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 Letters 2008 | Letters 2007 | Letters 2006 | Letters 2005 | Letters 2004 | Letters 2003 | Letters 2002 | Letters 2000-2001  Dr. Finkelstein, I stay reasonably well connected with Atheist groups (being one myself). I noticed on one site, there were photos of the "Americans for a Secular Society" conference. And, believe it or not, Dersh was a speaker. I mentioned to them that they should remove the photos and never invite the man again. I reminded them that support for an exclusively Jewish state is as far from secular as one could get. Would they invite Dersh if he supported a "Priestly council" deciding who was Christian enough to become American? The man is nothing but a repellent hypocrite. Every time I see him, I throw up in my mouth a little. Just some thoughts. AT  Dear Sir, I have recently read your book "Holokaust industry". It brings up really interesting topic. I was not aware of such thing until i had read your book. I am a polish citizen, none of my relatives were killed in nazi concentration camps but i think it is a really sensitive topic and it should be a discussion about it. It is already few years after you wrote this book but i am really interested if you know if there were any decisions that concern possible compensations that Poland government has to pay to the World Jewish Congress. I only know that in February this year former secretary of WJC visited Poland, he menioned sth that until the end of the year this case is going to be fixed. It is already end of the year and there was nothing in media about this issue, what is more interesting, there was almost nothing in polish media about the Singer's visit in Poland. if you have any up-to-date infromation about compensations which concern Poland please let me know. I am sure you already read it, there was a report "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" created last year by two american professors. I am sure that if that lobby wasnt so powerful, WJC would not get so much money. Organizations like "American Israel Public Affairs Committee", it is really unbelievable how big influence it may have, for instance, what the report suggets, for the decision to invade Iraq. i wonder if you share authors' conclusions in that case. mentioned report: http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP06-011 In the last chapter of your book, you mentioned about J. T. Gross, he is coming to Poland in January to promote his newest book "Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz". I think his books are extreme anti-polish and they have lots of historical mistakes, especially "Neighbours" from the year 2001. As examples of jewish massacres in the territory of Poland he cites the Jedwabne masascre and Kielce pogrom. In Jedwabne Polish had an impact for had happend there, unfortunately we will never know whole the truth, mainly because the exhumation was stopped. In my opinion it should be continued to find out the whole truth, like with, for example, massacre of polish citizens in Katyn where exhumation was continued until the end. Concerning second issue 'Kielce pogrom', many researches claim that it could be a soviet provocation to distract the public opinion. Those days there was a referendum, propoaganda, fabricated later. more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_people%27s_referendum%2C_1946 Those days there was discussion in Nuremberg Trials about soviet responsibility in Katyn too, where many polish citizens were executed by soviets. I am not justyfing anyone, Poland had few moments in its history it should be ashamed of, but i think every historical event should examined with precision. Authors focuses on what polish did to jews, but i would like to say few words about what jews did to polish. Please notice that there were few massacres during World War II in which jews jointly with russians murdered polish citizens, such as massacre in Koniuchy or in Naliboki. Every massacre is evil, but about those massacres nobody says in media and there is no "noise" or "fuss" about them and nobody apologizes nobody for them. I would like to say also about other thing connected to the topic, not long time ago there was a issue of "polish concentration camps", many respectable newspapers were using this term which is, not only in my opinion, really discriminatory for Polish. Poland did not have any influence on location of the concentration camps. One of the polish newspaper "Rzeczpospolita" started a campaign to fix that. It has sent letters to the editor's office of many newspapers with the explanation. Finally they started to calling them 'german natzis concentration camps located in Poland'. I think that newspapers like 'New York Times' or 'Der Spiegel' should be more careful and responsible for what they writing in their texts. here you can find the text of that message which was being sent, you can find the text by clicking the 'english' caption next to the other languages. http://www.rzeczpospolita.pl/akcja/0,0.html I think you are the person who is aware or actually aware and willing to discuss about those topics. In contrast to many who do not wanny see this. Another problem is that every person who tries to bring it up is automatically accused of being anti-semitism. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Best Regards, Jacek Nowak To: normangf[at]hotmail.com Subject: After Reading the Book Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 11:07:20 +0200 Professor Finkelstein, I just finished reading Beyond Chutzpah, and as I expected it didn't fail me. It is very impressive how you tackled each issue, yet refrained from using anything but very credible sources, with carefull citation and relevant accurate information. I would like to leave comments on each part, then on the Democracy Now debate. Part I: Such part was particularly needed now. The part about Anti-Semitism was really well done. My main purpose of buying this book was to fully understand the claim of anti-semitism, that silences masses. And how they transferred humane criticism of Israel into accusations of racism on the ground of anti-semitism. I was shocked by the writings of Chesler, Foxman, Rosenbaum, Schoenfeld and others, I was not aware that it got to this extreme, and the obscenity of both of the Maniefestations. Part II: A very solid part, laid down the facts about Israel on the surface and put them for all readers against the false claims by the apologicts. I see it as an "irrefutable" part, and appearantly Dr.Dershowitz sees it in the same way since he wasn't able to address these excellent facts that are arosen directly against his'. I would guess any professor who is convinced of his years of study would put up another fight for it, yet he failed to do so. Appendinces I: No doubt, massive borrowing shown very clearly. Borrwings such as in the cases of Twain and Orwell/Peters-Turnspeak, these two cases are clear and cut examples, of two occasions that it was impossible to make that certain mistake if Dr.Dershowitz hadn't directly cut it from From Time Imemorial. Appendinces II & III: In these two parts come my biggest thanks. These two appendinces are so relevant today, and I wish they were included in a seperate part, because they show how "the abuse of history" occured. I wished it also addressed OSLO, I was confused on why you did not, or did you intend to concentrate on the faliures in the peace process? Democracy Now debate vs Dershowitz: Since I'm in my university's debate team, I think I have pretty good experience when it comes to this. Dr.Dershowitz depends mis-representing what you say, false accusations, usage of powerfull language, and speaking of logic based on false grounds anyways. Now he fears what you will say, so he always have interrupted you, which is a sign of weakness. I think you had excellent points, but with his powerfull talents of the ability to play with the language and bridge to other subjects, he managed to create some fog on some points. In an overall picture, I beleive you definetly had the upper hand specially on the "Orwell-Peters" discourse, and on the first point of claiming death of 2000-3000 yet citing a source for that piece of information of 200-300. But I think it would be better if you attempt to debate the way he does, yet keeping your credibility the way it is now, because Dr.Dershowitz does not by anyhow respect any rules of debate. Questions: After reading your book carefully and thoroughly, can I confidently say that I have read Dr.Dershowitz's The Case For Israel as well? Since you tackled each big aspect it claimed. And if your answer is "Yes I could say I read The Case for Israel", can I then say that I have also read From Time Imemorial since I read The Case for Israel? Another question, I got alot of my friends interested on Israel-Palestine conflict, and I have a pretty decent circle around me who have very good information about the conflict relative to other 18-24 year olds in California. So my question is, since you have undoubtedly researched the topic more than many scholars, do you recommend a certain book about Israel-Palestine conflict, that lays down the start of it, untill reasonably recent confrontations? In other words, if you know of someone that has very basic knowledge about the topic, what book would you want to give him that will get him reasonalby clear and in good form about the issue after reading it? Or the most book that fits that description? I have some in mind, but wanted to know what you would choose. Thank you very much for an excellent book. I have purchased The Israel Lobby and just started reading it, next on my list is The Shock Doctrine. P.S: I won a debate on an event hosted by my Debate Team in front of crowd of students & faculty from the university, the question was weather the occupation should remain or not. The audience overwhelmingly voted (in applause) for removing the occupation. In front of an audience who only has a knowledge of the most basic inaccurate claims heard in the media, I was satisfied. My opponent was actually my debate partner and good friend, who hold the same views on Israel-Palestine and as active as I am, but for the sake of educating the audience on both sides of the story, and allowing them to decide which side they prefer, he accepted to play the role of a hard-liner Zionist, and used their "strongest" claims against my advocay for removing the occupation. Gladly the audience saw my responses reasonable and just. Thank you again. Sincerely, Amro Jayousi From: BENJlKO@aol.com Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 11:27:39 -0500 Subject: Re: Filthy Nazis To: normangf@hotmail.com Filthy Nazis (and if you don't like my headline, go somewhere else) - My, aren't we getting bitter around the holidays? Nostalgic for our old job, perhaps? Don't worry...something is bound to turn up soon. I hear adult bookstores have a remarkable shortage of cigarette butt sweepers this time of year. Merry Christmas! From all your friends Dear Dr. Finkelstein, excuse me for writing you the following letter in german, but my english is not perfect and i prefer to write in german. I am sorry! Sehr geehrter Herr Dr. Finkelstein, mit großem Interesse lese ich Ihr Buch ''Die Holocaust-Industrie'' und bewundere Ihre mutige, kritische und enorm rationale Methodik und Herangehensweise an dieses höchst prekäre Thema. Mutig, da Sie, als in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika geborener Jude, sich gegen von den US-amerikanisch-jüdischen Organisationen demagogisch (wobei dieser Begriff eins zu eins soviel wie ''Führung des Volkes'' heisst und somit obsolet und unpassend erscheint) festgesetzten Grundsätze über den Holocaust, welche von einem hohen Teil der jüdischen Population (eventuell sogar der Populationsmajorität?) getragen werden, stellen. Aufgrund Ihrer jüdischen Herkunft ist dies zutiefst beeindruckend, da sie es sine dubio versuchen, die Realität und die Historie objektiv zu betrachten und analysieren. Interessant finde ich Ihre Auseinandersetzungen mit anerkannten Wissenschaftlern, exemplarisch hierfür nenne ich Nathan Glazer, welcher etwas für mich und von Ihnen zitiertes, Interessantes feststellte, nämlich das der Holocaust anfangs nur geringe Auswirkungen auf die Psyche amerikanischer Juden hatte und das dem folgend bis anno 1967 lediglich 5% der US-Juden jemals in Israel waren. Mich persönlich erschreckt die publike Nicht-Existenz einer Neutralität in Fragen des Holocausts. Dies spiegelt sich in der Intoleranz gegenüber kontroverser und kritischer Theorien bezüglich des Holocausts wieder. Sie nennen in Ihrem Buch des Öfteren den Namen Raul Hilberg. Ich fand heraus, dass sein Hauptwerk, die Dissertation „The Destruction of the European Jews” („Die Vernichtung der europäischen Juden”) bislang in Israel nicht publiziert wurde. Ich denke mir, dass es für einen in Israel lebenden Juden somit ein Schwieriges ist, sich objektiv und neutral mit dieser Thematik zu befassen, was ich als sehr traurig empfinde. Traurig ist es auch, dass andere Völker aufgrund des ''Holocaust-Business'' leiden müssen, beispielsweise die Armenier. Shimon Peres hat den Völkermord der Türken an den Armeniern als ''bedeutungslos'' abgestempelt. Bei einer internationalen Konferrenz zum Thema Völkermord, verliessen jüdischen Organisationen der Holocaust-Industrie zugehörige Kongresspartizipanten den Saal, weil kurz das Thema des Völkermords der Türken an den Armeniern diskuttiert wurde. Ein solches Verhalten sollte normalerweise global für Emporung sorgen, doch sie schreiben treffend, dass diese den Holocaust ausnutzenden Juden aufgrund der Historie eine gewisse Immunität und auch Legitimation gegen jede Art von unmoralischen Handeln und Treiben haben. Sie, Herr Dr. Finkelstein, erkennen so etwas, doch leider finden Sie wahrscheinlich weniger Anerkennung als Ihnen zustehen sollte. Noch trauriger finde ich das Leiden der Juden, die den Holocaust überlebt haben. Nicht nur das Leiden während des Holocausts, sondern auch das Leiden nach dem Holocaust. Es ist eine Frechheit, dass es Interessensorganisationen gibt, die das Leiden ihrer Religionsmitglieder finanziell derart ausnutzen. Ich denke da gerne an den von Ihnen erwähnten Jerzy Kosinski, der sich aufgrund seiner Lüge ein Vermögen angehäuft hat. Ein Vermögen, dass nur durch den Holocaust möglich war. Zudem wird das polnische Volk von ihm angegriffen, obwohl er seine persönliche Existenz nach dem Ende des 2.Weltkriegs nur einer polnischen Familie zu verdanken hatte. Dieses schockiert mich auch deshalb, weil ich selber Pole bin. Andere jüdische Holocaustopfer, welche vielmehr litten als Jerzy Kosinski selbst, haben hingegen lediglich einen Bruchteil seines Vermögens als Entschädigung erhalten. Dennoch wurde Kosinski jahrelang gefeiert und später verteidigt, so auch von Elie Wiesel, den sie mutig aber korrekt beschreiben (''Elie Wiesel ist der Holocaust''). Beide Individuen werden jedoch von der Gesellschaftsmajorität, v.a. Elie Wiesel, als unantastbare Autoritäten angesehen. Auch Ihre Theorien über die Opferzahlen, Entschädigungszahlen und Entschädigungszahlungen scheinen recht simpel, aber höchst plausibel und verständlich zu sein. Und all diese Prozesse entstanden auf Kosten wahrer jüdischer Holocaustopfer, welche lediglich ihre Ideologie nicht verkaufen wollten. Zum Schluß vermag ich das von Ihnen genannte Zitat von Henry Ford nennen: ''Geschichte ist Quatsch''. Dies ist natürlich eine Farce, da jeder politische Prozess, Beschluß etc. auf Begebenheiten basiert, die in der Geschichte passiert sind. Ferner will ich mit diesem Zitat auch eine Brücke zu meiner Person bauen, indem ich mich kurz vorstelle. Mein Name ist Tomasz F., lebhaft in Hamburg, gebürtiger Pole, ich bin 19 Jahre alt und angehender Rechtsanwalt oder Politologe. Da ich noch relativ jung bin und Bücher wie Ihre lese, lässt sich daraus schliessen, dass ich im Gegensatz zu Henry Ford finde, dass Geschichte kein Quatsch ist. Ich würde gerne etwas aus meinem Alltag erzählen. Da ich recht kontrovers denke und auch oft in Diskussionen ihre Ansichten propagiere, werde ich des öfteren komisch begutachtet. Ich wurde sogar als Rassist beschimpft, nur weil ich geschichtliches Pseudowissen kritisch hinterfragt und dabei Ihre Theorien benutzt habe. Damit möchte ich sagen, dass es in Deutschland nicht viel besser ist, was diese Thematik und Aufklärung angeht, als in Amerika. Die Welle der Demagogie und Ausnutzung des Holocausts seitens der Holocaust-Industrie nimmt rapide zu, nicht nur in Amerika. Herr Dr. Finkelstein, Sie werden möglicherweise von vielen, von den meisten, als unvernünftiger Mensch angesehen. Doch machen Sie sich bitte darum keine Sorgen. Sehen Sie das positiv. Positiv, weil George Bernard Shaw einst sagte: ''Der vernünftige Mensch passt sich der Welt an; der unvernünftige besteht auf dem Versuch, sie zu verändern. Deshalb hängt aller Fortschritt vom unvernünftigen Menschen ab.'' Bleiben Sie unvernünftig! Hochachtungsvoll, Tomasz M. F. Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2007 11:08:11 -0800 From: ptracy_4[at]yahoo.com Subject: Dershowitz's kids' books To: normangf[at]hotmail.com Hi, If Alan Dershowitz is going to use kids for the writing of "his" books, it seems to me that Harvard could save money by hiring the kids to teach his courses. Yours, Paul Tracy Subject: From Latvia. Thank you very much - again, for your answer. Actually - I really trust you. You can do with my story what you want. I just feel little bit shame for my nongramatical english. You know - you are on the line. Whenever will helps you - i agree to give you this help. And you know why? When i was in Soviet Union (I born in 1968) i have met so many unjustice from the POWER, that i am little bit sick of this all - you know - they say, that peoples are just little parts of the big communistic maschine, and if someone will broke - dosnt matter - we will change this... Or - the all others are so bad, they hate Soviets, we should silence them, we should kill them (enemies)... But i am not little part of some machine, and i do not want to silence someone - i am just living being - i feel, i love, i suffer, i... When we get rid of this USSR - we all was wery wery happy - but know - i feel the most bad again NOW - cuz i just feel myself like a slave for the banks, creditors, like a money getting machine... And its coming - you cannot just have a simple house - for any house you should pay taxes and versicherung. So - the NEW laws actually do not allow you even live without taking credits... Sometimes I was asking myself - WHO MAKE THIS MONEY MADNESS? And why? POWER, CONTROL, SLAVERY... And i can say you - I just realize - that you Jew are note against Jews (like some try to portret you - as selfhating Jew) - you are against unjustice. Like me. But there was a time, when i was really start to hate Jews - and i was not happy - cuz i do not want to hate anybody. And only when i get through your articles - i was again happy man. I was again HUMAN. (some Human right actiwists says, that there is no "collective responsibility" in the form of - if someone (example - russian) has done some crime - you cannot judge all russians as criminals and put them in the eshafot. Or germans - if Nazis has done crimes - that dosnt mean, that all germans are faschists, and they all get a collective responsibility for SS actions. Or Jews - if some of them are going crazy in theyr selfishness, thats dosnt mean, that all Jews are just robbers and cheaters... NO.) And i am wery happy about your heroism (sorry for big words). Looks, like you was also a little bit sick of this all unjustice. Even - if they will get ower you - at least, please know - you have saved one more soul from the hatred - and i am really thankfull for this! Thank you wery much! Arne Thank you very much! Dear Professor Finkelstein I understand that your hectic schedule keeps you busy from sunrise to sunset and beyond - but i felt duty bound to contact you. My name is Imran and i'm a convert to Islaam from UK. I have purchased your books and watched as many of your speeches as i possibly could and i just wanted to whole heartedly thank you for you stirling, scholarly efforts at clearing the mist of the Israeli/Palestine situation and bringing to light the truths and lies which have been ignored and not placed for public scrutiny. Your integrity, scholarship and superhuman patience, in the face of filthy smear campaigns, is a wonder to behold and you are one of the bright stars who people, such as i, look up to. With men such as yourself, Noam Chomsky and John Pilger i can be assured that the truth is in good hands. May you and your loved ones live long and may you triumph in all aspects of your life Yours with utmost respect Imran Ahmad Raza Dear Dr. Finkelstein: I was revisiting your website recently and was heartened to see how considerably the letters of support outweigh the letters of contempt (but those are scarcely letters, are they? They're regurgitations; they're e-bile). I think all the supportive letters have the same purpose at heart: to remind you you're not alone; that you have a great number of people behind you for whom your work has been tremendously meaningful. I don't know if you're helped by this understanding, though; I can't imagine it is sufficient buttress against the effects of tenure denial, or thoughts of how this may affect your future. If you'll pardon the personal reference, I hope the DePaul settlement is sufficient to allow you to keep writing. If it isn't, please contact me, and I'll do what I can here to galvanize financial support for you. I also have my own funds to offer. I certainly don't come from money, keep much of it, or move in monied circles--can't even imagine what those circles look like--but I thought if something other than verbal support could be offered, it should be. And offered now. I hope pride would not prevent you from following through on this, now or in the future. All best wishes. W.P One last note: I was in the audience here in Toronto for your recent lecture at OISE (Nov. 29). You might remember (though I hope, in a way, you don't) the two harridans who interrupted you almost immediately. It was tremendously embarrassing for me, and not only because I'm a good Canadian girl. You handled them very gracefully; it wasn't mortification on your behalf. I have the same sense when I scan some of those loathsome e-mails you receive: a feeling of shame at how easily vitriol can contort people almost beyond recognition; how it moves people to profane themselves so explicitly. I was two rows behind the screaming women, and I remember wanting to say to you, I don't belong to them. I have my moments too, you know. But this is what I hope for myself, at least. Wendy Phillips Dear Dr. Finkelstein, I hope you're trip is going well. I am in such an insane rage and of course I have to write you. I often ask myself, during angry times such as this, whether my ideals are totally misguided. I recently had a cabby who was from Ethiopia, and of course he recognized my ethnic origins. We began having a civil discussion and when I asked about Meles Zenawi (PM of Ethiopia) he began (knowingly I'm sure) singing his praises. He, like the rest of the world, knew I'm sure, that Zenawi is savaging Somalia on the cheap as part of the never-ending "War on Terror" financed by the U.S. He knew that Zenawi is eroding whatever sense of democracy Ethiopia has...knowing all this he simply discussed the only significant part for him. "Oh, Zenawi is from my village, he's done some great things in Addis Abba, you should visit it some time soon". My h eart was palpitating at such a fierce rate, I thought my rage alone would turn the cab over. He simply didn't care that x number of people are homeless, savaged, raped and pillaged. For what crime? For establishing a stable government for the first time in 20 some odd years, totally independent of the international community, who didn't care then and certainly doesn't care now. No solidarity whatsoever, no sense of these people being his neighbors who have common goals. This is so prevalent in Africa, this sickening disunity and I wonder whether the Athenians had a point when they said that the weak must obey. If the weak chose to perpetuate their weakness, then fine, invite your conquerors and obey them much good that has ever done you! In a recent discussion with someone, he told me that the solution to the Middle East was that Arabs should unite. "All of us", he said to me, "All of us are Arabs, Asma, and we should return to our Arab ro ots". He automatically puts me and Somalia in the Arab category. When we look appropriate or mildly fit a bogus standard of attractiveness, we're honorary Arabs. Why aren't Somalis Arabs now? The ineffectual and embarrassing Arab League has done about nothing for Somalia, even though its a member. Egypt is just ashamed to be near them. He adamantly maintained that of course I was an Arab and erroneously believed that my solidarity with the Palestinian people comes from identifying with them based on Arab-ness. I explained, although it was perplexingly difficult, that I didn't have a single drop of Arab blood in me and that I didn't need Arab blood to show solidarity with Palestine, and nor should I need Arab blood for him to show solidarity with Somalia. This never-ending parochial nonsense of blood relations, village relations, are poisons that the Middle East and Africa can't blame on the West. They make divide and conquer so easy. Thus, can we blame the master that the slave clings to him? I am such a staunch critic of what I see as American, sometimes even Western, imperialism, especially because I am a Western liberal, but it's like putting a bag of unguarded loot in the middle of a busy street and asking people not to ransack it, while someone's pointing at you to take it. Western nations don't squabble over whether they are German, or American, or French. When the going gets tough the West acts as a united front, especially in matters of collective interest...what ails THESE people? Isn't the correct formula obvious by now? I can't imagine that the answer is just a question of inferiority and superiority but it is truly insufferable. Take me for example, although I was born in Saudi Arabia (they never gave me citizenship thank goodness) and lived in Somalia all of a couple of years, left before the war, was never taught about my heritage and my parents made it a point to never teach us about tribes and clans etc. So I was/am thoroughly Canadian and have no sense of tribal identity, yet, if I try to talk about Somali politics with slightly elder Somalis, my family name alone discredits me. Never-mind what I say, what's happening; if they are of an opposite clan, (I can't understand it) I am totally not credible because I'm the bitch-kinsman of so and so. I am at loss really. Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2007 09:56:15 -0800 From: hsyed1[at]yahoo.com Subject: Lecture in Utrecht To: normangf[at]hotmail.com Dear Professor Finkelstein, It was a pleasure and a privilege to attend your lecture in Utrecht and to meet you afterward. You're truly an inspiration. Best wishes, Hyder ------- "The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter." - United Nations Charter (Article 25) "[T]he final disposition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations." - United Nations Security Council Resolutions 91 and 122 From: djcoussens[at]hotmail.co.uk To: normangf[at]hotmail.com Subject: Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 02:37:29 +0000 Dear Professor Finkelstein. Just mailing to salute your efforts in improving the quality of the scholarship on the contentious "debate" regarding the Zionist-Arab conflict. You are by far the greatest, most acute scholar on this issue, followed closely by Avi Shlaim. I am currently studying Middle Eastern politics in my university degree. I intend to follow your example and tell the truth as scholarship can reveal it. Your legacy is more important than your tenure at Depaul. Be proud. Your influence is massive and your hard work is reaching millions including me. It has changed the perspective of millions. Please keep writing! David C, London. Norman Reading your book - pages 12-13. This is probably going to sound trite, but obviously I feel strongly enough that I want to share. I was born in 1948; I looked you up and you were born in 1953 the same year as my youngest sister - 5 years really does make a big difference. One of my earliest memories from when I was about 7 years old, was hearing the television doing very real and terrifying documentaries on World War II and the concentration camps. The television was in the living room, next to the wall - from my bed on the other side of the wall I could hear everything. I got up several times to peek around the corner to see what was being discussed - things made from people's skin and the starvation. They always ended these programs saying we would never let anything like that happen again - both the war and the camps. We were not Jewish but my father fought in the war and my mother lost her one true love in the war. They did not talk about the war either - like the victims of the camps. In 1988 or 89, either the Atlantic Monthly or Harpers, did an article by two veterans of WWII who wanted to finally share what it had been like on the battlefields. I have been haunted in some weird way by the war and read the article. It was horribly graphic and honest in a way the Victory at Sea never was. Personal info again: between 1968 and 1975 I worked for my father as his secretary in a small machine shop making aircraft parts. Since we were in the same office, when the inspectors and salesmen came in to talk to my father I was at the desk right next to him. All of these men had served in the war. All of their stories had a Sergeant Bilko quality about them, none of the stories were honest about what they had seen or experienced. When I mentioned the article to my father, he made a mean comment to me about it being a lot of "crap". I was wounded by his hostility and in making my retreat remembered his saying that he had joined the Navy because he didn't want to be on the ground with the army - I reminded him of that statement suggesting that he had obviously made a good decision. He snapped back at me that I didn't know what I was talking about - that when he had been on those barge/boats ( can't remember what they are called) that dropped the marines on the shores in the Pacific that there were body parts in the water, that the men to be "dumped" on the shore were scared to death, and that when the ship he was on - I think it was the John Penn or William Penn - he lost friends - there were tears in his eyes then as there are in mine now as I share this. He had told the story of the ship being sunk a million times and the only detail he shared was that it was the luckiest day in his life, a Friday the 13th, because he didn't know how to swim and didn't know that his life saver had deflated when he jumped overboard - the Navy hadn't had time to teach him to swim - in the panic he just did and was rescued before he realized his true situation. He had never shared his pain with me about the war until that day. He was alone until those two men wrote that article that "pissed him off". I think that there is much more to recovering from war than we as a culture realize. When I was 17, I was watching the Security Council meeting with Adlai Stevenson about the Gulf of Tonkin. I cannot begin to express the horror I felt when I realized that these men were not trying for peace - they wanted the war. I just thought that I should share. America is a lot more complex than she is given credit for - our people do what they have to do to survive day to day - everyone wants a normal life and a normal world. I have read many very dark things about our history and the last century - I don't believe people can live in that "zone" day to day. I read what I read because I need to understand - it all goes back to WWII and my parents covered over pain. Jan Pfister Dear Norman I am not a Jew and neither am i Palestinian, but i am a human being trying to understand the reasons behind the conflict between Israel and Palestine that has caused such turmoil in our world today. After having attended your lecture at U of Toronto yesterday, I was extremely inspired by the way you articulated your views and appreciate your years of tremendous academic work and effort. I left the session feeling so enlightened. You are truly motivational for the younger generation. Despite what has happened to you in terms of your tenure case, despite the harsh criticisms you face from those that you may consider your people, you have remained strong in your beliefs and have clearly supported what is RIGHT. Please never lose hope and continue to do the incredible work that you are doing and just remember in those difficult times, that even though it may seem that the world is against you, there are people that are counting on you; you are the voice of many - many who have been silenced. Wish you all the best and despite the uncivilized behaviour of a handful of Canadians, please do not be discouraged, because there are many that would love to have you back ! :) P.S. although i am sure you must have come across this already since you are so well read in this field .. thought i should share this news with you :) http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article3209894.ece P.P.S i plan to spend my christmas holidays reading beyond chutzpah :) It was a pleasure meeting with you tonight at the event and sitting across from you at the dinner table after the event. My famiily attended the event with me tonight, and we all would like to extend our thanks for your effort to inform and educate on the Palestine-Israel conflict. Your discussion on the history and future of North American Zionism is hopeful. We continue to support you in as you move forward with your career, and certianly I will contact you in August if I am able to arrange an event at niversity of Western Ontario. I'm a student at Yeshiva University (if I remember correctly, you said in an interview I heard that when you called your mother after investigating Joan Peters' book, you were living in Washington Heights at the time). This letter, though I might not word it the way I'd like, is completely serious, and if you could be so kind as to reply, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm writing to ask you a question or two about your writing style and research methods. Though I don't always agree with your methods of debate or your descriptions of others-and I've had difficulty with what I believe is your deliberate ignoring of Palestinian crimes, I have grown to respect you highly as a scholar and intellectual. While I initially considered you an enemy to your own people (you didn't exactly go about your debates with Dershowitz in the most civil manner, or one that would counter this impression, in my opinion), I can now say, after listening to some of your speeches, reading some of the Holocaust Industry, buying Beyond Chutzpah, reading your excepts of Haunted House, and most recently, reading your "obituary" on Raul Hillberg--I understand now that this is not the case, and I've come to respect you not only for the above-mentioned qualities, but for having the balls move in the directions that you have. So, my questions to you are; how does one learn to research and cull information the way you have? I understand you received your doctorate from Princeton, but if I'm not mistaken, that was in Poli Sci. What I'm trying to ask is, for example, I understand you have a habit of going after every single source you come across. Where does this come from? Looking in your appendix in Beyond Chutzpah--just the appendix---it seems to me like so much time was put into your research-more than one man could spare for one simple book. I'm not even going into the footnotes, which sometimes have multiple paragraphs attributed to single footnotes! I suppose what I'm basically asking is how does one go about learning the process of writing a thesis and researching and formulating opinions. I understand you may be laughing to yourself and wondering what kind of education they're offering at YU, with such an ignorant question that I should know more about, but please bear with me--this is not a joke and I've never been the best student. One more question; I just finished reading your very eloquent, classy, and articulate "obituary" on Raul Hillberg from August 15 of this year and I'm taken back by the way you made your argument and described this man. Your words flowed so well and the article was just so well-written altogether. Do you have any advice to someone like me on how to become similarly proficient with his writing as you are? I suppose some of it is intrinsic, and some of it learned over time by writing and writing, but there must also be a routine which you follow (of which tracking down every source you come across, no matter how difficult, is a part)? I thank you for your time and look forward to hearing from you. PS - may I ask-when will Haunted House be available for purchase?? From: fmoliterno[at]nyc.rr.com Subject: Re: Royalties for Singing Lessons Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 08:50:25 -0500 To: normangf[at]hotmail.com Self-criticism is often a virtue, but with enemies like yours, you don't need to make yourself your own worst enemy! Actually, you have a talent for spontaneity that perhaps no hard work could develop. You show enviable poise before difficult (i.e., silly, idiotic, way off-topic) questions, whether from talk show hosts who feel obliged to play devil's advocate with you or from loose cannons in the audience after a lecture who in desperation launch a personal attack. Maybe by now you can anticipate some of these questions and have a ready response, but I've never said to myself, "Oh, Norman, why did you respond by saying that?" Truth has a way of making life simple. It's often hard to uncover, but when you place yourself in its path, its gravimetric pull leads you unwaveringly to it. Frank Dear Dr. Finkelstein, I attended your speech at OISE last night and wanted to share some thoughts with you. Before I do this however, I should tell you a bit about myself. My name is Shourideh Cherie Molavi and I am a recent graduate of the University of Toronto. I am Iranian, raised in Sweden and currently live in Toronto for my studies. I recently came back from a 6-month trip to Israel and Palestine, whereby I worked with the Palestinian citizenry of Israel through Mada al-Carmel (the only Arab center for applied social research in Israel). I worked under the wing of Dr. Nadim Rouhana and Dr. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian - both of whom speak highly of your work. I also work with Dr. Uri Davis on a campaign against the charity status enjoyed by the Jewish National Fund in Canada, and as a side project, I interviewed Dr. Lisa Taraki (Birzeit University) and Dr. Ilan Pappe about the campaign to boycott Israeli academics. I wanted to start off by thanking you for your speech and asking of you not to limit the audience to the 2-3 irate individuals in the audience. Such individuals, as with the numerous young right wing-Zionists (i.e. groups such as Hillel and Betar Taigar who are very active on the Toronto campus and never miss an opportunity to raid events and intimidate students). This is a recurring problem on the Toronto campus and many of us have written articles in the campus newspaper about their aggressive and disrespectful tactics. I really appreciate your argument about decreasing support for Israel by American Zionists, as I myself have begun to see the signs. Indeed, and as you may know, there was a recent study covered in Haaretz about the preference of American Jews to preserve and participate in their Jewish culture in a predominantly non-Jewish setting. I have attached the study to this email. This is, of course, not lost on Israeli policy-makers, for during this summer they came up with a campaign to raise the role Israel plays in the consciousness of American youth (both Jews and non-Jews) by distributing a calendar of Israeli women soldiers to the young men. Here is the link for the article: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/19/africa/ME-GEN-Israel-Maxim-Spread.php I hope that you do return to Toronto for more presentations like this in the future, and will read your book with great interest. Unfortunately, I was unable to purchase one yesterday and thus unable to get you to sign it, but this can easily be solved should you choose to return to Toronto :0) I hope to see you again. All the best, Cherie Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:04:46 -0800 From: garydkeenan[at]yahoo.com Subject: Positive Item of interest re your talk in Toronto To: normangf[at]hotmail.com Hi Dr. Finkestein I'm sure you will appreciate this item posted on the Canadian Coalition for Democraces (sic) website, frequented for the most part by zionist zealots and/or foaming at the mouth hatemongers who take great pleasure in demeaning and vilifying Arabs and Muslims and Palestinians in particular. A truly sad and incestuous lot. This particular person ("Proud Jew") was lucky that he/she managed to have his/her message posted. The site's administrator usually removes or blocks news that runs counter to their perverted views. Best, Gary http://canadiancoalition.com/forum/messages/26912.shtml Posted by Proud Jew on 18:29:08 2007/11/29 "I'm sitting here waiting for Norman Finkelstein to arrive. Thanks to U of T wireless I'm able to share a few observations with you. I just walked past the JDL's demonstration. They had all of 8 people, one of whom I presume to be Meir Weinstein. I'm thrilled that despite weeks of fulmination against Finkelstein by the JDL and the Jewish Tribune, Zelda Young and some handwringing by the Canadian Jewish News only eight people came out to protest. There are more Jews sitting here inside the auditorium> supporting Norman Finkelstein then there are outside> the hall protesting him. The right wing zealots should remember that the next time they claim to speak for Canadian Jews." Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:12:40 -0800 Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:07:09 -0800 From: dcross1[at]shaw.ca Subject: Your correspondence with New Press and UC Press To: dersh@law.harvard.edu Professor Dershowitz: (as best as I can tell none of your degrees require the honorific of "Doctor", so "Professor" will have to do.) In regard to this web link... http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=1287 I have been reading the PDF-files of your (and your legal counsel's) correspondence with various individuals such as the legal counsel for various publishers printing Dr. Norman Finkelstein's (Dr. Finkelstein has, in point of fact, taken a doctorate, so the honorific is appropriate for him) book. I find it singularly curious that your legal counsel used what I might term borderline unprofessional and bullying language, expostulating for several pages on issues that seem designed to commit character assassination of Dr. Finkelstein. One can only assume that the motivation for doing this was to cause the publisher to refuse to print the book, contrary to your claims that you did not attempt to prevent its publication. Clearly, if you wanted certain portions redacted from the book you would have asked to see the galleys, rather than attempt wholesale non-publication. Furthermore, I observe that you send rather... interesting... correspondence via your Blackberry. Tell me, Professor Dershowitz, does an accomplished lawyer such as yourself really type like a 15-year-old trying on leetspeak for the first time? I can cite such examples as "Thanks for your email which i plan to include in a book of antisemitic mail i have recieved. You will be glad to know that peocedes will go to pro israel causes. Thanks for your contribution to israel", or "I did not and do not believe that an academic press should publish advocacy propoganda. Nor should they publish false and defamatory material. By the way the uc press did make f cut some of the flse and defamatory matter but u wouldnt know that from f" The shorthand I see used in your e-mail would seem more appropriate to slang-type text messaging than potentially republishable correspondence from an individual such as yourself. 'propoganda' and 'peocedes', indeed. Finally, that nearing up about "collecting anti-Semitic e-mails" can only be construed as a threat to harm someone's career with accusations of that sort. That might have worked 20 years ago, when anyone promoting even a mildly pro-Palestinian viewpoint could be shut up effectively with it. Today, nobody believes it anymore when you accuse someone of anti-Semitism. You have cried 'wolf' one too many times, Professor Dershowitz. Regards, David Cross Click here to view letters from earlier in 2007. |
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Video: On the place of civility in academic life (10.18.2007) Finkelstein's talk at the academic freedom conference Tenure Denial Letters (June - November, 2007) On How Actual Survivors Were Cheated by Jewish Organizations:
Communication for Middle East Journal. (02.19.2006) Alleged Errors in Beyond Chutzpah. (2005) MEMRI NAZIS (again) (10.23.2006)  New evidence of old lies (2005) Under the heading DIABOLICAL PLOTS, I stated in Beyond Chutzpah...    Articles and Reviews Related to The Holocaust Industry  Preface to German edition of The Rise and Fall of Palestine Postscript to German edition of The Rise and Fall of Palestine The Dershowitz File:
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