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Leaders & Dictators
The Normal Finkelstein Interview by Sophia Barkat Like many living in the US and starved of good news shows, I turn to C-SPAN to find out what is happening in the US political scene. From covering Congressional hearings to author interviews, C-SPAN offers shows with greater intellectual depth than one would find on FOX News Channel or ABC. The lure is obvious. Last month, in the hopes of learning something new, I was watching C-SPAN, and thus discovered Norman Finkelstein. It was a pre-recorded show of Professor Finkelstein speaking at a university where he proposed some very radical views on Zionism. Not radical for me. I was not raised in the US. But for many who were, I am sure it must have been a real shock. Finkelstein, himself a Jew, sited more than one instance in which the American intelligentsia and media have misrepresented the Holocaust and exploited "anti-Semitism" in their justification of American foreign policy in Israel. Immediately, I imagined the average American family in outrage, let alone the average Jewish family. After all, if one gets one's news from CNN and ABC one is likely to think that ‘anti-Semitism’ is the same as fighting Jews in Israel, is it not true? And the concept of the Holocaust is also reserved for the slaughter of millions of Jews but not ever if the slaughtered are Arabs – is this not what the media wants us to think? The media would have us believe in a Pan-American-European Jew, one who says "Arafat is criminal," or "Palestinians are terrorists." If not for the fact that we meet some Jews in real life who have different opinions we would think they came out of a cookie cutter machine. After all, where is the diversity? There is no account in US Media of the Peace Movement in Israel, for e.g. and if one is lucky one gets to learn about it in higher education. The US media is so skilled in keeping the debate revolve around cliches like the "Jewish Identity" and the "American Jew", that one is afraid to even ask smart questions to people in the public sphere, for fear that they may not know how to answer. These are not questions we need restrict ourselves to when talking to Normal Finkelstein, however, though it was tempting to be cliche for a while. Here, then, is the interview, for which I thank him once more. SB: You mentioned in your talk that aired on CSPAN -- original date of recording March 18th, 2004 -- that up until the Israel-Arab conflict of 1967, American media was not openly concerned with Jews or the Holocaust, but that after this event, the US Media started to cover the issue. That in fact, Raul Hilberg, noted historian on the Holocaust, could not even get his book published in those days. Yet, now the Holocaust is one of the most covered stories. New York Time ran over 200 stories in 1999 alone. And since 1989 Hollywood made over 180 movies with one Jewish theme or another. Why do you think the US Media had this 180 degree turn? NF: I discuss this matter in the first chapter of my book The Holocaust Industry. Mention of the Nazi holocaust was politically incorrect before June 1967. It undermined the US - West German alliance, the pillar of US policy in Europe, since the West German government was staffed with many ex-Nazis. After June 1967, the Holocaust became a useful weapon to silence critics of Israel, after Israel became the U.S.'s strategic asset in the Middle East. SB: There is a common perception that because Jews control the media we only get to hear an anti-Arab view of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Being a Jews yourself, and having been raised by parents who survived the Holocaust, how do you view this statement and how do you view the Media? NF: My view of this question is independent of whether or not I'm Jewish. It's a factual question. By and large, the media reflect the interests of US ruling elite. Israel is a strategic asset of the US in the Middle East, so it is unsurprising that the media would display a pro-Israel bias. That being said, there is the additional factor that Jews are a major presence in the media, publishing, etc. Unsurprisingly they promote an agenda that reflects their ethnic interests. SB: Is Zionism as we see it in Israel the only face of Israel? We hear that Israel has political democracy and diversity, but we never hear any diverse views from the US Media. Do they differ on the topic of Palestine or even on the relationship with the US? NF: No one doubts that there is more openness in the Israeli than the American media. It's inconceivable that the American media would allow the kind of dispatches that regularly appear in Haaretz (Israel's main newspaper) from Gideon Levy and Amira Hass. It's also true, however, that Israeli society has moved far to the right in recent years, and the voices of reason are few and far between. SB: In the US many Jews of your generation -- 1st generation Jews feel subjugated by non-Jews. Are Jews a nation of "survivors"? In this day and age, Arabs the new enemy, at least in the minds of some Jews. You explained this as a passing down of the Jewish Identity from Holocaust survivors to their families. Is there another identity? NF: I'm not sure what it means to say that Jews feel subjugated by non-Jews. It's hard to imagine a better life than the one Jews enjoy in the US. It's become an occupational hazard among professional Jews to play the victim. The whole world should be victimized like American Jewry. SB: What does it mean to be an American Jew? And how is it different from an Israeli Jew? NF: I don't think much about this question. My concerns are with telling what's true and fighting for what's just. I don't do it as a Jew or as an American. No doubt both played a part in what I've become, but so did many other things - in the first place, the suffering my late parents endured during World War II, and the moral values they imparted. SB: No one can deny the horror of the Holocaust. People differ about the numbers who perished, and many on what actually took place. What did take place and what have we been misinformed about? NF: Lots of nonsense is written about the Nazi holocaust; lots of fraud easily passes muster. The main problem, however, isn't factual but ideological. The Holocaust is embedded in an ideological framework which seeks to elevate it and Jewish suffering, and accordingly diminishing the suffering of others. It also cultivates a paranoid world view that all the Goyim want to kill us. This has very little to do with the actual facts of the Nazi holocaust, and a lot to do with a political- ideological agenda. SB: What is the Israeli-American connection? What are the economic connections? What are the political connections? NF: Since 1967 Israel has served as a stable base for projecting US power in the region. At this point, it's difficult to speak of Israel as a separate entity or to mark out "connections.' For all intents and purposes it's become fully integrated into the U.S. at every level. SB: Are pro-Israel lobbies predominantly in step with Israel's government. Do they ever differ? NF: The Lobby occasionally falls out of step with slightly less reactionary governments in Israel. I recall criticism by the Lobby of Rabin during his term of office. American Jewish elite are off the map, politically. We're talking about the complete Nazification of a segment of American Jewry. SB: What Jewish Intellectuals are involved in the misinformation propaganda about the Israeli-Palestine war or the Holocaust? And what is their objective? NF: Jewish intellectuals supporting Israel are like the old Communist party intellectuals and fellow-travelers who sang the praises of Stalin's Russia. In their minds, their "lies" serve a higher cause than simple facts and truth. SB: Is academia vigilant about what professors publish in these fields? If not, why not? NF: There are sound mechanisms of quality control in the natural sciences, I suppose. In the social studies it becomes questionable. In highly politicized fields like the Middle East, it's a cesspool. In this issue of our magazine, Chuck Richardson, editor of Niagrabuzz.com also writes an excellent article about Mr. Finkelstein's books called A call for “black love:” An outsider’s view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a dark, hot room in Buffallo. Be sure to check it out. About the Author(s): See under Our Contributors to find out about the Author(s) of this article. |
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