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 Letters 2008 | Letters 2007 | Letters 2006 | Letters 2005 | Letters 2004 | Letters 2003 | Letters 2002 | Letters 2000-2001  Due to time constraints "Letters to Finkelstein" will no longer be updated. Dr Finklestein, I wish to take this opportunity to thankyou for your courageous position you have taken on the Israel/Palestinian conflict. The moral, just and informed part of the world is thinking what you have been saying for years through the media and in your books. Strong, powerful and wealthy nations have been taking advantage of weaker people for centuries and the world continues to allow it to happen. I feel that more and more people are starting to realise truly what is going on by avoiding commercial TV, reading books and using the Internet to gain more accurate versions of the news. The Israeli government do not want peace, they want as much land as they can get by stealing, limiting development of Gaxa by the Palestinians and terrorising the civilians. The US and many other governments (including mine, Australian) are complicit in this behaviour by remaining despicably silent on the conflict. I have the impression that there is no money in peace, there is however billions to be made from conflict and war, as money is the main aim the staus quo remains. Unfortunately your courageous, honest voice is the exception rather than the norm amongst the mainstream, deceptive and cowardly media. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours. Take care. Regards, Hello Dr. Finkelstein, I know you're traveling and this email will likely be one among many others when you return to your desk. I just wanted to thank you for braving the cold and coming to Calgary to speak! Thanks again,  Shame of the Arab World Dear Norm, I have been silenced like a beaten up lamb for some time …No sorry, like a slaughtered lamb lingering for my meat to be scavenged vulgarly by these “Coward Arab Leaders” over their ridiculous sumptuous banquets in their so-called Summits!!! “Summits” that have been attained until the death toll reached in the Gaza strip more than 1,300 - more than 400 of them children - and still bodies are being dragged from under the rubbles to date. During the Summit (the Kuwaiti one), where their loud callous and phony chuckles/ snorts prevented them from hearing reverberates of the cries of the mutilated children and women in the Gaza strip! The "Shock and Awe Strategy" that was foolishly adapted by Rumsfeld during the "Operation Iraqi Freedom" in 2003 "aimed at influencing the will, perception, and understanding of an adversary rather than simply destroying military capability" has now been amended by the Coward Arab leaders against their own people …The reason I am saying this is that Arabs have allowed Israel , America and other European countries to perform "grave breaches" as defined by the 4 Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the 1997 Protocols in the Gaza War and the Lebanese war of 2006 ! They just DID NOTHING!!! Their cold cold eyes were glued to the TV sets without wincing for a minute as they saw the catastrophe proliferate day after day in Gaza .... Oh! I apologize they "DID" take major imperative measurements ...such as: (i)The so-called Arabs/Muslims have launched in Egypt demonstrations that have counted not more than mere thousands while during the demise of their beloved singer “Umm- Kalthoum” “MILLIONS” yes “ MILLIONS” marched the streets of Cairo in mourning . Let me add that when their other heart- throbbing singer “ Abdul halleem hafez” died “MILLIONS” again marched the streets and yes some silly women committed suicide !!!! (ii) A group of Egyptian lawyers, who are loyal to the Egyptian regime, have actually filed a lawsuit against Hezbollah General Secretary Sayyed Hassan Nasrullah . They filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice because of his speech on the first night of the commemoration of Ashura when he called on the Egyptian leadership to open the Rafah border crossing and called on the Egyptian people and the Egyptian army to pressure the Egyptian regime to take a positive step. They considered what he said as unjust and as a call for a revolution and the toppling of the Egyptian regime. (iii) The Rafah border crossing was kept closed throughout the hideous and horrid war in the face of the Palestinians in the fear that they might smuggle in food and medical aid impovrished and injured children !!! (iv) Demonstrators in KSA were gunned down .... (v) The Wahabi Regime “the Kernel of Evil” had its grand Mufti issue a creed/ Fatwa prohibiting Muslims from engaging in demonstrations to express their solidarity with the Gazans as such actions hinder them from performing their religious duty …Little did this ignorant and insignificant man know that the whole rational for example of Haj is not just a mere circumambulation of the Kaaba but also a cry out for the truth and equality .... (vi) In the UAE, the Kufieya (a scarf worn by Palestinians) was not allowed and taken away from feeble staged demonstrations by the CID…our “Big Brothers”.... (vii) The Shopping Festival in the Emirate of Dubai has started with alluring deals and few tents were pinned up symbolizing solidarity with the Gazan victims …Bear with me please ….The tents have in them a bundle of worn out clothes and broken toys to be sent to the poor Palestinians .... (viii) A very prominent and respected Egyptian TV and Radio personality called Hamdy Kandeel was ‘sacked’ from Dubai TV for expressing his views freely and openly about the situation in Lebanon and in Palestine .... (ix) In Bahrain, hundreds of demonstrators were jailed and interrogated because of their involvement in expressing their solidarity with Gaza ... (x) Qatar's proposed summit failed to garner the support of 15 Arab League members, a quorum needed for official endorsement. Monumenting the rivalry between KSA and Qatar and even more widening the rift between the “Moderate Arabs” and ‘Non-moderate Arabs” ... The list goes on .... Oh but wait please, the Kuwait Summit did come out with something tangible: 1 billion donations and Kuwait's USD 500 million in aid for Gaza reconstruction. It has become like a pattern now …In Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Lebanon …And now in Gaza!!!!...Those petrodollars do make those Arabs sleep soundly at night don’t they???? So the "Shock and Awe Strategy" doesn’t just involve the use of high -tech weapons thrown at innocent causalities but it involves the loss of will to speak up your rights and the expunging of "Human Conscious" !!!! I will have to end my letter from a verse from the Talmud addressed to the Arabs: “Man is born with his hands clenched, but his hands are open in death, because of entering the world he desires to grasp everything, but on leaving, he takes nothing away.” What have the Arabs taken away with them?????? Keep warm, Zeina Dear Mr Finkelstein, I just read about your increasing difficulties for your brave and truthful comments on the war in Gaza etc. Oh, I'm so sorry about that!! I've just seen a few interviews of yours, but I think you are a very intelligent, honest and truthful man. And moral -such a breath of fresh air! I think it is quite obvious, how could anybody miss that!?! Maybe it's their guilty conscience..? There's a Finnish saying: 'That dog barks who is hit by a club (piece of wood).' ...It's actually quite sad what they are doing to you. Sad for humanity. And especially for the Palestinians and Israelis! Their children in particular. It is always difficult to be the dissenter, but sometimes (always?) it is the only moral thing to do. So, I wish you lots of courage, strength and help from above! May God bless you and keep you! Minna Dear Mr Finkelstein I'm an arab from Lebanon but I live in Sweden and have done so ever since I was four, I'm 21 now. In recent months I've come to admire you and your writings, I laughed and was very entertained when I saw you shred Mr Dershowitz to pieces on democracy now, I must say that you showed an very admirable feature in a person, patience. The reason I write to you is that I am currently in several debates about the situation in Gaza on some forums on the Internet, sometimes people post links to certian sources, sometimes those sources are Alan Dershowitz. I think what you did to him was very good, a man of his high statue in the academic force should'nt be alowed, unfortunately I heard he chose to take actions against you, that's a very childish thing for him to do and I hope you don't feel or are troubled by him. Now, when I see people using Dershowitz as a source I can't help feeling ridiculed, especially when there actually are people that have been influenced by Mr. Dershowitz writings, how can Mr. Dershowitz be allowed to teach or in a way raise his oppinion to students who really should use real sources as all the human rights organisations? One person said to me; I don't trust Human Rights Watch, workers in Gaza are threatend to lie. How can one argue against that? Have the world lost it's principels of whats right or wrong? What's true or false? I really hope that the people in Sweden, and all over the world, can enjoy seeing you on TV or on the Internet, you have a certain charismatic look when you argue for human dignity, please keep doing what you are best at, expose the truths in a world that is captivated by lies and propaganda. The link I want you to see, shows former president Jimmy Carter discuss his book "Palestine Peace not Apartheid", after his presentation the students are allowed to ask questions and Mr. Carter answears very carefully with sharp answears going to the heart of the matter. In the second part, we see Mr. Dershowitz appear, whit crazy scaretactics to hide facts, a lawyer in his esence. The lies he tell doesn't stay within the circle of people that buy his book and read his bad plagiarizing, students get affected, just look at the video and see how he uses his feelings to set the mood. This video is from 2007, but it is still important to show that a crazy man still is a crazy man. Mr. Dershowitz is himself not dangerous to student minds but the story the media distort gives him valid points that in reality isn't even truths! Please keep showing up on the Internet, I wish that I had a professor Finkelstein. http://www.learnoutloud.com/Catalog/Politics/Global-Politics/ Palestine-Peace-Not-Apartheid/26695 Looking forward to hearing from you, best regards Kamal El Salim. Ps. Don't forget to thank your students for making you famous to us a cross the atlantic on youtube by recording you in class. Hi Norman, Thank you for that Holocaust photo-comparison. It is precisely my same sentiment, especially with many of my silent colleagues. As a child I had empathy for the Israelis. But that immature perception no longer rests inside my soul. My tolerance and respect has been totally obliterated by Israel's historic and foolish actions that has mirrored Nazi Germany. In my aged wisdom I found that Zionism is a perverted and arrogant social political disease, no different than Nazism - or even for that matter Catholicism, Evangelicalism etc. It's an opiate that transforms into a carcinogen, like an indiscriminate cancer cell, that begins to flourish on illogic reason and insanity, eroding and destroying society from the inside. Mankind is out of touch and balance, and a swift reality check is soon to follow. John Lennon's altruistic song "Imagaine" conjures up, and culminates my thoughts and sentiments entirely in this matter. Loved your lecture, couldn't agree more. It seems like the choices we have in leaders is choosing between McDonalds and Burger king. Both get hamburgers, different brands. My question was going to be: If Isreal attacks Iran, would there be major backlash from it's trading partner? You were accused of having your arguements as "emotional" If your arguements would be considered 'emotional' and not factual, then that means we no longer take death serious enough to consider it fact? Is it not a fact that people died from bombings, isn't it factual that Hamas was not using human sheilds? I don't understand the questioners position. I was the guy who peeked at you when you were sitting in the second row, you looked at me but i shyed away. Yeah, i was shy. I was wearing a leather jacket, was last one in the question line to your right, left of the audience. I wanted to ask a question, but alas, we ran out of time. But hey, i can just e-mail. Dear Professor Finklestein, I saw your interview recently on Russia Today on the Gaza war and was visibly moved. I had often read reports in the media that Palestinian and other Arab academics were discriminated against if they spoke out against the state of Israel. I had no idea that this also applied to Jewish academics who spoke out against Israel. I admire and salute you for that because it takes tremendous courage on your part, especially in American society, where as far as I am aware the Zionist lobby is incredibly powerful. Indeed, it has always puzzled me and many others as to who is controlling whom; is it the Xionist Lobby that controls American Foreign policy? I remember years ago, more than twenty in fact when I was an undergraduate at the LSE in London and we had a meeting there in support of Palestine in the Old Theatre. The meeting was disrupted by ay least 150 students from the Jewish Society who could not tolerate all those years ago any criticism of Israel. The students poured onto the stage and accused one of the guest speakers of bening anti-Semitic. The speaker quickly pointed out that he was Jewish; not being deterred, they then called him a traitor!! Twenty years on it seems that not much has changed. I must say that I am not that hopeful that Obama will be much different from Bush or other American presidents. I am deeply pessimistic that Palestinians will enjoy statehood. I am sure that many people throughout the world are horrified at what has been visited upon the Palestinian people in Gaza; and yet I along with millions of others feel powerless to do anything. Yes I can and do pen letters to the BBC, LBC Radio station, my member of Parliament, but I do not believe that this makes a difference. Incidentally, I did complete a PHD thesis on the Economic Sytem in Mandate Palestine at Birkbeck College, University of London. May your courage and moral fortitude protect you from your enemies and detractors. Kind regards and best wishes, Yours sincerely, Yesterday I read your article in Todayszaman and I was very impressed by your courage and sincerity to express your opinion about ongoing Palestines atrocity, oppression. With great enthusiasm, I read your personal page and listened to your audios, admittedly I really very appreciate the way you talk and support your irrefutable claims. I totaly agree with the facts you uncover but surprisingly enough we can not make substantial progress to stop this prevailing cruelty on the other hand it never means that we will give in and step back. By no means I will just sit and watch these things, I will try my utmost to take any possitive step for this cause. One point that is stuck in my mind is that have you made any attemp to send your opinions to celebrities, bureaucrats? I pray for you Mr. Norman G. Finkelstein, you are very precious author, journalist for me and all people who have a feeling heart and thinking head. God bless you, I wish you health and success in your life. To: normangf{at}hotmail.com Subject: Thank You! Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:10:57 -0500 Prof. Finkelstein, I just want to say 'thank you' for your efforts in exposing the misinformation and lies behind the systematic brutality of Israel's bloody campaign against the Palestinian people. One day, hopefully, the truth will prevail and the world will awaken from its catatonic stupor and realize we are in the middle of yet another holocaust. Many people, including myself, see you as the guardian leading us out of darkness and into the light. Keep up the good work! Desmond McGoldrick Mr. Finkelstein, I haven’t read your books, nor do I think I will, but I’m glad people like you still are out causing others to think. It never ceased to amaze me that a sub-group of humanity that so oppressed (and you’d think sensitive to the inhumanity that their forefathers had endured) would not use favourable public opinion and available wealth to fight all inhumanity. My concern is the new religion – money – will be the cause of the next holocaust. Business, not countries - greed doesn’t care about who your god is, just as long as I have more than you! World recession? Perhaps we are witnessing the beginning… Thanks Keith My dear Norman Assalamalaykum It's indeed a great honour to be able to write to you. I represent a huge muslim community, and take the opportunity of extending to you their heartfelt thanks and gratitude. A handful of muslims often write criticizing your stance with regards to the Palestine issues. Please note we don't know these people, indeed, we don't want to know them at all. But please take note of the fact that there are people who use Muslim names when they try to undermine your huge contribution to the humanity as a whole. This is done deliberately, in order to make others believe 'Professor Norman Finkelstein issues statements that are not supported by the muslims themselves and thus, are not reliable'. This is predominantly a Zionist ploy. A true muslim can never talk negatively about you instead he/she can only be grateful to you, and pray for you and your family. We muslims have enormous respect and love for you, Schlaim, Chomsky, the late Tanya Reinhart, Neve Gordon, Tom Segev, Avnery, and Pappe for their contribution to the cause of humanity. You have invariably stood up for the 'oppressed' unlike most of the muslim writers. As far as I'm concerned, you have genuinely endeavoured to compel the world focus on the Palestine issues. I'm appalled to see most muslim authors, particularly, those in the West, don't even have the willingness or the guts to devote their time, let alone putting their careers on the line for the Palestinian cause the way you have. I'd urge members of your audience to never forget to distinguish between true Jews and the Zionists. True Jews know perfectly well what is being done to people in Palestine is a modern day 'holocaust' legalised by some of the world's super powers. The Zionists such as Adam Sandler and many others, on the other hand, raise funds for Israil to fulfil its geo-political ambitions through the use of weapons made in the USA or UK. Norman 'thank you' as always. Take care and May Allah bless you with all that you want here and hereafter. Fiamanillah Mohammad Hi Norman, You are a man of courage that speaks the truth. The Palestinian suffering is due to the lack of respect that the Zionist regime of Israel has for the UN. The OCCUPATION is the Problem the rest is just a plot to steal the land and build more illegal settlements keeping Plaestinians in concetration camps a la NAZI. I support your work Dr. Finkelstein, I cannot thank you enough for all that you have done and said on behalf of the millions of oppressed, silenced, and terrorised people in Lebanon and Palestine. Thank you for always speaking the truth and for supporting the people's resistance! I am always disheartened by the bias in the western media, the academic circles and general public debate on the conflict in the Middle East. Yet your courage gives me hope, and I am so grateful for people like you who always speak the truth and bring depth and clarity to the discussion --even in the most hostile environments. I look forward to seeing you at Georgetown University in March. Best, A. R. To: normangf[at]hotmail.com Subject: lecture at UBC on 21 January Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:18:12 -0800 Dr. Finkelstein, I attended the lecture you gave on 21 January 2009 in Vancouver at the UBC Campus. Thank you for coming out and sharing your thoughts on the current situation in Gaza. I was very much looking forward to hearing how you were going to tie Gandhi into a solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict and this is why I decided to attend the lecture. I was, however, disappointed to learn that you had changed your mind and were not going to address this topic after all. It is a fact that 400 Palestinian children were killed by the IDF and it is a fact that around 1300 Palestinians died in the “massacre”. It is also a fact that 13 Israelis were killed. These facts are all available for us through the (highly prejudiced) Canadian media, not to mention the BBC, Deutsche Welle and CNN. Upon addressing some contested facts, however, you failed to provide evidence of analysis as scholars are required to do. An example that comes to mind is that of Hamas using humans as shields. This allegation may or may not be true, but in denying it you merely provided a point of view, rather than any concrete insight into this issue. Do you have any concrete evidence to deny this allegation? I would like to hear it. Having attended your lecture with the expectation of hearing a discourse including Gandhi’s views, not the reiteration of arguments that have been around since the Six-Day War, I was surprised when you addressed the idea that Gaza should have the right to defend itself just as Israel has that right. I was also taken aback when you pointed out how the international community was so wrongly concerned with how to prevent Hamas from acquiring weapons when they should have been concerned with the atrocities that Israel had committed. What an interesting point to bring up at a lecture which was initially supposed to deal with what we can learn from Gandhi. Despite the fact that I am by no measure an expert on Gandhi or the Middle East, I sincerely doubt that Gandhi’s teachings would in any way include comparing the amount of deaths on either side of the conflict and pointing fingers. I doubt that a man renowned for his ideas of resistance to tyranny, founded upon ahimsa or total non-violence, would have justified Hamas’s right to defend Gaza by launching rockets into Israel. Hamas may be justified in their actions from one point of view and unjustified from another. This, however, was not the argument I was anticipating. I would still love to hear your scholarly thoughts on resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict through Gandhi’s eyes. Regards, Anya Fainberg Just a short note to let yet you know that your sacrifices you have made in the defence of humanity have not gone un-noticed. Most people are afraid to protest in fear of being called a bigot let alone loose their livelihood. Though gone from this earth for all eternity, thru your protests the murdered children of Gaza have a voice. May Gods blessing be upon you. Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:35:13 -0500 Subject: thank you and please post on yor site To: normangf{at}hotmail.com doctor norman ,iam writing you sir to thank you for everything you have done on behalf of millions of us who share your thoughts and concerns and to congratulate you on your courage ,i have watched every video i can find of you speaking,i especially love your debates,i visit your website everyday ,i find relief there,i watched you on democracy now and it made me happy to hear indyk refusal to debate you ,as to me that sounded like an admission that he is no match for you,because if he was ,he would have been more than happy to do so,iam sure of that keep up the exceptionally good and honest work you do sir and i hope that (like mr tariq ali)said to the audience once(at the conference you attended ),in defense of academic freedom ,you go forth and multiply . best wishes in everything you do sir and thank you for your website. your admirer:maurice Dear Professor Finkelstein, Thank you for making Martin Indyk clearly look the fool on Democracy Now! the other morning. It was amazing for to me to see. Mr. Indyk has cultivated a long distinguished diplomatic career and enjoys the stature of a respected authoritative voice and yet he was not prepared to defend his position in a spontaneous context over which he had limited control. How can that be? To cry foul because he didn't know you were coming on would be understandable on the part of a high school student but from someone who has the ear of Presidents and Prime Ministers it is somewhere beyond ludicrous. Keep up the great work, Russell Branca Ozone Park, NY Professor Finkelstein, I read your account of the 1967 War. One of the reasons Israel gave for attacking Egypt was Nasser's closure of the Straits of Tiran, blocking Israeli ships from importing oil, among other things. But you pointed out that only 5 per cent of Israel's economy depended on this supply route. Compare this to Israel's blockade of Gaza. If an embargo was a justification for Israel to go to war, it would seem Hamas also is justified in going to war, which, in their case, means firing homemade rockets. You must admit, though, that the Palestinians' violent resistance is doomed to failure. As one person said, regarding this current phase of the conflict, you shouldn't pull a wolf's tail if you can't kill the wolf. Personally--and I'm sure you share this sentiment--I don't want to see any killing on either side. Not everyone shares that view. For example, I don't know if you ever read As'ad AbuKhalil's blog, but he wrote something I found very disturbing. He said, "I can't wait to hear an American liberal telling me sometime in the future when some Palestinian perpetrates some attack on Israelis that "oh, the Palestinians have to be careful." That they have to adhere to strict standards of struggle, preferably non-violent. I will show them pictures from this week." I've seen all the pictures, and they're horrible, but what AbuKhalil advocates, implicitly in his case, is more of the same, more violence leading to counterviolence. I sent an email to Alan Dershowitz, and I think I asked him some pretty probing questions. He didn't respond to any of them. He only responded to my last comment, in which I said, "For God's sake, anything is better than what Israel is doing right now." He replied, "Not anything is better. Terrorists cannot be allowed to fire rockets with impunity, just as Britain didn't allow the Germans to bomb London with impunity." If you believe in using violence for self-defense, he has a point. However, the analogy he gave was disproportionate, to use a word that's been in the news. I didn't write back telling him that. Maybe I should have. I was upset that he hadn't responded to my main question which was, "Is killing killing?" In other words, Israel is responsible for its own actions, and the innocent Palestinian civilians, especially the children, should not be collectively killed and maimed. I know you've had some problems with Mr. Dershowitz, so I wanted to write to you and tell you what he wrote to me. He makes a lot of strong arguments, but that's because he thinks of himself, I think, as a sort of defense attoney for the State of Israel. He can't stop being a lawyer even in his personal life, I guess. His arguments, by the way, may be strong, but that doesn't mean they're convincing. I always love your appearances on Democracy Now!, the debates especially. Hopefully, the bloodshed will end soon, even if the scars will always remain. Colin Much Respected Professor, I write from Zagreb, Croatia. First of all I would like to excuse myself in regard to my English, which I'm afraid is pretty bad, at least in writing. I hope you'll manage to get through my letter without serious problems in understanding, and won't be too scandalized with my errors. Recently I've stumbled upon a sort of critique of some of your positions made by Mohammed Abed (www.ziomania.com/finkelstein/mohammed%20abed.htm: I don't like the site at all, I have to add and admit!), and I would like to know what exectly is your reply to them – of course, for a lot of it I could deduce your answer from some of your speeches that I find on Internet; but if you would be so kind to point out for me where exactly I could find an explicit or more direct answer, I would be very grateful to you. There are two points (that essantially and ultimately can be reduced on one sole point, as far as I could grasp; as, in fact, all the essay by Mr.Abed has, in my opinion, only one essential goal or theme: to represent the rights for deciding on Palestinian future of Palestinian refugees as well; but I'll pose it – for the sake of not being obliged to cite the entire text and for the sake of clarity – in two citations) in the critique of Mr. Abed in regard to which I would particularily like to ask you to clarify your position. Namely: - „It's difficult to think of a good reason to accept a discourse that relies so heavily on the arbitrary whims of the institution that in 1947 gave 'official' sanction to the idea that 'peace' is synonymous with ethnic separation. After all, this idea initiated the processes that eventually led Israeli forces to cleanse 800,000 Palestinians from the areas that became the state of Israel. But even if we suppose, for the sake of argument, that the United Nations is a legitimate trans-national institution and that majority opinion has anything to do with truth, we could still be forgiven for wondering why Finkelstein would be so adamant about defining the basic parameters of resolution solely in terms of 242 rather than 194 (refugee return) or any of the other resolutions on the books. It's clear from his article that he has faith in multi-lateral institutions, so what could explain this omission?" - Finkelstein, Chomsky, and others will often attempt to legitimate their Israel exceptionalism by citing the 'overwhelming' support enjoyed by the two-state solution amongst Palestinians. The sleight of hand in this case consists in the straightforward omission of relevant details; what they have in mind is not the Palestinian people in their totality but the subset of Palestinians whose opinions its convenient for them to cite (Palestinians under occupation). To understand the significance of the latter group's opinions, some social and political context is needed, although the relevant details are often left to languish in the dark – for the sake of maintaining a convenient illusion. An underlying assumption of the Oslo 'peace process' (and one that can partly explain its failure) was that Palestinians in the areas conquered by Israel in the 67 war and the exiled population had given up their claims to lands inside Israel and that their exclusion from their homeland had become an accepted fact." (I'm more or less sure you responded to these things somewhere, but I don't know where, so help me please!) Though without „personal" involment – in any way, for I'm not Jewish nor Palestinian nor am in any way physically affected by the conflict; neither I'm politician or professional activist but a simple translator! (mostly form French, my "second" language) – in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I follow your work and activities for some time (not a lot of time, however, passed since I've „discovered" you), and greatly admire them. You have all my support and that of my friends here in Croatia – where, I'm ashamed to say, only one book of yours is translated, „The Holocaust industry", without arousing attention it deserves (far from that: but that's how it generally goes with most of publications of some worth in this small, corrupt, backward, indifferent country…) One hopes the situation will change (I'm trying – unsuccessfully as it's obvious, for I'm completely marginal, nobody here – for my part to make translate and publish more of your books), but there are very few signs that anything is going to change in the world of croatian publishing, no more than in any other sphere (in Serbia – we speak and write more or less the same language – the situation is somewhat better regarding to publishing and book-culture, but there as far as I know no work of yours is translated!) Thank you for your patience, and once more I excuse myself for all the errors in writing. I wish you very, very best in your life and work. Marko (P.S. For the end, if I'm permitted to make myself a small „critique": I found that you said or wrote on one occasion that in France Bernard Henri-Levy is considered a „serious philospher"; but nobody serious in France considers him serious, on the contrary! All right, given the fact that serious people in France are pretty rare species, you got the right to state it, but…there are some however) Professor Norman, Thank you for being one of the most eloquent speakers on the middle east conflict. I greatly admire your work and have listened to many of your speeches on youtube. Your recent appearance on DemocracyNow was an unequivocal victory. I'm an American living in Amman, my best friend is palestinian and i have visited him in Bethleham and driven with his father on the infamous palestinian road to Jerusalem, trust me it is in need of serious upgrade. I was recently shocked by the 390 to 5 support by congress of the gaza conflict. I realize that Israel's and the United States interests intersect but I don't think that the need to control mid-east alone is enough to inspire such amazing support for an obvious killing of civilians. i then looked at jewish ownership of the media. i looked at the key players according to wikipedia of the six main media conglomerates and found that of the sixteen people, ten are jewish, and one is half jewish, rubert murdoch. could this be a possible cause for compelling politicians into such blind submission. most of these guys are in extremely safe districts. even stranger is that more voted to oppose the iraq war than gaza. how could a politician vote against iraq but vote for gaza? sincerely, Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 09:54:14 -0800 Subject: You are (drumroll)... ...an AMAZING speaker! Since 9-11 I've been educating myself on U.S. foreign policy and "why they hate us" so much, and while I thought I'd pretty much exhausted the primary sources of activist literature and lecturers (Chomsky, Parenti, Zinn, Woodward, Ellsberg, Cohn, Jamail, Scahill, Klein, Hersh, Bennis, Fisk, Solomon, Cohen, etc.)...somehow YOU got by me. Since seeing you on Democracy Now! a few days ago I've downloaded a half-dozen of your lectures--every one of them pure platinum. Your laser-like analyses are so coherent and well-presented it's like following an imaginary outline projected over your head. And even though your audiences are generally sophisticated, I notice you're not averse to repeating terms and phrases which might otherwise induce momentary lapses of consciousness. Then there's your dry sense of humor, which--given your urbane presentation style--makes it all the funnier. You are living proof that crucial information can be presented in a way that's as entertaining as it is informative without trivializing the subject matter, as apparently Chomsky is afraid of doing. I look forward to seeing you lecture in Irvine later this month. Respectfully, Steve PS: Did Dershowitz ever pay up? (Man, what a putz!) ————————————————————————— If Chomsky (like you) can bear the weight of international criticism I don't suppose this'll be the straw that breaks his back. At eighty-something I suspect he's disinclined to change, but jeez...if he'd even just reincorporate an iota of the inflection he had in his voice thirty years ago! Thanks, professor. Mr. Finkelstein, I read with interest your article "The Facts About Hamas and the War on Gaza" and I wonder if I might propose another item for your consideration. It is my understanding that a part of any criminal investigation, regardless of the crime, investigators will look for the "money trail". Did the perpetrator of the criminal act gain monetarily from the crime? I have read hundreds of articles over the past 22 days on the devastation of Gaza (and many hundreds more prior over the years) and no one, to my knowledge, as yet has inferred that the actions of the Israeli political establishment towards Gaza, and the West Bank, might have a monetary element. It is well documented that Israel receives tens of billions of dollars of "assistance" from the US Government ($30 Billion estimated over the next 10 years). I've read that the estimate since 1948 is around $146 Billion in total. Would it be too naive of me to presume that Israel is opposed to seriously considering making peace with it's neighbors in lieu of losing this bonus? I won't make the presumption that this would be the only reason, but would it be a factor? Israel has one of the highest living standards in the world and should have no need of this remuneration, yet it is still provided. It comprises nearly a third of the total assistance allocated worldwide by the US. The why is obvious, to assist the people of Israel in their defense from the potential of aggression from Arab states and that is commendable to be fair. However, the worlds political leaders have failed those in their care miserably, not only in the middle east, but worldwide. I read more often of the despicable criminality of some of the world leaders and am aghast by the overt and wonton disregard for human dignity. The prime drivers of these despicable acts are power and money, and we don't have to wander too far from our own backyards to find prime examples. Tom Hi Dr. Finkelstein, Thanks for your outstanding lecture at UTM today. Not many public speakers can attract a crowd of hundreds out to Mississauga, at night, in the middle of winter. One has to be a native of our university to fully get the joke, but that is a seriously impressive feat. Coverage of current events in the Middle East in the Canadian press has been unsurprisingly less than diligent in recent weeks. Your talk was a shot of antivenin amid a veritable miasma. I particularly appreciated your careful historicization of Israel's deterrence doctrine and your detailed chronology of the events leading up to the present crisis. Your delicious skewering of a menagerie of Canadian politicians was an added bonus. I have a quick question that is only indirectly related to the content of your lecture. Please do not feel obligated to respond to it if you happen to be very busy, or if the question strikes you as unusually stupid. What's your opinion of Martin Gilbert's book Israel: A History (1998 or 2008, depending on the edition)? I have not read the book myself, but I've discovered that some friends of mine who recently participated in the Birthright program were given free copies by their Israeli hosts, which leads me to suspect that the historical narrative it presents is heavily mythologized. I ask because I generally find it helpful, when attempting to deprogram people, to have some advance familiarity with what kinds of fabrications they may have internalized as fact. The late hour is depriving me of my vocabulary and sanity, so I had best end this e-mail here. It was great to see you tonight, albeit from a distance. I hope all is reasonably well on your end, and that Brooklyn's winter has been less punishing thus far than Toronto's. Best, I'm still in the Golan Heights. We go to bed counting the dead and wake up hoping to see the same number we saw last the night before (but it always increases and with images unlike anything that have ever been seen in the MEast). I just heard what Clinton said about the zero chance of negotiating with Hamas, and this makes me want to speak for them (if given any chance). My goodness, the level of ignorance (or is it willed ignorance and arrogance) these people can muster! The world has to become consistent, especially the Americans. I personally do not believe in using violence to achieve anything. But in the UN charter, people have the right to resist colonizers and despots by any means necessary. And it seems Ms. Clinton believes in the use of violence, and so the Palestinians (being human beings with red blood cells and eyes and noses) should qualify like any other group to resistance. Why can't the West accept their resistance. They have this right under international law. They have been starved, under siege, and now literally gassed. Of all governments in the world, you would hope that Israel would not use any weapons that would be reminiscent of anything that would remind us of "gassing people" or any inhumane weapons, if there are ever humane weapons (besides swords and horses –since those used to harm only the very combatants directly involved). Warfare is really obsolete in our day and age. But it seems things die long before humans start smelling the stink of a dead institution like war. Seeing Clinton's tone and gestures I felt more disturbed than seeing Israeli leaders say crazy things. I wish Arabs and Jews start seeing how the US is playing with both of us and watching us like the ancient Romans, turning the Middle East into their coliseum. Israel is acting as if it's camping for one summer in this region. You can't act like this if you have any future hope to be part of this region and its people. I've seen Mish'al and Haniah in the last couple of days on TV, and I'm still amazed at their self-discipline and controlled language. Haniah in particular was touching and deeply spiritual. Seeing all this should make anyone realize that they're not fighting a small organization. They fighting A PEAPLE. You can defeat governments but you can't defeat people. I've been talking to people here, and of course there is a great deal of anger but more deeply a frustration at the official Arab stance which the Arab street finds worse than Israel itself. Turkey and Venezuela have taken good stances. And I'm glad Turkey is getting involved as it's the only government in the world that seems to notice that Hamas was ELECTED by people and that's worth sitting with and that it's not more terrorizing than all other people on this planet (much less if we bother to look at facts). Hugs, and with prayers for sanity (to all) Click here to view letters from earlier in 2008. |
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  What we can do:
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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