[Peace-discuss] Finkelstein

[David Green]

The first draft of an op-ed by Joel Finkel of Jewish Voice for Peace/Not In My Name:
   
  DePaul University's treatment of Professor Finkelstein is forthrightly anti-Semitic. Indeed, if any other Catholic institution were to treat any other Jewish scholar of Finkelstein's stature in such a manor, cries of anti-Semitism would be ringing around the world. And rightfully so. Therefore, it is vitally important to understand why DePaul University is able, not only participate in the ruination of a Jewish scholar's career, but to justify it by pandering to the very Jewish community that would otherwise be in an uproar. 
   
  Anyone who needs to review the history of Finkelstein's tenure trials and tribulations, need only read Ron Grossman's overview in Monday's Tribune. Those who are interested in more details can study the issue in such journals as The Chronicle of Higher Education. In brief, DePaul University denied tenure to Finkelstein, who is one of the most talented and respected scholars of both the Holocaust and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On Monday, it was announced that DePaul had not only cancelled all of Finkelstein's scheduled classes (he has one year remaining on his contract), but has summarily kicked him out of his small office and with that, presumably, denied him access to any of the university's normal office accoutrements (phone, photocopier, computer, email) with which he could continue his research and search for a new teaching position. 
   
  One is left to wonder why a Catholic University has gone to such lengths to treat a Jewish professor in such a manner. It certainly cannot have anything to do with Finkelstein's scholarship. His research on the Holocaust, specifically how an entire "Holocaust Industry" has been created that has abused the memory of Jewish suffering, has been lauded by the late Raul Hilberg, himself regarded as the world's preeminent Holocaust scholar. Neither can DePaul deny Finkelstein's scholarship in the field of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for his works have been lauded by many serious scholars in the field. Finally, DePaul cannot question Finkelstein's abilities as a teacher, as he has consistently received outstanding reviews by both his peers and his students. 
   
  The answer is not obvious, and it takes some explaining. DePaul University, a Catholic University, is engaged in an anti-Semitic campaign to smear a Jewish scholar. The problem is that it is not doing this in a forthright manner, and is receiving the support of powerful Jewish individuals who not only embrace anti-Semitism, but who need to embrace anti-Semitism in order to maintain their "case for Israel." 
   
  Because it is clear that Finkelstein is not being mistreated because of either his scholarship or his teaching performance, the reason must be that he is an outspoken critic of the policies of the Israeli government vis-à-vis the Palestinians. Those of us who take a similar position (Jews such as me, and non-Jews), are often confronted with the slanderous label of anti-Semitism. This is because there are Jewish institutions that have indoctrinated the public with the mistaken idea that Israel and Judaism are the same thing, and that Israel represents every Jew in the world. In both subtle and not so subtle ways, they teach that criticism of Israel is criticism of Jews and is, necessarily, motivated by anti-Semitism. 
   
  Of course, there are anti-Semites whose criticism of Israel is motivated by a hatred of Jews; but it is wrong to therefore conclude that all critics are anti-Semites. But there is a more important, and subtle point to be made; and this is the nub of the argument. Those who argue that Israel represents Jews, and that criticism of Israel is, therefore anti-Semitic, are also arguing that the actual crimes committed by the Israeli government are Jewish crimes, not Israeli crimes. Their logic is that this is how Jews behave. They are teaching people that Jews actually sanctify theft, ethnic cleansing, murder, and all the other Israeli crimes that scholars have documented. And then, to make matters worse, Jews simply lie about it. 
   
  Indeed, Finkelstein's crime is simply that he is one of those scholars who bring evidence of these crimes before the public. DePaul University is trapped in a serious contradiction. On the one hand, they don't want to appear to be clinging to the centuries-old Catholic theology that Jews are evil Christ-killers. On the other hand, they still believe the false (and inherently anti-Semitic) ideology that the crimes of the Israeli government are Jewish crimes. 
   
  Like many who are trapped in this contradiction, their resolution is simply to deny that the Israeli government is engaged in any criminal activity. And they do this by killing the proverbial messenger, who, in this case, is the Jewish scholar, Norman Finkelstein. Yet anyone who bothers to open a single eye can see that the Israeli government is, in actual fact, committing crimes against humanity, and has been for 60 years. And because this evidence is simply overwhelming, merely getting rid of the messenger teaches exactly the wrong thing. DePaul is actually teaching that Jews really are evil Christ-killers. 
   
  And this is the issue. In resolving its contradiction in this way, DePaul is not teaching that Israel and Jews are two completely different things. DePaul is not teaching that criticism of Israeli policy is entirely valid. Rather, DePaul is teaching, in a very subtle yet important way--and only to those who refuse to deny the reality of Israeli crimes, which is pretty much everyone--that this is exactly how Jews behave. It is a reinforcement of the old Christ-killer theology. And it is fundamentally anti-Semitic. 
   
  The problem is that this is a very subtle reinforcement and is completely hidden by the fact that many prominent Jews and Jewish institutions have trashed Professor Finkelstein. Some have gone so far as to call him a Holocaust denier, which is as profound an insult as one can give a child of parents who survived the Warsaw Ghetto, and then the Auschwitz and Maidanek death camps. These fervent Israeli supporters’ needs must find anti-Semitism everywhere. Whenever international support for Israel is threatened, a "new" anti-Semitism must be discovered and the alarms sounded. 
   
  Israel's horrific demolition of Lebanon, along with its astoundingly immoral starvation of the Palestinians in Gaza and its ongoing criminal activity in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, has led to a crumbling of international public support. A "new" anti-Semitism must be found. The alarms must be sounded. Anyone who speaks out against Israel in her "time of need" must be silenced. 
   
  With the alarms ringing loudly at Fullerton and Sheffield, Norman Finkelstein is the Jewish scapegoat sacrificed by the Catholic university in order for them to be cleansed of any taint of "anti-Semitism." However, this very act of cleansing is, itself, anti-Semitic. DePaul, in resolving one contradiction poorly, has stumbled into another one. 
   
  As an institution of higher learning, DePaul University needs to be in the forefront of furthering scholarship and understanding. It needs to help move society forward, not backward. It needs to resolve its contradiction in a manner that will increase our community's understanding and trust. Specifically, it needs to embrace Professor Finkelstein as one whose scholarship demonstrates the actual fact that there is a vast difference between a Jew and the Israeli government, and whose rigorous devotion to the facts acts as a clear challenge to the anti-Semitic idea that all Jews are criminals and barbarians. 
   

       
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