Alexandrovna Blasts Dershowitz' Pro-torture WSJ Column

As defenders of torture go, militarist Alan Dershowitz has rightfully become the scorn of the anti-torture, anti-militarist American progressives, you know: Anti-Semitic Israel haters.

Larisa Alexandrovna takes down Dershowitz, and writes that Alan Dershowitz was against Nazis before he was for them.

Welcome to the dessert of the real in which a Jewish man can cite Nazis in defense of torture tactics. I was raised on the Holocaust. I went to a highly religious school where many of my teachers and guest lecturers were Holocaust survivors.

My family talked about the Holocaust at every opportunity, remembering those who were imprisoned, tortured, and murdered, including members of my family. I lived under the Soviet regime, which also tortured and murdered. I have never met or spoken with any Jew who has ever defended torture, no matter who the "scapegoat" is.

Apparently, there are some Jews who are more than willing to become the very monsters they abhor.

This mentality I do not understand and never will.

Take for example the latest Alan Dershowitz column in the Wall
Street Journal. Aside from getting the new meme on Mukasey about how the Democrats are beholden to MoveOn.org - echoed by meister Rove, President Bush, Dick Cheney, and the right wing propaganda machine as if one ring ruled them all - Dershowitz actually writes this:

"There are some who claim that torture is a nonissue because it never works--it only produces false information. This is simply not true, as evidenced by the many decent members of the French Resistance who, under Nazi torture, disclosed the locations of their closest friends and relatives."

This statement defies logic. Even if in some instances Nazi tactics worked, why would anyone endorse them for any reason, especially a Jewish man? Dershowitz, and others like him - Joe Lieberman, et al - do not speak for Jews, nor do they speak for Israel. In fact, the far right regime that has co-opted Israel and the US both is not representative of Judaism or Christianity for that matter. Whatever or whomever it is they represent, it is not the Israeli people or the American people. It is as though a multi-national organized crime syndicate has taken over both countries and is using the cover of religion as a shield against criticism.

No Jew, no real Jew, would ever support torture. When torture becomes policy for politically influential American and Israeli Jews, then the whole of our history becomes polluted with monsters whose crimes we lose the right to condemn. It is the responsibility of other prominent Jews in both countries to
take our religion back from these political parasites, because if we don't, their handy work will create the kind of antisemitism not seen since WWII. Ever since this morally repugnant right wing extremism has in a "paper coup" taken over both Israel and the United States, antisemitism has skyrocketed.

To look at the global situation, racism and xenophobia had become more acute, particularly anti-semitism. Worldwide, there had been 590 cases of deliberate violence and vandalism against Jews, an increase of 31 per cent from the previous year, with the most incidents in Europe and the Middle East.

If Israeli citizens will not demand a more moderate government, then Jews around the world will have to ask the hard question: what is more important, the country of Israel or the Jewish people as a a whole?

And if American Jews do not demand that right wing political prostitutes, Jews in name only, stop the US march toward world domination, then American Jews might have to ask themselves a hard question as well: Is the United States more important than our traditions, morals, values, and history as a Jewish people?

In both cases, Jews of the world have to stand up against torture that other, more visible Jews in the US and Israel publicly endorse. We have to do this because we are a good people, a victimized people, and because we know what it means to be on the other side of the torture argument.
- Larisa Alexandrovna
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Finkelstein Resigns, Settles with DePaul.

Breaking - DePaul U. ends its disgrace in part; admitting no guilt.

Finkelstein resigns, settles with DePaul.

Well, Alan Dershowitz's campaign to prevent the publication of Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History failed, but his campaign to deny Finkelstein tenure succeeded.

No matter it's a big world, and the lies and militarism of Dershowitz and company are more clear than ever thanks to Finkelstein's work.

Smearing, the time-honored tactic of militarists, censors, and torture advocates ultimately dissipates in the light of truth.

Details coming at Norman Finkelstein.

From the International Herald Tribune:

Finkelstein, who is the son of Holocaust survivors, was denied tenure in June after spending six years on DePaul's faculty.

His remaining class was cut by DePaul last month.

His most recent book, "Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History," is largely an attack on Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz's "The Case for Israel."

In his book, Finkelstein argues that Israel uses perceived anti-Semitism as a weapon to stifle criticism.Dershowitz, who threatened to sue Finkelstein's publisher for libel, urged DePaul officials to reject Finkelstein's tenure bid.

Finkelstein said in the statement that he believes the tenure decision was "tainted" by external pressures, but praised the university's "honorable role of providing a scholarly haven for me the past six years."

Joint statement of Norman Finkelstein and DePaul University

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Finkelstein Fights on for Academic Freedom

Update: Finkelstein resigns, settles with DePaul.

Details coming at Norman Finkelstein.

DePaul University Professor Norman Finkelstein’s fight for academic freedom is far from over, though he was denied tenure this spring for his vociferous objections to Israeli and American militarism, among other published work.

A man dedicated to peace and precision in scholarship, who took on Israeli and American militarism met a Karl-Rovesque slime machine.

Finkelstein was denied tenure at DePaul this spring after Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz and supporters of Israeli militarism organized a campaign against Finkelstein's tenure appointment, supported in part by Madison’s The Progressive magazine’s editors, Matt Rothschild and Ruth Conniff, who ludicrously called Finkestein a Holocaust minimizer, though both of Finkelstein's parents are concentration camp survivors.

Dershowitz, a long-time supporter of Israeli militarism, maintains a special enmity with Finkelstein, not helped after Finkelstein exposed Dershowitz’ plagiarism.

Finkelstein’s supporters are legion, including Noam Chomsky and the late Raul Hilberg, respected as the dean of Holocaust historians and author of the classic The Destruction of the European Jews.

The Chicagotribune.com reports that Finkelstein and supporting students may “engage in civil disobedience at the start of the fall term Wednesday … “

"I am morally, mentally and emotionally depleted right now. But I will find the resources to fight this next battle. … It is rather regrettable that DePaul is carrying on the spirit of Chicago's Al Capone rather than St. Vincent de Paul," Finkelstein said in an interview with the Trib. "One of my heroes is Paul Robeson, who said, 'I will not retreat one-thousandth part of one inch. And I won't either."

As reported in Chicago Indymedia, DePaul took the unprecedented step of canceling Finkelstein's last year of classes and locking him out of his office. Professors who are denied tenure are traditionally given one more year to teach while they seek other employment.

Hilberg, before he passed away in early August, said in the Logos journal, “Well Finkelstein is now maligned all over the place. There were obviously lobbies who tried to dislodge him from his position.”

And Hilberg had expressed dismay about the ad hominem attacks against Finkelstein as a blow to academic freedom.

First-rate scholar, popular teacher, and prolific author, I doubt a man of Finkelstein’s contributions to humanity will have much problem finding a position befitting his stature, though his case illustrates perfectly how difficult it is for critics of Israeli militarism to survive in the American academy.

Such is the ideology in America, but were he working in Israel or England; Finkelstein would still be a controversial figure, but would also be widely perceived as heroic and righteous, provoking a needed debate of the ethics of American-Israeli militarism.

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Scott Horton: ADL in the Wilderness

Abraham Foxman has often veered into the irrational:

- Smearing prominent critics of American and Israeli militarism as self-hating Jews or anti-Semites

- Joining with the likes of Alan Dershowitz in campaigns of hate and Rovian character assassination against political opponents like Norman Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky

But Foxman seems lately to be, for lack of a better expression, flipping out.

Scott Horton at Harper's has a post:

For the second time in two weeks the name of Abraham Foxman, the long-serving director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has surfaced in the news in a way that discredits the organization. The first appearance was in connection with an effort to block Professors Mearsheimer and Walt from speaking at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs; the second and still more grim appearance is in connection with ADL’s firing of its New England director over his support for recognition of the Armenian genocide of 1914-15. Foxman issued a statement last week in which he essentially said that the Armenians and Turks have a historical problem, and that Jews should keep out in order to preserve Turkish-Israeli relations. In response to a storm of indignant reaction within the Jewish and Armenian communities. Foxman has changed course. His change looks every bit as opportunistic and insincere as his initial stance.

The ADL has a very long and noble tradition, starting with the traumatic case of Leo Frank in Atlanta between 1913-15—a case which ended with Frank being lynched. ADL’s involvement in the civil rights movement in the United States was a glorious moment, and ADL’s battle against anti-semitism, especially abroad, has been important.

I frankly have difficulty understanding what has happened to this organization and to Mr. Foxman. (Instead) of standing for principle, ADL seems now beholden to an increasingly crass political calculus. The fact that Foxman would compromise on a matter as important as the twentieth century’s first genocide because he feels raising his and his organization’s voice might interfere with Turkish-Israeli relations speaks volumes, and not to his or his organization’s credit. The only solution would appear to be a complete restructuring of the ADL’s leadership, introducing new voices with moral stature and credibility.
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Finkelstein Draws Flood of Support in Wake of Tenure Denial

Madison, Wisconsin—In the wake of the rejection of tenure at DePaul University (Chicago) for Norman Finkelstein who teaches political theory, Finkelstein has drawn a flood of support.

Finkelstein, the son of Holocaust survivors, drew praise from his academic department and a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences tenure committee, but his tenure was denied as the result of political pressure, mostly from Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz—a rightwing scholar who infamously supported legalizing torture, is working with Robert Bork on overturning the conviction of Lewis Scooter Libby, and tried unsuccessfully to block publication of Finkelstein’s Beyond Chutzpah (University of California Press, 2005) which exposed substantial plagiarism committed by Dershowitz.

Writes Finkelstein: “An appendix to Beyond Chutzpah irrefutably demonstrates that Dershowitz not only massively lifted information and ideas from another author, Joan Peters, without attribution, but that he did so from a book, Peters' From Time Immemorial, universally dismissed as a fraud.”

The tenure was vetoed by DePaul president, President Dennis Holtschneider, who is facing a vote of no confidence from the DePaul faculty for a nakedly political decision.

Finkelstein has drawn condemnation for his razor-sharp criticism of American and Israeli militarism and what he contends are the misuses by some of the Holocaust that almost killed his parents.

But the sheer political nature of the tenure denial has enraged many. As reported in the Chicago Sun Times:

Clutching blankets, pop bottles and signs saying "Just Grant It,'' two dozen students protesting the tenure denial of a popular but controversial professor were forced to leave a 22nd-floor conference room outside DePaul President Dennis Holtschneider's office Wednesday.

The students were threatened with penalties including expulsion if they didn't leave after they spent nearly three days in the room.

"This is going to be a long battle,'' said student Evan Lorendo, 22. "DePaul will be embarrassed by this activity.''

Finkelstein has drawn praise from Raul Hilberg, considered the dean of Holocaust studies, Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman and Sara Roy.

Writes Finkelstein in his website:

I am currently being inundated with letters of support. Please be certain that I have read everyone of them. Because it's simply impossible to answer each of them personally, I have decided instead to post the letters because many are so intelligent, witty, incisive and heartfelt. I am deeply in your debt and will do my best to continue to earn the praise and support I have received. To avoid any retaliation, I have taken the liberty of removing the names.

A student studying at DePaul e-mailed that Finkelstein is "all packed up and ready to go... if you call his office, his voicemail says: 'you have reached the office of Norman Finkelstein... I will be leaving DePaul on June 16 ... '"

What a tragedy in the cause for justice and unwavering commitment to truth, and what a loss for DePaul University.
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