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Betar protests speech blaming Israel, U.S. for Mideast conflict
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By Marilyn H. Karfeld
Senior Staff Reporter
Carrying Israeli and American flags, about a dozen Jewish activists demonstrated Thursday evening at Case Western Reserve University. They protested the anti-Israel message of controversial political scientist Norman Finkelstein.
Bundled against the cold, high school and college students in Betar, a Zionist youth group, and several adults passed out flyers and carried placards to discredit Finkelstein, who spoke Dec. 11 at CWRU’s Allen Memorial Medical Library. The protesters also complained that there was no pro-Israel speaker at that evening’s event to balance Finkelstein’s opinions.
“We want to expose what’s going on at this campus,” said Dani Horwitz, Betar leader and Cleveland State University student. He cited recent CWRU speakers like Finkelstein who have criticized Israel’s policies, its occupation of Palestinian territory, and its treatment of Palestinians.
CWRU President Barbara Snyder insisted the university promotes a diversity of viewpoints, hosting pro- Israel speakers too. “We strive for balance across the range of things we do,” although not necessarily at the same forum, she pointed out.
Six weeks ago, CWRU’s College of Arts and Sciences and Hillel co-sponsored a lecture by Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard University law professor and vocal critic of Finkelstein. Dershowitz cancelled his appearance hours before he was due to speak.
Alice Bach, CWRU professor of Catholic studies and director of the Hallinan Project for Peace and Social Justice, which sponsored Finkelstein’s speech on campus, “is using the university to push her political agenda and her hatred for Jews and Israel,” Horwitz maintained.
Zack Sax, also a CSU student, said Finkelstein, himself the child of Shoah survivors, claims that Jews have exploited the Holocaust to create the Jewish state. “He simplifies the horrors of the Holocaust and makes them seem not as bad as they were.”
“He calls Elie Wiesel a clown,” chimed in Boris Tuman, a Fuchs Mizrachi student, noting that last year Finkelstein was denied tenure as a political science professor at DePaul University in Chicago.
According to a 2000 Salon.com article, Finkelstein described the much-honored Wiesel, a Nobel peace prize laureate, as the “resident clown” responsible for creating a “meaningless version of the Nazi Holocaust” that only exposes “genocides that serve the interest of the U.S. and Israel.”
In his address last week, Finkelstein noted that major civil-rights organizations, the United Nations, and opinion-makers worldwide have condemned Israel for its “relentless and brutal siege” of 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Each time Hamas has agreed to a truce, Israel has attempted to sabotage the pact and instigate retaliation by Hamas, Finkelstein continued. “Israel does what it can to avoid settling the conflict.” He did not mention as obstacles to conflict settlement the barrage of rockets fired from Hamas-controlled Gaza that continue to fall on the Israeli city of Sderot.
Nor did Finkelstein note that both the U.S. and Israel have declared Hamas a terrorist organization. The international community, including the European Union, has participated in the boycott and isolation of Gaza since Hamas seized control of the area in June 2007.
Israelis worry that Palestinians are becoming too moderate and too reasonable, forcing Israel to give up its pretense that it has no one to negotiate with, added Finkelstein.
He did not talk about Israel’s willingness to negotiate with Fatah, a more secular, moderate group, led by Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. Israel’s offer to return over 90% of the West Bank and to negotiate on the status and division of Jerusalem at the 2000 Camp David summit in the waning days of President Clinton’s administration was also not addressed.
Chastising a student for asking a “canned” question about historic Arab opposition to the creation of Israel, Finkelstein admitted that was the situation before 1967. “But why not welcome a change of heart that has existed for 30 years? Israelis don’t want to hear that the other side is willing to settle. Unless you don’t want a settlement – you want to annihilate them.”
Each year, the UN General Assembly votes overwhelmingly for a resolution to peacefully settle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, said Finkelstein. Virtually the entire world agrees, he said, that there should be a two-state solution with pre-1967 borders, Israeli withdrawal from all West Bank settlements including East Jerusalem, and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel.
Acknowledging that some consider the UN a highly politicized organization, Finkelstein noted that the International Court of Justice in The Hague voted 14-1 that Israel’s security wall along its border with the West Bank violates human rights and international law and should be dismantled.
Finkelstein did not mention that the Israeli Supreme Court, out of concern for Palestinian villagers separated from their farms, recently ordered the government to reroute the barrier closer to the pre-1967 line. Israeli authorities maintain that the barrier is for the nation’s security and helps prevent suicide bombers from entering Israel.
Contrary to common misperception, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not complex and unresolvable, insisted Finkelstein. “The conflict is unresolvable because the U.S. and Israel refuse to resolve it.”
The Cleveland Hillel did not participate in the protest of Finkelstein’s speech. Gary Coleman, the organization’s executive director, said Jewish students often feel intimidated and uncomfortable when speakers with anti-Israel views come to campus. “We need to learn how to disagree in ways so that people don’t feel threatened.”
In the audience of about 100 people, there were a few students, including one or two wearing kipot. But most of the audience was far older.
The Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Community Federation recognizes Finkelstein’s right to speak, said Bruce Mandel, the organization’s chair. “We join with the vast ranks of people who disagree with his public expressions of support for Hezbollah during its war with Israel and his obsessive and vitriolic hatred of Zionism and Israel. As most people recognize, Israel remains the only democracy in the Middle East and the only country in the region that America can steadfastly rely upon – all while being on the frontlines of the war against militant Islam.”
mkarfeld@cjn.org
Bundled against the cold, high school and college students in Betar, a Zionist youth group, and several adults passed out flyers and carried placards to discredit Finkelstein, who spoke Dec. 11 at CWRU’s Allen Memorial Medical Library. The protesters also complained that there was no pro-Israel speaker at that evening’s event to balance Finkelstein’s opinions.
“We want to expose what’s going on at this campus,” said Dani Horwitz, Betar leader and Cleveland State University student. He cited recent CWRU speakers like Finkelstein who have criticized Israel’s policies, its occupation of Palestinian territory, and its treatment of Palestinians.
CWRU President Barbara Snyder insisted the university promotes a diversity of viewpoints, hosting pro- Israel speakers too. “We strive for balance across the range of things we do,” although not necessarily at the same forum, she pointed out.
Six weeks ago, CWRU’s College of Arts and Sciences and Hillel co-sponsored a lecture by Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard University law professor and vocal critic of Finkelstein. Dershowitz cancelled his appearance hours before he was due to speak.
Alice Bach, CWRU professor of Catholic studies and director of the Hallinan Project for Peace and Social Justice, which sponsored Finkelstein’s speech on campus, “is using the university to push her political agenda and her hatred for Jews and Israel,” Horwitz maintained.
Zack Sax, also a CSU student, said Finkelstein, himself the child of Shoah survivors, claims that Jews have exploited the Holocaust to create the Jewish state. “He simplifies the horrors of the Holocaust and makes them seem not as bad as they were.”
“He calls Elie Wiesel a clown,” chimed in Boris Tuman, a Fuchs Mizrachi student, noting that last year Finkelstein was denied tenure as a political science professor at DePaul University in Chicago.
According to a 2000 Salon.com article, Finkelstein described the much-honored Wiesel, a Nobel peace prize laureate, as the “resident clown” responsible for creating a “meaningless version of the Nazi Holocaust” that only exposes “genocides that serve the interest of the U.S. and Israel.”
In his address last week, Finkelstein noted that major civil-rights organizations, the United Nations, and opinion-makers worldwide have condemned Israel for its “relentless and brutal siege” of 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“The conflict is unresolvable because the U.S. and Israel refuse to resolve it.”
Norman Finkelstein
The “steadily rising death toll” in Gaza highlights “the painful gap” between the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and “reality for the Palestinian people,” Finkelstein said. Ignoring the well-documented corruption of Palestinian officials and the unwillingness of surrounding Arab countries to help, he claimed, “Israel, backed by the U.S., is the sole obstacle to ending the suffering of the Palestinian people.”Norman Finkelstein
Each time Hamas has agreed to a truce, Israel has attempted to sabotage the pact and instigate retaliation by Hamas, Finkelstein continued. “Israel does what it can to avoid settling the conflict.” He did not mention as obstacles to conflict settlement the barrage of rockets fired from Hamas-controlled Gaza that continue to fall on the Israeli city of Sderot.
Nor did Finkelstein note that both the U.S. and Israel have declared Hamas a terrorist organization. The international community, including the European Union, has participated in the boycott and isolation of Gaza since Hamas seized control of the area in June 2007.
Israelis worry that Palestinians are becoming too moderate and too reasonable, forcing Israel to give up its pretense that it has no one to negotiate with, added Finkelstein.
He did not talk about Israel’s willingness to negotiate with Fatah, a more secular, moderate group, led by Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. Israel’s offer to return over 90% of the West Bank and to negotiate on the status and division of Jerusalem at the 2000 Camp David summit in the waning days of President Clinton’s administration was also not addressed.
Chastising a student for asking a “canned” question about historic Arab opposition to the creation of Israel, Finkelstein admitted that was the situation before 1967. “But why not welcome a change of heart that has existed for 30 years? Israelis don’t want to hear that the other side is willing to settle. Unless you don’t want a settlement – you want to annihilate them.”
Each year, the UN General Assembly votes overwhelmingly for a resolution to peacefully settle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, said Finkelstein. Virtually the entire world agrees, he said, that there should be a two-state solution with pre-1967 borders, Israeli withdrawal from all West Bank settlements including East Jerusalem, and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel.
Acknowledging that some consider the UN a highly politicized organization, Finkelstein noted that the International Court of Justice in The Hague voted 14-1 that Israel’s security wall along its border with the West Bank violates human rights and international law and should be dismantled.
Finkelstein did not mention that the Israeli Supreme Court, out of concern for Palestinian villagers separated from their farms, recently ordered the government to reroute the barrier closer to the pre-1967 line. Israeli authorities maintain that the barrier is for the nation’s security and helps prevent suicide bombers from entering Israel.
Contrary to common misperception, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not complex and unresolvable, insisted Finkelstein. “The conflict is unresolvable because the U.S. and Israel refuse to resolve it.”
The Cleveland Hillel did not participate in the protest of Finkelstein’s speech. Gary Coleman, the organization’s executive director, said Jewish students often feel intimidated and uncomfortable when speakers with anti-Israel views come to campus. “We need to learn how to disagree in ways so that people don’t feel threatened.”
In the audience of about 100 people, there were a few students, including one or two wearing kipot. But most of the audience was far older.
The Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Community Federation recognizes Finkelstein’s right to speak, said Bruce Mandel, the organization’s chair. “We join with the vast ranks of people who disagree with his public expressions of support for Hezbollah during its war with Israel and his obsessive and vitriolic hatred of Zionism and Israel. As most people recognize, Israel remains the only democracy in the Middle East and the only country in the region that America can steadfastly rely upon – all while being on the frontlines of the war against militant Islam.”
mkarfeld@cjn.org
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