"Beyond Chutzpah" by Norman Finkelstein, a review.

[reprehensor]

Subtitled: "On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History"
University of California Press, 2005

"Beyond Chutzpah"(BC) is written in two parts; Part One: The Not-So-New "Anti-Semitism" and Part Two: The Greatest Tale Ever Sold.

In the Introduction, Finkelstein writes;

...the allegation of a new anti-Semitism is neither new, nor about anti-Semitism. Whenever Israel comes under renewed international pressure to withdraw from occupied territories, its apologists mount yet another meticulously orchestrated media extravaganza alleging that the world is awash in anti-Semitism. This shameless exploitation of anti-Semitism delegitimizes criticism of Israel, makes Jews rather than Palestinians the victims, and puts the onus on the Arab world to rid itself of anti-Semitism rather than on Israel to rid itself of the Occupied Territories. (p.16, BC)

And this is basically the thesis for Part One.

Coming under special scrutiny is the study, "The New Anti-Semitism", by Arnold Forster and Benjamin R. Epstein (1974), which Finkelstein regards as a template for future "misuses of anti-Semitism". He relates how the authors single out Norman Jewison's film, "Jesus Christ Superstar" which they describe thusly; "From an anti-Semitic stage production he created an even more anti-Semitic film," then Finkelstein goes on to draw a comparison between comments about "Superstar" and Mel Gibson's "Passion";

Forster and Epstein on Superstar:

"Superstar represented, after all, a very free adaption of the New Testament story... The malevolent image of the street mobs of Jerusalem and of the priests was preserved intact and once again they were assigned major blame for the Crucifixion. At the same time, the authors of Superstar chose to whitewash the character of Pontius Pilate, exonerating Pilate of blame in the condemnation and trial of Jesus and thereby heightening the responsibility assigned to the Jewish priesthood."

- The New Anti-Semitism, p.97

Frank Rich on Passion:

"There is no question that it rewrites history by making Caiaphas and the other high priests the prime instigators of Jesus' death while softening Pontius Pilate, an infamous Roman thug, into a reluctant and somewhat conscience-stricken executioner."

- Frank Rich, Mel Gibson Forgives Us For His Sins, New York Times, March 7, 2004.

Several examples follow this first one with exactingly referenced footnotes that at times take up 1/3 of a page as Finkelstein provides context and historical precedent as he unravels tactics employed by apologists for Israel's foreign policy that he views as plainly egregious;

"The principal-indeed, the real-target of Forster and Epsein's New Anti-Semitism was criticism directed at Israel after the October 1973 war, when new pressures were exerted on Israel to withdraw from the Egyptian Sinai and to reach a diplomatic settlement with the Palestinians." (p.24 BC)

"The consequences of the calculated hysteria of a new anti-Semitism haven't been just to immunize Israel from legitimate criticism. Its over-arching purpose, like that of the "war against terrorism," has been to deflect criticism of an unprecedented assault on international law." (p.45 BC)

Part Two of Finkelstein's book is where the volume gets its name. The title is a dig at Professor Alan Dershowitz's 1991 "Chutzpah". Here it is helpful to understand a little of Finkelstein's previous 'debunking' work.

In 1984, Joan Peters published "From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine". The book became a best seller, and is still highly regarded by many who read it. But not by some scholars, notably Edward Said, and Finkelstein, who writes;

...From Time Immemorial was a colossal hoax. Cited sources were mangled, key numbers in the demographic study falsified, and large swaths plagiarized from Zionist propaganda tracts. Documenting the hoax and the rather more onerous challenge of publicizing these findings in the media proved to be a turning point for me. (p.2 BC)

Finkelstein's struggle with Peters' misinformation is chronicled in his book, "Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict" (1996). So, Finkelstein was shocked to find that Professor Dershowitz was recycling information from Peters. Surely a Professor from the Harvard Law School would be doing extensive and exhausting research on his primary sources, not just cribbing from a work of dubious scholarship? Evidently not.

After the release of Dershowitz's "The Case for Israel"(TCFI) (2003), Finkelstein began to document what he viewed as plagiarism that occurs in TCFI. He then confronted Dershowitz on Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now!" on Sept. 24th, 2003, which you can access here;
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/24/1730205&mode=thread&tid=38

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: ... I have no intention whatsoever of getting involved in an ad hominem debate with Mr. Dershowitz. I'm interested in the facts. I was asked to come in and discuss his new book. I went home, purchased one copy, in fact I purchased two copies. I read the book very carefully. I did what someone serious does with a book. I read the text, I went through the footnotes. I went through it very carefully. There's only one conclusion one can reach having read the book. This is a scholarly judgment, not an ad homonym. Mr. Dershowitz has concocted a fraud. In fact Mr. Dershowitz has concocted a fraud which amazingly in large parts, he plagiarized from another fraud. I found that pretty shocking, shocking coming from a Harvard professor. I find it shocking coming from any professor.

Of course, you know, this means war.

The two traded barbs here and in various public venues ever since, (with Dershowitz mostly on the defensive), and although Finkelstein could have based BC on Dershowitz' cribbing alone, he chose to focus instead on the distortion of Israel's human rights record employed by Dershowitz, and this comprises Part Two of Beyond Chutzpah.

In TCFI, Dershowitz claims, "...the gulf between Israel's actual record of compliance with the rule of law and its perceived record of compliance with the rule of law is greater than for any other nation in history. (p.222 TCFI, emphasis in original)". However, as Finkelstein shows in a torrent of excerpts from reports by leading human rights organizations, this is just not the case.

Finkelstein cites extensively and at length from reports by B'Tselem (Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories), the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch to show that the thesis for TCFI, that Israel actually is doing pretty well on "compliance with the rule of law", is just not so.

From the use of lethal force against civilians, using civilians for the "neighbour procedure", the deaths of Palestinian children, to case after case of indiscriminate torture, Israel falls far short of being a "stand-up" international citizen.

Along with the scholarly excellence Finkelstein provides with his meticulous footnotes, BC also has an appendix loaded with source material which comprises 1/3 of the entire book.

Professor Dershowitz does not look good after reading this book. In fact he comes off as a bit of a shyster, disingenously posing as a civil libertarian on the one hand, while distorting Israel's human rights record on the other. Claiming that actual physical torture as a tactic is not generally used against Palestinians, and the other hand calling for its use in the "ticking bomb" scenario. But as Finkelstein points out, it's funny how the bomb stops ticking on the Sabbat, but then starts right up again when the torturer punches back in the next day.

This book is a splash of cold water in the faces of people who have never taken a serious look at the plight of the Palestinian people, or at "the misuse of anti-Semitism".

Beyond Chutzpah is well researched, relatively well-written when you consider that the author stitches so much 3rd-party documentation into the overall narratiive, and puts Professor Dershowitz on notice... the disinformation needs to stop.


Some choice Dershowitz quotes are scattered throughout Finkelstein's book;

"The world is full of evil people and it is important to stand up to evil."

"The defense attorney comes close to being a pure one-sided advocate for his generally guilty client."

- Alan M. Dershowitz, Letters to a Young Lawyer

"Almost all criminal defendants-including most of my clients-are factually guilty of the crimes they have been charged with. The criminal lawyer's job, for the most part, is to represent the guilty, and-if possible-to get them off."

- Alan M. Dershowitz, The Best Defense

[breakaleg]

1. Thanks for bringing this to the forefront. Makes me want to get the book. nt

[kitkatrose]

2. Thanks, this is an interesting topic. n/t

[pberq]

3. Good work as usual, reprehensor!

[richards1052]

4. Dershowitz campaigning to deny Finkelstein tenure

The campaign has gone to an entirely new level with Dershowitz's reprehensible full court press against Finkelstein's application for tenure at DePaul University. D has written to the entire faculty attacking F. I've never heard of a scholar (I used that word advisedly regarding D.) trying to intervene publicly in the academic processes of another institution. The tenure decision should be made any day now. DePaul is in a hard place whatever decision they make. Finkelstein is not an easy person to like or fully agree with. But D. in my opinion is even worse.