Finkelstein

About Norman G Finklestein

Norman G Finkelstein received his PhD from the Princeton University Politics Department in 1988. He is the author of ten books that have been translated into 50 foreign editions, including THE HOLOCAUST INDUSTRY: Reflections on the exploitation of Jewish suffering and, most recently, GAZA: An inquest into its martyrdom.​

• GAZA: An inquest into its martyrdom (University of California: 2018)​;
• Method and Madness: the hidden story of Israel’s assaults on Gaza (OR Books: 2014);
• Old Wine, Broken Bottle: Ari Shavit’s Promised Land (OR Books: 2014);
• Knowing Too Much: Why the American Jewish romance with Israel is coming to an end (OR Books: 2012);
• What Gandhi Says, About Nonviolence, Resistance and Courage (OR BOOKS: 2012);
• “This Time We Went Too Far”: Truth and consequences of the Gaza invasion(OR Books, 2010; expanded paperback version, 2011);
• Beyond Chutzpah: On the misuse of anti-Semitism and the abuse of history (University of California Press, 2005; expanded paperback edition, 2008);
• The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the exploitation of Jewish suffering (Verso, 2000; expanded paperback edition, 2003);
• Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict (Verso, 1995; expanded paperback edition, 2003);
• A Nation on Trial: The Goldhagen thesis and historical truth (with Ruth Bettina Birn) (Henry Holt, 1998);
• The Rise and Fall of Palestine: A personal account of the intifada years (University of Minnesota, 1996).

Finkelstein has also published several pamphlets, most recently, Goldstone Recants: Richard Goldstone renews Israel’s license to kill (OR Books, 2011).

Why The British Labour Party Should Not Adopt The IHRA Definition

Norman G Finkelstein - 28 August 2018

Will the British Labour Party adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism? Leaders of the British-Jewish community have been strong-arming Labour to accept it. The Party is scheduled to make its fateful decision in a matter of days. The definition is supplemented by 11 illustrations. Fully seven of them, however, home in not on antisemitism per se but instead on criticism of Israel. Natan Sharansky famously formulated a 3D Test of Antisemitism that was later touted by Israel’s supporters: demonization, double standards, delegitimization. Whatever the virtue of his checklist, it might be said that the IHRA illustrations constitute a textbook case of the 3S Test of Political Censorship: suppression, selective application, special pleading. Before documenting this, however, the debate surrounding adoption of the IHRA definition and illustrations must be situated in a broader context.

The IHRA definition imposes constraints on speech in the Labour Party. In a word, it is censorship. It might be argued that the Labour Party is a voluntary organization and as such has the right to set rules and parameters on its members’ public utterances. But at its worthiest, the liberal-left tradition, of which the Labour Party is an offspring, has attached a unique, primordial value to Truth, and recognized that, in the search for truth, untrammeled open debate is essential.... See more

Labour Jews, Speak Up! A Call for Testimonies

Norman G Finkelstein - 19 August 2018

The misnamed Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) has stated that its goal is the eviction of Jeremy Corbyn from public life.

To this end, the CAA has referred the Labour Party to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) alleging ‘institutional antisemitism’.

The Chief Executive of the EHRC already stated in 2017 that Labour ‘must do more to establish that it is not a racist party’. She did so on the basis of hearsay that had not been investigated and in fact was false.

Notwithstanding its reckless and cavalier record on this issue, the EHRC’s judgement is likely to carry weight in public discussion.... See more

Finkelstein on Corbyn-Mania

Norman G Finkelstein - 17 August 2018

THE CHIMERA OF BRITISH ANTI-SEMITISM, AND HOW NOT TO FIGHT IT IF IT WERE REAL The current hysteria engulfing the British Labour Party resolves itself into a pair of interrelated, if discrete, premises: Anti-Semitism in British society at large and the Labour Party in particular have reached crisis proportions. If neither of these premises can be sustained, then the hysteria is a fabrication. In fact, no evidence has been adduced to substantiate either of them; on the contrary, all the evidence points in the opposite direction. The rational conclusion is that the brouhaha is a calculated hoax—dare it be said, plot?—to oust Jeremy Corbyn and the principled leftist politics he represents from British public life. But even if the allegations were true, the solution would still not be to curb freedom of thought in the Labour Party. At its worthiest, the Left-Liberal tradition has attached a unique, primordial value to Truth; but Truth cannot be attained if dissentients, however obnoxious, are silenced. Given the fraught history of anti-Semitism, on the one hand, and its crude manipulation by Jewish elites, on the other, an objective, dispassionate assessment could appear beyond reach. Still, it must be attempted. The prospect of a historic victory for the Left might otherwise be sabotaged as, thus far, Corbyn’s supporters, whether it be from fear, calculation, or political correctness, dare not speak the name of the evil that is afoot... See more