20:

- You write the following: "Since you [Finkelstein] are so particular on International Law and condemn those that break it, why are you not speaking out against Hezbollah's recent crimes against Israel? Let's face it, Hezbollah clearly broke International Law by disregarding the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, which unequivocally calls for 'all Lebanese militias to disband.'"

I don't know what specific sources you reference when you claim Prof. Finkelstein is "so particular on International Law and [condemning] those that break it", so I can't evaluate the context; but you mention U.N Resolution 1559 - and thanks for doing so. Perhaps Lebanon will take the same liberties with this Resolution that Israel took with Resolution 425, and take, oh, 22 years to comply - partially. It would have been pleasant if Israel had taken the time to COMPLETELY withdraw after 2000, or cede all the land it was supposed to have ceded (admittedly still a contentious issue, despite the UN's "official" blue-line demarcation - so spare me any claim that this is "fully resolved"), or remove the thousands of landmines which continue to kill and maim children in south Lebanon, or return some of the hundreds of Lebanese hostages still held without charge or trial in Israel (hostage exchanges occurred as recently as 2004), rather than invade and destroy Lebanon, killing hundreds of innocents and displacing hundreds of thousands more, generating more and more recruits for Hezbollah.

I don't know if you take the yammering of Herr GW Bush seriously, thinking that all that needs to be done to disarm Hezbollah (as if that would translate into "lasting peace") is have Syria tell them to play nice; or have the (pardon my fit of laughter) Lebanese army disband them. Maybe on your planet starting another civil war in Lebanon would be a viable "solution"; but here on Earth, most of us recognize that popular resistance movements - even ones with significant opposition inside their own borders, like Hezbollah - aren't easily subdued by a weak military against its own population.

Of course, popular support of Hezbollah inside Lebanon has increased recently, esp. in light of Qana - which should surprise no one (outside of the historically and contextually-challenged US). Sadly, history repeats itself often enough in that part of the world. Anyway, Israel's actions to "disarm Hezbollah" has had the perverse (yet predictable) result of making it more difficult for Lebanon to comply with 1559. Makes one wonder if Israel is incredibly stupid, or if they (or perhaps an unnamed superpower??) have another agenda...

- Again, you probably see a whole lot of criticism of Israel on Prof. Finkelstein's site because ISRAEL'S ACTIONS HAVE BEEN HEAVY-HANDED, BRUTAL AND EXCESSIVE!! No surprise there - again, history repeats itself. It seems everybody outside of the US, Israel and Britain understands this. And again, perhaps you won't find much criticism of Hezbollah on the site because Fox, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, Turner broadcasting, PBS, NPR, AP, AM radio and most US newspapers do a fine enough job of it for him. And unless something "dramatic" (like Qana) occurs, few in the US are willing to document the casualties and suffering of the Lebanese - so we should be thankful that Prof. Finkelstein is willing to do so - in the interest of balance, as you so strongly advocate.

- Your claim that "Hezbollah started this war" doesn't pass the laugh test - even in the context of the current Lebanon hostage-taking and (renewed) Israeli invasion fiasco. Skirmishes over the disputed region occur regularly, even after 2000. Both sides have legitimate (and illegitiamte) claims, and both sides use tactics which leave much to be desired. I'll leave you to look up the historical details of the Israel-Lebanon dispute and draw your own conclusions - but here's a hint: avoid the AIPAC, Fox News or "Historyguy" web sites - though the latter most likely is far more accurate than the other two. Avoid "official" sources from Syria, Lebanon and Israel, too.

- Time doesn't permit placing Israel's devastation of Lebanese infrastructure in proper geopolitical context; but claiming this is merely to "immobilize Hezbollah" - as if that is the only significant consequence, even if this were true (see below) - is horribly callous. At best, it amounts to collective punishment. Here are a few interviews by Robert Fisk (no friend of Hezbollah) and others, which somewhat address these issues. These were conducted on one news source (Democracy Now!) over a three week period - so please read them with proper skepticism - but do not dismiss them.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/17/1423257

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/13/1421237

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/14/146258

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/17/1423257

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/19/1345257

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/20/1434252

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/21/1431251

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/24/1439239

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/26/147212

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/27/1423241

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/28/1440244

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/31/1435219

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/01/1434244

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/01/1434249

One additional point: we should reasonably suspect that Israel's destruction of Lebanese infrastructure has little to do with "immobilizing Hezbollah". Preliminary eyewitness accounts suggest that the targets are too widespread, too far outside of Hezbollah's strongholds, too militarily insignificant, and too injurious to civilians to make such a claim credible. Too bad UNIFIL isn't there to observe. And if the history of the Palestinian occupied territories is a template, then our suspicions should be heightened. If you're interested, let me refer you to a book which offers fine analysis of the devastating effects of Israel's draconian policies of destroying Palestinian infrastructure. It's called "Beyond Chutzpah", by Prof. Norman Finkelstein. In it, you will find detailed references to primary source reports from multiple human rights organizations - most notably Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Israel's own B'Tselem - detailing the extent and egregious nature of these policies. After you buy the book, you can look up these references yourself and study the reports, in case you question Finkelstein's scholarship.

- You make the following statement: "Now imagine if Hezbollah had Israel's kind of sophisticated military weaponry and technology, what do you think they would have done to Israel? They surely would have wiped Israel off the map a long time ago."

Really?? I offer a possible alternative scenario - today, if Hezbollah had Israel's weaponry (and for fun, let's add unconditional support from a mythical superpower, rivaling the US), then we wouldn't be having this discussion. Israel wouldn't be so bold as to attack. Like all aggressors, they strike only when they foresee having clear military advantage. If the playing field were level, Lebanon (and Hezbollah) wouldn't have to resort to the "tactics of the weak" (what you probably call "terrorism"), and would be in a position to negotiate with Israel - and neither would dare attack in the first place. And if Lebanon had even modestly comparable defenses to Israel in the '70s then there would have been no invasion by Israel in the late '70s (nor would there have been any of the previous attacks from Lebanon, used by Israel as pretexts for invasion and occupation) - and therefore no Hezbollah now.

It's a sad commentary that "balance of power" seems to be a viable peace "solution" in a morally imbalanced world. Perhaps this imbalanced world has learned its lesson from U.S-occupied Iraq - just ask Iran, North Korea and any other country now willing to tear up arms-control treaties, lest they be next.

- And lastly: Again, enough with questioning Prof. Finkelstein's "Jewishness". It's tiresome, irrelevant and undermines your credibility, esp. when you make self-contradictory statements in the process (i.e., since "Jewish law" stipulates that atheists can be Jews - and it does, provided one's heritage is Jewish - then using your logic, Jewish law is akin to the "Nazi theoretical definition of a Jew", and such law therefore "supports Nazi ideology"). Israeli law, in case you've forgotten, takes a similar position vis-a-vis "right of return" based on Jewish "heritage", not practice. So if you have a problem with this, consult your local Rabbi and local Israeli consulate, and air your complaints to them.

The pretzel logic of your remaining comments about "Jewishness" is so twisted, that I honestly can't follow them; but at least they go well with a cold beer.

- - Look, Jessica - if I have been hard on you, it's because you have been unnecessarily harsh on Prof. Finkelstein. I did so to make a point. As I said before, I believe you are sincere, intelligent and passionate - but there is no doubt in my mind that Finkelstein is, too. That you construe him to be hateful suggests you either haven't read his work, or you are blinded by your own myopic view of Israel's critics - or both. And that isn't to say I agree with every position he takes; but I respect his courage, honesty, scholarship, integrity and passion - and I'd like to think that reasonable people can still disagree, even in such unreasonable times.

Yet don't confuse passion or sincerity with reason, or moral grounding, or logical argument, or factual understanding, or contextual analysis, or objectivity. I do not question your motives for holding (or sharing) your views; you would show much wisdom if you checked your passion at the door and gave Prof. Finkelstein the same courtesy. He is not a paid hack - like the pandering Mr. Block of AIPAC, who does not deserve such respect. There are hacks with ulterior motives on both sides of the fence. I believe you and Finkelstein are not among them; but the kinds of groundless personal attacks you make, and the lack of cogent analysis and logical argument you present, sadly is tantamount to such "hackery".

If you disagree with Prof. Finkelstein's (or anyone else's) logic, analysis, or presentation of facts, then use better logic, analysis and facts than they do. Use your passion to guide these things, not to supplant them. In the end, you might find that you can learn from each other.

One final comment - your criticisms tend to focus on the direct conflict between Israel and Palestine/Arab nations. Clearly important - but look beyond this to understand the real geopolitical issues. Israel, Palestine and the Middle East are pawns in a giant chess game through which the US, European States, Japan and (increasingly) China, India and South American countries jockey for economic, cultural and military superiority - or at least try to stem the U.S march toward global hegemony and "full spectrum dominance". Do you not realize that Israel plays the part of Sparta as the U.S plays Roman Empire?? Do you not realize that U.S aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan, its hostilities toward Syria and Iran, its new oil pipelines and military bases in the region (as well as the former Soviet states), its desired acces to water there, its posturing toward North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba (and anywhere else leaders have the audacity to act independently, i.e., not acceding to the interests of global economic power), its antipathy for the intended legal, humanitarian and multilateral goals of the UN and other world governing bodies, the so-called "War on Terror", global capital concentration, dollar hegemony, international development banking, media conglomeration, and the current Israeli conflicts with Palestine and Lebanon, are ALL related??? Do you not realize that many of these related issues have decades-old (and even centuries-old) interconnections which impact current circumstances, with political, economic and social ramifications that extend far beyond "tribal hatred", or cultural differences between Arabs and Jews, or Christians and Muslims, or fundamentalist vs. secularist leaders, or the tyrant-du-jour favored by the (insert dominant western-power-of-the-era here) vs. the previous tyrant favored by that power???

And do you actually believe the insane propaganda spewed by many of today's so-called "leaders" that "terrorism" (whatever the hell that really means) is the "root" of the region's problems - rather than the "fruit"???

These issues are complex and often gray, but I challenge you to open your eyes and ears. Read, and listen - a lot - about the nature and details of global power. Find alternative sources to the corporate media - from the left, right and middle. Put things in context and perspective. Then draw your own conclusions and get back to Finkelstein. If you do these things, I suspect your intelligence, passion, and morality will serve you well; and maybe you can make a real difference in the world. Lord knows, more people have to.

Bob Selcoe



Dear Norman,

Please keep up your work, despite the bile and the lies directed at you. Frightening times for us all [especially in Gaza and Lebanon] Many thanks for your pursuit of the truth.

From an Englishman disgusted by his government
John





Keep up the good work!

you ARE making a big difference, I swear.

your friend,
Steve H



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I want to warn you that this guy named Hassan Mahmood is sending out emails attacking you. I knew him in college. He was kind of fishy. He used to attend all the Middle East events even though he was very anti-Arab and anti-Muslim. He drove around town in a very fancy car and wore very flashy clothes. He told of us he came from a poor Middle Eastern family so we began to wonder where he gets all his money from. (He didn't have a job.) In senior year he hung around with the Hillel crowd a lot and I heard he went off to Israel for several months. Maybe it's all coincidences and a carried-away imagination, but when I saw him defending stupid Irshad Manji and trying to cause you trouble I couldn't help but remember him and wonder. Good luck!

T.S.



Now, read this, bitch! And again, rest assured - I'm not going to tell to your arab masters that you read it. Don't worry, the paycheck you get from them won't be affected.

In a recent interview, General Norman Schwartzkopf was asked if he thought there was room for forgiveness toward Hizbollah. The General said, - "I believe that forgiving Hizbollah is God's function. The Israeli's job is to arrange the meeting ."

Marl L.



Hi Norman,

Good site & good content. I will come back and read more when time permits.

Couple of random points in no particular order

Re-Wars = My meek view is that there is a lot of fighting over nothing.

My mother used to shout at my brothers & I, that we would fight over who owned a piece of dog shit, and she was right. This instinct seems to carry on well into old age for large numbers of people. Though I have to agree with my wife that it's generally speaking, a male trait. (Which sex are most leaders of most countries?). With this in mind I wonder if, with global warming, that all of the middle east will be barren desert within a very few years anyway?

If you go back far enough in any scientific or religious theory about where humans come from we always spring from the same mother & father. All of us on this planet. All differnces between us have been constructed in our minds, they are not real. We all (with exception of those who are mentally ill) want the same things, and react the same way to differnt stimuli. "If you cut me, do I not bleed?"

Sometime, way back when, somebody threw the first punch, some time in the future when we all grow older & wiser someone will choose to recieve the last blow & make peace. But to make peace you have to talk to your enemy, punching him is very unlikely to get him to see your point of view.

Don





Dear Sir,

I raise my voice in sorrow and horror at the bloodshed and devastation in Lebanon. The recent Israeli killing of four unarmed UN observers and the horrifying Qana massacre claiming more than 50 Lebanese civilian lives, most of whom were children, are merely an extension of the ongoing Israeli barbarity that has claimed the lives of more than 700 Lebanese civilians since the commencement of the Israeli aggression against Lebanon. These atrocities by Israel CANNOT be justified in any way and yet they continue with the onslaught, totally disregarding all international calls for a cessation of the carnage. The unfortunate United States support for Israel has done nothing but smear the values that the United States stands for and promotes in the name of democracy throughout the world, knowing fully that these irresponsible actions will only fuel more anti-American sentiments that the United States should be keen on eliminating since its devastating mission in Iraq. How long will it be until the United States realizes that its biased outlook on the Middle East conflict will not achieve the lasting peace that everyone calls for? I hence ask of you, for the sake of humanity and the values of which you hold dear, to call upon all those in power to stop the Israeli aggression immediately and pave the way for diplomacy as a mean for a just solution for the entire Middle East conflict.

Regards,
Tarik Kaawash
Palestinian & Lebanese & Human




From: David Abrams gamecrazy500[at]yahoo.com
Reply-To: David Abrams gamecrazy500[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Uncle Tom
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 19:02:21 -0700 (PDT)

You're an Uncle Tom piece of shit. You should be ashamed of yourself for contributing to and inciting Anti-Semitism.



From: dwasser[at]ride.ri.net
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Re: HITLERJUGEND Israeli children sends gifts to Lebanese children:
Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2006 00:29:12 -0400

Norman,

I thank you for your courage in speaking out against the violence done by Israel. I am a Jew who spent years in Israel, have close >ties to Israelis both as friends and family, and have a great love of the people and the country. That said, I am disturbed by how fear has transformed us from victim to victimizer. It is very painful, and has caused me to seek ways to bring about peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Arabs, Jews, Muslims, Christians.

I found this page on your site:

normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=260 While I am horrified that Jewish adults would allow and encourage >children to view a bomb as anything other than a terrible tool of death, I am troubled by what I feel is an inaccurate characterization of what is going in the picture. Obviously, I was not there, I only can see what the photos show, but reading both the Hebrew and the English writing on the bombs, I see no evidence that the girls in the picture are addressing their messages to Lebanese children. In fact, the one clear English message in the first photo says "Nazralah" (referring to Hezbollah leader >Nasrallah). In the Hebrew, I see it says "I have waited for this, Nasrallah."

So, though the picture is disturbing in its own right, it does not show what the text implies, i.e. Israeli children sending wishes of death and dismemberment to Lebanese children. I think that we who work for peace and truth bear a solemn responsibility to the truth. We can not engage in propaganda for either side, but must see both sides as victims of fear and hatred and work to uplift people and call them to their humanity.

I hope that you will either remove the page from your site, or correct the misperception. I think it is possible to awaken people to the terrible plight of the Lebanese children, and arouse deep sympathy and compassion for their suffering without falsely depicting Israeli girls of 7 or 8 yrs. old as being capable of comprehending the horrors of war. No child gave her consent, nor could give consent, to the violence being done. Any one of them could be torn apart by a Hezbollah missile at any moment; they, too, are victims of a war being carried out by the adults.

Peace!
David
Rhode Island

Norman,

Thanks for the reply. I agree that it is not important what the children are writing--they don't have an adult understanding of what these weapons do. What is important is how we interpret the act itself, and the photos. It is in that light, and in the spirit of trying always to create openings to people's consciences rather than their fears, that I think the inaccuracy of the caption is important. I would suggest that anyone concerned about ending the conflict should direct their aggression at the conditions that produce evil and injustice, and not at the people, on both sides, who get caught up and fall victim to those conditions.

Peace!
David
Rhode Island



Maybe you did not notice but what is going on now is confirming your theory and persuasion. There is no hate against the Jews here among the Gentiles after the barbaric Israeli actions. Apologist of Israel here - and they are many among the Jews - are attacked by words etc. But nobody will burn their children alive.

But there is of course a lot of hatred and increasing - against the state of Israel and his policy, which is really barbaric. And as it happens in the history, they will be called one day to pay the bill. I see in the TV Czech and Slovak Jews living in Haifa how they are crying when a few rockets come. They are deaf and blind to see what their state is doing to others 50 years already. Who created Hezbollah? Israels occupation. Who created Hamas? Israels occupation. Who created PLO? The occupation. The big theoretics should go back to the roots of this problem and not to talk about few stupid soldiers like merry go round. It happens in the fight that soldiers get captured.

Israels behaviour is out of any human limits and this is what the people of Israel should know. It seems maybe the half of Israelis know it, I don´t know. Then they should start to shout and not cry about few rockets. They (Israelis) caused 100times bigger pain and destruction in all neighboring states. So what they expect the world will think about them? It seems judging from the few words of the Czech Jews in Haifa they have no idea what they have done to the Palestinians and Lebanese. If such barbaric deeds would be done against Israel - we would hear about Holocaust again. The others have no Holocaust? Is there any difference to be burnt in a furnace or on the street alive - see the page www.fromisraeltolebanon.info. But I think Mr.Foxman would say this is the Arab propaganda. And the US is giving these butchers the green light.

When the Nazis came for the catholics, I was silent, I was not catholic. When they came for the Jews, I was silent, I was not a Jew. etc.

Best
MB



From: nperugini[at]hotmail.com To: normangf[at]hotmail.com Subject: peace Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2006 19:19:25 -0400 Dear Norman,

I hope you are doing well. Considering the ongoing disarray in America thought, and its alarming effect on the rest of the world, and what Mr Chomsky has been writing for decades about the responsibility of intellectuals and the hazard of irresponsible ones, it seems to me that taking care of the health and safety of our citizens, of the vulnerable and the ill, of the quality of discourse, of the environment and infrastructure, is what responsible men and women are here to do. It's not that we need intellectuals to teach us this, but as care of all of the above is getting harder to spot anywhere, it could be need people to remind us of it, especially as we're in the habit of forgetting.For all the usual lament over leadership, it isn't leaders people need so much as reminders -what I would call intellectuals- patient and vigilant men and women who remind us of the part of responsibility in making decisions, setting priorities, applying your resources, but most of all, looking after each other. A thinking person doesn’t need a designated expert to teach him that the strong are not the ones who need protection from the weak, that the one who has taken the largest slice is not the one who needs the rest of the cake, that fights will start over dishonest dealing, or that name-calling is not for adults, but he and she will often need the vigilant reminder. This way, when an aggressive ideological campaign is urged, say, to 'run the government as if it were a business' -just the way we 'conduct' wars- we'll remember why it would be dangerous to believe that.

Peace to you,

Nicolas Perugini
Bronx NY



From: buttrey[at]usc.edu
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: The left does some research?
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2006 16:28:56 -0700

Hello Dr. Finkelstein,

Great work on the links you provide on your web site that deal with countering the propaganda memes put out as rationalizations for a host of injustices. Your role as educator is most appreciated as is your work to bring about an end to the latest Israeli onslaught on civilians.

There is a split amongst progressive outlets regarding the actions of the state of Israel. It at least serves to ferret out those sources willing to say anything in defense of Zionist extremism.

Filling in today for Ed Schultz on his radio show on Los Angeles "Progressive Talk" radio KTLK was a regular to Ed's show, Norman Goldman. Ed has already weighed in with the position that "Israel's gotta do what Israel's gotta do" echoing the meme of "right of self-defense." The show has been taking heat from callers and in emails for his inability to recognize Israel's war crimes in addition to many historical misstatements about their dealing with the Palestinians.

Mr. Goldman made mention of this disagreement but said he sides with Ed. He knows a lot of listeners don't but attributes a lot of it to beneath the surface anti-Semitism. He also said he was willing to defend his position against all challengers. He prefaced his going o the phones by saying that he wanted to feel secure in his >positions so he went back and researched the history. He spent some time noting how much effort he put into understanding the background of the region, the nature of the conflict, and how all the data onfirmed his views. I listened with half an ear as callers either agreed with him whole-heartedly or tried to point to injustices done to the Palestinians by Israel. Mr. Goldman said that Israel could not be faulted in its use of force since from the beginning they only wanted to be left alone to live in peace, whereas all the Arabs there want to "drive them into the sea."

I found his stock answers less than compelling. I learned just how much insight his "extensive research" into the conflict entailed when he spoke of the "myth" of a Palestinian presence in the region as being "refuted" by Joan Peters in her book "From Time Immemorial." My jaw dropped. Nothing like broadcasting one's Ignorance to a wider audience. I suppose he could be forgiven as no less than Benjamin Netanyahu has it listed first on his web site for resource links on the Middle East conflict.

Even on public radio, earlier in the morning, host Lila Garret of "Connect the Dots" (KPFK - Pacifica Radio) in a rebroadcast of the July 19th program with Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun, she framed her question about what is an acceptable response from Israel with her assertion that Hezbollah started the current conflict as if there was no context in which to place their actions.

Though I am more often than not lacking in any real optimism that a fair resolution will occur due to the one-sided nature of the discussion, I am still humbled by your persistence in revealing a true picture of the conflict and the work that you and other truth-tellers do to bring about peaceful co-existence based on justice and moral integrity.

As you have often reminded us, it helps when you have the truth on your side.

With much gratitude,
William Buttrey

(Second letter)

I really hit the trifecta that day, as far as radio propaganda went, on the drive home with Randi Rhodes on Air America (she has also been firm on her support of "Israel's right of self-defense). A caller asked if the commitment of US elected leaders to an Israeli agenda is harmful to the interests of the US and the rest of the world. That was all it took to set her off and she started screaming as she hung up on the caller, "Oh, so the solution is to kill all the JEWS!?! Because that's what THEY want to do is kill all the Jews!"

A Sheldon Drobny ( a co-founder of Air America) article appeared on The Huffington Post titled "An Open Letter From a Jewish Terrorist" where he said this letter was his response to the criticism he was receiving and felt was mostly due to anti-Semitism. Back to back went up comments that he failed to credit the "letter" as being from Rabbi Meir Kahane. Mine had the link to masada2000.org (which I got from the same "letter" posted at Atlas Shrugs in the comments section - she being a strident uber-Zionist). I know a lot of my comments at HuffPo get screened and never go up, but this is the first time I had seen comments deleted after the fact (and within the span of 5-10 minutes). Someone must have actually looked at masada2000.org

I guess it does not serve the accepted narrative for Mr. Drobny to put forth propaganda of this nature and have it linked to a Zionist extremist site. I did not know just how rabidly fanatical they were until I clicked on your "A Dream Imploding" link with the Judenrat playing cards. This hit-list (SHIT list as they call it) and the hate-filled characterizations in it, would be easily recognizable by any Hitler-era Nazi propagandist. (Your listing, of course, has expanded links).

The point being how easily everything had come full circle and the connections, the lockstep of the media messages, and the vociferous denials of any moral failings, were with but a single purpose. And that is to obfuscate what you have clearly and persistently shown is "not complicated" at all, and that is what true justice would require.

I am thankful that through your voice, the aid it gives others in finding theirs. It possible to think that someday justice and ethical behavior will not be applied on a sliding scale.

Sincerely,
William Buttrey



From: Marl L bzik_01[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: RE: a picture
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 15:46:01 -0700 (PDT)

FYI, I am a jew. And I lost 75% of my family in those ovens. But my father fought in WW2 against your kind.

You are a jew?... my ass. And while we on the subject, I wouldn't be surprised if I learn sometime in the future that your nazi whore mother was one of those who helped the SS to shove jews into ovens. Like mother like son... "professor" my ass.

X



From: aelkhour[at]els.mq.edu.au
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Sydney Peace Rally 20 000 on Saturday
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 22:37:54 +1000



Hi Norman,

Just dropping you a line to express my appreciation once again - it was great to see you noted the encouragingly HUGE turn-out last Saturday at the Peace rally for Lebanon and Palestine in Sydney, Australia.

On your site, the article cited mentions 10 000 but really 15 000 would have been conservative -- 20 000 was more like it.

It was terrific -- multi-denominational and peaceful and attracted families and a great broad section of the community.

For a personal account + pictures feel free to have a look at my blog entry:

..peace-rally-short-write-up..

and account with pictures:
...indymedia-glw-account-and-pictures-of-rally...

I point these out with pride but also because we need all the hopeful signs that the world is awakening we can get (as the title of your pages suggests!)

I hope the rallies planned worldwide that you thoughtfully reproduce list attract the attention they deserve. As an Australian with a Lebanese background who has always had a social justice interest in Palestine also, I was touched by the interest and participation shown by others not immediately touched by this conflict. The struggle continues.

Best wishes with your work and much love from Australia,
Ann

--

Seek peace, and pursue it.
-- Proverbs 34:14

The worshippers of the All-Merciful are they who tread gently upon the earth, and when the ignorant address them, they reply, "Peace!"
-- Holy Quran 25:63

There is no vessel that holds blessing like Peace.
-- Talmud Yerushalmi Berachot 2:4

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
-- George Orwell

:: War Is the Biggest Terrorism ::

:: Build Bridges Not Walls ::



From: paulowh[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Post if you like.
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 02:18:19 +0000

Prof. Finkelstein,

The insanity of the violence inflicted on the civilian populations in Lebanon, the lack of coverage in the devastation inflicted in Gaza, and Western Governments justifying Israel's lust for blood, is too infuriating to put into words. I'm fortunate enough to have never experienced firsthand the inhumanity of wars, but to see the images of the violence, the Israeli children writing messages on bombs ... I can understand what would drive a man to take a gun into his hands.

On a purely selfish note, this is something I had written a while back, and it was inspired by Orwell, yourself, and others. It's called "INDOCTRINATION."

"March in File, Keep the Rhythm, Toe the Line!"

History through the eyes of the victors
Who controls the present controls the past
As truth flutters down the memory hole
Hard to differentiate myth from fact
Canada helped create Agent Orange
Supplied munitions -- destroyed Vietnam
Whiskey Pete rains down from still desert skies
Leaving clothed charred bodies dead -- once alive...

Holding up four fingers does not make five.
Western Nations Champions of Human Rights
Build a wall on Holy Lands Occupied
Kill the Arabs ignore the genocide
Smother voices in Repressive Silence
Voiceless victims of the Fascist Violence
Truth buried in the memories of the dead
Maintaining Illusions -notwithstanding-
A lead bullet in the back of the head

History through the eyes of the victors
Who controls the present controls the past...

"March in File, Keep the Rhythm, Toe the Line!"

Holding up four fingers does not make five.

Paul Owh



From: j_young_2005[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: What about Hezbollah?
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 21:49:52 -0600

Norman,

Since you are so particular on International Law and condemn those that break it, why are you not speaking out against Hezbollah's recent crimes against Israel?

Let's face it, Hezbollah clearly broke International Law by disregarding the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, which unequivocally calls for 'all Lebanese militias to disband.'

Not only did Hezbollah not disband since Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, but they also entered into Israel, shot and killed eight Israeli soldiers, and kidnapped two, which are now being held hostage.

But where's the outrage, Norman' I don't see any articles on your website condemning Hezbollah's actions. Instead, I see several articles excessively decrying Israel's response to Hezbollah's attacks.

But since you are such a fact-fanatic, let's look at facts:

Since Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah has amassed thousands of rockets from Iran specifically for the purpose of attacking Israel. It is Hezbollah that initiated this war, not Israel. The Lebanese government, as of now, is refusing to disarm Hezbollah. While Israel is firing at Hezbollah targets, Hezbollah is launching rockets aiming directly at Israeli civilians. And the reason Israel is bombarding bridges, the airport and other infrastructures in Lebanon that is crucial to Hezbollah ' is to immobilize this terrorist group.

Now imagine if Hezbollah had Israel's kind of sophisticated military weaponry and technology, what do you think they would have done to Israel' They surely would have wiped Israel off the map a long time ago.

Now, your website has plenty of articles on Lebanese casualties and suffering. But what about Israeli casualties and suffering? Do your eyes close and your ears go deaf every time you see Israel being bombed? How come there is not one single article on your site telling the story from the other side? How do you expect people not to believe that you manage an anti-Israel hate website?

You would not dare mention any of the atrocities committed by terrorists against Israel, like the one in 1978, when Palestinian militants entered Israel from Lebanon and killed an American tourist, hijacked a bus, killed 37 Israelis and wounded 76. Or the one in 1975, when PLO militants from Lebanon entered Israel and held tens of Israelis hostage at the Savoy Hotel, killing eight of them and wounding eleven.

Or how about the Ma'alot massacre in 1974, when Palestinians from Lebanon shot and killed 21 school children and wounded more than 60? Or the Avivim school bus massacre in 1970 when Palestinians (again crossing from Lebanon) killed nine Israeli children and wounding 19 others?

More recently, Hezbollah launched a Katyusha rocket at Nazareth, killing 3 Arabs; two of them children. But of course, you don't report this sort of information ' perhaps out of fear that you would offend your supporters?

On a different subject ' regarding the continual assertion about you being a Jew ' I still insist that you tell people the simple truth ' that you are not a Jew, but an apostate. Here's a quick observation; you don't practice Judaism, you don't embrace Jewish culture or tradition, you take a strong anti-Israel stance, and you describe yourself and both of your parents as atheists (which means that you did not grow up in a Jewish environment). And to top it all off, Jews are not even a race of people - just as Christians and Muslims are not a race of people. So exactly what makes you Jewish?

And if you want to claim that you are Jewish because 'Jewish law' says so, then why would you acknowledge religious laws if you are an atheist? Even if other Jews call you a Jew (merely based on your heritage combined with misinformation about you), that still doesn't make you a Jew. Afterall, Jews also call you an anti-Semite, but you reject that.

So therefore, I can only think of one reason why you would call yourself a Jew because you accept the Nazi theoretical definition of a Jew. And if you support Nazi ideology, then what does that say about you?

Jessica



From: franckrev[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: holocaust industry in Spain
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 20:27:31 -0400

Hello Norman,

Today there were demonstrations in France and Spain against Israel and the Israeli ambassadors said that people in these countries were - surprise, surprise, anti-Semitic. The one in Madrid was massive, I saw it on TV and was quite impressed. Of course this will not be reported in USreal. Also the gvt in Spain is anti-Semitic for criticising Israel in the last days. The PM in Spain said that "one thing is to retaliate, the other thing is to mount a counter-attack and destroy the whole country". For that he's supposed to be anti-Semitic...You do not whether to laugh or cry. Nobody is buying this accusations anymore in the world. But the problem is that these accusations work, in the US, ...In Spain or France they don't. And today there was a very heated debate in Madrid between Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs and the leader of the Jewish community. After this guy accused Zapatero of being anti-Semitic, Moratinos picked up he mike and said "this is the last time that you accuse the gvt of Spain of being anti-Semitic, let me tell you again, this is the last time that you accuse the gvt of Spain of being anti-Semitic, understood ?" I had never seen this guy so angry in my life, and he was the former EU envoy to Israel and Palestine. The Jewish leader did not say anything. What is pathetic is the conservative party in opposition (Aznar's party) who are siding with Israel just to hurt the Socialists. But that is another matter. What is more pathetic is that one of the leaders of the Conservative PP party who is attacking the Socialist party spent something like 5 years in Lebanon working at the Spanish embassy in Beirut and accuses the Spanish government of being too-overtly anti-Israeli. He said "this gvt is openly anti-Israeli, anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic"...He is one of the few people who buys this Usraeli shit around Europe...

Returning to the topic, nobody buys these accusations anymore in Spain, France or Italy. What I can tell you is that people are getting really really pissed off at Israel overall in Europe, in spite of what the governments may or may not say. I have heard many times, what was the outcry, after all Ahmadinejad was right...I have heard that several times. From my contacts in Europe. And today there was an article in Yedioth Aharonot saying that Spanish Jews should migrate and that the US should isolate Spain internationally. I sent a letter saying that they are absolute ignorants, ignorants with an agenda and that their dirty tricks will not work. They are a bunch of stupid dirty bastards along with the US who is allowing this and I hope from the deep of my heart that this blows up in the USrael faces for the war crimes that have been committed. Which will happen.

In the meantime this is a description of the enormous of the difficulties the IV Reich is encountering in Southern Lebanon, which is an Israeli description of what happened today. By the way the Israeli military is censoring tons of things, to keep the morale high I guess. Hezb and Al-jazeera said that 6 tanks were destroyed and that more than 2 soldiers died which is what the USrealis claim.

The two sides are pumping reinforcements to the battlefield opposite the Israeli town of Safed. Earlier, 3 Israeli soldiers were injured, one seriously, by Hizballah anti-tank fire in the same sector.

Maroun er Ras is where 1st Sgt. Yonatan Hadasi, 21, from Kibbutz Merhavia, and 1st Sgt. Yotam Gilboa, 21, from Kibbutz Maoz Haim lost their lives in a fierce battle with Hizballah Wednesday, July 19.

Nine members of the unit were injured in Wednesday's battle which was fought over Hizballah's bunkers at Maroun er Ras opposite Safed.

DEBKAfile's military sources report the epic battle evolved from a small Israeli special forces operation just inside Lebanon at noon Wednesday, July 19, to blow up Hizballah positions and destroy small fortified tunnels riddling the hills around Maroun er Ras opposite the Israeli town of Safed. Hizballah suffered an unknown number of losses. Reinforcements and medical teams crossed the border and the fighting spreads.

The tunnels were assumed to be unoccupied. The Israel force were horrified to find the first packed with Hizballah fighters heavily armed with automatic and anti-tank weapons. The force took casualties in the first blast of fire. At least one tank was blown up. The combat quickly spread to additional sectors of the warfront, joined by Hizballah fighters who sprang out of more secret tunnels which the Israeli force had not known were there.

After several hours of heavy exchanges, Israels top brass and northern command were forced to look at a number of painful facts:

1. Hizballah had pulled the wool over their eyes. While pretending to be forced back by massive Israeli air attacks, its fighters went underground. When chief of staff Dan Halutz and other generals announced the Hizballahs first line of fortifications had been flattened, the line had simply dropped out of sight. Building small tunnels over large areas to conceal small fighter squads was a favorite Vietcong ruse against the Americans in the 1960s and 1970s.

2. Hizballah was not fighting a static war out of the tunnels but working to an organized mobile battle plan. As the fighting grew fierce, and the IDF pumped reinforcements into the battle arena, so too did Hizballah, moving them nimbly from tunnel to tunnel in defensive and offensive roles.

3. By afternoon, the engagement had escalated from a contest over the Maroun er Ras tunnels to a decisive battle between Hizballah and the IDF for control of the Lebanese-Israeli border.

4. The two sides were locked in such close combat that the Israelis were constrained from bringing their helicopter gunships into play for decisive strikes against Hizballah fighters. The same difficulty confronted IDF tank guns.

5. In addition to engaging Israeli special forces at three points in south Lebanon from Maroun er Ras in the east to Rosh Hanikra in the west, Hizballah commandos staged incursions of their own. They made repeated attempts to breach the Israeli border and capture stretches of land in Western Galilee. Israeli forces engaged them in heavy battle Wednesday afternoon at Rosh Hanikra. Hizballah commandos are still battering Israeli posts and forces.

6. True to its usual tactics, Hizballah accompanied its ground action with a massive barrage of some 80 rockets in the space of an hour Wednesday afternoon, July 19 against the towns of Nahariya, Haifa, Upper Galilee, the Hula Valley, Tiberias, Safed and Carmiel.

From: franckrev[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: RE: holocaust industry in Spain
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2006 09:43:54 -0400

There were demostrations in almost every big city in Spain yesterday, not only Madrid or Barcelona but also Zaragoza and Valencia . Just to give you an example I read in the demonstration in New York you attended there were up to 1500 people, just in Madrid there were 15,000 to 20,000...I know there were several demonstrations also in other parts of Europe last weekend.

Here is the article about the demonstrations with the stupid controversy by the Popular Party (Aznar) at the end who like the anti-semitic accusers would sell their mothers to be able to criticise the government especially since their defeat after the Madrid bombings.

As an aside, I have to say that while it was a surprise for some that the Socialists won 2 years ago and many including the stupid American administration blamed it on Spanish society's claudication to terrorism, the Socialist gvt is quite popular and if there were elections now they would win again. Which is great news given their opposition to Bush policies and the war in Iraq, their anti-war stance, the signing of the Estatut that has given more power to a semi-autonomous region like Catalonia and more importantly regarding the Isr-Pal conflict, the ending of hostilities of ETA through negotiation and without the firing of a single shot. Something many others should learn from. No wonder that the IV Reich wants to press the US to curb Spanish influence. In Spain everybody knows that Madrid was bombed because of Aznar's support to Bush, I hope that the Brits understand that is the reason of the July bombings last year also which average people in Britain of course accept but the gvt does not, and the Conservative Party in Spain is trying to take as many dirty shots as they can because they have not accepted their defeat and, what is worse, their unpopularity:

http://www.elpais.es/articulo/espana/PP/pide/Zapatero...

It is in Spanish but at least you can see pics from the demonstration.





Dear Dr. F:

I agree we must speak out before we are shoved into the abyss from which there will be no return...In every genocide, in every dark time, there were signs and yet there were many who marched along like lemmings to the evil music of those who know fully well what they do.

When I was on active duty right before Desert Storm, I had a conversation with a DIA officer that demonstrated to me, beyond any doubt, that they orchestrated events ..."setting up a trip wire" were his words. It was then that I knew we were dealing with evil manipulators in the Pentagon and White House, not just blind or stupid ones.

After all, it takes some degree of cleverness to come up with euphemisms like "terrorist surveillance" as opposed to illegal wiretapping, or extraordinary rendition as opposed to kidnapping.

Still, Norman, it is often a lonely place in a world where honor, empathy and altruism are not valued. There is no greater threat to a liar than truth. So we become a threat that must be silenced.

Someone said to me in reference to some animal rescue work I do,,,"you are such a good person, you deserve some kindness" I( told him that didn't help Jesus. King or Gandhi much, so my expectations are low. Yet, how can we do anything other than try to right the wrongs where we can? The nail that sticks out gets hammered...and I think we have both been hammered. Still, I cannot live any other way.

Incidentally, feel free to do whatever you like with my last letter. To have my words next to yours would be the greatest of honors. I hope to meet you someday and I hope you will come to Washington or Vancouver BC to speak in the near future.

What I Live For

I live for those who love me,
Whose hearts are kind and true;
For the Heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit too;
For all human ties that bind me,
For the task by God assigned me,
For the bright hopes yet to find me,
And the good that I can do.

I live to learn their story
Who suffered for my sake;
To emulate their glory,
And follow in their wake;
Bards, patriots, martyrs, sages,
The heroic of all ages,
Whose deeds crowd History's pages,
And Time's great volume make.

I live to hold communion
With all that is divine,
To feel there is a union
'Twixt Nature's heart and mine;
To profit by affliction,
Reap truth from fields of fiction,
Grow wiser from conviction,
And fulfil God's grand design.

I live to hail that season
By gifted ones foretold,
When men shall live by reason,
And not alone by gold;
When man to man united,
And every wrong thing righted,
The whole world shall be lighted
As Eden was of old.

I live for those who love me,
For those who know me true,
For the Heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit too;
For the cause that lacks assistance,
For the wrong that needs resistance,
For the future in the distance,
And the good that I can do.

- George Linnaeus Banks



Letter to an Israeli newspaper.

My name is David and I am a Spanish Jew. I have read your hysterical article about Spain and have been utterly disgusted. This article shows that you have absolutely no idea of what is going on in Spain. Simply because Israel does not control 100 per cent of public opinion like in the United States that does not mean that Spain is a racist or anti-Semitic country. In fact there is much more discrimination against Arabs but against this you say nothing. Of course, they are Arabs, the ones Israel likes to kill every day, not the chosen people. Instead of criticising others the first thing that you should do as a purportedly serious newspaper is to take a look at yourselves and the Israeli actions instead of taking cheap dirty shots like this that the only thing that they do is discredit you. Taking dirty shots is the favorite technique towards those who dare oppose you, even mildly. Many people have already noticed that this technique consists of criticising the character of the person or the country, without analysing any of the factors why the criticism has been proffered. In other words a baseless attack of an injurious nature not based on any real facts. And for this reason the technique is doomed to failure. In that opposing opinions are not even considered the essence of this technique can only be qualified as fascist. It reminds me of the Nazis, it was actually notorious also from the Nazis that one of their maxims was the practice of collective punishment. There was a famous incident in which 60 villagers were killed after a Nazi general was murdered. In that respect you have even exceeded the Nazis this time and this should make you proud. You have not only killed close to one hundred people in Gaza and destroyed all kinds of infrastructure, but you have completely obliterated your neighboring country of Lebanon. And then you think this is the way that you are going to be accepted by your neighbors ? I sincerely doubt it, in fact I think the effect is going to be the opposite, hatred that will linger generation after generation. As for your technique of discrediting those who criticise your absurd methods of punishment, in violation of all norms of international law, there is nothing new. First it was France, a couple of years back, now it is Spain. By writing this piece of uninformed bigotry, you are only creating more enemies for yourself, understand that by killing 300 civilians including 15 children who were escaping in a van and blowing up bridges and milk factories people are going to hate you. You have very few friends in the world and with your actions and articles like this you will have one or two left. Only those coward or naive enough to fall into this kind of perverse and unacceptable moral blackmail of considering anti-Semitic any criticism of actions carried out by the State of Israel. We will not. In fact I am very proud of Spain and in spite of your hysterical and baseless encouragement for Jews to migrate, me and many other will not. I have never been discriminated (Moroccans or blacks may have even though most seem to live happily here) and I know I never will. Besides I have been to Israel and I can assure you that you will never have a quality of life as we have here. Your implicit call to the United States to curb Spain's influence is another indication of what seems to be the consolidated technique of dirty tricks and collective punishment again. Do you really think it will work?

I am also curious to find out whether France or Italy, governments that have severely criticised Israel's bestial reaction to this crisis, will fall for it either. The Italians have more reasons than us Spaniards to be considered anti-Semitic. Remember that the Italian team that won the World Cup in 1982 dedicated it to the Palestinians that you killed mercilessly in Lebanon 24 years ago. That makes them first class anti-Semites also. There is no doubt about that. In fact, the Italians won the World Cup again a few weeks ago, and what a coincidence, you destroyed Lebanon all over again. You should check out whether the Italians plan to dedicate this World Cup to the innocent Lebanese and the numerous families that have been wiped by the most moral army of the world both in Gaza and in Lebanon since the beginning of June. That would make them gold medal anti-Semites, even surpassing us in Spain. As we can all see, some countries' national pastime is getting some guys together to play soccer, another country's national pastime is getting some guys together to destroy another country. I do not know if this is a sign but I will not cheer for Italy anymore for fear that you decide to destroy any other country if they ever happen to win the World Cup again.

Let me tell you what most people in the world and not in Spain think, just to be clear: That if this world had any morals you would be in The Hague standing trial for war crimes and your country would be subject to sanctions. What separates you from that is your only friend, the United States. We Jews deserve something better. Shame on you !!!



Media 'experts' tugging the official US line of supporting Israel at all costs often talk about Israeli fears of terrorists at their borders. They deliberately want to cloud facts by detaching them from their roots and historical context and now they present the abduction of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah as the cause of this new invasion of Lebanon. Now, when half a million Lebanese have been displaced, hundreds of civilians killed and injured, the economy and infrastructure that affects the lives of almost 2 million destroyed, which will cause misery to millions in the coming decade, they want us to focus instead on "Israeli fears", generated by the abduction of 2 soldiers when over 10,000 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners have been languishing in Israeli jails for decades. And undercover of this invented "fear" and right of "self-defense", the US won't even call for a cease-fire, thereby giving Israel an open license to kill, maim and destroy at will. [Let us also not forget that Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, practically destroying the country and still occupies Shebaa farms that belong to Lebanon].

Let us move back to the context of the Gaza abduction of one Israeli soldier on June 25th by Palestinian fighters. On June 9th Israeli gunboats killed 7 Palestinians, and wounded 40 others on the Gaza beach. On 13 June, another attack was carried out on a Gaza highway by Israel, killing eleven and injuring thirty. On June 20th, three Palestinian children were killed and 15 others wounded in a failed execution attempt carried out by Israel .Then after this relatively petty incident of the abduction of one soldier on June 25th, Israel's destruction of the power plant and cutting off of water for nearly 2 million people and the border blockade before that which was starving a society that suffers from 80% unemployment, and later abducting Palestinian government members (more than the one soldier that was abducted) are all ignored by these hypocrites on the media who want us to talk about "Israeli fears".

After repeated appeals by the Palestinians for world intervention to stop this onslaught against millions of innocents over one soldier, that went unheeded, and after repeated impotence shown by the Arab US client states, Hezbollah was provoked into doing something against their common enemy. Such an occurrence, of course, was expected by Israel, it was no surprise to them, and they were waiting for a pretext for a Lebanon invasion, to act as a facilitator for an upcoming pretext for the US Air War on Iran.

Asadi



From: "R. C. Olwen" prochoice8[at]hotmail.com
To: mail[at]democracynow.org
CC: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: anti-war voice
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2006 16:34:52 +0000

Dear Ms. Goodman,
please bring Professor Norman G. Finkelstein on your programme again!

Of course a formidable opponent like Shlomo Ben Ami is best, but any holebrained warmongerer will do, because of Mr. Finkelstein´s elegant way to present facts and arguments and to tear apart propaganda.

In the last weeks European press became even less reliable than they were on the Middle (to us "Near") East situation, they describe rockets fired on Israel, and the so-and-so many (rarely mentioned: civilian) dead in Gaza and Lebanon, with holes as big as planet earth itself as to what has been causing what. So I have to rely solely on the internet.

I fear the Near East Powder Keg (literal translation from an _expression often used here in the north) can easily develop into WWIII, and we (humans speaking for all living beings, as opposed to institutions and "higher values") have to make clear, it is us and ourlikes who are suffering, and that we have looked through the past being used as justification for the next war, and we do not accept this. Of course our chance to be more successful than the anti-war-movements of the past are slim, but we have to try.

Since I suffered a burn-out in rape crisis centre I know how little atrocities I can endure hearing of, and war news may plunge me into a depression, and unable to react to anything.

When I read Mr Finkelstein´s book The Holocaust Industry, I found out how to get active again: Reading something from him, or better: watching internet films with him.

For comparison: Michael Moore leaves me feeling helpless, and doing nothing.

I am not proud to admit this, but I feel each anti-war voice is needed now.

Rune C. Olwen



I have not really investigated much the Isael-Palestine issue. I will not claim to have any sort of opinion as of yet. What I will claim is that those who criticise you with hate, and threats of death, or remorse for your existence are no different than the Klu Klux Klan, or Nazi sympathiser's tactics. They are without substance, or any factual basis, and I presume, based upon the reality that you post such drivel, you laugh as would I. It is however, a sad reflection, that regardless of political stripe, people fail to debate objectively. I for one, live my life by observing the obvious--there are always two opposing viewpoints, and the truth is somewhere in between. It has served me well. Just as they purport to know the truth through launching vicious attacks without substance, which, as a child I did when I realised I was wrong incidentally.Everything I've read thus far on your site has not been "Jew Hating", and I can see the logic in your arguments clearly. Do I accept them? Not yet, as a proper researcher will investigate the claims of logical opposing viewpoints. Thank you for providing a logical argument.

Chris Schnurr



From: zackim[at]mindspring.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: HI
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 10:04:24 -0400

Mr Finkelstein...I keep hearing your whiny little boy voice on WBAI....and it is most irritating...but, what is more than annoying is your neurotic need to bash the Jews.....what I Wonder propels you...fear of the goyim that will come and take you away....I cannot imagine what moves you to such insistent neurosis of slandering your own people...now that Eddie Said has gone on to his reward, a gift from God for his lies...it is up to you to come on and be the resident professor....this time a Jew....sick little Mamas boy aren't you....



From: "Karim" karimguy[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: The end of something called the West
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:28:22 +0300

Dear Mr.Finkelstein,

I just wanted to tell you about an interesting tactic that German mediae is resorting to in order to comply themselves in starving and killing the original inhabitants of Palestine. The tactic is...silence. They realized in the second Intifada that calling the death of 50 Palestinians or so a "retaliation strike" and thus justifying every Israeli atrocity is on the long run doing Israel no favour. "Ordinary" people are not as stupid and corrupt journalists and politicians not as smart as they like to believe. So now we are here witnessing a breakthrough in foreign reporting. It is the breakthrough of silence. Actually to be honest, it is not really a breakthrough. Nazi propaganda tries its best in silencing German casuallities and the Russian advance on the eastern front. It is just a return to the original roots so to speak. Its really amazing but Palestinian casualities are not reported AT ALL( well I have to be honest, there were these three lines on the bottom of the last page saying... ah forget it) and have not been for month. Now lets all like obedient civil servants go back to that atrocious suicide bombing. As many Americans would ask themselves, how could these animals do such a thing and gee it is such a good thing that we in the West bomb so precisely and if we kill more then neccesary we try limiting ourselves to Arabs( so disposable and scruffy). Ofcourse, the only thing that is really surgically targeted are the cries of human victims and the remants of logic in the mediae. Wait, I almost forget that suicide bombing! But how can i honestly forget when I am not asked whether I like to have it shoved in my face every three minutes? And now please, let me try to form my own opinion in this wonderfully free and intellectual stimulating enviroment,a much cited Western gift to the world( these heathens just refuse it, it does not seem to comply with their culture, even if we try to help them by bombing Al Jazeera). Well, German politicians, mediea personell and idieological leaders have taken it a bit further and called in a meeting to discuss the cultural integration of the Muslim minority into German society. Guess who wasnt invited? That is exactly right! It was ofcourse the "Muslim Council" in Germany, representative and speaker for for the German( however marginal politically and intellectually) Muslim population. Well, after all there remains only one thing to say. Palestinians will not die quietly. The United Nations and the European Union, International law and all the rest of the Greek farce are now at the cross roads and all decisions that are being taken will come at the cost of Humanitarian ideals and all the other beautiful things thirld world barbarians can only admire in a Tom Cruise movie( or just try to hide from when they come from above). Palestinian live is precious, as they will soon learn( or not) when they witness the dissentrigration of all that supposedly divides them from the "East". Their pseudoreligious attempts at turning Palestine into a European hegemonic state in the Middle East, wiping away all remnats of its Semitic inhabitants and culture, with the colonial and the disastrous notion of a blond and blue eyed Jesus surfacing once again in the ongoing ethnic cleansing(wasnt he part of that wonderfully mythical and universall construct called the Jewish People?) will not succeed. The Palestinians will not go away and are not going to dissapear overnight. Decimating them in accompliance with Israeli wishes( that is by the millions and in deep admiration of that mighty American example) is out of the question. Transfering them is out of the question. But starving them, here is a thing! I repeat again that this will not succeed and for this to become clear to people sick of might and arrogance, millions of people will have suffered enourmously and thousandths will have died needlessly. What exactly have we learned from the Holocaust?

Your sincery,
Kariml( a pissed off and dissullusioned Palestinian and German citizen)



From: "Ephraim Shapiro" fman14[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: You are a self-hater you should be ashamed of yourself
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:27:56 -0400

How can you say all these terrible things about Israel, the Jews, and the Holcaust. It is impossible to compare Hamas blowing up a bus that kills Israeli civilians to the Israeli air force dropping a bomb on Palestinian terrorists. How could a Jew whose parents survived the Nazi death camps and Hitler's Final Solution say that the Jewish people fabricated the number of Jews who were brutally murdered by the Nazis in order to gain political support. By saying these things, you are not only insulting yourself, but you are insulting and lying about your parents and your people: the Jewish people. Get your facts right. Consider youself excommunicated from the entire Jewish world.

Ephraim



Letter to the European Union

Dear Sirs,

I have recently been appalled by the latest Israeli incursions in Gaza. In the last month, and since June, innumerable war crimes have been committed in that small area of land. It seems that Palestinians cannot fight Israel by attacking civilians, but Israel can do so since more than half of those killed in the last month have been children and women; Palestinians cannot attack Israeli military targets or take prisoners (something Israel does on a daily basis as the 9,000 prisoners in Israeli jails, some of them kidnapped in the middle of the night and submitted to the cruelest forms of torture attest), but Israel can routinely attack and destroy official Palestinian targets; and Palestinians cannot be permitted by the international community to freely choose their own representatives, but Israel can still boast it is the only democracy in the region. What double standards if there were ever any !!! And the European Union participates in this !!!

If Palestinians cannot resist, cannot fight against the Israeli Army, and cannot vote democratically for their own leaders, then what exactly can they do to I wonder ???

I came from a Middle East trip some weeks ago and I can tell you that reality is that millions of Palestinians and hundreds of millions of Arabs (and Muslim and third-world countries) are reaching the same conclusion: The American- and now European-backed Israeli policies have made it clear to Palestinians that they are not allowed to use any means whatsoever to resist Israeli occupation of their land and the denial of their national rights as it is their fundamental right. Doesn't the UN Charter guarantee the right of self-determination of all peoples ? Or would this right apply to all but the Palestinian population ??

The Israelis on the other hand have held the Geneva Conventions in complete disregard. Missiles have been dropped on heavily populated areas with absolute disregard for life, have wiped out entire families, one while picknicking at the beach, the other while having dinner, the other most recently by a shell today. I am turning to you simply because I do not know until when the "civilized" world may allow this madness to go on. 24 Palestinians killed on Thursday and about 40 in the last three days. War criminals who have done the same thing in Serbia and Bosnia are now rotting in jail, in the case of Israeli war criminals they are free to roam about, arrogant by their feeling of impunity.

Breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949 is a criminal offence in the UK under the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 and in other European countries. The crimes against humanity committed in the last week by the Israeli forces should be tried under the universal jurisdiction laws of countries like Belgium and Spain.

And still what has been the reaction of the European Union ?? I think to me that is the most shameful of all things, that the entity that claims to stand for human rights barely utters a word or two to condemn Israeli collective punishment and crimes against humanity while at the same time becoming an accomplice in the starvation of more than 3 million Palestinians. It was the Swiss who reminded everybody that what the Israelis are doing is solely collective punishment against a defenseless population and hence a war crime. Is it really that the lives of some are more worth than the lives of others ? What are the reasons behind your silence ? Being accused of being anti-Semitic maybe or just plain cowardice ? Me and many others have been extremely disappointed by the EU's silence and I thought it was my duty as a human being to convey this disappointment and frustration with the organisation to you directly. And by your inaction and worse, complete silence, you have become an active part in the daily suffering of the Palestinian people. In the face of injustice, silence is nothing more than complicity. Complicity that I along with many other Europeans, do not want to be associated with.

Sincerely,

Jack Robert
London
United Kingdom



From: "Edward LaBonte" ewlabonte[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Democracy now
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2006 08:28:51 -0400

I listened to you on "Democracy Now" (I receive the episodes on podcast) with great interest. I myself have been a critic of Israel for the last 20 years or so. I have been troubled by the fact that every Jewish person I know, uncritically defends Israel. Usually I am in agreement with these people on almost every other politcal issue except Israel.

I went through the fight against the war in Vietnam and I remember when the Vietnam Veterans Against the War joined forces with us. Their credibility went far beyond anything we could muster. They couldn't be accused of draft dodging or cowardice. The same thing is true in the fight against Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. The fight must be led by Jews speaking out against Israel's claim to speak for Jews. I can be accused of anti-semitism. But you can't. And your credibility on the issue is that much greater than ours.

I read on your website about Alan Dershowitz's accusations against your mother. I think resorting to insulting an opponent's mother is about as low as anyone can go ("your mother wears army boots"). I respect your initial desire not to respond to it (don't dignify the statement with a response), and your ultimate decision to respond to it out of loyalty to your mother.

The stance you are taking must take more than a little courage. Thank you.



Dear Prof. Finkelstein,

First, I wanted to congratulate you on your yet another successful "debate" on DN! with that AIPAC fellow - again you had your facts straight and didn't have to resort to childish denunciations and pseudo-intellectual appeals to American liberal sensibilities like he did. Quite frankly, he looked like some kind of putz next to you.

Secondly, I wanted to ask you about the escalating situation in Gaza. I can't help but think that Israel is truly trying it's best to kill off the entire population in one go and this kidnapping of the soldier is just the excuse they're using to go in and do this. I mean this insane business of turning off >water, electricity, stopping food from getting in, it paying workers for long periods of time - what do they expect people to live on? Air? It almost reminds me of when exterminators come in and fumigate a place to get rid of rodents and roaches. Basically suck the lifeblood out of them and stomp them to death - only these are cognizant human beings we're talking about but the treatment is pretty much the same.

I have no idea if you hold any personal theological teachings to yourself aside from your very, very clear dedication to the truth - but as Sufis, we're taught that what comes around, goes around, that everything in this universe (including this universe itself) is cyclical, from electrons in atoms, to planets around stars, the seasons and even the blood in our bodies as it goes through the heart. Whether it be the Christian teaching of "As ye sow, so shall you reap" or Buddhist, New Age or Hindu teachings of karma, call it what you will but do certain Jewish and Israeli policy makers realize that by their actions and the ill-will created by them, they are, at some level, really setting up the conditions of a second Holocaust one day in the future? I'm not saying that it will happen but do they realize that their actions are making them look very, very bad especially given how much they talk about the Holocaust and how much Jews were victimized at that time in history. Didn't they learn anything from it? Why are they now going and inflicting the same exact sort of punishment and humiliation to a group of people they themselves once endured in someone else's hands? Crushing a whole group of disadvantaged people doesn't make you look strong, powerful and admirable. It makes you look like a fat,tyrannical bully who is kicking a cripple inthe face while they're down.

Please keep your website going and the work you do posted. In many ways both you and Professor Chomsky remind me of some the Old Testament prophets, the minor ones like Amos or Zephaniah - complete and total dedication to the truth, sounding the alarm but yet no one seems to be listening. However, many people really are.



From: sophia sophia.allem[at]gmail.com
To: "Norman Finkelstein" normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Dear Norman: as the _expression goes, "if you repeat a lie often enough..."
Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2006 12:37:37 -0700

Dear Norman:

I watched your recent debate with a Josh Block. Two words kept repeating themselves in your opponent's debate:

Terrorist – 18 times

Terrorism - 9 times

27 references to Hamas or other defenders of their Palestinian homeland as terrorists! And the European Jews who are colonizers and predators on Arab land are thought to be the meek defenseless victims? His deluge of the word 'terrorist' was certainly not accidental. Where did I hear the _expression: 'if you repeat a lie often enough...'? You did attempt to challenge him on that word once...





From: "J Young" j_young_2005[at]hotmail.com>
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Debate with Josh Block
Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2006 20:49:16 -0600

Norman,

Your debate with Josh Block proves my point on how you venomously manipulate facts.

First, you incorrectly stated that Ariel Sharon "hailed the bombing of Gaza City."

That is not true. But hey, as you often do, you distort your own sources.

Ariel Sharon did not praise the bombing but "hailed the assassination of the founder of the military wing of Hamas, Salah Shehada."

Second, you referred to this event as being "one of the greatest acts in Israeli history." But as Josh Block pointed out to you, that's a lie.

Ariel Sharon called the assassination of terrorist Salah Shehada a "great success", and not "one of the greatest acts in Israeli history." Where did you come up with this nonsense?

And if your readers want proof of this, they can visit the websites below (yes, the same ones you posted).

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/07/23/mideast.reaction/index.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,762246,00.html

And clearly, this shows just how gullible your supporters are. It appears as though they believe in anything that comes out of your mouth, just as long as it's anti-Israel. They don't even bother verifying the information you provide.

As for your comment that "Israel didn't apologize." Check your sources again; it clearly states that Ariel Sharon "expressed regret about the deaths of 14 other Palestinians."

By the way, have the Palestinians ever expressed any regret when they blew up innocent Israelis? Have the Palestinians expressed any regret even when they executed their own people because of suspicions or accusations that they collaborated with Israelis?

Have a look at the links below for a chronology of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. Now how can you logically expect Israel to take it easy on terrorists or those suspected of being involved in terrorist activities? You actually expect Israel to release 9,000 suspected terrorists?

Suicide bombings against Israel:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002/06/19/bombings-glance.htm

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/06/20/terror.attacks.chronology/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1197051.stm

You also mentioned that assassinating terrorists (or political assassinations, as you call it) is "a war crime under international law" and that "Israel was the only country in the world, in 1997, which legalized hostage-taking." First, not too many people in the Western world would associate terrorists or supporters of terrorists with the word "hostage-victims." Second, the international community does not deal with suicide bombings on a frequent basis. And if it did, it would undoubtedly change its law as well.

So, are you suggesting that assassinating, say, Bin Laden, is wrong because it violates international law? The whole purpose of assassinating terrorists is to prevent future attacks. I'm pretty sure that you won't mind it if a terrorist in your neighborhood was assassinated. Would you?

You also argued that "between 7,000 and 9,000 heavy artillery shells have been shot and fired into Gaza" while "approximately 1,000 Kassam missiles, crude missiles, have been fired into Israel."

But of course, as typical of you, you completely ignore the fact that the 7,000 and 9,000 heavy artillery shells shot by Israelis were aimed at Palestinian militants (combatants), whereas the 1,000 missiles shot by Palestinians were targeted mainly at Israelis civilians (non-combatants).

You also spoke of how Palestinians "have a responsibility to protect their Palestinian civilians, who are being daily attacked by Israel." What evidence do you have to suggest that Palestinians are attacked by Israel on a daily basis? How can anyone take you seriously when you make up such childish lies?

To sum it up, Josh Block's arguments were fare more effective than yours. Your attempt at convincing the viewers/listeners that terrorists are equivalent to innocent civilians is plain ludicrous.

Alan Dershowitz already exposed you as a malicious and stubborn individual with no logical solution to the conflict in the Middle East. And your debate with Josh Block confirms that you still fit this description.

Jessica



Dear Mr Finkelstein,

Your debate with Josh Block was quite lamentable - quite what planet these loonies live on is beyond me. Your patience is admirable (and, whilst I'm at it, I'd also like to commend you for your books, Beyond Chutzpah and Image and Reality. The latter especially - it was a fantastic antidote to an awful childhood education). You've done some very valuable work, and I'm sure honest people appreciate it everywhere.

In other news, all of 20 seconds search establishes quite who is the "liar" from your AIPAC debate on that "great success".

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/07/23/mideast.reaction/index.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,762246,00.html

Cheers,
Michael



Since Josh Block told Finkelstein that saying that "Ariel Sharon hailed the bombing of Gaza City" is a lie, could you post a link to Ariel Sharon's words after the massacre?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,761908,00.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-07-22-israel-strike2_x.htm

"This operation was in my view one of our biggest successes..." --Ariel Sharon



From: WPearlman[at]aol.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: (no subject)
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2006 15:23:16 EDT

Hi Norm:

I'm still keeping track of you. Maybe we'll catch up to each other one of these days.

Bill Pearlman



Thank you for your discussion on Democracy Now, June 27. Your AIPAC opponent was typically self-important and indignant. He repeats only so much of the facts as support his preconceived opinion. He ought to real the biblical passage about shibboleths, because he takes certain phrases as absolute and denies anyone who does not any validity. In the back of his mind is the same doubt and fear that I see on the sanctimonious face of William Kristol. Your opponent, therefore, continually could not stand to hear you finish what you had to say. That is a trait I find almost ubiquitous when I dissent from friends' opinions about the "rightness" of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.

Jay Gertzman



From: "avicenna's legacy" avicenna202[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: democracynow.org
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 19:35:07 +0200

Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I saw your debate on democracynow with the aipac representative. It was refreshing to hear some facts for a change, instead of the repetitive pro zionist media which portrays israel as a beacon of liberty, rather than that which it is, as Professor Michael Neumann states: "a state that has apartheid high court rulings, apartheid policies and apartheid laws is an apartheid state. No way around it."

Despite this huge propaganda war against, remember sir: you have supporters on all sides, those who look towards truth and facts.

All the best.



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

You spoke very eloquently on Democracy Now on June 29th. I also must say that the representative from AIPAC was very rude by interrupting you so many times. AIPAC and the Israel Lobby, although very shrill, does not speak for the majority of American Jews. And how dare those people say that anyone who doesn't agree with them is anti-semitic, or refer to a Jew who disagrees with them as a "self-hating" Jew!

I am a Jew whose family came to the U.S. to escape Nazi Germany. I know that most Jews in this country are progressive. Many put their lives on the line during the Civil Rights movement and many support organized labor, and are active in struggles against oppression. However, it disgusts me immensely when I read about Jewish corporate managers who treat their workers bad. In fact, 12 years ago I also was victimized by a Jewish office building manager when I was a custodian in one of San Francisco's highrises. This manager believed some stories from a previous manager whom I worked for in another building, and she wrongfully had me removed from my daytime position in her building, even though practically every tenant in the building was highly satisfied with my work. This Jewish manager also always worked with the janitorial contractor, which cleaned her building to have less janitors perform more work, so as to enrich herself. Workloads were extremely unreasonable. This is a common practice in the downtown San Francisco highrises. I had an excellent relationship with her predecessor whom she replaced. In San Francisco over the past several years, there has been a problem where greedy landlords evict all of the tenants, many of whom are seniors or disabled, from their apartment buildings in order to turn the buildings into condos. The attorney who represents those property owners happens to be Jewish. Again, these particular people are, by no means, representative of the majority of American Jews. However, they do fit the negative stereotypes of Jewish people, and they provide a lot of ammunition to anti-semites. Keep up the good fight!

Walter Ballin

Chico,
CA



Dear Prof. Finkelstein,

Thank you for debating the historically-challenged Mr. Block on Democracy Now. It's unfortunate your opponent was so unworthy. I have replied to him (see below) - I hope you take the time to read it. I was far less charitable to him than you were, but far more charitable in many respects than I could have been.

Coincidentally, I'm currently reading "Beyond Chutzpah" - a fascinating read - so I was especially interested in the debate. When I finish, I hope you will permit me to correspond with you with questions/comments.

Best Wishes,
Bob Selcoe

----- Original Message -----

Mr. Block,

I listened with amused bewilderment to your debate today with Prof. Finkelstein. But before I elaborate, let me commend you for having the chutzpah to debate him. As a "long-time listener" of D-Now, you must be aware that its guests frequently (and correctly) attack AIPAC for being biased and ideological in its defense of Israel - and few are more vehement, informed and articulate than Prof. Finkelstein. One might have expected a severe drubbing...

...and you did not disappoint.

Naturally, as a long-time listener, and a "liberal Democrat", you should have been keenly aware that your blatant pandering to other listeners by characterizing Israel as a bastion of freedom and "liberal values" amidst the sea of Arab "hatred" and backwardness would go over like the proverbial lead balloon. It did. You'll have a difficult time fooling this audience full of other liberals/progressives.

As I said - bewildering and amusing.

I could detail your legal, logical and historical inaccuracies, but that would be pointless. Prof. Finkelstein did a fine enough job of that already, considering the forum and limited time - and it's obvious you are either unwilling or unable make cogent justifications for Israel's recent actions. Of course, I'm being a bit unfair here - since there aren't any valid justifications, I can't expect you or anyone else to be cogent about them.

However, I must admit my personal favorite was your assertion that it's somehow a "proven fact" that all the administrative detainees held by Israel are involved in "terrorist activity". No trials, no charges - yes, the hallmark of civilized societies with "fundamental free values". What is the "proof" - verdict by voodoo? I'm still waiting for the punchline...

My second favorite was your remarkable justification for use by Israel of massive bombs against (alleged) Palestinian "terrorists". For the moment, let's accept that Israel only targets those "known to be engaged in terrorist activity" and has a right to conduct extra-judicial killings of this type, and it "regrets" and "apologizes" for the civilian deaths resulting from such bombings. So, if I understand you correctly, if I suspect someone in your neighborhood is a criminal, and I drop a bomb on you, your family and the rest of your neighbors hoping it will only kill the criminal, it's OK, as long as I say I'm sorry when (surprise!) everyone in the neighborhood is wiped out??? Please provide the international legal basis for that one. And presuming there is one - as you must believe, since Israel is a "responsible government" which only acts in "defense of its citizens" - then perhaps you could arm the Palestinians with larger, less discriminate weapons, so they can attack "legitimate" targets and simultaneously kill even more innocent Israeli civilians, while exonerating themselves by apologizing when the inevitable "regrettable" civilian deaths occur! At least it would be "legal" and they would no longer be "terrorists", right??

I do agree with you on one point - There is an "asymmetry that's involved in the Middle East"; and it's so obvious, so extreme and so pervasive, that those who deny it are on par with holocaust deniers. (And as a Jew, I don't make that last statement lightly - my grandparents were fortunate enough to have fled Europe in the early part of the 20th Century - some of my other relatives were not so fortunate, and perished). But somehow, despite the overwhelming evidence, you miss it - and that is, that Israel perpetrates far more devastating terrorism - that is, state terrorism - with far more pervasive consequences and in contravention of myriad international laws, against Palestine and its civilians, than vice-versa.

Whatever your motivations for this denial - and I won't flatter you with my speculations - do yourself a favor: don't try peddling it again on D-Now. Stick to debating people on Fox or CNN or PBS or MSNBC or NPR or any other mainstream outlet. There are lots of poor historians and poor thinkers with similar-enough views to yours who will gladly "debate" you there; and enough uneducated audiences in this country who'll uncritically accept your arguments. A much wiser approach than taking on Finkelstein (here's a hint, don't debate Chomsky, either).

But there is one debate I wish could take place: you with my late cousin, the esteemed Rabbi and social justice leader, Maurice Eisendrath - no anti-Zionist, he - yet one who did not blindly support the acts of the Israeli government for fear of being perceived as "anti-Semitic" or "a bad Jew", or conflate support of those acts with support of Jews. Like me, at this period in history, he would be ashamed of Israel, of AIPAC and of you.

Bob Selcoe





Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I have watched you several times on Democracy Now and other videos, read your website and therefore felt I had to write and congratulate you on your open and frank criticism of what is happening in the middle east, vis-a-vis Israel and Palestine. Your various comments on Zionism and the Israeli government are like music to my ears. Very few people have your courage and determination when laying out the facts the way you do; even in the face of the vicious lies and repetitive propaganda laid out by the usual suspects. I'm sick to death of hearing the same transparent rubbish that the Israelis trot out when they heartlessly kill tens of Palestinians at a time, and their wanton destruction of Palestinian property is out of all proportion to what is called for, or needed to drive their point home. Also, I just adore the way you demolish that ogre Allan Derschowitz, another distasteful person. Before I go, I want to say how beautiful your mother was in the picture you show on your website, she has lovely eyes and reminds me of a young Ingrid Bergman. I will end now by saying you have an avid fun up here in Canada, and I'm sure there are many more.

Kind regards,

Rosalind Belanger



Hi Norm,

I just watched your minidebate with AIPAC's Josh Block. Democracy Now! didn't give you enough time. Maybe Amy got scared for your cruelty when you humiliated Dershowitz in her program. Ok, Amy is not a scary type, it must be something else.

Immediately after my political science entrance test a less than three weeks ago I started to read your books (Beyond Chutzpah and Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestinian Conflict). Actually I started already in the train, I had the books with me in the test and I attacked them after the test. Frankly I didn't know much about them beforehand and one of the first observations I made was the chapter that deals with Abba Eban. That's a valuable chapter.

(Perhaps it wasn't your purpose "per se" to prove him to be "a liar and fraud" but, unintentionally of course, you do prove him to be "a liar and fraud" nevertheless.)

By the way Mr. Eban said the following about Rabbi Lerner's Healing Israel/Palestine: "His work on behalf of Israel will be remembered with gratitude by Jews in future generations who understand that his courage to critique Israeli policy toward Palestinians is motivated by the deepest love and caring for the survival of the Jewish people." That comment deserves an Oscar (although Oscars are like some Nobel prizes, can't always take them seriously) for the ultimate arrogance and inability to understand that critisizing the oppressor could be motivated by other factors than "the deepest love" toward the survival of the oppressor. On the other hand, intellectually Eban wasn't an idiot, but rather a smart and eloquent propagandist. If we take the quote literally, however, then this new Oscar award should've been given to him.

I just had a speech on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in Oulu, some 600km from where I live, and I recommended especially your books and articles as a source for illuminating insight into the topic. Then they wrote a story about my speech in one newspaper and put a huge picture of me in the middle. The picture must be bigger than the text part. I learned that I must focus on the exact forms and expressions that I use, the reporters usually give their own flavour to the final version and in that process the substance can change a little. It doesn't have to be heir purpose "per se", of course. Just like your crushing of Eban's allegations wasn't. Well, explicit and very clear teminology prevents at least some possible misunderstandings. Luckily this particular story was pretty good and accurate, I think.

I'm perhaps gonna create my own website - I'm a complete imbecil when it comes to computers so this takes some training - and I would like to post some of your Internet material there. Is this possible? I hope you'll excuse me, but I'm not very well aware of the copyright provisions etc.

This is just a personal note to you, don't have to put this to your website.

All the best, greetings from my girlfriend Meeri, yours in the struggle,

-Bruno.

Ps. How much of the current US "Foreign Aid" (one of the terms which resurrects Orwell) is going to the holy state, do you happen to know the exact percentage? I remember that it was, at some point, about 30%. And now I checked it with Google and don't know why the hell I asked you.



The Gaza attack brings the pictures of Beirut back, although until now there are not so many deaths. Most probably is it the "purity of arms" of Tzva Hagana Le Israel, which is once again changed to a killing and destroying machine. They will never learn unless they meet the same butcher. Nobody will cry for them. No law, no rules, no conventions, let them bite the dust, they are only a bunch of Arabushim! Hitler was a racist? Yes he was. Was he a murderer? Yes he was. Was he crazy? He was. Wasn´t a big moral sacrifice for the young honest, blue eyed, blond, tall SS men and others to do the dirty job and get rid of the Jews, Gypsies, and many other Untermenschen following their ideology? No. And call the dirty bloody killing with noble names for the stupid crowd. And if you follow the BBC, German, European TV etc., they too with very little exceptions are very politically correct - and this is as you too say the result of the controlled media. And who is controlling? The Lobby. I think you underestimate the influence and strength of the Lobby and overestimate the influence of the US; Congress is fully in the hands of this Lobby.

Best
MB



Dear Amy [Goodman],

Thanks so much for bringing us that wonderful, passionate exchange between Prof Finkelstein and that Israel-first hack. I'm glad that the good prof made it into the firehouse studio for the show; I'm a great fan of his brave work, but I'd never seen what he looks like. Please excuse my subconcious stereotyping, but I was expecting him to look more like that nebbish IDF corporal that Hammas captured the other day, rather than the movie-star handsome dude with the moxie to get in that propagandist's face and refuse to let him shout him down! excellent show! I've got to listen to the rest of that debate which I see you've linked to.

Bravo to Norman F! I didn't see a link to him on the DN! page. Might it be possible to send me his email address so I can thank him for his appearance today? Love you! Words can't express the importance of DN! to me and many others.

Keep up the great work,

John Arteaga,
Ukiah, Ca (KZYX listener)



From: bfearn[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Democracy Now
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:28:47 -0700

We just listened to you on Democracy Now with Josh Block. The only reasonable conclusion we could come to is that Block just doesn't get it. In fact he doesn't even come close.

You were very polite with that jerk.

The Fearn family



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

The words of the AIPAC spokesman on today's Democracy Now amounted to a claim that the Nazis occupying France were entitled to commit any crime to protect its illegal occupation.

Do he and others who make such assertions really believe their own words, or do they just think the goyim will accept anything they say?

Cordially,



From: Evan Tuch evan_tuch[at]yahoo.com
To: NormanGF[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Democracy Now
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 10:49:28 -0700 (PDT)

Hello there Norman! I just wanted applaud you on your performance on Democracy Now this morning. I was deeply enlightened, it was truly an enriching experience. I just wanted to say your really in the wrong line of work, you should quit your job over at Depaul University and help build quassam rockets in the Palestinian territories. It is scum like you who will prolong the Palestinian-Arab Israeli conflict indefinitely just so you can make a quick buck at the expense of both sides of the conflict. I am an Israeli American and I am majoring in Islamic middle eastern studies to gain a better understanding of both sides of the conflict. I am striving to positively contribute to the conflict by attempting to help both sides find some mutually ground to end this horrific war. The only thing that is beyond chutzpah is that trash like you are aloud to preach and teach hate.



"Holocaust Denier Eats Breakfast in Presence of Elie Wiesel: An Anonymous Comment on the NYT Article of Friday, June 23 by Steven Erlanger "After Writer and King Nudge, Olmert and Abbas Talk."

How ironic that Abu Mazen, who argued first in his doctorate (published in Moscow in 1982) and later in his book "The Other Side: >the Secret Relationship between Zionism and Nazism" (published in Jordan in 1984) that the official figure for the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust was overinflated, should eat breakfast with Ehud Olmert in the presence of Elie Wiesel, one of America's most prominent public intellectuals, whose fame is in large part due to his success in equating his own literary persona with the Nazi holocaust.

The fact that Wiesel remained in the same room with Mahmoud Abbas, a man to whom the epithet "Holocaust denier" applies ten times more than it does to Finkelstein and other critics of Israel who are normally at the receiving end of such slander, clearly shows that Wiesel does not even bother to observe the strictures of the Holocaust orthodoxy which he helped institutionalize in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. Like most Americans of my generation, I too have read "Night" in one of my high school English classes. Consequently, I am aware that in the United States, the vision of the Holocaust in Wiesel's writings stands as the unimpeachable and official depiction of Jewish suffering during the Nazi genocide, a vision so terrible that even to question its current application (some like Finkelstein would prefer the term "exploitation") >virtually gaurantees one's being labelled a "Holocaust denier," and consequently, a pariah status which, in the United States, is comparable to that of a child molestor. To see Wiesel entertain Mahmoud Abbas in Petra speaks volumes about the intellectual seriuosness and moral standards of the Holocaust industry. While Finkelstein's enemies label him a "Holocaust denier," Abbas, a man who once argued that the number of Jewish victims was overinflated, receives a cordial welcome from Wiesel, the living symbol of the Holocaust in contemporary American life. This skeptical reader of the NYT can only come to one conclusion: denying the Holocaust is acceptable when the denier in question bends his knee for Israel.

inkelstein recently stated in a radio interview, the Holocaust industry doesn't care about anti-Semitism, and that's the great misunderstanding between those who uphold the dignity of Jewish suffering as opposed to those who shamelessly exploit it at the expense of the Palestinians and ultimately, to the disadvantage of their own credibility. I wonder if Steven Erlanger, whose reporting never strays from the pro-Israel commitments of the New York Times, caught on to this little irony in his reporting, although the unintended ironies and lies in his articles are so regular and predictable that he has probably already grown immune to them."



From: Dean Rosenthal deanrosenthal[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Introduction To The German Edition of The Rise...
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2006 01:43:50 -0400

Hi, Norman,

I'm Dean Rosenthal.

I'm sick of ignorant Jews creating a false sense of security. Knowledge is power. What you don't know about consensus and how consensus affects the Jews (and every other people, for that matter) is alarming. You can have all the empathy in the world and all the details, but misunderstanding the epistemelogical underpinnings that create consensus - an agreed upon reality - creates more confusion in the world, I'm afraid.

I hope you're well.

Dean

Dean Rosenthal
www.voxnovus.com/composer/Dean_Rosenthal.htm
deanrosenthal[at]gmail.com



Hold your head high Norman. You are a man of integrity in a world that punishes people who are guided by their morality. I have often come to your website to better examine my own humanity. It is often a brutal process.

We all make choices in our lives whether we know it or not. Some of us stumble around believing that morality is self-evident. Sadly, self-deception is often found in its place. We choose that course perhaps because the truth is too much to take. There is nothing new about honesty, courage, humility and love, yet many of us discard these virtues out of the fear that we may come up short. It is much easier to lie to yourself and to shrink away from the choices that define our humanity. Some of us join a movement or a cause that promises to deliver us from ourselves. Willingly, we surrender our beliefs and trade them for something far less troubling. We adopt attitudes instead. When we have no attitudes, we simply accept them from people who appear to be right minded. After all, they share our values don’t they? Why shouldn’t we allow them to lead us away from our humanity? The price can’t be that great or can it? Consider that a case can even be made for torture or murder if the right attitude is adopted. Alan Dershowitz has made out such a case for those he calls terrorists. Once that attitude is accepted, all lesser forms of immoral behavior then become justified.

You have tried your best to expose the inhumanity of abandoning one’s beliefs of what is right and what is clearly wrong. How we treat other human beings is what is supposed to separate us from animals. A fortiori, labeling other human beings as animals creates the necessary attitude to treat them as such. Without morality, our attitudes about survival and our view of ourselves creates the necessary conditions for war and the mistreatment and slaughter of other human beings. Each time that I read something you have written, I have come away with the hope that I can live my life as you do. Thank you for helping me to examine my own inhumanity. Thank you for helping me to refocus my life by accepting the responsibility each of us must take for making decisions based upon the belief that there is a better way for mankind. You are truly an inspiration. Shalom.

Barclay W. Johnson
Victoria, BC



From: "David Tsal" davidtsal45[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: To Norman Finkelstein
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 04:30:52 -0700

Hey Finkie,

Congrats on becoming the filthiest scum in human history. I am not aware of anyove ever shitting so ebulliently on his parents' grave, while at the same time covering up with their story.

I hope someone one day will cut off your head and play soccer with it, like your Arab friends did in Gaza. Whether they do or not, you are already a very sad site.

Sincerely,
David Tsal

From: "Michael Shanahan" maxillagardens1118[at]hotmail.co.uk
To: davidtsal45[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Filth from you.
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 20:43:35 +0000

David Tsal (Your sort of email to Dr Norman Finkelstein of 26 June 2006).

Mr Tsal,

What a pity times are so hard for you fascist boys. If things were to be better then you might just find a little manners. No hope in your case. Always an old trick for your kind of filth to go for character assassination. To be fair, what else could you do. If the worse comes to the worse you could always go back to Kiev and try your luck.

Regards to Daniel Pipes

Michael Shanahan
UK.

From: "David Tsal" davidtsal45[at]hotmail.com
To: maxillagardens1118[at]hotmail.co.uk, normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Thank you. Same to you
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:28:58 -0700

Dear Finkelstein's henchman,

So, I hit where it hurt.

Truth is painful, hah?

I now feel proud. I have done something good!

From your own ass into your own mouth, may you choke on your own hatred!

Thanks,

In Kiev, they endlessly kept telling me "Go back to your Israel". They also called me "devil's sperm." I was 10 years old at the time. Try to top that!!!

After experiencing that, all the monickers you are trying to put on me (like "fascist", "nazi", etc.) sound like so many funny words to me. Anyway, coming from your guys, they are compliments. Keep them coming.

But don't waste your time trying to scare me with "I know all about you." You don't scare me. I have no fear. Not any more. I will be a Jewish Shahid, who embraces death and loves martyrdom. And cuts the throats of his enemies. And serves mothers the meat of their sons. Minced and grilled. These are not my words. They belong to your friend Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

Say hi to your friend Finkel, who uses you because he doesn't even have the courage to answer himself.

I will try to keep him occupied.
Keep the scum coming!

Better yet, why don't you crawl back to the London bus your anti-Zionist friends bombed on 7/7.

Sincerely,
DT





From: "J Young" j_young_2005[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Attn: Norman
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2006 14:41:36 -0600

Norman,

Please allow me to admit that I was wrong about you. When I first visited your website, I prematurely assumed that you were an extremely disgruntled Jew whose intentions were to promote anti-Jewish propaganda via literature and public speeches. Although I still agree with the latter part, I was wrong with the whole "self-hating Jew" thing. The reason? Well, Norman, let's face it – you are not a Jew.

You obviously don't practice Judaism, you don't celebrated Jewish holidays or festivities, and you don't associate yourself with Jewish culture or tradition. Add the fact that Jews are not a race of people and combine all of the above with your promotion of anti-Jewish/Israel propaganda and we get a clear picture of what you really are – an apostate.

The main problem with you is obvious – you are too biased. There is absolutely no balance in your work. Everything you write is anti-Israeli / Jewish. Look at the presentation of your website, it says it all.

And how difficult is it to do what you do? Not difficult at all. Heck, I think even I can pull a Norman G. Finkelstein-type of one-sided summary. Look:

1920: Anti-Zionist Arabs rioted in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem for several days, viciously assaulting hundreds of Jews. Shops and homes were set on fire. The result: 5 Jews killed, 234 wounded.

1929: Mobs of angry Arabs inspired by false rumours that Jews had killed two Arabs, begin a murderous attack on Jews in Jerusalem. The result: 133 Jews killed and 339 wounded.

1929: Arab rioters massacred 67 Jews in Hebron. Jews that survived the onslaught were forcibly driven out.

1936-1939: Arab intolerance toward Jewish immigration resulted in more violence against Jews (and British soldiers). More than 400 Jews and 200 Britons were killed.

1948: Israel is declared a state. Arabs respond by waging a war. Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemeni troops join forces together to wipe out Israel. Although Israel wins the war, they suffer heavy casualties: 6,373 Jews were killed and thousands more were injured.

1967: Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq joined forces together for another attempt at destroying the state of Israel. The war lasted just six days before Israel triumphed in victory. Over 770 Israelis were killed and more than 2,500 were injured.

1973: Egypt and Syria, together with military support from Iraq and Jordan, launched a surprise attack on Israel. Over 2,600 Israelis were killed and more 7,200 wounded.

2000-2005: Terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claim responsibility for over 100 terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians (mostly suicide bombings). Targets include restaurants, nightclubs, buses, and many other public places where children are present. Hundreds of Israelis are killed and thousands are injured.

I am sure that most open-minded people would reject such one-dimensional overview that depicts Arabs in a clearly negative way, as though all Arabs are terrorist killing machines. Yet, that's exactly what you do. You are a master at manipulating facts.

And why do you do it? That's not too hard to figure out. Based on some of your articles, one can say that you are a product of your own environment. Your outspoken mother expressed many vile sentiments toward the Jews and Israel as you were growing up, all of which you've absorbed. This surely had a profound impact on your mental development, since you now share your mother's anti-Jewish views. Perhaps you misinterpreted her statements, or perhaps not. Either way, you have been conditioned to lash out at anything Jewish. And that's what you are fighting for - your mother's cause, not the Palestinian cause as you so deceive your readers to believe. It just so happens that many Arabs share your mother's opinions.

But I am not suggesting that you are a fool, Norman. No sir. You are an intelligent person – highly educated and articulate. Your loyal fans/supporters are no morons either. I've read many of their emails and they seem to be bright individuals as well. I do not dispute that.

However, as I'm sure you know, intelligence has absolutely nothing to do with morality. In fact, some of history's most evil persons are considered intelligent. Do you think that Hitler and Stalin were imbeciles? How about serial killers? Most of them have a high degree of intelligence too. But intelligence does not necessarily make one a righteous person. Mother Teresa never graduated from University with any degree or PhD. Her education level was nowhere near yours. But her level of morality was far more superior than yours. Wouldn't you agree? And plus, many intelligent folks such as yourself (and your supporters) tend to be very stubborn people anyways, since they feel that they can never be wrong. During your debate with Alan Dershowitz, you proved exactly that – at times you were behaving almost like a child refusing to listen to his mother.

So stop your propaganda. Have some integrity. Look at both sides of the coin. Why don't you write about how the Arab world, including Palestinians, teach their children that Jews never lived in Israel, that the Holocaust is nothing more than a myth designed to create the State of Israel, that the Jews conspire to dominate and corrupt the world, (etc)? What about the fact that anti-Jewish propaganda books like "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" are used in their schools? Hatred toward the Jews is fed to students like fuel to fire. But you don't write about that, do you?

You write about how the Palestinians are mistreated by the Israelis. What about how the Palestinians are mistreated by the Lebanese and Syrians who refuse to grant them citizenships, employment, and aid? After the 1948 war, over 800,000 Jews were expelled from the Arab world and became refugees too. But by your standards, they were "immigrants" not refugees, right? By the way, it is the Arabs, not the Jews, who declared that war. Had the Arabs never waged this war on Israel, there would have not been any Palestinian refugees in the first place. Why don't you ever point that out? And what if it was the Arabs that had won the war? What do you think they would have done to the Jews? How do you think they would have treated them? Would they have created new concentration camps like the Nazis? After all, didn't the Arab world support the Nazis and their anti-Jewish propaganda?

And why are Jews not allowed to defend themselves? Israel is after all, their homeland; much the same way that the Americas are the homeland of the Native Indians. If you look at the history of Israel, you will see that it was invaded by foreigners many times: first by the Babylonians, then the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Muslims, the Crusades, the Mamluks, the Ottoman Empire, and last it fell to the hands of the British. The Jews were persecuted in their own homeland by foreigners for centuries. At times, they were even forced to exile, which resulted in them becoming a minority group in their own homeland. So why do you expect them to just keep on taking beatings? Jews make up for less than a quarter of one percent of the world's population (this includes both religion and non religion Jews). They simply can't afford to take beatings anymore.

As for your book "The Holocaust Industry," just imagine an African American professor writing a book entitled "The Slavery Industry"? Imagine that same author lambasting African Americans for "exploiting" the suffering of blacks centuries ago, complaining that there are too many black Colleges, charging that all black organizations are corrupt, and protesting that America celebrates Black History Month every year? Sure, Bubba and the brainwashed bunch in the KKK (and pretty much anyone else that dislikes blacks) would praise this author for having the "courage" to write such crap. But would that really make any sense?

There are many black people in America that criticize members of their own community too, but at least they do it properly. Take Bill Cosby for example. Although he is critical of the African-American youth, he also contributes to the African American community in a positive way, through charity work and such.

You write about how Jews exploit the suffering of Holocaust victims for self-serving purposes. Yet isn't that what you are doing also (that is, by your own standards)? Are you not exploiting the suffering of the Jews, the Arabs… your very own mother? How is that any different from what you accuse others of doing?

Come on. Get real, Norman. Realise what you are doing. Soon enough your books will join "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" as the choice of preference for anti-Jewish propaganda literature.

On a final note, although just like you, I don't believe in god, angels, heaven, or the tooth fairy, I hope that hell really does exist in an after life - so that the Nazis who victimized your mother and millions of others are suffering a great deal for their horrible crimes.

Jessica Y.



Keep up good work Mr. Finkelstein....maybe some day rest of the World will see truth behind hoaxes and lies that are so common in Palestine/Israel case. I myself found something that doesn't fit in the picture while i served in United Nations peacekeeping forces in Lebanon in 1991 to 1992. Media etc. showed Israel as David fighting against Goliath....but after a while in Lebanon, something happened. It was not any kind of "arab propaganda" at all. Facts which i read trough UN reports, what has happened, who shot first shots, how many, to where....gave opposite picture whats going on. And after i finished my service in Unifil, i started study, slowly but steady. How can i draw picture between what I have saw, and what i have read and heard before i served in Lebanon. It was a wakeup call. Nothing was same again.

Israel must withdraw from territories occupied, take down settlements....all too clear...nothing fancy and hard to understand at all...simple things make life easy as pie

All the best and strenght to your valuable work...

Mika Laiho, Finland



I read that you sttod there before the assembled Presbyterians and begged them with that nasally, Washington Heights, ass-kissing voice of yours to boycott companies that do business with Israel. Atta boy, Normie. For the Presbyterians, you're a good Jew, instead of like all those other bad Jews out there.

Robert Cherniack
RCHER[at]SHAW.CA



From: davidropin912[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2006 5:48 AM
Subject: Why

Mr. Finkelstein,

I have irritated you, havn't I?

This is why: because people such as you should know their place. Modern anti-semitism had used twisted scholarism and science in order to justify the persecution of jews, much in the same manner you are doing the demonize israel and justify the acts of barbarity of the ones who follow Osama bin Laden.

David A. Ropin,

Tel-Aviv, state of Israel



From: zachvissar[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2006 9:49 AM
Subject: question

Finkelstein:

Are you planning to visit Texas (Dallas and/or Houston area) with your mean, shitty and worthless lectures? I'd like to take that opportunity and a pleasure to come up to you and spit at your false, lying, arrogant, and anashamed snout. I am a very resolute person and nothing/nobody would stop me from doing that, even your Hamas brothers. You are a scum... a real one.

Disrespectfully,

Zach.



Hello, Prof. Finkelstein:

I've been reading your latest book, and I just want to say, Bravo! You utterly dismembered Dershowitz and brought together a tremendous amount of under-reported evidence of Israeli human-rights violations.

I am secular, but from a Jewish background. My mother, actually, was born in Kazakhstan in 1944, and later lived in a DP camp in Berlin. Outside her nuclear family, almost everyone was killed in death camps.

Yet, I am consistently called either a self-hating Jew or anti-Semitic if I criticize Israel. Even among otherwise left-leaning, clear-sighted folks, Jewish or not, Israel is a blind spot. It's an interesting sociological phenomenon, and one that should be lessened by your work and others'.

Ironically, some people label me a Zionist because I don't want all Israeli Jews transferred to Europe or elsewhere, regardless of the immorality of the Zionist move into Palestine.

I think the most important message in your recent book is that the problem isn't all that complicated. I agree. It's an invented controversy, much like intelligent design, questioning the reality of global warming, and many others too numerous to name! (I studied history and history of science at Cornell and Penn [MA], but didn't go on in the field, just for the record. So, it's interesting to see the same strategy used by ultra-Zionists and creationists.)

What would be very interesting to know is exactly how the Holocaust is connected to Israel subjectively in the minds of Jewish-Americans of various age groups, as well as non-Jewish Americans, and folks around the world. I wonder whether that kind of study has been attempted. Probably! I only have anecdotal evidence from my own family and background (West Hartford, CT -- lots of upper-middle-class Jews and non-Jews) -- I'm 36, btw -- and there seems to be an interesting psychological phenomenon by which revenge for the Holocaust has been shifted from Nazis and collaborators who are long-gone (and mostly got away with it, Nuremberg notwithstanding -- such is the unjust nature of life) to conveniently available "enemies" (or, no-quote enemies).

One can't do everything, of course, but the one thing that your Holocaust industry book left me wondering about is the reception of the propaganda. It was mostly about the creation and dissemination of the propaganda, but there must be fertile fields out there for it to stick. You do touch on that, if I remember correctly, but there's a lot that could be done on that topic, and it would be very useful and illuminating.

This is more a social-psychological issue, and not strictly a historical one, of course.

Anyway, many congratulations on your continued scholarship and courage.

Best wishes,

Doug Tarnopol



From: lnwinkle[at]butler.edu
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: hello
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 12:08:15 -0400

Dear Norman Finklestein,

My name is Leah Winkler and I am a senior at Butler University (undergrad). I just thought I would let you know how much I appreciate your letter posted on your website about the Israel-Palestine conflict. I found a link to it through the PNN website. I am young and ignorant. I am just now learning of the horrors the people of Palestine undergo on a daily basis while I sit in the comfort of my own home in the United States. But I am eager to learn as much as I can. I'm Japanese-American-my grandparents were deeply affected by the atomic bomb (my grandmother is still suffering complications because of the radiation) and I myself would have been put in an internment camp if I were living at the time because of my dual citizenship and mixed race. I know this sounds naive but I just want the world to work and be a better place.

...I'm sorry I know I am rambling and you have no idea who I am. I just thought I would send you my support. I am going to order your book "Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict" as soon as I get my next paycheck. See..I'm also a theatre student and I'm directing Jean Anouli's Antigone next semester set in Palestine...examining Antigone as a parrellel to palestinian female suicide bombers....examining the idea of heroism. I've been getting mixed reactions...but when it comes down to it, if killing people is wrong but Palestine is opressed in the wrong way and our terrorists are their heroes. Thank you for shedding light to dark spaces and I send you my support. Sincerely,

Leah Nanako Winkler



From: "David Ropin" davidropin912[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Your work's malignity
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 20:58:19 +0300

Mr. Finkelstein,

As I have a very developed political awareness, I had stumbled upon your evil and hateful work on many ococcasions, a thing which made me wonder about your nature and path in life. You seem to be a quite narcissistic and arrogant person: you seem to be very set on dismissing every real scholar with the very basic commitment for the truth, something which you never were and never will be. To me, it seems rather pitiful and arrogant that you dare to write and publish all of these lies and half-truths in your books (which, not suprisingly, are very welcomed by neo-nazi and anti-semitic groups) and than "debate" with accomplished and honorable scholars and lie your way to a so called "win", which can be easliy dismissed by examining the facts. Fotunetly however, no one seems to be interested in you, which only indicates how your hateful views and work are so unaccepted by the mainstream and sane intellectual community and never will be, as recent events continue to teach us.

Sincerely, David A. Ropin

Tel-Aviv, state of Israel



From: Dov Landau thinkbigger26[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 21:23:14 -0700 (PDT)

i wish you could have been one of hitler's 6 million successes.



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

I see how much of the hate mail you receive focuses on the 'self-hating Jew' "syndrome". In absence of facts this is what your opponents are left with. I plan to give these people another target,myself. I am of Irish descent and I have quit drinking. That's right I am now a self-hating Irishman. No more stout beers or shots of Bailey's. I give up. I am taking the 'Mc' off of my name. I will only use Guire from here on. I am boycotting Riverdance. I will now feel free to make potato jokes at my leisure. I will refuse to wear green on St. Patrick's Day, and if I am pinched by one of these Mics, so help me God I'll punch the little leprechaun. Now I can only sit back and wait for the Zionist hit squad to come and expose me to the world as a pathetic self-loathing Irishman. For who isbetter at determining the mental-emotional disposition of others than an Israeli hack that misspells 50% of the words in his emails, with a savory touch of atrocious grammar, and cites Likud websites as evidence. Maybe one of these missionaries of logic (like George Muenz) will invite me to the Holocaust Denial Conference in Iran well. I have always wanted to see Tabriz in the summer. What airline are you flying? Maybe we could go together. Anyhow I must return to relentlessly hitting myself in the face with a 2x4 to beat the Irish off.

Dr. Finkelstein, keep up the good work.

Your self-hating Irish friend
Alex Trafton-Guire



From: Kerry Pasternac kpasternac[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: helpful insight to palestinian-israeli conflict
Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 07:24:01 -0700 (PDT)

Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I would like to offer my own suggestion on a new and novel way of dealing with this protracted conflict: ground the palestinians into dog food. I think that recent advances in meat grinding technology could be helpful in converting the palestinian population into a viable source of proteins and other essential vitamins and nutrients for the world's under-nourished dogs. seeing as how the palestinians as a people have almost no redeeming qualities and characteristics and have been the source of great trouble to the Israelis and their neighbors over the past 60 years, I think my idea would settle once and for all this thorny issue of middle east geopolitics. Please let me know if you think my idea is viable and how it can best be implemented. I have just acquired a beautiful new german shepherd and I know she will be hungry for a can of tasty palestinian with gravy. Toodles!

Kerry Pasternak, JD, MBA

Chicago, IL

From: prochoice8[at]hotmail.com
To: kpasternac[at]yahoo.com
CC: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Your idea in the letter to Prof. Finkelstein
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 07:58:21 +0000

Not very new, Mister.

Since the Christians tore up the philosopher Hypatia in 417 Christian Era, there have been such ideas around. I am not willing to take anti-vomiting medicine to compile a list for you. I wish you a place at the receiving end of your world view, after all, there is no guarantee for a place among the people with Human Rights, as long as there are also those without.

And: Elephants are more likely to turn against their torturer-keepers than dogs, but even a member of a race bred into extreme submissiveness, as German Shepherds are, might...

Rune C. Olwen
Flensburg, Germany





Dear Norman,

Greetings from The Prople's Republic of China! My wife and I have been teaching here at Anhui University in Hefei (Anhui Province) since early April, and I just wanted to comment on the Chinese perspective on Palestine. (You'll be delighted to know that your website is not one of those blocked by the Chinese Government.)

The Palestine-Israel situation is not well known among students and faculty here, with most students blaming the whole Middle East situation solely on the American greed for oil. In classroom discussions on American foreign >policy, I have been able to bring in the factor of Israeli influence, but I'm not sure how seriously the students take it.

In the Central Government, the Party and Pres. Hu Jintao have a policy of even-handedness with such conflicts, but Pres. Hu has made several trips abroad, the latest to African countries, in order to develop bi-lateral agreements on trade, humanitarian problems, and Taiwan ("One China Policy"). So, at this point in time, China is not likely to officially take sides in the Palestine situation. These bilateral agreements have been esential for China's eonomic development; for example, China has already contracted for 40% of the oil reserves in Nigeria, and virtually all the oil and gas reserves in Kazakhistan, and recently signed long-term contracts for Australian uranium.

China puts America to shame on humanitarian grounds. Through the PLA (Peoples' Liberation Army), China provides the first UN peace-keeping force in Sudan (in spite of the fact that Sudan is a major oil exporter to China), and they were first to send relief forces to help victims of the recent Indonesian earthquake, while poverty-ridden Cuba sends medical teams. America does nothing substantive, and every educated person here knows that.

Students don't understand our attitude in the Dubai World Ports controversy, when Hutchinson World Ports already operates several West coast ports in the US as well as the Panama Canal. HWP is a subsidary of Hutchinson-Whampoa, a Hong Kong company 40 % owned by the PLA!

George Bush is the butt of continuous jokes here in China. I asked a Chinese >friend about a giant cell tower just completed, and his answer was, "That's George Bush tower to spy on on your classes in China." The recent threat to put American troops on Chinese soil should Taiwan Province declare independence was met with, "why does George Bush want to kill so many American soldiers?

Shortly before we came here in early April, the Central Government issued a ruling that Chinese television stations could no longer use film clips from outside news agencies without approval from the offical Party news source, Xinhua.

To my surprise, this was largely to weed out biased news from US sources. In spite of the seeming disinterest in Palestinian issues, both English and >Chinese TV broadcasts have almost daily reports from Palestine that are excellent coverage of events. Recent demonstrations by Inraeli-Palestinian peace groups were covered for more than 10 minutes on the evening news, and the narrative referred to "the 38 year Israeli occupation of Gaza." The Wall is politely referred to as the "separation barrier" "preventing palestinian farmers from reaching their land." Armed Palestinians were referred to as "Palestinian fighters." There was also an extensive report on the launching of Israeli spy satellites by Russia. Of course some of these tv broadcasts are not available to ordinary Chinese; students think this is because of government censorship, but they are readily available here on campus and in hotels, so it's more likely that it's a matter of paying for a cable subscription rather than censorship.

Best regards,
Clay Denman



I hope you give more speeches and I would like to attend one. Will you be giving any speeches soon? Mr Finkelstein there are many noble causes in this world, that which you bring attention to is one of them. I hope you never give up or have to much despair to go on. I know the truth can not be kept hidden forever. One thing that cannot be denied is your work will live on. Take care. David Barajas



Dear Professor Finkelstein

I would like to thank you for your writings and your speeches. Unfortunately I missed your engagement at Sussex University ( UK) but have watched your Vancouver lecture with enormous enjoyment. You have certainly restored my faith ( to some extent!) in academia. I have made several documentaries over the years specialising in Iran, but have also worked in Bosnia, Iraq, Kurdistan and Libya-but have not-as yet-made any film as intellectually rigorous as your projects. I am still trying to follow up stories I heard in Sarajevo at the height of the siege which postulated direct aid to Serbia from Israel. This initially dealt with sanction busting with 155mm ammunition but I also met with those who claimed that Israeli special forces fought in the field with Serb paramilitary forces to 'counter the Islamic threat to the soft underbelly of Europe' (Where have I heard that before ? )

You have great courage and I hope that we might meet one day. I would love to make a documentary with you in Iran meeting/challenging? changing ? President Ahmadinejad. He reminds me of some of the students that I taught before the Revolution when I was a British Council Director of Studies. (Others went on to take the US Embassy hostages !) It is difficult to find words to describe Alan Dershowitz.His behaviour appears so monstrous that it becomes almost fictional-a bad novel badly transferred to real life via TV with too many advertising breaks advocating all-in package holidays on the occupied West Bank. Once again- many thanks.

Tim Hodlin



Dear Mr. Finkelstein

I went to your web-site recently and saw that Mr. Latuff had dressed you with the Norwegian flag? Why on earth should you wear that? Norwegian Middle East policy is not very honorable. The Nobel Peace Price to Rabin and Peres? Wasn't it Rabin who started the "broken arms and legs policy"? Didn't he uproot hundreds of olive trees in Beit Sahuris on the West Bank in the beginning of the first intifada, storm houses and confiscate private property, launch 44 days of curfew and let traumatized children at the YMCA-center be kicked and beaten by Israeli soldiers because the inhabitants of Beit Sahuris refused to pay astronomic taxes to the occupiers?

Didn't the Norwegians leave the refugees from 1948 out from the Oslo-agreement - with tragic consequences - while the settlements expanded - under the Peace Price laureate Yitzak Rabin? The Norwegian diplomats involved in this have been so intoxicated by their diplomatic cat walk that they still refuse to realize their mistakes. They should not be encouraged. And now a days we have a Secretary of State who refused to meet Hamas during his visit to the Middle East, but spoke to the thug Avi Dichter, Norway is joining the brutal embargo against Palestine, while we trade weapons with Israel and our petroleum fond invest in the Israeli state. This discrimination might seam racist. The Secretary of State has also assured Israel and the US that Norway never, ever will boycott Israel. Has any other country made such a vow for the future?

Well two good things have happened: The Palestinian Secretary of Refugees from Hamas, Atef Adwan, was in Norway in May and met officials from the State department and MPs, but no one from government. The 13th of June the PLC-member from Hamas, Yahya al-Abadsa, will visit Norway and probably meet mostly the same type of persons. Salah el-Bardawil is also invited, but the answer to his visa apply will not be ready before fall. But this does not qualify for a shirt with the Norwegian flag. I could think of a lot that would suit you better.



To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Question on Israeli racism
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 11:23:15 -0700 (PDT)

Dear Professor Finkelstein,

I hope you have been doing well; I have been reading some of the newer articles posted on your website, especially those from the last month or so and what struck me more than anything else is the level of pettiness many of your antagonists display against you.

I mean, I already knew that you're a thorn in the side of many "establishment intellectuals" (which is most definitely a good thing, methinks) and all but I had no idea until reading some these recent articles on the very low, almost childish level of pettiness that you seem to have to deal with on a regular basis. Commiserations and my hat off to you because I have no idea how you put up with it. It's one thing to fight people who are on the same level or frequency as you are but on the other side of the argument - those are at least worthy foes and at times their intelligence even inspires you to go further and up the ante. However dealing with lesser adversaries must no doubt, be irritating and energy-depleting at the very least.

I wanted to also ask you a question on Israeli racism. Not so much about anti-Arab/Palestinian racism which is evident enough but more about racism within Israeli society itself especially vis a vis Sephardic Jews and Falasha Jews from Ethiopia. I have recently seen a very beautiful film called "Va, Vie et Deviens" (Go, Live and Become) by Romanian Jewish director Radu Mihaileanu which is primarily about how a young Falasha boy who is adopted by an Israeli family and his integration into Israeli society (it is much more complex than that but that's the gist of it) (http://www.vavisetdeviens-lefilm.com/).

Living here in North America, you practically never hear about these other voices or identities and certainly never hear about how ugly Israeli society on the inside can be. All we ever seem to hear about is how much of a "victim" Israel by being surrounded by so many enemies and hence why it needs to be armed so heavily and the heavy-handed ways it deals with their "security" issues. I realize that you're not an experton Israeli society as a whole or intra-Jewish relations but I'd be curious to hear what your thoughts are on the origins of such overt racism in Israel, not only to non-Jews but it would seem to other Jews as well. Do you think a large part of these attitudes were picked up by the Jewish experience in Europe and North America?

Best,

BA



From: Doug Henning doughenning19[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Norman, heard a speech of yours on mp3
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 16:41:38 -0400

I have to say it's incredible that you can spend a full 90 minutes talking about Israel-Palestine, and not once do you mention the very predominant Palestinian/Arab/Muslim feeling that peace with Israel is immoral and wrong, and destroying Israel is the only path. As Hamas have felt, and the Palestinians, via popular election, just approved of. It's kind of hard for Israel to hand land control to people who make it abundantly clear that peace alongside Israel isn't their goal. Getting Israel off the map is.

In the mind of anyone sane, or any Israel, the war on Israel's very existence as a Jewish state is, at the very least, the second biggest issue, in the entire conflict.

That you stand there and preach dishonest bullshit to a crowd of imbeciles ready to lap up your nonsense is remarkable. You have a unique talent. I personally wouldn't have it in me to stand there and lie for 90 straight minutes.

Doug

From: normangf[at]hotmail.com
To: Doug Henning doughenning19[at]gmail.com
Subject: Norman, heard a speech of yours on mp3

Please give one example of "dishonest bullshit": i.e., one statement of mine that isn't true.

From: "Doug Henning" doughenning19[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Norman, heard a speech of yours on mp3
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 11:50:23 -0400

You gave a 90 minute speech about the problems between Israel and Palestinians, yet not once did you mention Palestinian/Islamic extremist desire to wipe Israel off the map and/or not accepting the existence of a Jewish state at all as being a factor in the problem. To pretend to be giving people an understanding of the problem, while intentinally not mentioning what to any sane, unbiased person is clearly one of the biggest parts of the problem, is disgustingly dishonest.

You also failed to mention the Khartoum conference in 1967 where Israel, who wanted to give territories won from Jordan and Egypt away in exchange for peace, was soundly rejected. The very concept of even negotiating with Israel was met with the famous "no no no" from the Arabs. It was a war on Israel's very existence as a Jewish state.

You also left out that for decades, the position of the PLO was to not even recognize Israel's existence, and that it took about 27 years for them to agree that peace alongside Israel is the right path.

Your speech was a load of shit, and that idiots in the audience sit listening to you and actually applauding the DISHONEST ONE-SIDED nonsense you spew is as disgusting as you are as a person.





From: MartinWhite[at]starband.net
Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 6:05 AM
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Thanks for latest book

Dear Norman,

I enjoyed the verve and substance of Beyond Chutzpah. I think the book also serves to demonstrate how lacking we are in debate in this country, the actual taking on of the other side – we just leave the ranters to rant to each other, buying books from each other, never crossing the great divide. I represent only the cause of confused humanity, the tiny fraction of Americans who read as adults to become yet further enlightened about the lies and myths that have constructed our American exceptionalism. I cannot imagine what the New Press would have used as a justification for not publishing the book – that it actually contained criticism of a specific individual – how utterly intolerant.

Just in the spirit of fairly useless contention, I wonder about the propriety of using Dershowitz’s other work in the beginning of the book as a source for one of your historical points. If you’ve unmasked him as an intellectual charlatan, how can he be used as an authority on anything? Secondly, now Counterpunch takes you on in their latest print edition, and it always leaves me frustrated when one writer has the stage, without the other figure being allowed up to answer. We are a terribly timid society. I downloaded your debate with Ben Ami, and it may be that I have no background to appreciate the esoteric points, because I cannot now recall a single word of it, except its genteel tone. Still, you deserve the public intellectual award of the year, so many thanks...

Martin White



From: Designnut777[at]aol.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Fwd: Per your request
Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 19:16:14 EDT

Dr. Finkelstein,

Per your telephone call concerning the piece I wrote about your speech an UC Irvine this month that Israpundit placed on their blog last month.

The figure I used for your honorarium came from a student that I believed to be reliable. If in fact, you only received a fee of $250.00, as you insist, I should have stated the accurate figure. Although I doubt that misstating your fee is in any way defamatory I apologize for the misstatement of the facts that I made.

Allyson Rowen Taylor



For some time now I have been shareing my views about the injustice going on with the Israeli Palistinine conflict. I have come across some of your interviews today and am looking forward to reading your books. It seems that the mainstream media does not report those injustices I know are happening. I am glad people as yourself are trying to get that information out. You can be a voice to those who seem to not have one.

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other form a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppresion and resistance". Robert F. Kennedy



Hello Professor Finkelstein

I was at the lecture last night and I just have to say I was so excited to have seen you in person speaking your mind. I actually have listened to most of your lectures (streaming) while I work, and as I've said before I just loved the debate between you & dershowitz, that is classic (democracy now).

Once the lecture was over I immediately went down to meet you and have you sign my book (beyond chutzpah), I never thought I'd say this, but, "it was a an honor to have met you"

"It's time to open our hearts and mind to other peoples suffering"

debby with a Y



Mr. Finkelstein,

I praise your courage and scholarship in illuminating thepervasive and malignant influence of an ideology that is essentiallya lie and anti-thetical to every principle of a constitutional republic. The viciousness and dishonesty of the so-called "Israel lobby" is frightening and inexplicable absent some viable if unwanted comparisons. The more I immerse myself in the history and behavior of political "Zionism," the more I am forced to accept that the behavior of the Israeli government in the Occupied Territories is largely identical to that of the Nazis during World War II. Nothing less than a "holocaust" is being committed, carte blanche, against the Palestinian people. Nothing could possible justify it. With the disruption of financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, ostensibly because of the election of a Hamas-dominated government to lead the citizens of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, starvation and other privations are obviously intended. And no one with the power to do so is intervening or even speaking out. Dissent about this issue is verboten. The government here, which has descended unapologetically into fascism, is an accessory to this vile process.

The idea of "God" having conferred the designation of "most favored" upon any group is pure superstition if not insanity. And yet this seems to have become the rationale underpinning the creation, by U.N. fiat, of a rogue state that kills its myriad "enemies", usually on foreign soil, by any means necessary. Using the rubric of "anti-Semitism" to cloak itself against wholly legitimate criticism of officially sanctioned cruelty, the government of Israel is on the cusp of spawning a genuine wave of anti-Semitism; most are sufficiently uninformed about history to distinguish Judaism, the religion and cultural heritage, from political Zionism that merely uses Judaism-cunningly-for neutralizing efforts at initiating any intellectually honest and uncluttered dialogue about an enterprise ungoverned by any civilized principles of behavior. While I once thought of Israel as quite heroic and honorable, I now see it as otherwise. You were right to point out that Israel and its "lobby" have elevated Jewish suffering, vis-a-vis the European holocaust, over that suffered by any other group in recorded history. Not even the almost total destruction of the Roma by the Nazis is given so much as an acknowledgement by the propagandists of "the Holocaust industry," to use your phrase. The holocaust committed by largely European Americans against the indigenous people of the United States, to say nothing of the traffic in the African slave trade, seem to have no place in this limited calculus of human misery. Jewish suffering is, indeed, exalted if not converted into a form of religion unto itself. Communities in the U.S. with "holocaust memorials" of one sort or another seem destined to be more common than cities with streets named "Martin Luther King Boulevard." I have always laborered under the impression that one traditionally has a duty of loyalty to his own country over others. But Israel's foreign policy has become our foreign policy, and many Jews in the present administration openly lobby for Israel's agenda in place of what might otherwise be quite different from our own national and international interests.

In summary, I thank you for educating me, and I plea that you persist in your efforts to force an examination of some highly unpleasant truths. As a Gentile and Christian-Buddhist who believes in and practices tolerance, I am profoundly wounded that you have been so viciously assailed by other Jews. I shall support you in any way that I may be permitted.

Chris Frazier
Savannah, GA
lawyer and disciple of the First Amendment



Dear Norman,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to ask my question at your last lecture in UCLA. I am an American Moroccan and have two daughters that are from UCLA, so this time when I came, I brought the whole family. They have heard me talk about you so much their curiosity was piqued, and they enjoyed themselves very much. A couple of years ago my daughter, Jehan, even wrote you an email that you posted on your website.

Candidness and truth are both qualities sorely lacking in today's world - it is always reassuring to listen to someone who is honest, and, at the same time, honorable. I admire your courage and I don't think we can thank you enough for your determination to seek out the truth in every situation. Thanks again, and I can't wait for another lecture!

Thanks,

Saida



From: gram1[at]ucla.edu
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 0:05:35 PST

Hello Dr. Finkelstein, this is George again. I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful talk you gave at UCLA a couple days ago. The factual evidence that you provided certainly upheld your opinions, and I am sure it helped the "Israel can do no wrong" crowd to think twice about their convictions. Though many did not want to hear the truth, as I heard some heckles and laughter when you were talking about the illegality of the Israeli separation wall, or how three times more Palestinians were killed than Israelis, or when you stated that former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami agreed that the Israelis had intended to expel the Palestinians in 1948; the fact is that the evidence was right before them and they could not put up a good counter argument when they had the opportunity to do so. Their best attempt at this was when what seemed to be a pro-Israel supporter questioned you on why you had not mentioned Palestinian terrorism against Israelis. Obviously you had, when you mentioned the ratio of Israeli to Palestinian terrorism, but it always seems irrelevant to mention this to them, as they cannot find any fault with Israeli practices in the occupied territories. It is incomprehensible to me how someone can be so committed to something such as a state, whether it be the U.S., Israel, or any other violent institution in the world and disregard the truth while looking themselves in the mirror. However, as you said towards the end of your talk, there is much reason for hope, because we have truth on our side and a majority of legal opinion to back us up. Once again, thank you so much, you inspire myself and many others to seek the truth and to have the backone to speak out against that which is clearly insidious.

Sincerely, George Ramirez



From: bugzn rock bugznrock[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Too Bad
Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 07:53:00 -0700 (PDT)

I am glad to say that I only heard about you for the first time recently. Since I have no time to acknowledge the revisionist garbage that you spout all I wanted to say was that it is quite a shame that 6 MILLION Jews were murdered while your parents were left to live and produce you. Just like a Jew to find a niche and profit from it just as you have profited from your nonsense. I hope you and Noam Chomsky are pround of yourselves knowing that terrorists around the world turn to your propaganda to further their agenda. You would make Goebbels proud.

Josh

To Josh,

Did you scroll down the site to meet your pals or should I introduce them? Lenmar 89, Al Lebosky, George Muenzer, Crimlex 1, Roy Asher, Lester Helmus, Barry bxpansive, David Devine, Maverick4488, "Fivish", "Adolf Hitler", Dason Weissman and Doug henning. You are the latest member to join the "The Hate Club". You should be proud, quite an achievement !

Considering the number of letters posted on Professor Finkelstein's site, yours are a handful, but they sure play a distinctive role, they act " comme un cheveu sur la soupe" ( like a hair in the soup). Leave it to the French who so love food to find a most disgusting way to cut your appetite. Used metaphorically, it means incongruous, out of place. Indeed yours are the only letters which address no issue, bring no food for thought, no rational argument to the ongoing discussion about truth, justice, international law , or any other topic for that matter.

Frankly I think Prof. Finkelstein is much too generous to give you 14 spaces, one would be more than enough. One gets from a single one of your letters all the hate one can stomach. Besides repetition is redundant and ineffective. Careful, the sameness of it all is making hate familiar and repetitive, are you sure it works to your advantage? We are becoming immune.

Do you think the 14 of you can put your 14 heads together and write a single letter that addresses one specific issue? Doesn't have to be "solid" or "superb scholarship" just come up with the tiniest little fact. It will prove you can fight Professor Finkelstein on his own turf, with the same weapon he uses, rather effectively. Hate doesn't make facts disappear, in case you didn't know, but a diffferent set of facts might challenge the existing ones and possibly discredit Professor Finkelstein. Just think of the sweet taste of victory in each one of the 14 mouths ! I have so longed to see a detractor's letter bring a snuff of evidence I have decided to help. Instead of 14 members emailing each other back and forth to discuss strategy, here is a number you can use to set up a conference call: 563-843-7400. When prompted, enter this access code: 854-848. It's free! Pull your resources, sharpen your arguments. And if scholarship should prove too difficult to pursue and sustain, too isolating, if facts require more honesty than you can master, harsh discipline... and more, then keep doing what you do best, but please spare us the result. How about starting your own website : hateletters.com . May I suggest you post a few models to choose from and keep adding. The sameness of it all isn't very effective.

Please don't bother to respond to this letter, just scroll down to Al Lebovsky's answer to a letter of mine, it will do. Same letters same answers (you can skip the bit about the maps you didn't get). How naive of me to have believed Al was grieving and to have reacted the way I did. The only feeling you all share is hate. I pass. And one last thing : does your mother know about your writing skills? The Jewish mothers I know would be dismayed. As for my only Jewish aunt, may she rest in peace, she would have made you recite a few times : " What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to them" (from the Talmud, if I'm correct). And if you persisted, she would have grounded you until you behaved. The reason you get away with this "garbage" (your word) is simply because no decent and rational human being would answer your letters using your precious style !

Mirène.





Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

Was pleased to be able to make your UCI talk. It was, as you prefaced it, "unremarkable" in that the facts of the issue at hand were not in dispute. I liked how you established your penchant for academic quality control in that you sought to verify information independently and chose not merely to rely on "champions" as they can often be wrong as well. What you demonstrated quite ably to those attending was that examining someone's methodology for fact finding is the most dependable way to accuracy when relying on the works of others.

It was quite encouraging to hear you insist on being allowed to give your full presentation when you were passed the note that apparently wanted you to wrap up early (was someone concerned about the OT for security?).

I was the one who asked for your comments regarding the LA Times piece (included below) about academics too timid to express their Middle East views for fear of repercussions. Your calling them to task for cowardice in disseminating truth on contentious issues was the model of consistency for a truth-teller. Integrity is its own reward and those willing to commit academic fraud do not belong in the profession.

After listening to you presentation, I can see why you are feared so; you make too much sense. Great to see you pull no punches either regarding the Felix Frankfurter Chair at Harvard Law. The truth protects you.

Thanks again for an engaging evening. I had conversations there with someone from the Middle East Fellowship program who had recently been in Palestine and an Arabic student who asked me what I thought of Prof. Dershowitz (I said I thought he was a clown and a fraud). The crowd was very much in your camp.

Best regards,

Bill B.



Dear Dean Kagan,

This complaint has nothing to do with the preservation of academic freedom or of the freedom to dissent - with both of which I am unreservedly in sympathy. It is to do with honesty and integrity. As you must perfectly well know the fact that you have refused, when justifiably asked by orman Finkelstein to do so, to remove from your website Alan Drkowitz's patently self-serving and unconscionable misrepresentation of Finkelstein's autobiographical sketch can be held by those so minded to lend it credence and to bestow academic respectability upon it. This is a travesty of what academic freedom is supposed to be about.

My quarrel with Derkowitz (and, therefore, with yourself for allowing his misrepresentation to stand despite being protested) is that he is in the grip of an ideology and that he has again in this instance plainly demonstrated his belief that the end (eternal perpetuation of a Zionist Israel) justifies the means - any means.

Truth and justice may be bent at will to serve that end. He does not, in the present instance, lie directly. He doesn't say, or imply, that he believes that Finkelstein's mother was a nazi collaborator. Instead he resorts to mudslinging of the crudest sort directed not at the mother but at Finkelstein. Acting as advocate conducting his own defence, what he does ("smart" trial lawyer that he is) is to take the very human and painfully honest testimony which Finkelstein volunteered about his complex feelings towards his mother - compounded of great love and a mixture of admiration of and mortification at her sheer, life-sustaining, cussedness - and twist it, in such a manner as to have it appear to damn the (hostile) witness out of his own mouth. His aim is to discredit Finkelstein in our eyes and thereby to destroy his credibility as a witness who has testified damagingly to Derkowitz's cavalier treatment both of truth and of academic standards.

So childishly transparent is Derkowitz's tactic that - as you can hardly fail to have appreciated - it rebounds upon himself. All he actually achieves is to reveal himself to us in his true colours. So far from succeeding in his aim, in the eyes of any unbiased observer Finkelstein emerges from Derkowitz's unprincipled attack as a sympathetic, fallible, human being and Derkowitz himself as a bombastic megalomaniac. But, Dean Kagan (thanks to you and the Faculty you head), despite this he can - and assuredly will! - continue to turn Harvard's imprimatur to his advantage when seeking to overawe the gullible and to annihilate those who would expose him. And you will be able to congratulate yourself upon having given your implicit endorsement to his doing so.

If you can't see that that is what you are doing, I conclude that you must be wilfully blind and I extend to you my sympathies in your >affliction. I don't envy you.

Regards

Robert Horwood



rom: Lenmar89[at]aol.com
To: Normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: musasalem
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 18:22:39 EDT

You are a major league hypocrite. You are a far greater lickspittle then that Arab boy ever was or ever will be. He recognizes the great harm that is being done to Israel by the Arabs and Muslims. He knows that they want to kill every Jew in Israel. He knows, unlike you, that all the Israelis want is to live in peace with their neighbors. Unlike you he knows that suicide bombing of civilians including children is beyond criminal. Actually you are far worse then a hypocrite or a lickspittle. You are a traitor to your people and nothing is lower then a traitor. I said it before and I say it again. It is a pity that your parents survived the holocaust to spawn a piece of dreck (if you know what that means) like you



From: "Naseer Zafar" naseerzafar[at]hotmail.com
To: "normangf" normangf[at]hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 20:11:00 +0100

Dear Professor Finkelstein

This is second mail to your sight. I must congratulate you for your bravery and courage in the face of blatant abuse and insults from the bigots and small minded people. it is very very easy to insult and abuse some one, however once this kind of people start using abusive language they know themselves that they have lost the argument. I would like to point out one historical fact that you can not destroy a whole nation. Hitler tried that and he failed miserably and i think present day Israeli Government must remember this. you can't kill all the Palestinian, sooner or later you will have to talk with them. unjust peace will never bring stability and prosperity to that region and people whether Jews or Palestinian.

God Bless you

Naseer



Hi, Norman!

A few days ago I was exposed to your work by a German friend [I'm currently based in Munich], and I'm, uh, still reeling ...We watched your Democracy Now debate with Alan Dershowitz on the Internet, where you excoriated the Harvard gentleman in exquisite detail. It was one of the most masterful intellectual smack-downs I've ever witnessed.

We burst out laughing towards the end because you seemed to be cradling your head in your hands. We could almost hear you thinking, "What kind of jackass am I dealing with? We're supposed to be having a serious discussion".

Until that point, I must admit that I had been something of a fan of Prof. Dershowitz, having seen him devastate a number of opponents on American television. At any rate, this was a big eye-opener for me, and I'm beginning to evolve a whole new set of understandings about Israel, and the inevitable conflicts of American Jewish intellectuals vis a vis the state of Israel.

Thanks.

This is possibly a naive question, so apologies in advance, but it seems to me that there's a big divide in the American Jewish community. If you're religious, then you're a good person and you have a sort of idealized and unqualified support for the state of Israel; and, if you're not observant - or worse, an atheist - then you're a self-loathing Jew, a PLO-lover, a holocaust denier's wet dream. Is this more or less accurate?

I guess I'm asking this question because after watching your debate with Dershowitz, I Googled your name and found reviews of your books. Some were interesting, and others were downright vicious. The negative ones didn't address any of the facts or scholarship of your work, but seemed to dilate over accusations of self-loathing, and cultural masochism [my characterization].

Whether or not that you're an atheist - something I just discovered by chance - doesn't have any bearing on your interpretation of the facts and the historical record. It's irrelevant, IMO, and I'm saying this as an observant Christian.

I was extremely offended by these cheap shots. I tried to figure out why you might have to suffer these criticisms, and the best that I could come up with is that it was easier to tar you with the "self- loathing" brush and suggest that you were emotionally imbalanced, than coming out and saying that your opinions were unacceptable because you were an atheist. Regardless, these people still came off looking like idiots to me.

I wish you the very best of success in all of your endeavors, and I would love you hear you speak in Munich if that were ever possible.

Warmly,
L.



From: "Sayeed Y." ibnyusuf_2005[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: An Appreciation From London
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 12:39:25 +0100
Hello Professor Finkelstein,

Fully aware that you must recieve a constant deluge of email from your adoring fans, I'm going to try to keep this one short. I'm a 17 year old Marxist college student in London. My name is Sayeed Yusuf. Having had the pleasure to listen to your debates and various presentations on the Israel- Palestine conflict, I'd like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation for your earnest endeavour to shed some light on what at times can feel like a fuzzy subject to grasp.

Your candid and honest approach to analysing the conflict is most admirable in a subject matter often made confused by diametrically opposed sides hell bent on demonising one another. I particularly enjoyed your "legitimate" and "illegitimate disagreements" argument that you presented at the university of Yale.

Thank you again sir. I shall be keeping an eye on your schedule for any visits to London that you may have planned.

Best wishes & kind regards.

Sayeed.

P.S. as a student of philosophy, I too am an avid fan of J. S. Mill's On Liberty, could you perhaps recommend other philosophical books (or otherwise) that you think are worth reading?



Hello Professor Finkelstein. I checked out the cartoons by Latuff and thought they were great. He has artistic talent and makes you think also. That was a great shot with the "Fact Rock" where you hit Dershowitz right in the ass!! PS- Aim for his little toe next time. That's where he keeps his brain, his honesty, and his concern for humanity! God bless you professor. Bill



From: "jonnny jonnny" jonnnyj[at]googlemail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: A Suggestion
Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 20:48:14 +0100

Dear Mr Finelstein,

I have recently discovered your website and have been going through the different articles, including the multimedia sections, and would like to ask you why do you have such a dislike for Israel and the Jews?

I am a researcher and I am tired and unhappy in reading another one-sided attempt of explaining the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. In fact, your style of discrediting most Israeli/Jewish works on the matter seems both childish and unscholarly. It is the easiest thing in the world to pick holes at any work of non-fiction but what is the point of doing this? it helps no one.

I don't know if you actually internally hate Israel and the Jews but the website gives such an impression. It reads as if you are fanning the flames of issues (victimization, colonialisation etc) which you are clearly trying to discredit especially among Jews who are outside of Israel. I remember when Michael Moore was in the UK and during his book tour he was spouting 'truths' and 'figures' but had to at one point calm the crowd down and ask them not to become violent at the people/community he was talking about.

How can one claim to show the truth of a people and a country by constantly attacking that country. Do you have a naпve vision that the world is black and white and that many Israelis and Jews are in the black and you are showing the way with white? I bring that up as, at times, you are more interested in pointing out pedantic points such as typos and errors as if to prove what?

Accuracy is important but life and the issues are not one plus one.

Unfortunately, I have met many people who believe they know the truth about the Middle East either quoting E. Said or Dershowitz, but the minute they do quote one side of the spectrum or the other you automatically know that their understanding is subjective. I always sigh in sadness when one believes their point is 100% accurate when they quote either the IDF or Amnesty International. The one thing I have learnt is one can lean easily in either direction when writing about or discussing the Middle East.

In fact, I have to say that this directed attack on specific group of people is hypocritical when all countries (especially your own) behave in a similar fashion. I have researched society and politics in over 40 countries and to be honest I hold you in as much contempt as the other 'scholars' you attack. Such a naпve and waste of talented individuals sitting in ivory white towers who could actually help the situation they are such 'experts' of.

If you were living here in the UK or in France you might be batting for the other team as here (as opposed to the States) we are much more Pro-Palestinian. Funny that, especially in countries such as France with a sizable minority of Muslims but do not have any representing them in Parliament (are there any Muslims in the Israeli parliament?)

I guess you are like my former Professor, he also lived his life pursuing a cause that dealt with defining 'anti-social' behaviour (that's all he did). He could not understand why everyone did not agree with his every well researched and calculated argument but he too was a victim of not seeing the forest for the trees.

I truly hope that an agreement is reached between the Israelis and Palestinians. Each side is guilty of behaving in an unforgivable manner but attacking/praising just one side is as unforgivable.

Please try and adopt a more balanced view point. It is so easy to be a hero of a cause and be worshiped by 'Yes' men while attacked by the 'other' side. A fair and balanced viewpoint is what is needed to reach a fair and just solution to an ongoing complex situation.

Yours truly,

Jonnny

From: "Trevor Mack" spinozajew[at]hotmail.com
To: jonnny[at]googlemail.com
CC: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: pov
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 21:58:34 -0700

Dear Johnny,

Your hopelessly fatuous epistle to Professor Finkelstein not only was poorly constructed, it was a scrofulous exercise in bad logic. What was your point- that no one's at fault in the Middle East? Or that both Israel and the Palestinians are equally to blame? It was hard to tell. You gave no examples, provided no evidence. It seemed as though your real purpose was to present yourself as a sort of latter-day Marco Polo- travelling the globe to ply your eunuch wisdom on both the ill-fed and the unlearned. We see you In Palermo, as the old, toothless malavistas tear at your "relaxed fit" jeans screeching: "Senor Jonny, una momento", only to have you flee to Leipzig U.'s Great Kinski Hall where your four-hour lecture on "The Follies Of History" leave the Polish cavalry breathless and screaming for more. Rogue, rake, master of the fiery dominions, you nurse your grasp of world conflicts past and present as only an Egyptian squirrell hides his pistachios. Senor Jonny, you have flashed your ragged, crimson & clover cape and let us into your palazzo. We, your multitude of anxious disciples are touched beyond measure, kind Sir.

Gianni Ginella
Rome, Italy

* * * * *

From: "Eric Silverman" ercvstr[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf@hotmail.com
Subject: Response to email by jonnny jonnny
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 17:06:40 +0000

Hello Jonny,

I am a researcher and I am tired and unhappy in reading another one-sided attempt of explaining the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. In fact, your style of discrediting most Israeli/Jewish works on the matter seems both childish and unscholarly. It is the easiest thing in the world to pick holes at any work of non-fiction but what is the point of doing this? it helps no one.

As a researcher how you can you say that investigation of an author's research is either unscholarly or of no benefit? By identifying the flaws and inconsistencies in Joan Peters work "From Time Immemorial" and Alan Dershowitz' "A Case For Israel", Finkelstein has made it very clear that their has been a pattern of intentional manipulation of historical reference by zionists. Do you think it's important to tell people what they want to believe is the truth, or do you think it is vital to tell people what you believe the truths really are? I'm confident that being a researcher your answer will be to investigate and present the truth.

How can one claim to show the truth of a people and a country by constantly attacking that country. How can one claim to show the truth of a people and a country by constantly attacking that country. Do you have a naпve vision that the world is black and white and that many Israelis and Jews are in the black and you are showing the way with white? I bring that up as, at times, you are more interested in pointing out pedantic points such as typos and errors as if to prove what?

Is he attacking the country or is he attacking Israel's human rights record as presented by organizations such as B'Tselem(The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories) and Amnestry International? Do you realize that former Israeli foreign minister and security minister, under Ehud Barak, Shlomo Ben-Ami identifies many of the same abuses as Finkelstein and publicly speaks on the subject?

Unfortunately, I have met many people who believe they know the truth about the Middle East either quoting E. Said or Dershowitz, but the minute they do quote one side of the spectrum or the other you automatically know that their understanding is subjective. I always sigh in sadness when one believes their point is 100% accurate when they quote either the IDF or Amnesty International. The one thing I have learnt is one can lean easily in either direction when writing about or discussing the Middle East.

Instead of judging someone's perspective on where they fall in the spectrum of opinion, I would argue that it is more effective to investigate the topic on your own and come to the conclusions that fit your comprehensive research. I agree with you that there are fanatics, but isn't that just a convenient title for viewpoints that we cannot understand or accept? I might consider someone a fanatic based on my analysis and you might consider that same person an outstanding authority and representative of a particular viewpoint, and we can both be correct in our conclusions.

Lastly, you suggest that Finkelstein is seeking a cause that dealt with defining 'anti-social' behavior, but is that accurate? I see something totally different, that Prof. Finkelstein is seeking to show people that violation of international laws must not be tolerated, especially when it enables ethnic cleansing.

Peace to you

Eric





From: eric.silverman999[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Please post this.
Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 11:48:35 -0500

Hello Professor Finkelstein,

I was just viewing the letters that people are sending to you. What I'm finding so interesting is that the people who support you are so articulate and thoughtful, while those who are attacking you seem so shallow. People actually hoping for your death, I mean think about that. If someone doesn't like your opinion they become so threatened as to suggesting your elimination. The assertion made to support such a conclusion is that you support terrorism and violence against the jews. I'm sorry, but I find this actually entertaining.

What I get from you is the sense that you want an end to racist violence supported by selective historical data. The holocaust was beyond horrible, and it should never be forgotten. And we should all fight to keep this from happening again. But that means to anyone on the planet. There is no religion, race or ethnicity that deserves genocide. Aren't we all human regardless of where we live or who we are led by??

Your courage truly shines brighter than the insults and foolishness directed at you for the difficult issues that you touch on. I am grateful that you are a voice for reason and are not swayed by the anger that people attack you with. Know that for everyone who attacks you there are many more who value your integrity which is deep and strong.

Thank you and peace to you.

Best Regards,

Eric Silverman



Hello, Norman,

There are few who make the brave attempt to throw the ring of Gyges down the bottom of the deepest well; you are one.

Terrific work!

Nicolas Perugini
Bronx NY



From: "Pepijn van Houwelingen" p.houwelingen[at]gmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: not-so-short "thank you"-mail
Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 23:28:44 +0200

Dear professor Finkelstein,

Not a day passes by that I do not lament those unknown victims of violence around the world. I am still young and thus easily empassionated by injustice of any kind, a feature I hope will linger, which has always inspired me to investigate certain matters more thoroughly. It was through a Palestinian friend of mine that I became particularly interested in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Discussions of considerable length followed after we first made acquaintance, not unlike the vast volumes I devoured in what I shall call my quest for knowledge. In a way is it ignorance which is (and has always been) humankind's most frightening enemy. But the truth does not always set one free, which your work so vividly proves. In my opinion your analysis of the conflict in the Middle-East is the sincerest observation available, which only makes it harder to accept, as proved by the numerous protests against your books and lectures. I commend you for this. It is not easy to speak the truth about a subject which is so horribly entangled in lies. I myself am only just starting my academical career, and the state of affairs in the academical world has oftentimes been depressing to me, since sincerity and courage can hardly ever be found in it. Yet there are inspiring scholars to whom I owe much gratitude for showing me that not all is lost. You are, which might be obvious by now, amongst those enlightening searchers for truth.

I study at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), and and as you might (or might not) know the Dutch are known to be quite down-to-earth. So for me it is very uncommon to write an e-mail of this kind. My youthfulness bestows on me though an impulse to try whatever I can to change the world for the better. I want to fight, but not in a violent manner. I have taken upon me the arduous task of fighting ignorance, one of the vilest things in this world. From this point of view, I regard you as a hero.

Right now, at the time I'm writing this e-mail, I'm only 20 years old (just starting my master in political philosophy), but I hope in a few years my knowledge and understanding will have developed enough for me to be able to publicise my own work, and thus join the honourable society of truthful scholars. Ambitious as this may seem, I aim for nothing less. It is through this e-mail that I wish to thank you for inspiring me and express my hopes that one day you will see my name again on the cover of a book worthy of being read. I'd also like to say that you really should lecture in the Netherlands once, but I suspect you get requests like this on a daily basis. Nevertheless, as far as I'm concerned, you're always welcome. By the way, I am visiting Palestine this summer (much to my mother's grief), an experience which I hope will evoke in me even more dedication to truth.

...and all I wanted to do was just write a short "thank you"-mail.

Yours sincerely,

Pepijn van Houwelingen.
Rotterdam, the Netherlands



Dear Prof. Finklestein,

      As an avid viewer of Democracy Now, I stumbled across your website while visiting their's. As a middle school teacher in the southwest, and also a Jewess, I am in awe of your profound revelation regarding the number of Jews slaughtered in the European Holocaust.  As my students and I are about to embark on a voyage back into time before end of this school year, we would like to have a truthful account of the Holocaust.  I have many friends who are survivors and I have wept at their tales of horror.  

     Because I am a local historian, and free-lance writer, regarding the plight of the Mexican (Sephardim) Jews, who colonized here in the southwest over three centuries ago, I understand the terror of facing murderous fanatics who desire to exterminate any and all so-called "heretics".   You do realize, Professor, that the European Holocaust was merely an extension of the Vatican's Inquisition.  Oh yes indeed!  Have you read "Hitler's Pope" by John Cromwell?  (Who happens, by the way, to be a Catholic.)  Or, perhaps "La Popessa": the life of a little blond German peasant girl, who went on to mesmerize "his holiness" into establishing a cushiony position, which raised her to the splendid title "Mother Superior. She provides a vivid account here of handing over "bags of money" to upcoming leader Adolf Hitler, from the door of the Vatican's kitchen.

     As millions of papists now swarm into our nation in order to find the "American Dream", is there reason for us to be alarmed by the "Virgin" carrying processions, yelling "Viva Mexico?"  How possible is it for history to repeat itself if the "right climate" prevails?  I am often asked to speak on the "Hidden Jews" of the Southwest, the meztisos, who have lived here for centuries as ranchers and miners.  But to be honest with you, most of the descendants are devout Roman Catholics.  Those who have sought their true identities and have returned to some form of Judaism (regardless of how "pseudo" it is) are terrified of the Roman Agenda.  (Try reading "The Keys of this Blood" by Jesuit Malachi Martin!) You speak of the Swiss banks, has it ever occurred to you how much "Jewish" money lies in the Vatican vaults? Oh, I agree, that most of the Ashkenasi's were poor, indeed, but not so with the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, who amassed great fortunes in the flourishing kingdom of Spain, prospered by the affluent and astute Moorish emperors.    

     I plan to order a few of your books, to try to understand your view of their treatment.  The "cousins" are being involved in a sort of genocide themselves it appears to me, as a result of Imperialism. Regardless, let's face it, the nation will eventually fall into the hands of those who have coveted it the most, the ROMANS!  (And did prophet Daniel not predict this to be?)

  Be well, Shalom, ~ Cata



Quite by accident, I channelsurfed to a re-telecast of your remarks at the University of Texas at Austin in late February, 2006.

Not widely read and not overly consumed by the Holocaust or present day Israel politics, I had never heard of you, your publications. I am an older (57) year old, prototypical white, southern, conservative male.

I was dumbstruck by you presentation. I guessed early on that you were Jewish and you confirmed same shortly. But, after that, I found all your comments so refreshing and so honest in the most bittersweet way, I felt compelled to write.

I don’t have a dog in this long fight. This is my very first e-mail to anyone other than a dear friend.

For decades, I have asked myself and others in a most rhetorical fashion … “If the Jews … of all people … the Jews who suffered and were tormented through the Holocaust, the Russian pogroms, etc., etc., etc. … the most ultraZionist ot these must understand at the level of the bone marrow … that the Palestinian people cannot and will not rest until they too have their own homeland.

How unique are you? Very, I would guess. If my family had suffered as yours during the Holocaust, I would indeed be like some of the savage letter writers on your web page.

I’m glad that you are optimistic that truth will win the day. I certainly am not. I remember the editorial cartoon I saw long ago. There has been a nuclear exchange – the only two creatures left in that Godforsaken area known as the Holy Land are two cockroaches – one as Israel cockroach, the other Palestinian. And these last two blessed creatures have their hands around each other’s neck, trying to squeeze the remaining life out of one another.

I wrote to say I enjoyed your remarks so much…that your presentation helped me understand in a new and different way this awful death struggle. But, no, sorry,…ain’t going out to purchase any of your books. As I said, I have no dog in their fight other than the very likely possibility of everyone’s extinction because of their hyperstupidity. To read more or hear more about it too regularly is just too depressing for this neophyte. But, a truly wonderful blessing that you could pass on from your own family and their story and their passage … would be to perhaps make a small difference toward some form of peaceful resolution – even if it were quite transient.

Blessings on your work for the truth. Peace to all those tormented in the past, present, and most certainly, the future. Especially to those highly intelligent Jews who will not allow themselves to see the truth.

Most sincerely,

G.P. R., M.D.
Austin, Texas



rom: "George Muenz" george.muenz[at]gmail.com
To: "Norman Finkelstein" normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Iran
Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 15:44:21 -0700

Hey Norman, Iran is signing up volunteers for suicide bombing acts in the West and Israel. Given how dedicated you are to their cause, its a natural for you to sign up. Its a win-win situation:

You
Get to die for the cause
Get to kill for the cause.
Get 72 virgins
have no funeral arrangements to worry about
Will be a huge here, a Jew that volunteered to be a suicide bomber for Islam

We
Get rid of you.

So, do I get that stupid email from Mr. Vachon, your Security expert from INTERNATIONAL SECURITY SERVICES, INC



"Al Lebovsky" alebovsky[at]hotmail.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: hi
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 21:27:58 +0000

Few days ago my first cousin's son was killed in Tel Aviv in a terrorist attack sponsored by your palestinian brethren. I'd like to expess two regrets here: Regret #1 - too bad you were not there to replace our boy by the scum like you... the Earth would've been a much cleaner place without you; Regret #2 - your father should've withdrawn his penis when he was humping your whore kapo-mama. You are a disgrace, Norman! And now, please, go home and commit suiside, show the rest of the world that even a low life like you could still be a mench. Too bad you won't have guts...

*****

From: "Ross Vachon" v10patriot[at]hotmail.com
To: alebovsky[at]hotmail.com
CC: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: A. Lebovsky
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 22:06:38 -0700

April 24, 2006
Los Angeles, CA

Dear Mr. Lebovsky,

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY SERVICES, INC. is a private, international security firm based in N.Y. with affiliated offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, London, Paris, and Berlin. Our clients include King Abdullah II (Jordan) Queen Noor (Jordan), British Parlimentarian the Honorable George Galloway, among many other notables. It has come to our attention that you have recently forwarded a threatening e-mail to the distinguished American intellectual, Professor Norman G. Finkelstein. Our threat assessment team would like to schedule a confidential meeting in order to determine whether you pose any immediate danger, or are in fact merely another in a long line of tormented guttersnipes who feel the need to assail Professor Finkelstein for his tireless pursuit of international justice. This meeting would be entirely voluntary on your part, and may take place at the nearest I.S.S. field office, or at your own place of residence, perhaps. A file now bears your name I'm afraid, and it would be in your best interests to clarify its contents.

Sincerely Yours,

Trevor Mack
CEO INTERNATIONAL SECURITY SERVICES, INC.
N.Y., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Paris, London, Berlin

********

From: "Al Lebovsky" alebovsky[at]hotmail.com
To: v10patriot[at]hotmail.com
Subject: RE: A. Lebovsky
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:23:16 +0000

You scared me to death!!! Please, don't do it to me!!! And now, on a more serious note...

Dear Trevor Mack (or whatever the fuck your real name is):

Thank you for the laugh of my life, I haven't been laughing that outloud for a long, long time. Thanks again! Nice try. And now, take your "inetrnational security services, inc" along with all the kings, queens, british parlamentarians, and last but not the least, "distinguished American intellectual, Professor Norman G. Finkelstein" (better known to me as a bastard), and shove them all up your ass. And then, go fuck yourself! Clear? Now carry on!

Bye asshole.

********

Dear Mr. Lebovsky,

In response to your too often predictable response, today's ISS company memo read: "This prick (A. Lebovsky) thinks we're kidding." The thing is, Sir- we're not. Like Professor Finkelstein, we serve and protect a discrete number of prominent individuals who take principled stands on the Matsav, the "Situation", i.e. Israel/Palestine. Since the assassination of PM Rabin by a twisted zealot like yourself, we have been proactive in ferreting out those kinds of threats. Like it or not, Sir, in today's overheated political climate- you can NOT threaten important people, spill your seed on a shiksa mag, and rock yourself to sleep. The world can afford to lose a lot of Lebovskys, but not a genuine Saint. The more curious matter is how you reason the collective crucifixion of the Palestinian people makes your little life better? Is it simply a hyper-neurotic case of the terribly abused (Jews) become terrible abusers? Or is there something about modern Jewish identity that produces too many burping, scratching, neurotic little nerd Lebovskys and too few Spinozas, Einsteins, Finkelsteins, and Christs?

Sincerely Yours,

Trevor Mack
CEO INTERNATIONAL SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC.
N.Y., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, London, Paris, Berlin

From: "Al Lebovsky" alebovsky[at]hotmail.com
To: v10patriot[at]hotmail.com
Subject: RE: A. Lebovsky
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 01:35:55 +0000

Dear prick Travor Mack (or, again, whatever the fuck your real name is):

First: I personally DID NOT threaten the other prick, Norman Finkelstein. I challenge you to show me the place in my e-mail to him where I specifically threatened him.

Second: You can bullshit anybody and everybody under the sun, but not me. I've been around for quite some time and I've seen housands of assholes and imposters like you, so you didn't impress me.

Third: I am not a zealot, I am not even a religious person.

Forth: I hope you were joking when you called this "professor" an important person. And please, please, please... don't you dare to put the name of this lowlife self-hating jew Finkelstein together with such truly great people like Barukh Spinoza, Albert Einstein, and Jesus Christ. He is not worth their shit.

Fifth: and last, but not the least... show the world that you ARE proactive - GO AND FUCK YOURSELF!!!
And that's the way "matsav" is.

And thanks again for the laugh you gave me.
Bye asshole.

*****

April 27, 2006
Santa Monica, CA

Dear Mr. Lebovsky,

ISS thanks you for your co-operation. I wish I could say it'll be a treat for one of our field representatives when they see your face. But, I assure you it will not be. Do you really believe you're the first fellow talking tough, and challenging our legitimacy? I don't know your background, Sir, but I've spent 20 plus years in federal law enforcement before establishing one of the premier private security firms on multiple continents. Professor Finkelstein is indeed a very important scholar, and we undertake his protection very seriously.

Sincerely Yours,

Trevor Mack
CEO ISS

From: "Al Lebovsky" alebovsky[at]hotmail.com
To: v10patriot[at]hotmail.com
Subject: RE: A. Lebovsky
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 14:56:49 +0000

Here we go again... Listen, asshole, if you have nothing better to do, then I already told you... GO AND FUCK YOURSELF!!! I'm tired of you - our correspondence is over. I'm not going to lower myself down to your level, you imbecile. I'm puting a block against on my e-mail, so you won't be able to get through.

Bye moron.

*****

April 28, 2006
Los Angeles, CA

Dear Mr. Lebovsky,

You can run, but you can't hide. ISS now has your Social Security #, and it seems you have a spotty work resume. This often goes hand-in-hand with bizarre, scurrilous hate mail. The best thing you could do for yourself at this point, Sir- is to schedule an appointment with us so a.s.a.p. as we may rule you out as the Jewish zealot you claim not to be. We work with all the relevant authorities, and there is nothing benign about your "free _expression".

Sincrely Yours,

Trevor Mack
CEO ISS

====================

Dear Norm,

As I'm writing to you now I can feel that I'm again full of adrenaline and sadness. The reason is, among other similar attacks, the comment which was sent to you (Wed, 19 April).

I've been pondering your courageous point of view to the Holocaust lately, and the whole overwhelming subject, the reflections you elaborate e.g. in the Holocaust Industry. Given your own family backround, that both of your parents were victims of the crimes of Nazis, there's something touching in your genuine quest for justice, your outspoken way of debunking myths, and your substantial respect for truth. My mom is half Jewish, her Jewish roots are located in St. Petersburg, and for her it's been of the most essential value that her children are aware of the Holocaust and all of the excruciating injustice which has been and is inflicted on oppressed people around the world, in various forms. I'm sure that your honorable mother and my dear mom would've agreed with so many things.

I hope you're having an inpenetrable mental defence and ignoring abilites as well as strong and reliable friends who support you in the face of all the attacks by those disgraceful imbecils you're confronting. I want to send you a message of unconditional support,from the other side of the Atlantic, from me and my girlfriend, Meeri.

With the best wishes imaginable,

-Bruno and Meeri.

====================

Dear Mr. Lebovsky,

Seriously, Mr. Lebovsky: How old are you? 4 years old? This is ridiculous! I sincerely hope that you, in the near future, will regain you mental health. I also hope your burning hatred towards the terrorists who killed your first cousin's son is just as great in relation to events made by terrorists of other nationalities. Could you also be so kind as to give me the article, date, place; whatever existing source available, where Mr. Finkelstein has stated his support for terrorists? (I must remind you then, to be careful not to claim that all Palestinians are terrorists. A generalization of other people will sooner or later hit yourself).

Sincere regards,
Ms. Sunniva Strand

====================

From: mirene ghossein
To: Norman Finkelstein
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2006 8:00 PM
Subject: Re: Al ..final version.

To Al Lebovsky.

I am truly sorry for the loss of your cousin's son, killed by Palestinians, in Tel Aviv. I'm especially sorry for his parents. The death of a child is not in the order of things and understandably creates havoc in our emotional life. That much is clear from your letter which I read on Professor Finkelstein's website. Grief can affect our ability to think clearly and that I can understand. But the hate that comes with it, the "low" and crude insults, are unacceptable and painful to a rational being. Reading you, I felt attacked, as must have many others, in what defines us as humans.

Judging from the tone of your letter, I don't think you would listen to historical facts, rational arguments, International Law, UN resolutions or the balance of power in the Israel/Palestine conflict. I will therefore e-mail you the simplest argument of all: four maps of Palestine and Israel/Palestine, the first taken in 1946. They will show you at a glance (one color for Palestinian land and one for Israeli) why the conflict started, how it evolved, and what it is all about: it is all about JUSTICE.

I find it difficult to understand how any person, let alone a Jewish person, who has experienced, read or been told about Jewish suffering, in Germany or elsewhere, would fail to develop the keenest sense of justice. Your letter proved me wrong. You must surely know that killings, on both sides, have plagued the Israel/Palestine conflict from the mid-fourties on, before Prof. Finkelstein's was even born. Unless you meant by "Palestinian brethren", that Arabs and Jews are all children of Abraham, and there you would be right. Wasn't it an old and noble Jewish tradition to stand up for justice and human rigths, both in Europe and the US? This is exactly what Prof.Finkelstein is doing, in a reasonable and rather humble manner. Instead of using his voice, the way you have used yours, he has allowed it to disappear behind the facts, as if facts were voice enough, speaking for themselves, as if "only the truth could inflict a wound" as the saying goes. As if "only the truth" could jolt us out of our apathy or send us screaming irrational obscenities. Is justice supposed to engage in discrimination, depending on who the victims are? If you have read Prof. Finkelstein on Israel/Palestine, you must see that he advocates justice for Israelis and Palestinians alike, within the law, of course. Next time you decide to attack anyone, may I suggest you provide at least one single reference. Tell us for example in what book or article of his did Prof. Finkelstein condone the killing of innocent civilians, Israelis or Palestinians.

Would you please check Yitzhak Frankenthal's website: www.arikpeace.org/eng

Mr. Frankenthal is an Israeli citizen whose son was killed by Palestinians. What did he do? He founded The Arik Institute For Reconcialtion Tolerance and Peace, in memory of his son. When a man so deeply wounded can find it in him to act with such magnanimity, we all feel more human and more hopeful. It takes a real "mensch", in my view, to check one's hatred (when instincts would not) and extend a hand. By doing just that, Mr Frankenthal has re-affirmed what we all so desparately need : a sense of our shared humanity across the barriers that still separate us. I wish you would tell me what hate has achieved so far, besides killing and more killing? Would you, please?

Mr. Lebovsky, as a woman of Arab descent, who has lived the Israel/Palestine conflict for the past 35 years, may I tell you that unless we find a way to face the facts, rationally discuss them and work with those (Americans, Israelis, Palestinians, and others) seeking a just peace for both sides, violence is bound to prevail. And the loss of your cousin's son would have sadly failed to change the course of events. But if a small rappprochement should come out of this horrific act, then we might see a glimmer of hope.

As a grandmother of six, believe me I cannot bear the thought of the death of another Israeli or Palestinian child killed by the folly and cynicism of blind leaders. We the people should know better, and do better, don't you think?

For me, Mr Frankentahl's has chosen the only sane and hopeful road. Therefore, I can only wish you the best.

Mirène Ghossein.

********

From: "Al Lebovsky" alebovsky[at]hotmail.com
To: ghossein[at]optonline.net
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 6:33 PM
Subject: RE: Fw: ......

I can draw as many maps as I can, and as colorful to my likes as I want.

Take all your maps and shove them up your ass, bitch! And then, GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!

********

From: ghossein[at]optonline.net
To: alebovsky[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Fw: ......
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 12:56:24 -0400

Lost_Land.jpg





Hi Norman,

I just wanted to say thank you for standing up for what you believe in. You are a true patriot to the world. You are an inspiration to us all and a reminder that we sometimes have to speak truth to power no matter what the consequences.

I discovered you through Democracynow.

I just bought your book "Beyond Chutzpah" and I look forward to reading it.

Blessings,

Jeffrey Johnston
Victoria, Canada



Dear Professor Finkelstein,

A few years ago (my memory betrays me now, I cannot recall exactly when), you came to Beirut and gave a lecture at the Theatre de Beirut. I was among the many who attended that event and, given the funicular setting of microphones and theater equipment, it proved to be a memorable evening. I eventually had the courage to e-mail you (a very tedious affair back then, computers in Lebanon were slow, and to their credit, still are) and was surprised to find that you had replied almost a day later. I seem to remember you had some trouble with your luggage, the usual impedimenta one encounters at the roustabout function which qualifies as customs at the Lebanese National Airport. I never thanked you for taking the time to reply to an undergraduate student when, I am sure, you had much more important issues to deal with (I printed out your reply and paraded it for all my family to see, if that provides a clearer picture of how grateful and ecstatic I was.)

So, after a respectable hiatus, here I am again, this time in Virginia, pursuing my Master's degree in Arts Management at George Mason University (the purpose of which is to open a gallery back in Beirut, I claim). Upon my arrival, I faced the cultural differences with an open mind, however when the time came to express myself, I found out that it requires a lot more effort than just subscribing to the Monthly Review (I haven't yet, still pondering.)

The first measure I took was to take down the television set and sell it.

The second measure I took was to check and then memorize the factual record you so often highlight in your speeches to better present my points while arguing well, with basically everyone, up until now.

My third contribution would be to offer my free time and energy to help out in any way. I'm sure you probably don't need (and don't like the idea of) an online assistant, but if that's ever the case, then please feel free to contact me at any time. I would love to help.

My warmest regards,

Karim Seikaly



Hi Norman,

I think a few words are in order, and I hope sincerely you decide to post this on your site.

Yesterday, I watched a show entitled "The Lion in the Desert", a pseudo-documentary on Ariel Sharon's legacy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, put out by "FOXNEWS", an entity I choose to put in quotations as a result of what I saw yesterday.

I did not see a journalistic interpretation yesterday. I did not see a scholarly interpretation of the conflict, with any substantive historical background. What I witnessed firsthand yesterday was a systematic dismantling of the truth, and shameless propaganda, in the face of a conflict whose exposure has, in recent periods , become more prominent, rightfully so.

Yet I was taken aback at the brazen disregard of facts on the ground, and even more shocked at the romantic nature in which the journalists framed the story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

For a seemingly infinitely-long period of time, I heard how the Palestinians killed some 700 innocent Israelis, since the commencement of the 2nd intifada. The journalists again portrayed the Palestinians as a collective group of Jew-hating irrational terrorists, and how humane the Israeli government was and has been in attempting to deal with the unruly and bent-on-destruction-of-Israel Palestinians. I watched with indescribable rage how every single Israeli action taken in the 2nd intifada was portrayed as an act of "self-defense". The show mentioned the siege of Jenin, and how NO innocent Palestinians civilians were killed by the IDF forces. I almost fell out of my couch screaming with obscenities at that remark!

I watched the entire program, which romanticized the impact that Ariel Sharon had on the conflict, and trivialized au meme temps the numerous inexcusable Israeli acts of terror in the last 5 years.

The Apartheid Wall, the same wall that the World Court ruled was in violation of international law, was romanticized as being a barrier to Palestinian terrorist operations. But no mention of the fact that the wall crosses the "green line" too many times to count, and how Israel has violated all the canons of the "Roadmap" in fact and in spirit.

3 weeks ago I read an article that portrayed 5 or 6 dead Palestinians killed by the IDF as "militants", and yet I went straight to Ha'aretz as soon as I finished reading the first article, and Ha'aretz implicated the IDF soldiers, saying that the Palestinians were all un-armed, and teenagers, and posed no risk to the Isarelis.

Yet I found no mention of this yesterday by "FOXNEWS".

I found no mention of the 4,000 dead Palestinians since 2000 at the hands of IDF.

I found no mention of the Israeli extra-judicial assassinations, again in violation of international law.

I found no mention of the increased settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in direct violation of the "Roadmap".

I found no mention of the innumerous demolitions of Palestinian homes.

I found no mention of Isareli sponsored torture of Palestinian detainees.

I found no mention of Israel's suspect stance of nuclear ambiguity, given that international agencies have recognized scores of Israeli nuclear weapons.

I found no mention of the findings of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B'tSelem, Physicians Against Torture - Israel ...

But the show was very emphatic in its showing the 9,000 ILLEGAL Israeli settlers in the Gaza being removed last year ; tearful scenes of Israelis being removed from their ILLEGAL homes. In fact the show went into great detail how the "noble" Ariel Sharon almost cost himself political legitimacy by dismantling the ILLEGAL 9,000 Israeli settlers in the Gaza, while simultaneously encouraging the expanded settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where some 440,000 ILLEGAL Israeli settlers exist right now.

The show portrayed Ariel Sharon as a man of peace and a noble man, willing to compromise with the Palestinians on the issue of land control with Israeli security.

At one point, the main narrator had the temerity or indescribable chutzpah to suggest that the Palestinians wanted a parcel of land to rule over ; as if the events from 1917 to 1948 had been stricken from the history books. How dare the presumptuous Palestinians want a nation of their own ? Never mind that that their land was taken from them in '48 and '67 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is clear to me that the idiots in charge of programming for the major news networks place NO value on Palesinian life, but would seek to wreck the balance of world diplomacy if a single Israeli lost their life unfairly.

Moreover, the deliberate downplaying of 4,000 dead Palesinians versus less than 1,000 dead Israelis since the 2nd intifada begins to speak of the issue of media bias in the US.

As an aside, I remember reading an AP article 4 years ago in 2002, when I was beginning to try and understand the dynamic of the I-P issue in the grand scheme of anti-American sentiment worldwide ; I read a very long article on how Palestinian miltant groups had killed some 200 innocent Israelis. I read the entire article, and I was growing very angry at these Palestinian militant groups because of what I was reading ; I was quite naive ; I read every word .The journalist would have succeeded with indoctrinating me had he not ended his piece with the most critical of data: literally the last sentence he wote : "In the same time period, more than 1,000 Palestinians have died".

That ending flew off the page at me literally. Israelis are "murdered", but Palestinians have "died". Less than 200 Israelis are "MURDERED", but about 1000 Palestinians have "DIED", like it was some great convergence of old-age and happenstance.

The fact that Israel "MURDERED" these Palestinians was relegated to the final sentence of the paragraph, an indescribable affront to the Palestinian people.

Yet, through it all, the propaganda and indoctrination seem to be working in the US right now. Americans support the demise of the current Iranian regime, based on more propaganda, altogether forgetting Operation AJAX, and how the US completely screwed up that country twice before (1953 (AJAX) and 1979 by supporting the new "Hitler" Saddam Hussein in fighting the Iranians)

It's all a sham, on the grandest of scales. The facts do NOT matter at all anymore.

Scott Sorrell
Lafayette, LA
sorrell67[at]cox.net



From: CRIMLEX1[at]aol.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Your views
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 01:45:48 EDT

Your views of Jews and the middle east remind me of a corporal in the apartheid South African army in 1966 where I was serving. You and this corporal would have agreed with each other. He of course was a true Afrikaner, hated kaffirs and Jewboys alike - he would have hated you too as soon as he found out you are a Jew. He would have kicked you around while you apologised for your Jews. Do you believe that you can save yourself from men like corporal Coetzee with your Jew hating? You are an insult to Jews. You demean the courage of holocaust survivors. You would not have survived.

Dan Burland, San Diego CA.



Dear Dr. Finkelstein,

First of all, I want to send you my appreciation, and encouragement to continue your amazing work. In the future it will always be a pleasant news to know, that you are publishing a new book. I am really looking forward to read more of your ideas.

I just finish reading "Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict" (in Spanish), and I am starting to read "THE HOLOCAUST INDUSTRY" (in English). And I am going to go through all your books, and the material that you have in your web. Is been a total "treasure discovery" to find your work.

If you have any suggestions, about other authors, or places to get information about the subjects you write about, please they will be very much appreciate.

And if you are around my town be free to contact me, and I will invite you to a good glass of Spanish wine, and food.
Take care, and have a nice day.

Jacobo Pascual
Madrid
Spain

pd: Excuse me for my writing, my English is very rusty.



To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: comparison between Apartheid Africa and Israel
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 05:22:20

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2...

Professor Finkelstein--

This article from the GUARDIAN newspaper in Britain SUPPORTS your arguments. It is a comparison between Apartheid South Africa and Israel. You can post in on your website if you want. I am also planning on sending a letter to Dean Kagan of Harvard Law School asking her to attend to the rampant plagiarism of Dershowitz. He is an insult to academia and Harvard; I'm a Master's student, not any professor or scholar, and realized that. So, I'm supporting you whenever and wherever I can, Professor Finkelstein.

YOU DESERVE a Harvard chair and position, not Dershowitz.

Best
HK



To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Last wednesday @ The School of the Art Institute Chicago
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 21:12:41 -0500

Dear Norman,

I have attended your last speech @ the School of the art Institute. I just wanted to say thank you for what you believe; thank you for standing so firmly with the rights of the victims, against the might of the "main stream everything" around you. And above all, thank you for standing by the facts with so much accuracy.

For the feeling of hope you give me every time I attend one of your speeches or watch it on the Internet, I'd like to give something back, but I have no idea what!

For the time being I can't understand you are still a hotmail user. So I will sponsor you for a gmail account. You'll see, it's ten times more comfortable than the hotmail dinosaur.

Thanks again and see you in Northwestern Univ.



Dear Professor Finkelstein:

Did you see Alan Dershowitz's quote in the "Perspectives" section of April 3rd issue of Newsweek? Dershowitz bashes John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt's paper, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" as: "a compilation of hateful paragraphs lifted from other sources" and accused its authors (according to Newsweek) of "cribbing from neo-Nazi Web sites." In fact, the paper has 211 footnotes and cites such "neo-Nazi" web sites as the New York Times, The Washington Post, and, I'm not kidding, The Washington Times--the paper of the Capital's Rightists. I guess actually reading the article was too much work for Newsweek.

P.S. On a recent episode of Law & Order, prosecutor Jack McCoy referred to Dershowitz as the "Babe Ruth of Civil Rights." I think, actually, McCoy is exactly right: Babe Ruth struck out much more often than he hit home runs. (For any baseball purists: 1330 career strikeouts to 714 career home runs.)

Matthew Hughes



From: Jason Peppers elfdart[at]swbell.net
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: Rachel Corrie
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 15:28:02 -0700 (PDT)

Professor Finkelstein,

For some strange reason, The Huffington Post feels the need to run columns by some of the most shameless and depraved apologists for Israel, a country that can do no wrong as far as they are concerned. This nasty habit Huffington Post has acquired includes a couple of ugly smears aimed at yourself. But that website's more demented contributors aren't just content to smear the living who oppose Greater Israel, but the dead as well. Case in point, Seth Greenland's disgraceful hatchet job on Rachel Corrie. Greenland's article is reproduced below in quotation marks. My response to each part is in italics. Here goes:

Just when it appeared as though Pastor Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps was going win the award for Most Repulsive Grave Defiler, along comes Seth Greenland to give the good Pastor a real run for his money.

Greenland wrote a lovely column for The Huffington Post in which he decided to take a nice, long kidney-purging piss all over the grave of Rachel Corrie, an American college student who was murdered in Raffa, Gaza three years ago. What did Rachel Corrie do to deserve this? Good question.

"Rachel Corrie was a pro-Palestinian American activist who died in Gaza."

Died from what, exactly? She was run over by an IDF bulldozer -one of several that was demolishing homes throughout Raffa. Corrie, along with other protesters was trying to stop the IDF from bulldozing the home of one Khaled Nasrallah in retaliation for "terrorism". The Geneva Conventions are quite clear on the subject: Deliberate destruction of homes or other private property for the sake of "anti-terrorism" by an occupier is a war crime.

From the Fourth Geneva Convention:

"Article 33. No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited.

Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited."

"A play about her that was performed at the Royal Court Theatre in London was meant to open at the New York Theatre Workshop. It was then postponed due to, well, no one can really agree on why although that hasn't stopped accusations of bad faith from flying around."

Only the first paragraph and already a dishonest appeal to ignorance. The Workshop pulled the plug because of pressure from Israel's devotees.

"Rachel Corrie herself has become something of a political football yet who was she, really? Was she the saint some people are making her out to be?"

First an appeal to ignorance, now a straw man. Nice. Her only resemblance to a football comes from Israel's apologists and other miscreants kicking her dead body for sport.

"Item #1: The spin: She was a civilian who was killed by the Israeli Army for no reason.

Item #1: The fact: She was in a war zone as a human shield."

Another straw man. Those who supported Rachel Corrie dodn't think she was killed for NO reason. On the contrary, she was killed for a very well known reason: She got in the way of the IDF when they were trying to demolish a man's house in Gaza.

"Item #2: The spin: She was killed defending Palestinian homes.

Item #2: The fact: The homes protected tunnels through which weapons were being smuggled to attack Israeli civilians."

First an appeal to ignorance, followed by a pair of straw men. Now we have an outright lie. Three different dishonest tricks by Greenland. In basketball, this is known as a triple-double; in hockey, a "hat trick".

First of all, Israel denied they were going to demolish the home at all. Of course that was a lie since the whole neighborhood was slated for demolition. But since that's a war crime and killing an American citizen while committing a war crime is bad PR, Israel's henchmen tried a new line: The fairy tale about the Palestinians using tunnels in the area (including the house) to smuggle weapons.

The problem is, Khaled Nasrallah -the owner of the house- is no terrorist. He was allowed to enter the United States last summer by a State Department that refused entry to Cat Stevens (Sure, I hated Moonshadow, but that was going too far!). But that didn't stop his home from being plowed under by the IDF -six months after Rachel Corrie was killed.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=14265 ...

A few questions are in order:

If the imaginary tunnels were such a danger that the driver of the bulldozer who killed Rachel Corrie couldn't stop for a moment to make sure nobody was in the way, why wait six months? If there really were tunnels under or near the house used for smuggling weapons, why wait six months? The most likely answer is that Israel's story is a steaming shovelfull and the six month wait was to let the outrage cool down, and the demolition of Palestinian homes has more to do with reprisals against civilians, establishing lines of fire for the IDF and piecemeal ethnic cleansing. Israel's B'Tselem and other human rights groups agree that the campaign of destroying Palestinian houses violates international law and the laws of war.

"Item #3: The spin: Rachel Corrie was a secular saint."

A Google search shows that "rachel corrie" and "secular saint" appear in two types of articles: theatre reviews for the play about Corrie in which the play is described as not painting her as a "secular saint", and opinion pieces out to smear her.

"Item #3: The fact: Rachel Corrie meant well, voluntarily placed herself in front of a bulldozer, and died."

Just as the students at Kent State "voluntarily placed" themselves in front of the Ohio National Guard's bullets. And died. Don't you just live the weasel wording? The people in the World Trade Center were burned alive and crushed, and died.

"Certainly, the Palestinian people have had a difficult time of it and deserve sympathy and support if some kind of agreement regarding statehood is to be achieved. But it seems like the people in Darfur are having a far rougher time right now, since the Janjaweed militia is engaged in actual genocide. It's inarguable that the Iraqi citizenry have been suffering mightily for years. Former Syrian dictator Hafaz Assad wiped out the entire town of Hama with poison gas. Where were/are the Rachel Corries in those situations?"

Now we have the Everybody Does It Defense. I'm surprised Greenland hasn't tried for the Twinkie Defense.

"The Palestinians, who Rachel Corrie died "protecting", have now elected a radical Islamic government intent on the destruction of Israel. Following that event, Billy Bragg recorded "The Lonesome Death of Rachel Corrie" and posted it on this site. Of course, in the Islamic state of those whose cause he is championing, and for whom Rachel Corrie died, Billy Bragg's music would be banned. Why is that? Don't the Islamists believe we are all one?"

Now Greenland smears Palestinians in general, implying that whatever Israel does to them is OK with him because Palestinians don't have it as bad as people in certain other hellholes and because they elected Hamas to govern them. By this logic, since Israel has elected a known Nazi supporter (Shamir) and a known mass murderer (Sharon), whatever the Palestinians do to Israelis is justified. This is pure lunacy.

"In an article that appeared in the British magazine The Spectator on October 22, 2005, entitled "The Forgotten Rachels" Tom Gross wrote about six other women named Rachel who died in the Middle East. In case you missed it, I'll list them: Rachel Levy, 17, was blown up in a Jerusalem grocery store. Rachel Charhi, 36, was blown up while sitting in a café. Rachel Gavish, 50, was murdered with her husband and son while at home. Rachel Kol, 53, was murdered with her husband by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Rachel Ben Abu, 16, was killed by a suicide bomber. Rachel Shabbo, 40, was murdered with her three sons, ages 5, 6, and 13, while at home. Why didn't Billy Bragg write a song about these women named Rachel? And where is the Royal Court play about them? I'm just asking."

Greenland is just getting warmed up with his straw men and "everyone does it" fallacies. He then pulls out a red herring twice as big as Moby Dick: a list of other "Rachels" who were murdered in Israel and Palestine. What Seth Greenland is too morally stunted to notice is that one huge difference between the late Ms. Corrie and the girls and women he mentioned is that the other "Rachels" and their families haven't suffered the indignity of depraved hacks and moral lepers slithering out of the ground to shit on their graves. Depraved hacks and moral lepers like Seth Greenland who attack murder victims by hinting that they got what they deserved.

"The song should be heard by those who want to hear it, and the play should be seen and discussed by anyone who is interested."

That's awfully big of you Mr. Greenland!

The hatchet job on Rachel Corrie is concluded with an appeal to ignorance with this pile of smarmy horseshit:

"But let's not use Rachel Corrie's death as a means to obscure the complex nature of the truth in this situation." First of all, any time someone tries to tell you an issue is "complex" when it isn't, they're deliberately insulting your intelligence. Translation: "You're too stupid to understand." There's nothing "complex" about the murder of Rachel Corrie. She risked her life trying to stop a war crime and was killed for it. What pro-Israel wankers like Seth Greenland are worried about is not the notion that Rachel Corrie's murder might "obscure" the truth, but that if people look at it objectively, the truth will come out about Israeli war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza and the shameless dishonesty of Israel's shrieking groupies in this country.

Overall, I think Seth Greenland and others who like to kick dirt on Rachel Corrie's coffin are far more loathsome than Pastor Phelps. Sure both show a ghoulish level of cruelty towards the dead and their families that borders on necrophilia, but Phelps is better with words and has a kind of quaint rustic charm about him. In addition, his demented antics are motivated mostly by stupidity, crude homophobia and in my opinion, some sort of mental illness that requires public attention no matter how low he has to sink to get it. On the other hand, Seth Greenland is just a dishonest fanwhore for another country who gleefully smears an American murder victim on their behalf. He's not crazy or stupid, he's just vile.

--J. Lance Peppers -AKA "Jelperman"



From: "Helge Loekke" helgeloekke[at]chello.no
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: From Norway.
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 17:09:56 +0200

Just read an article in a communist anti Jewish/ Israeli Norwegian paper (I have no links to Israel or the Jewish fait). So you are the Muhammad Ali (a Muslim) of debate, I would not be afraid to meet you in any ring. Sure you can cram some facts, and "win any debate" that does not mean you are Muhammad Ali. Facts does not win debates, intelligence does. I have been a boxer, and there you stand alone, and facts in your head will defeat you, then you have to be street smart, not school smart or have a PhD (parrot of highest degree).

I shall not dispute that there is not a Holocaust Industry, I am sure there is, there are similar industries grown around all kinds of historic events, what's so outrageous about that? Do you deny that six million was exterminated, by the Nazis? Sure you sell books in Germany; the people supported "the final solution," and have not yet come over the shame. Sure they will read a Jew that can relieve the pain.

Those who voted Hamas into office do also support a "final solution," it never ends, and it has little to do with events after 1948.

What I take issue with is that Israel treat Palestinians or Arabs bad (Palestine, based on a Roman word they have stolen, to acquire historic legitimacy in the region). On the contrary Israel has treated them very well, especially after 1967, when they were attacked on all fronts. The enemy intended to complete what Hitler did not, no kidding. I have worked in the Middle East, have a lot of insights (facts), you might not have. Israel could actually have exterminated their enemies tomorrow, and have not. Very honourable I think. Thus I say they have treated them very well, since their enemy is still at. They just elected a new government that have it in their statutes, just like Fattah, who pretended they took out. I support Israel and the Jewish people 200%, until such time the surrounding dictatorships on their own accord become legitimate, which they are not. Hamas became kind of legitimate after the election, but if you promote genocide, you have already cancelled that out. So until such time I hope Israel continue the impressive work to protect their citizens. If you are a Jew you should be proud. Still your provocative books have given you a name. They use the same trick here in Norway, they insult the Jewish faith in arts and in writing, and they are happy to invite you to legitimate their dishonest cause. Did you know that the Germans did not round up our local Jews after 1940 and sent them to their death Germany; our local police did on their own initiative.

Regards

Helge Loekke
Oslo
Norway



From: josephperea2004[at]yahoo.com
To: normangf[at]hotmail.com
Subject: professor, here is my email. you may post it.
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 11:50:10 -0700 (PDT)

Professor, I am almost finished reading your latest book, "Beyond Chutzpa" and it really has me thinking a lot about the Isralei occupation. Forgive me for emailing you at your university email; Your website was difficult to log on to today for some reason. What is someone to do when staunch Zionists say "Palestinians could have a state in 6 months if they stopped resorting to terrorism; Hamas wants to destroy Israel; and Israel has a right to restrict Palestinians' movements so long as terrorrism is a threat?" Because invariably this is what Zionist supporters always say.

Also, what book can I read about Israel from 1948 to 1967? because my understanding is there was no occupation during that period, so does that mean that there were open borders and no check points restricting Palestinian movement? I heard a Hamas leader say that Israel should go back to the pre 1967 borders. That does not sound like someone who wants to destroy Israel... Do you agree with Stephen Walt and John Mearshire that the Isralei lobby (AIPAC) influences the U.S. govt like no other lobby and if so what are the solutions other than nuclear conflagration... Forgive me for being so forward.

It would mean a lot if you could respond.

Thanks,

Joe Perea-Ojeda



Dear Norman,

It's Easter time and you replied anyway, thanks.

As you mentioned at the beginning of one speech, the Americans are not good at geography - or at anything else for that matter. As a warming-up joke that wasn't bad at all. I suppose Finland is not an exception in this respect, most of "you people" (decent people always avoid generalizations) probably think there's nothing but polar bears and Eskimos here. We don't actually have either of them, we had Sami people but they were driven to the north, our own version of Al Nakba.

One of the things we do have, however, is AI Finland A couple of comments on my dear organization.

First of all I absolutely agree with you that the work AI is doing is professional, in terms of investigation and clarity. And given the unbelievably disciplined media and its narrative - even in countries like Finland that don't have much at stake, unlike the US government and corporations - the AI is undoubtedly a much better source of information and documentation than any mainstream newspaper.

I've had some reservations since the very beginning, when I started at AI that is, although I wasn't familiar with AI in general, not very familiar with the International Secretariat in London, not too much with AI's official positions on different human rigts violations etc. My reservations were based on my own experience, and it had to do with the partial acceptance of the so called liberal approach, whatever that means. I don't have to tell you, needless to say, but one of the many inadequate and biased point of views from which a great many people and organizations observe the ongoing conflict is, roughly, the following: there's two sides, and the both sides are equally guilty, both have made equally destructive "mistakes" (maybe as the downright US aggression towards Vietnam and later all of Indochina was "a mistake", and not an overwhelming war crime). The fairy-tale continues claiming how "the Palestinians have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity" (your great friend Mr. Alan Dershowitz) and so on and so forth, you know it better. But this "two equally or almost equally guilty sides" myth, if you like, has been, and remains, at least partially accepted and internalized among the AI workers here. And it's really understandable as this is the conventional liberal perspective, the politically correct and progressive perspective. So I don't have any doubts that many of those who're thinking more or less in this way have honest intentions.

To illustrate this I'll mention a brief example, not too favorable to me and therefore a fair one, just a very recent incident. We had a document movie project, we showed some documents about the situation in Palestine and one of them was about suicide bombers. The ad one of our members designed stated something like this: "A peaceful day in Israel. People doing their normal things (...) and all of sudden a huge explosion occurs." Then the final words were about the destruction the attack caused and then: "Only one question remains: Why?" This is an ad, I don't want to take this too seriously, but this reflects the common thinking here and elsewhere. In the extreme end of liberal thinking we ask: What makes these thugs do this, how anyone can perpetrate these crimes? And it's a relevant question. What makes it completely distorted, however, is that those who usually suggest this kind of philosophical speculation don't ask the same when an Israeli F-16 drops a one-ton bomb in a very densely populated area, to name one of the hundreds of cases, or when the US attacked Fallujah which was a major war crime, and so on. In these cases such questions as "How anyone can actually cause this kind of human tragedies?" or "How a human mind is capable of committing these atrocities?", are definitely not part of the public discussion. The appropriate terms are "collateral damage", "excessive use of force", "targeted killings" etc.

Posing the "Why, how can they" question, in this context, is a stereotypical indication of Orientalism as well. "We" are able and willing to ponder,tenaciously and eagerly, "their" mentality, to carry out a daring journey of exploration into the gloomy consciousness of "the Other". Whenever you find this kind of meditation you can quite confidently expect to face an extremely one-sided and therefore racist and superficial point of view.

To describe the different aspects of the "conventional wisdom" is an another story - what I suppose I'm trying to say, instead, is to note that I'm afraid that it is this very way of thinking which guides at least some of the AI folks here. And there's obviously some serious consequences of this. As far as the International Secretariat and AI's official positions are concerned, positions on the occupation of Palestinian territories and supreme war crimes such as the invasion of Iraq by US-led forces, I haven't noticed anything really comprehensive or substantial, that is to say I haven't seen any unambiguous condemnation of the occupation of Palestinian territories nor the invasion of Iraq. AI is observing and reporting certain human rights violations accurately and efficiently, but there's no unequivocal call that I know of for ending the occupation and pay huge reparations, for starters. I remember AI's reports on the war on Iraq in which AI condemned what it called "excessive use of force" by the US-led forces, and sure, any sane person and organization should be condemning that. But the term is alienated as the invading forces have no right whatsoever to use any kind of force, not excessive nor less excessive, under international law. It's very straightforward.

So, to make a long story short, in my view the research AI is committed to is excellent, it's precise and useful. AI is also very prominent in the case of defending political prisoners and asylum seekers, work against child abuse and violence against women, work against torture, trying to ensure fair trials etc. No reservations there from my part, quite the contrary. The cases of major war crimes by the US, UK and Israel are reported pretty well to the extent they are reported, but AI is not going all the way. This is a conscious decision, I suppose. AI is, then again, an apolitical NGO.

All the best,

-Bruno.



Subject: Re: Greetings from Norway
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 14:06:08 +0200

Dear Mr. Finkelstein!

I really appreciated the lecture you gave at the University of Oslo. Your message and oratorical gifts are inspiring. Your brave contributions to truth and justice in a mine field of propaganda and distortion are indispensable.

Even if the majority of the Holocaust Center of Norway didn't want to meet you, they have to admit that you are right about something. And your work is inspiring to us who challenge them on some issues.

Your point of views seam to have a lot tougher climate in the US than here "on the hill"- as we call our little country. I think I read somewhere that you spend some hours daily deleting your hate mail. It is admirable that you manage to live with all that hostility. But some are real warriors.

Under the fight for truth and justice for the French Jewish captain Dreyfus, Emil Zola wrote in "J'accuse":

Quand on enferme la vérité sous terre, elle s'y amasse, elle y prend une force telle d' explosion que, le jour où elle éclate, elle fait tout sauter avec elle.

In English that would be something like: "If you bury the truth under the ground, it will gather, it will take an explosive form, so the day it blows up, every thing will explode with it."

It's not always so, but the truth is harder to avoid the more we introduce it.

Best wishes

Hege R



Norman,

Instead of addressing the Walt-Mearsheimer paper on its substance, Alan Dershowitz predictably compares it to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and invokes David Duke's (irrelevant) approval. Before his Huffington rant was over, he would condemn you for "blam[ing] anti-Semitism on the Jews," "just as Hitler did." Yet if debate on the the American Israeli lobby is to be pursued in Dershowitz' favored rhetorical mode of ethos, there are stranger bedfellows still. The Anti-Defamation League's most recent survey of attitudes found that Israeli policy was in fact driving an increase in American anti-Semitism:

IV. OPINIONS OF ISRAEL AND U.S. POLICY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Negative attitudes toward Israel and concerns that American Jews have too much influence over U.S. Middle East policy are emerging as factors responsible for fostering anti-Semitic beliefs. One of the more important findings from the analyses of the 1992 and 1998 ADL surveys was that Americans' opinions about Israel did not appear to affect their attitudes toward Jews.

...

The 2002 survey tells a different story. The regression analysis reveals that -- for the first time -- attitudes toward Israel are actually fostering anti-Semitic beliefs among some Americans. Those Americans who believe that Jews have too much influence over U.S. policy in the Middle East, that U.S. policy tilts too much toward Israel, that the U.S. is more likely to be targeted for a terrorist attack because of American support, and who see increased anti-Jewish activity around the country and the world, have a significantly greater likelihood of falling into the most anti-Semitic category.

(Anti-Semitism in America 2002, p.17.
http://www.adl.org/anti_semitism/2002/as_survey.pdf)



A European writes the EU
Updated: 04.17.2006

Dear Sirs

My name is David Marsans and I am a European citizen concerned about the situation in the Palestinian territories and Israel. As such every day I am more astounded by the positions adopted by the European Union with respect to this conflict. Your decision to deprive the Hamas-led Palestinian authority of the aid required to pay its workers, thus opening the way for a major financial crisis in the territories has left me very angry. Your conditions for granting aid are twofold. The need for Hamas and the PA to recognize Israel constitutes the first one, and of course you do not mention or do not even care whether the Israelis admit in their turn the Palestinians right to exist, thus adopting the most racist views of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. There have been many parties who run a platform in the recent Israeli elections advocating for the complete expulsion of Arabs from Israel and the territories and they have obtained an important number of seats in the Knesset. In fact Avigdor Lieberman's party, which proposed this option, will most probably be a part of the next government. No reaction from the EU on this.

The second condition consists of renouncing violence, which is a ludicrous claim in the wake of a murderous weekend in Gaza and the West Bank which has left 18 Palestinians killed through a series of Israeli air strikes, including a 5 year old-boy on Saturday and a 12 year-old girl on Monday. Maybe the reason why you have not even commented on these crimes is because we see them on a daily basis, thus they have become routine and, by implication, since they affect Palestinians, not that important... That you are punishing the Palestinian population for having exerted their democratic choice makes the situation even more intolerable, since I thought the European Union stood for democracy, freedom of choice and human rights. It is true, Hamas and other factions have committed terrorist acts, killing about 1,000 Israelis, but then if the number of killed represented a criteria, we would have to remind ourselves that Israel has killed 4 times that number of Palestinians since 2000. Israel with the help of the its major ally the United States has turned Palestinian civilians into one of the most terrorized populations on earth and more than 4,000, including approximately 700 chil