Recently, Norman Finkelstein was banished from Israel because he supports Hezbollah's resistance against Israel's war and occupation against Lebanon.
I saw a comment negative of Norman Finkelstein that was posted on his website, and I took the liberty of replying to him, because I am interested in Finkelstein's work and I think he's a consistent thinker and a sincere opponent of Israel because of its human rights record. Finkelstein has taken upon him the scholarly task of analysing and correcting Israel's propaganda, an activity his powerful enemies, among whom Alan Dershowitz, had him pay for in various ways.
One of Norman Finkelstein's fields of analysis is the problem that whenever someone serious objects to Israel's policies and violations of human rights, Israel's supporters will sooner or later level charges of anti-Semitism, and/or will confront you with the Holocaust. The below email exchange is a perfect example of that.
This way, the State of Israel is immune to criticism. The most clever application of this technique is to claim that those who criticise Israel, are by that very act anti-Semites because the critics are "singling out" Israel, even though there are so many other conflicts in which perhaps even greater atrocities and violations of human rights happen. In other words, unless one either criticizes all the evildoers on the planet including Israel, or waits until the Israel-Palestine conflict is the only problem left on the face of the earth, no criticism of Israel is legitimate.
This technique is only valid if one forgets that Israel is very much a European phenomenon. It was founded by European Jews, in reaction to European phenomena, and it is nearly unconditionally supported by both the European Union and, more so, the United States, the latter having vetoed most of the possible ways to resolve the conflict. So for Europeans and Americans, it is especially legitimate to criticise Israel. After all, real friends tell you when you're out for your own destruction, don't they?
Original Message
From: Herman Meester
To: xxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 4:47 AM
Subject: your comment on Finkelstein
Dear Mr Hauer,
You wrote the following to dr Finkelstein which was posted on his website.
"By the way apparently, Finkelstein knows no Hebrew. So he is not really a scholar in his field, and we should ignore him."
There are so many scholars who should be ignored then. Benny Morris is considered to be a respected historian on Zionism, yet he doesn't know Arabic. Yet his subject of study is also Arabs.
"I don't understand how someone can assert academic credentials on Zionism or the history of the Jewish people, like Finkelstein does, without knowing Hebrew."
Does he? He's a "political scientist", not a historian of Zionism or of "the history of the Jewish people".
In your line of thinking, unless one knows German, Russian, Arabic, Hebrew, Ladino, Yiddish, English, Polish, Hungarian, even Latin, etc. etc. there is no way that anyone could be a "scholar in his field". A lot of the key material has been translated. And how many people outside Holland know Dutch? Dutch Jews, some importance in European Jewish history.
"Perhaps this is the reason Finkelstein is viewed as a fraud in any serious academic circles. He was denied tenure by a third-tier U.S. university for good reason: he lacks serious academic credentials."
No he does not, he was denied tenure after an aggressive campaign by a.o. Alan Dershowitz whose plagiarism was exposed by him and whose factual error in his Case for Israel book were exposed by him (in Beyond Chutzpah). You can read the Menetrez material for yourself on the Finkelstein website if you doubt that. Let's be fair and objective here.
"I am very pleased --- as an American, Jew and citizen of the state of Israel --- that my government had the sound clarity of thinking to deny Finkelstein entry into Israel. He is a security threat to Israel and to U.S. Jews as well. "
Is he? You shouldn't be pleased. Israel is always boasting how they are the real democracy in the Middle East and even Arabs can say what they want there and have freedom of speech and whatever. If that is true, you shouldn't be pleased. Since apparently, that is of secondary importance then.
Freedom of speech is easy to give to those with whom one agrees. This is a test for those who think they are so democratic, to see how democratic they *really* are.
It is perfectly legal to disagree with Finkelstein on political issues. But how can one guy like him be "a security threat" to Israel? That's so absurd. Let alone a threat to "U.S. Jews".
best regards,
Herman Meester
netherlands
I received the following reply, to which I answered again.
2008/6/12 Douglas D. Hauer:
"Mr. Herman Meester:
If you are Dutch, then I would suggest you examine your own history before you lecture me on any issue. Think about your own history, your own people's treatment of the Jews in the Second World War, and the fact that many Dutch participated and were complicit in the extermination of 90% of Dutch Jewry."
Dear Mr Hauer,
I'm fully aware of all of that. Many Dutch people, whether NSB collaborators, traitors, or other scum, police officers, civil servants and the bureaucratic system, and Dutch Jews in the Judenrat (Joodse Raad), have willfully cooperated with the Nazi murderers. This is well-documented, not contested, and well-known.
I have checked my original email to you and nowhere am I even close to "lectur[ing] you on any issue". I am merely calling it a bit inconsistent that Israel limits freedom of speech or even access arbitrarily. As you know there are anti-Zionist chassidic Jews who openly contest the right of a Jewish state to exist. Finkelstein does not even contest Israel's right to exist, he's merely out to protest Israel's human rights record and support resistance against it. You can disagree with that, but that doesn't make him a candidate for a cherem from the State of Israel, which effectively means a ban on visiting any Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories too, one of the topics on which he writes. So effectively, this is a ban on the freedom of expression.
"Then after you have thought about this, make an effort to teach young Dutch people about the stain on their own history. If you happen to be a Dutch Jew, go see a shrink. If you are Dutch, get a handle on your own guilt before you take the upper hand in an e-mail to me about Israel, security issues or anything. "
I am from 1979. I have taught history, German, and religion in high schools. You don't know me, and you don't know my contribution to society. If I am personally "guilty" of anything, it is to be a Dutch citizen in a time of illegal preemptive wars of Britain and the United States which my government supported.
So, yes, I do protest, and I think the urgency is always more in the present than in the past. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died in a war waged by proven liars, and yes - in a way I feel and am guilty for that. And I feel sick about that, because my protesting this issue didn't help.
But it is interesting to see that you yourself prove once again that Norman Finkelstein's thesis is right: that whenever Israel's human rights record or political behaviour is the subject of discussion -- and remember that I was merely defending him against being tossed out of the country -- some of Israel's most powerful defenders play the Shoah card.
I have lived in Israel, and I have been to Yad vaShem, I read all of Friedlander, Hilberg, Etty Hillesum, Abel Herzberg, Hannah Arendt; major works by Birnbaum, Ansky, Vital, Jon. Israel, and a hosts of (other) books on Jewish history and anti-Semitism, etc., watched hosts of films and documentaries, and I know more about the Shoah than most other Dutch people my age -- I can safely say -- whether Jewish or non-Jewish.
So yes, perhaps my moral antenna has been sharpened to the extent that I know injustice when I see it. Having made clear my "credentials" in Shoah sensitivity, I hope I can proceed.
"But for the Americans, you would be speaking German. Keep that in mind."
I have no idea what you mean by that. Yes I speak German. I also speak Hebrew, French, and Korean. Why would I speak German for the Americans if they probably prefer English?
For your information, Dutch is not German and it sounds quite different - not in Hollywood movies, where they can have Germans speak Dutch or Dutch speak German. But I do not live in Hollywood, nor in a Hollywood movie - which is unfortunate, I would love that, but I can't do anything about it.
I apologise to you, on behalf of Hollywood, for this misunderstanding. They're human, they make mistakes.
"Finkelstein claims expertise about what Israelis think and wrote a doctoral dissertation on Zionism, yet he speaks and reads no Hebrew. He knows nothing about Israel or Israelis."
I am not familiar enough with his work to have read a claim that he is an expert on "what Israelis think", and I wonder if that's relevant. And "nothing" is a bit strong, don't you think?
"It is fair of me to raise this issue: an academic claiming expertise in a specific nation's history should at least know the language of the country. Norman Finkelstein can't respond to this. Instead he blames a third party for his failure."
It is fair of you to raise the issue. Yet there are a number of other factors: the history of the Zionist movement requires also knowledge of a.o. Russian and German; then again, lots of texts have been translated into various languages anyway. Which third party does he blame for his "failure"?
His latest books have little to do with Zionism and everything to do with the present political agenda, the battleground of which is very much international and involves Americans and the American Jewish community quite a lot. And I referred below to the fact that even a well-respected Israeli historian like Benny Morris cannot read Arabic.
"Finkelstein supports and "respects" Hezbolla, uses his parents' background as Holocaust survivors to lend legitimacy to his viewpoints, and blesses Holocaust denial activities in Iran. If you support him fine, but that makes you either an anti-Semite or a troubled person, or both."
Frankly, I kind of prefer the "troubled" tag because as we all know the "anti-Semite" accusation is kind of lethal, socially, career-wise, and as a matter of fact it is illegal to express anti-Semitic views here in the Netherlands.
It's a bit difficult for me to be a bigot or a racist anyway since, just one example, my wife is Korean. But no, the only thing I'm "troubled" about is the fact that you prove once more Finkelstein's thesis, which I suspect is not your intention, that any criticism of Israel's human rights record is "punished" with an accusation of anti-Semitism, even if not the slightest evidence for that exists.
To correct another error on your part, Mr Finkelstein does not "bless" Holocaust denial activities anywhere, the burden of proof for that is on you. As for the Hezbollah, Finkelstein supports it for its resistance against occupation, which is a very political issue but has nothing to do with anti-Semitism as you imply. Finkelstein even explicitly stated he does not care for Hezbollah's ideology, and that that's the Lebanese business.
So, no, it may not be perceived of as politically correct, but neither was Israel's invasion of Lebanon two years ago, or in fact all of its activities in Lebanon ever since the early eighties.
"From a legal standpoint, Israel is permitted to deny entry to any non-Israeli who wishes to visit. I applaud the Israeli government for blocking entry of Norman Finkelstein into the country. The U.S. would and should do the same to non-U.S. citizens who advocate support of terrorist organizations such as Hezbolla."
"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." Personally, I think that the US is, at the moment, the largest terrorist organization on earth. That's not my opinion, by the way, it is the opinion of the US army. And its loyal satellite state Israel, sadly, is on the list too.
You see, according to the US Department of Defense, terrorism is "calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological."
This perfectly fits a.o. the case of Iraq - and Iran, for that matter.
"Mr. Finkelstein:
I will ensure that the 10 year ban on your entry into Israel continues. Ten years from now I will start a campaign in Israel to remind the Security Service that you may seek to enter again, and that you should be deported.
Perhaps I should get your dissertation and write a book debunking you, your use of sources, and your overall extremist vision.
Last year I wrote that maybe you should look for a job in Iran. But wait-- that won't work, the universities there hire people with real credentials.
So long.
Douglas Hauer"
Since you seem to address Mr Finkelstein here, who has no access to my email account, I will do you the favour of forwarding this message to him.
Kind regards,
Herman Meester
So you can see I did my best so much to write a neat reply - and guess what? He appreciated my reply so much that he now wants to share it with Israeli Intelligence, the Israeli Embassy and the Foreign Office! You can imagine how honoured I was.
2008/6/12 Douglas D. Hauer:
"Herman,
I will pass your e-mail on to the Israeli Embassy in the Netherlands, to the Israeli Security Service and to the Consular Division of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Douglas Hauer"
Obviously, I thanked him. I hope they will contact me since I'm sure they can benefit from my expertise on the subject.
Mr Hauer,
I'm very honoured.
I will be happy to advise them on security and related matters if they feel the need to ask.
Thank you,
best regards
Herman Meester