The "persecution" of Norman Finkelstein [various updates]
Norman Finkelstein is a controversial professor and author of several books. In fact, he is the most despicable kind of academic; he uses his status as a Jew and the child of Holocaust survivors to not only to vehemently criticize Israel while defending terrorists, but to also accuse them of exaggerating the Holocaust and creating a "Holocaust industry". His tenure at De Paul University was denied last year over his inflammatory remarks, and very recently, on a recent visit to Israel, he was briefly detained by police and forced to leave the country, over his alleged associations with terrorists.
His leftist minions are crying real tears over this, and calling Israel a "totalitarian regime" for their decision. Never mind the fact that no one, other than a bona fide citizen or legal resident of Israel, necessarily has any right to be there in the first place.
Not surprisingly, no less than four times Richard Silverstein and his friends have joined the chorus, decrying this as an attack on free speech. But he was actually deported due to his associations, and it's likely that Israeli intelligence knows something the rest of us don't. It's also strange that I can't find a single entry where he similarly criticizes Hamas for Gilad Shalit, an innocent Israeli soldier who was kidnapped by Hamas in 2006, and is still being held hostage - nearly two years later. By contrast, Finkelstein was only held for 18 hours.
Another hypocricy here is that Silverstein has tried to shut me down due to my views, and this would be a good time to give an update over that; it's been two months now, and this stalker's personal quest to cause trouble for me has failed: like a sad voice crying in the wilderness, he complained loudly about me to his congressman, my commanding General, and anyone else who would hear, in a vain attempt to expose me as a "fraud". Problem is, his efforts were useless since I am a soldier, I am an officer, and I am an Iraqi vet. Oh, and as long as I don't reveal any military secrets or privileged information (which I have always been very careful about) I'm perfectly free to write this blog. That's just one benefit of being an American.
3 comments:
I am sympathetic but still am constantly amazed how often the person with the hurt feelings simply doesn't engage in a debate with his critics. That doesn't necessarily mean that either side will be convincing but it shows that at least one side has no confidence in their position. Besides saying even the nastiest of things about someone on the internet still doesn't rise much higher than the demand to at least spell the accused name correctly.
Or the even simpler solution in ignoring the source of irritation.
Zionists have trouble when discussion falls outside of the official narrative so it is no wonder that they fear letting Dr. Finkelstein express his views in country when a respectable numbers of Israelis share them as well.
The statement that they possibly "know something" is the same kind of shadow government BS that got the US into the illegal Iraq war against the wrong enemy in the first place. My friend's son was with Marines 1/5 for the fall of Baghdad and his exact words to me upon his return were, "we killed people for no reason."
As far as I'm concerned, all Israel is doing "for" the US is creating the model for the police state we are descending into.
Thank you for your service sir, but I respectfully disagree. Dr. Finkelstein is a hero and truth-teller and that's what makes him so dangerous to Israel.
I feel the troops of the "Winter Soldier" conference have more credibility. Their gallows humor about "hearts and minds" was "one in the heart, two in the mind." Thanks to the Rethunglicans (and their spineless Democrat enablers), our GWOT is totally FUBAR.
To lancethruster: Calling Prof Finkelstein a "hero" and a "truth teller" is so beyond the pale that I'm almost beyond words. You thanked me for my service; but Finkelstein would prefer to see us crash and burn.
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