Finkelstein wows audience at McGill

by Dave Himmelstein

Norman Finkelstein, myth-busting professor of political science at De Paul University in Chicago, addressed a standing-room/sitting-in-the-aisles audience at McGill University on November 8. His wide-ranging 2½-hour lecture centered around explaining why there is so much public controversy over the Israel-Palestine conflict, when the straightforward, "uncomplicated" facts are the subject of "broad consensus" among historians.

With the auditorium already packed ten minutes before the program began, Dr. Finkelstein's presentation was preceded by introductions from Yakov Rabkin, professor of history at the Université de Montréal, and Lillian Robinson, principal of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute of Concordia University.

Finkelstein opened by noting that "Canada ought to be the envy of other nations" for its "open tolerant society." A relaxed and engaging speaker, Finkelstein provided a smooth flow of information sprinkled with humor. He first spelled out details of last year's World Court decision that "in occupied Palestinian territory, all settlements and setters are illegal under international law." (Even the lone dissenter among the 14 judges, from the United States, agreed to the facts of that finding.)

Concerning Israel's so-called "withdrawal" from Gaza, Finkelstein echoed the assessment offered by B'tselem, the Israeli human rights group: "Occupation has not ended." Noting that the number of Gaza workers allowed into Israel had dropped to zero, Finkelstein declared that "things are worse in Gaza than ever before." The "real story", he said was taking place in the West Bank, where a process of "annexation and physical integration" was underway. While 8,500 settlers were removed from Gaza, 14,000 new settlers have arrived in West Bank. 23 square miles of the West Bank have been sealed off. The emerging "fragment" pattern of development is modeled on the bantustans in Apartheid-era South Africa.

Shifting into biographical mode, Finkelstein traced his political development over the last 20 years, beginning with his discovery of the lie at the root of Joan Peters' best-seller hoax From Time Immemorial . [ See review of Beyond Chutzpah .] He described his spine-tingling, eye-watering "Eureka!" moment at 1:30 in the morning, upon discovering that "a crucial number was a fake" and the whole book was "a crass, simple-minded hoax". (What happened next? "I'm Jewish, so I called my mother.") It only took several months for him to document the fraud – but the struggle to get the word out on this side of the Atlantic has been an uphill battle.

Finkelstein touched on a number of deeply embedded myths that prop up the arguments of Israel's hard-line defenders. Although examination of 1948 broadcast recordings and transcripts have conclusively refuted the claim, Nakba-deniers continue to blame the massive flight of Palestinians on incitement through Arab radio broadcasts.

Disagreement vs. Disinformation

Finkelstein took pains to distinguish between two types of disagreement, one "legitimate" ("honest people can agree to disagree") and the other "illegitimate" ("contrived….to sow confusion"). An example of the former is the fact that although Noam Chomsky certainly recognizes that ethnic cleansing took place in 1948, he nonetheless, thinks that exercising a right of return just isn't feasible. To illustrate misdirection posing as disagreement, Finkelstein pointed to Allan Dershowitz who ranks ethnic cleansing as a "fifth-rate human rights issue analogous to urban renewal."

Finkelstein outlined some diversionary maneuvers often deployed to screen Israel from normal scrutiny. One is "mystification" of the conflict, invoking a need for suspension of normal judgment ("if you really understood…"). Closely related to this is the "uniqueness doctrine" (which Finkelstein suggested that Kofi Annan should invoke on behalf of Africa). A third tack is dragging in the Nazi Holocaust to confuse the issue and "justify Israel's crime against the Palestinians."

Finkelstein referred to "manufactured hysteria" at Columbia University in New York, designed to stifle free discussion about Israel. It eventually boomeranged on the forces which instigated the witch-hunt of pro-Palestinian professors with charges of biased treatment and unprofessional behavior. What the university's investigation actually discovered was that certain pro-Israel professors had tried to turn students into informers who would conduct surveillance. Non-students infiltrated courses under cover of "auditing" status and went on to engage in disruption of classes.

Finkelstein said the much vaunted "new anti-Semitism" is neither new nor about anti-Semitism. [See accompanying review of Beyond Chutzpah .] He noted that at the same time Europe was being tarred with anti-Semitism, the authoritative Pew Survey showed European anti-Semitism to be at its lowest point ever. Similarly, he dismissed as absurd the claim that anti-Semitism is the cause of Arab hostility to Israel and Zionism, imagining the laughter that would greet a claim that North American Indians were motivated by "anti-Europeanism" in their armed resistance to the United States' westward expansion. The real reason for Arab enmity, "fear of territorial dispossession and displacement", was "obvious" to British teams sent to investigate Arab "restlessness" during the Mandate period—and remained obvious more than a half century later to Benny Morris, the best known of Israel's "new historians" (who, unfortunately, now justifies the ethnic cleansing he helped expose).

Despite the enormous influence wielded by organized supporters of Israel, Finkelstein remains buoyantly optimistic, believing that prospects are always good "if your side has truth and justice." The challenge, he said, is learning "how to wield weapons of truth and justice, how to use them." He himself went on to give a tactical demonstration: When, after a standing ovation, the time came for questions from the floor, Finkelstein insisted that those with opposing views be allowed to go first.

Dr. Finkelstein's appearance was sponsored by SPHR McGill (Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights), PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity), The Canadian Palestinian Federation of Quebec, International Solidarity Movement, IMOPA (Information Montreal Palestine) and the Montreal Planet.

Dave Himmelstein is a writer and teacher in Montreal.