Ayoon wa Azan ( The University President is a Coward )
Jihad el-Khazen Al-Hayat - 24/06/07//
The Catholic DePaul University has denied political science professor Norman Finkelstein tenure under the claim that he waged personal battles against his adversaries.
Is this true? The university's president, Reverend Dennis Holtschneider, acknowledged while refusing the tenure of Finkelstein that he agrees with the tenure and promotion board's decision that Norman is "a nationally known scholar and public intellectual, considered provocative, challenging, and intellectually interesting." However, the president then focused on what he considered personal attacks made by Finkelstein on those who oppose his views in order not to grant him tenure.
I believe that the university president is a coward. He retreated in the face of the lobby's campaigns and the Israeli apologist Alan Dershowitz and chose to sacrifice the Jewish professor who was probably the most famous intellectual to work at DePaul.
Norman Finkelstein, as readers know, authored 'The Holocaust Industry' which revealed those trading in the victims of the Holocaust among whom were Finkelstein's parents. This column recently reviewed his 'Beyond Chutzpah' in which he exposed Alan Dershowitz, a law professor at Harvard University, and disclosed his lies, plagiarism and mistakes in defending Israel in his book 'The Case for Israel'.
The Israeli government has committed Nazi crimes against Palestinians and those who defend it are accomplices in these crimes. Here lies the difference between Finkelstein and Dershowitz, as the former stands up for what is right whereas the latter stands up for Nazi-type crime, occupation and starvation.
The political science departmental committee at DePaul voted nine to three in favor of granting Finkelstein tenure, and the university's personnel committee unanimously voted in support of tenure. The university president could not find fault with both decisions, so he relied on personal campaigns which have been targeting Finkelstein for years as the Israeli cabal does not want the Americans or the world to hear the truth. Of course, Father Holtschneider overlooked the fact that Alan Dershowitz, who is heading the campaign against Finkelstein's tenure, had sent DePaul faculty members a 50-page "dossier" including what he claims to be Finkelstein's "most egregious academic sins". He did this in the audacity for which pro-Israel advocates are known, which is transferring the accusation on another, as everything mentioned in the dossier is applicable for its author more than anyone else.
I said the university's president is a coward, and my opinion of his decision is much worse than mere cowardice, however he is a man of religion, so I will leave him to God to hold him accountable. I say that Finkelstein has always received the highest assessment of competence from his students. Also, his academic level surpasses the limits set by the university. His books have been translated into 46 languages, in other words, he is more popular than all the members of the faculty of arts at DePaul. In a nutshell, he is a scholar and intellectual star, a controversial author who provokes interest wherever he goes. Perhaps some of the readers might remember my reference to a televised confrontation between him and Shlomo Bin Ami. The former Israeli Foreign Minister had published a book about the history of Israel which I found moderate, though I later heard him in a debate with Finkelstein, who referred to mistakes, and overlooking of information and points I had missed in 'Scars of War, Wounds of Peace.'
Finkelstein's fame started at the outset of his academic life when he dared criticize the authors of 'From Time Immemorial'. He exposed the lies of writer Joan Peters who claimed that Israel's existence dated back to the earliest of eras, and denied stealing Palestinian lands. It is remarkable that Dershowitz relied on Peters' book and used much of its content. Accordingly, in 'Beyond Chutzpah,' Finkelstein was able to hold a comparison between both books which included quoting several excerpts side by side to prove Dershowitz's plagiarism.
While my personal stance on Finkelstein versus Dershowitz is determined, there are objective researchers who compared the mutual accusations and arbitrated between the two. The best study I have come across was Frank Menetrez's 26-page 'Dershowitz v. Finkelstein: Who's Right and Who's Wrong?' Menetrez clearly ruled in favor of Finkelstein as he examined evidence provided by the latter to prove the falseness of the claims made in 'The Case for Israel' in which the author had the audacity to speak of Israel's good record in the field of human rights although all human rights organizations have condemned time after time Israeli violation of the rights of Palestinians in the occupied territories.
Menetrez also tried to get comments from both authors on their points of disagreement. Finkelstein replied by providing him with additional information which he incorporated in his study, however Dershowitz's response was a campaign against Menetrez, accusing him of bias as he had nothing to say to historical facts condemning him.
Finally, the Israeli cabal in the United States joined forces against a Jew from the aftermath of the Holocaust who dared to speak the truth in public and condemn Israel's crimes, and who refuted the alleged history of its original existence in Palestine.
The Israeli cabal targets every university professor who dares tell the truth. The well known Israeli apologist Daniel Pipes founded the Campus Watch organization to monitor the university campus to resist any professor telling the truth and threaten his work. Perhaps some of the readers may remember my exposition of the campaign against Joseph Massad, which was not the first and the campaign against Finkelstein won't be the last.
I hope Finkelstein will find a better university than DePaul, for he alone is more famous and worthier than the university.
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