Why Israel Booted Norman Finkelstein,Steven Plaut

We've grown used to it: whenever anyone in the media takes note of the antics of Norman Finkelstein, a flood of disinformation is bound to follow. The recent arrest of Finkelstein in Israel was no exception.

The facts are simple. Finkelstein attempted to enter Israel several weeks ago for the purpose of traveling to the West Bank. Israel is used to foreign troublemakers, such as the stooges of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), who come to Israel to engage in hooliganism and support Islamofascist terrorism.

But Israel usually does not prevent them from entering the country (a highly naive and short-sighted policy). In any case, Finkelstein was - somewhat uncharacteristically for Israel - detained upon arrival, kept under watch for a few hours, and eventually deported to Amsterdam.

This of course served as a siren call for all the anti-Israel moonbats inside and outside Israel to protest this "suppression of academic freedom of an academic critic of Israel." Leftist websites and the liberal media were immediately filled with reports of how "Professor Finkelstein" was kicked out of Israel for having anti-Israel opinions. Finkelstein's own website screamed his martyrdom in lurid terms. The Israeli far left itself got into the fray.

As is usual whenever Finkelstein is involved, the facts all got lost along the way.

First of all, Finkelstein is no "professor" and never was an academic in any meaningful sense of the word. He is a crackpot with links to Holocaust denier groups all over the world who has attempted to build a career by churning out masses of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel diatribes.

I am an academic critic of Israel (from the right); Finkelstein is merely a vulgar Beer Hall buffoon.

Regarded as a Holocaust denier by, among others, the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Finkelstein was fired last year by DePaul University in Chicago because he had no academic publications or achievements to speak of; he has yet to publish his first academic paper.

Contrary to the whining of his boosters that at he fell victim to "outside interference" in his promotion proceedings at DePaul, most of the outside interference there was actually in his favor, coming from the sewers of the anti-Israel lobby.

Second, Finkelstein was not denied entry into Israel because he holds anti-Israel opinions. Anti-Israel leftists come in and out of Israel all the time, and some of Israel's own tenured traitors are even more extremist and anti-Israel than Finkelstein himself.

Finkelstein was denied entry into Israel, as is clear from the accounts in the Israeli media, because he has spent the past few years serving as an all-but-official spokesperson for the Hizbullah terror group and was suspected of wanting to enter Israel for purposes of espionage and activities on behalf of terrorism.

Third, entry into Israel is not some sort of universal entitlement that anyone anywhere on earth can claim for himself without limit. According to the official Israeli statement as reported in Haaretz, Israeli intelligence said Finkelstein "is not permitted to enter Israel because of suspicions involving hostile elements in Lebanon" and because he "did not give a full accounting to interrogators with regard to these suspicions."

Finkelstein was kept under wraps by Israeli security at the airport for a few hours after landing before being deported. It sounds like his toughest moment was when the free cola he was served was not quite ice cold.

While in Israeli captivity he refused to answer questions such as what he was planning to do while in the country and who was paying for his trip. He was also asked what he currently lives on, and my personal guess is that this is what caused him to lose his famous temper, as his lack of gainful employment since being fired by DePaul seems to be a sore point with him.

Moments after arriving in Amsterdam, Finkelstein sent out the following message to his fans (spelling, syntax and typos uncorrected):

Before rumors report my premature death, I was kept in a holding cell for 24 hours and then deported to Amsterdam. It wasn't a Belgian bed and breakfast but it wasn't Auschwitz either (although after six hours of abusive treatement I did call them "[expletive] Jewish Nazis," not taken well). It seems that to see Musa and his family again, I'll have to wait until the end of the occupation. I have been been banned for "at least 10 years." Another incentive to work towards ending the occupation.

Israel's far left, at least as batty as America's far left, chirped in its outrage at Finkelstein being prevented from entering Israel. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel took the lead, quickly dispatching once of its leaders, a lawyer named Michael Sfard, to serve as attorney for Finkelstein while he was being held at the airport.

Sfard was quoted in the media as saying, "A country that starts to fear what its harshest critics write about it is a country that is already behaving in a manner reminiscent of the darkest days of the communist regime."

Strange, but Winston Churchill never invited Lord Haw Haw to Britain to lecture in the middle of World War II, nor did FDR invite Tokyo Rose to throw out the first pitch at the 1943 World Series.

Steven Plaut, a frequent contributor to The Jewish Press, is a professor at Haifa University. His book "The Scout" is available at Amazon.com. He can be contacted at steveneplaut@yahoo.com.

Read Comments (10)

Why Israel Booted Norman Finkelstein , Steven Plaut

In Academe, civility is more effective than ad hominen insults
Date 05:06, 06-28, 08

If an opponent of Jewish occupation of Arab land, (which is a unremarkable point of view to hold in the non Jewish world), wrote an article wherein he described pro-Israel lobbyists as inhabiting sewers, being moonbats and whiners, then you, Professor, would rightly describe the writer as being self-evidently anti-Semitic. Yet you seem to think that you can describe the non-Jewish supporters of Jews who do not share your views with offensive juvenile ad hominem name-calling and insults. By doing so you come across, to my non-Jewish, mind, as being rather charmless and crass.
By the way, it's also probably best that self-described Jewish intellectuals avoid mocking the literals and typos made by another, especially when you do it yourself! I quote: "quickly dispatching once of its leaders..." The term ''Pooterism'' comes to mind.
As I had never heard of you, I assumed you were an amateur blogger because of the charmless, unprofessional language you used when busy ridiculing your non-Jewish opponents (or enemies as you label them), so imagine my surprise when I read the bit where you proudly announce that you really are an academic.
Stephen Rigley

Why Israel booted Norman Finkelstein
Date 05:06, 06-28, 08

I read with interest the article on why Israel ''booted'' Norman Finkelstein. Has there been (or will there be) a similar article on why Israel ''booted'' Ilan Pappe, who is an academic who has published a number of works, based on official Israeli records and the diaries of David Ben Gurion, for example?

Richard Mallett

GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT
Date 12:06, 06-29, 08

I am not a supporter of Finkelstein, nor of the Left in general; but the cause of Israel is done a diservice by written attacks which contain proven factual errors. You merey give more ammunition to his supporters.

INTERESTING ARTICLE
Date 03:06, 06-30, 08

Bravo! It's about time Israel booted its enemies. I agree with Professor Plaut. Israel is a sovereign country. It therefore has a right to boot anyone it pleases. Why don't Plaut's critics protest the bigotry in the Islamic world, where nobody has the right to disagree with official policy?

Comparisons are odiferous
Date 03:07, 07-2, 08

I am an academic critic of Israel (from the right); Finkelstein is merely a vulgar Beer Hall buffoon.

No. Norman Finkelstein is a proven academic; you are a convicted defamer.

pappe was not booted, although should have been
Date 08:07, 07-2, 08

He simply resigned and moved to the UK

Those claiming Plaut got his facts wrong never produce evidence of even a single mistake

Carmela
Tel Aviv

Now that Steven Plaut has tipped a bucket on Finkelstein . .
Date 10:07, 07-4, 08

why can't jewishpress invite the the otherwise gagged target to answer point by point, or is liberally denigrating the powerless a specialty of the house?

And it's not good enough to bring WW2 parallels in of Lord Haw Haw and Tokyo Rose, for even after the war they were not afforded the opportunity to go on western national media - even for an hour, unlike those who had vanquished them, who had years of media time.

And btw, how do we know where exactly was the balance of moral equivalence to be struck unless the vanquished can be fully heard by the populations of the victors?

I actually read his Holocaust Industry when it came out, and i was impressed, and i suspect it is because it had caused a ripple in the smooth impenetrable fabric of the official story that he has been most shabbily treated by all parts of jewry, as a detailed response i've never seen, though plenty of ad hominem stuff which is what this sludge by your Steven Plaut is.

And that you allow it without a right of reply says much about you.

RESPONSE TO ACADEMIC CRITIC FROM ISRAEL
Date 06:07, 07-10, 08

The so-called academic critic from Israel is an obvious enemy of Israel and the Jewish People. Such Antisemites loathe truth. Professor Plaut wrote a factual essay exposing Finkelstein's hatred and ignorance. It is interesting that even his supporters agree that Finkelstein is a beer hall buffoon---including the uninformed and biased academic critic whose inane comments were posted on this website. Chaim

MESSAGE 7 BREAKS MY HEART
Date 06:07, 07-10, 08

Message 7 really breaks my heart. Poor Tokyo Rose and Lord Haw Haw. The media never gave those folks a chance. Just a historical reminder: While the world was fighting Nazi tyranny, those rogues labored for Nazi and Fascist tyrants. Finkelstein also labors on behalf of Antisemitic tyrants. It's not Plaut's fault that Finkelstein got fired. The firing is due to Finkelstein's incompetence. Serves him right. Why don't these wiseguys
try protesting the bigotry espoused by Islamist warmongers?
Could it be that their silence is due to the fact that 1) either they themselves are Islamist warmongers or 2) they hate Western civilization in general.

Beer Hall Buffoons Protest
Date 06:07, 07-10, 08

Dear Professor Plaut:

As a representative of the local beer hall club, I hereby object to your distortion of our political views. Actually we do not have any political views. We usually talk sports. Therefore, we are very offended by your harsh criticism of our activities. We want you to know that we have no relationship with Norman Finkelstein. Why that guy wouldn't be allowed to share a beer with us. So please don't lump us together with these Holocaust
deniers or whatever you call them. I think the Israelite nation did the right thing. I can't figure out why anyone would expect the Israelites to allow nuts like Finkelstein to enter their country.
He wouldn't be allowed to enter our tavern.
Hans