[Peace-discuss] German Greens, Die Linke embarrass themselves

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Germany: Left Party, Greens cancel appearances
	by historian Norman Finkelstein
	By Stefan Steinberg
	27 February 2010

On short notice, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (RLS), which has
close links to the German Left Party, has canceled a meeting that
was to feature the American academic and expert on Israeli
politics and history, Norman Finkelstein. The meeting was due to
take place February 26th at the Berlin headquarters of the foundation.

Professor Finkelstein, an American Jewish scholar, is known for
his trenchant criticism of Israeli policy. The son of Holocaust
survivors, Finkelstein is one of a growing number of Jewish
scholars who have made valuable contributions to the study of
Israeli history. He has been the target of relentless opposition
from right-wing and pro-Israeli forces.

In particular, Finkelstein has been singled out for his opposition
to using the charge of antisemitism as a means of suppressing
criticism of Israel’s violations of human rights and international
law.

The 55-year-old political science professor is best known for his
2000 book, The Holocaust Industry, which argues that the Holocaust
has been exploited for ends—support for the Israeli state and
calls for reparations—that have nothing to do with historical
truth or the exposure of the Nazis’ genocidal policies.

Finkelstein has also written critically of Daniel Goldhagen’s
book, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, which argued that the
Holocaust was the outcome of the inherent antisemitism of the
German people as a whole.

In 2007, Finkelstein was denied tenure at Chicago’s DePaul
University, where he had been lecturing for six years, despite
support from his department, his students and the faculty of the
university, following pressure from opponents of his views, first
and foremost, prominent Zionists.

One year later, in 2008, Finkelstein was denied entry when he
attempted to visit Israel. He was banned from entering Israel for
a period of year 10 years, allegedly for “security reasons.”

Finkelstein was due to speak at two meetings in Berlin on the
current situation in the Middle East. The title of both meetings,
which were advertised at the end of January, was "Israel,
Palestine and the Goldstone Report on the Gaza War" (The Goldstone
report was commissioned by the United Nations and concluded that
Israel was guilty of war crimes in its assault on Gaza during the
winter of 2008-2009).

The first meeting was planned at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation on
the afternoon of February 26, the second on the evening of the
same day at the Trinitatis Church in Berlin.

Finkelstein had been invited to speak at the second meeting by the
Heinrich Böll Foundation, a think tank of the German Green Party
named after the famous German author, who was a founding member of
the Green Party. One of the co-sponsors of the meetings in Berlin
was the group Jewish Voices for a Just Settlement in the Middle East.

The first organization to announce that it had canceled
Finkelstein’s appearance was the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Just a
few days ago, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation also announced it was
withdrawing its offer of facilities for Finkelstein to speak.

One member of the RLS executive, Heinz Vietze, justified his
organization's cancellation of the meeting by arguing that the
foundation "had underestimated the political explosiveness" of a
lecture by Finkelstein.

Another representative of the RLS, Erhard Crome, was more
explicit. Crome had supported Finkelstein's right to speak in
Berlin. In a contribution published in the newspaper Junge Welt,
Crome explained that the meeting was canceled after the organizers
learned that pro-Israel Left Party supporters were planning to
lobby the meeting in protest. In the face of this internal
opposition, the RLS immediately canceled the meeting.

These actions by organizations affiliated with the Greens and the
Left Party represent blatant and cowardly acts of political
censorship. By canceling the meetings, both the Green Party and
the Left Party have made clear their opposition to any discussion
of the policies of the Israeli government and the consequences of
its invasion of Gaza.

There is a long record of political support for the Israeli state
by the Greens, particularly from the period when it shared power
at the federal level in a coalition with the Social Democratic Party.

Left Party support for the Israeli state is more recent, but
leading members of the party have made clear their determination
to back Israel and provide apologetics for its crimes.

In January 2009, the chairman of the Left Party in Berlin, Klaus
Lederer, spoke at a demonstration in support of the Israeli
assault on Gaza. Echoing Israel’s propaganda in support of an
indiscriminate attack on defenseless Palestinian civilians,
Lederer declared at the time, "Nothing, absolutely nothing
justifies the firing of shells and rockets on populated areas of
the [Israeli] civilian population… For me, that is the starting
point of any discussion in our country…." He was referring to
scattered shelling attacks carried out by the Palestinian Hamas
organisation.

Lederer made no mention in his speech of the destruction of
densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip by Israeli troops,
planes and armor.

The pro-Israel course of the Left party is sanctioned by its top
leadership. It was the chairman of the Left Party parliamentary
faction, Gregor Gysi, who set in motion the party's new course in
the spring of 2008, when he made a speech calling for a
reorientation of the party's political line with regard to Israel.
Gysi rejected the term "imperialistic" in characterizing Israeli
policy, and called upon the “left” to acknowledge the right of
existence of the state of Israel.

Now the principal think tank of the Left Party has acted to censor
a leading critic of Israeli policy.

Unconditional support for Israeli policy is a cornerstone of
German foreign policy. The Left Party's "reorientation of
political line" with regard to Israel, including its censoring of
Professor Finkelstein, is a clear signal by the party leadership
that it is prepared to accept and defend all of the military and
security priorities of the German Foreign Ministry.

http://wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/left-f27.shtml

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