November 27, 2010 — Berlin — AJC is deeply disappointed with the decision of the Berlin Maritim Hotel to allow Norman Finkelstein, a virulent critic of Israel, to speak on its premises.

“Providing a platform for anti-Israel and anti-Semitic invective surely cannot be in the interest of a major German hotel,” said Deidre Berger, Director of AJC Berlin. “Maritim Hotel executives should put their civic obligations before their business interests.”

AJC had informed the hotel weeks ago in a letter that previous attempts this year to feature Norman Finkelstein in Berlin were called off after widespread protest. Finkelstein’s theories on Israel and the Holocaust are popular fodder for right-wing extremists and their publications.

“Norman Finkelstein’s hateful theories incite anti-Semitism,” said Berger. “We are deeply disappointed with the hotel’s decision to provide space for this deplorable event.”

Finkelstein, an American academic, will address an event at the Maritim Hotel tonight sponsored by Palestinian Doctors and Pharmacists in Germany.

Due to his support for Hamas and Hezbollah, radical Islamist terror organizations seeking Israel’s destruction, Finkelstein recently was denied entry to Israel.