Anti-Israeli? You just don't like what I say (Neve Gordon)

[Lithos]

Alan Dershowitz, Harvard's Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, has decided to attack me personally, thinking that if he undermines my reputation he can save his own. Paradoxically, he manages to prove one thing in his op-ed - that he is a consistent man.

As in his book The Case for Israel, here too, he relentlessly passes fiction for fact.

Despite Dershowitz's claims, I never compared Israelis to Nazis, and I certainly am not a neo-Nazi or anti-Israeli. Like Dershowitz, I am an American citizen, yet unlike him I have chosen to live in Israel and invest a large portion of my time struggling for social justice. I served in the Israeli paratroopers and was critically wounded defending the northern border.

Following the great Jewish tradition, I try, however modestly, to be critical of Israel whenever its policies violate principles of justice or human rights.


-- More --

More fuel for one of the great side debates in the I/P forum.

[pelsar]

1. tolerance in the US?

YES, I AM a severe critic of the Israeli government's policies, but just as I want my opinions to be heard, I believe in freedom of expression and am not interested in censoring other people's opinions, including those of Dershowitz or Plaut.

is israel a "more open society that the US?...more tolerant of other opinions?....i've argued, debated, discussed the situation with Hebron jew, jews for jesus and born again christians, as well as the usual, yesh gvul, right wing, muslims etc...never occurred to me that they shouldnt have the right to speak, write and criticize the govt (as long as they agree with me....)

[msmcghee]

2. self delete

Darn I keep putting posts in the wrong place - sorry.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lithos]

3. Like the US and most every country

I think it depends on the subject and the group doing the discussion.

L-

[msmcghee]

4. Seems like a personal thing.

However, I did notice that Neve accuses him of plagarism - yet fails to take him up on the offer of a law suit that would produce a judicial opinion to that effect.

As I have shown - I am no fan of those who use words that cause damage to others and then won't defend them.

[Lithos]

6. I think he was agreeing with Finkelsteins claims

His comment with the plagiarism issue is from his review of Finkelstein's book and is basically his opinion that Finkelstein's case is correct and would amount to plagiarism. Claims of plagiarism are between Finkelstein and Dershowitz.

However, why would it have to be settled by a judicial order? Generally academic plagiarism is not handled legally, but rather by the academia itself.

L-

[msmcghee]

7. Thanks for clearing that up.

Think I'll watch this thread for a while and learn more. It's confusing.

[Boston Critic]

8. Fuel?

Isn't this what they call "flame bait?"

[Lithos]

10. LOL

No more inflammatory than the I/P situation. The whole Dershowitz/Finkelstein debate is not only incendiary between the two men, but it has generated some rather vocal responses here on DU. I'd rather start it off myself than to have it popup at some awkward moment with a rude partisan comment.

L-

[IntiRaymi]

11. OK, why not.

What role does Finklestein's tenure situation play in all this?

[Lithos]

12. Not sure I follow

Finkelstein's tenure was not mentioned in my comment, so I'm not sure of what your question is.

L-

[IntiRaymi]

14. Vociferous & effective anti-Israel critic, establishing himself. nt.

[Lithos]

17. Hardly

I'm fairly sure that for Professor Gordon the Dershowitz-Finkelstein debate is more of a personal nuisance than anything relevant to him on an academic or professional level.

L-

[bemildred]

13. Nothing really.

No attempt to attack Finklestein in that way has been made, in public at least.

[IntiRaymi]

9. Test ...

[MrPrax]

15. Godwin's Law again...

To Dersh everyone is a Nazi, just like this guy:

"Many Israelis feel that the free world under the leadership of the U.S. is facing a similar situation to Europe in the 1930s, when they watched the re-arming of the Nazi Reich," said Yuval Steinitz, a senior member of the Israeli Parliament's foreign and defense committee. "No one could predict the global catastrophe 10 years later, and Iran may be the same."

--Israeli unease grows over fraying U.S. ties
IHT (lengthy article of note and recommended)

But then again, Neve Gordon is a bit disingenuous.

If Gordon is figuring that Dersh considered him a good 'mensch' in 2003, but now Dersh is out to get him -- then Gordon hasn't been paying attention to old Dersh. He's been doing this to OTHER people for at least a decade...if not attacking Chomsky, Herman, Cole, Finkelstein, Benny Morris...now Gordon. Oh so sad.

I figure Dersh became unhinged after Demjanjuk and has been nuts ever since -- I also assumed after that embarrassment Harvard would have gotten rid of him. But apparently in the intervening years, Harvard's prestigious law school doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about that or plagerism, or unprofessional conduct, or much of anything. I guess Dersh is someone's 'useful idiot'.

[bemildred]

16. Good piece.

Thanks for pointing it out, I usually tend to ignore IHT.

That quote threw me off, I thought at first he was talking about the Bushites, but then I realized "Oh, he means Iran". The comparison is fatuous, either way, but for different reasons. Sometimes with all the perversion coming out of Washington, mid-thirties Germany does come to mind though.

The problem, the central thing, is the mess in Iraq. You could see this whole situation coming from about the time Bremer fired all the Baathists. Before he did that, there was still a chance to have a friendly stooge government. Israelis are right to be concerned, there is every chance they will be "sold down the river", US and Israeli interests in the region are diverging, and US power is in decline, and they have smothered themselves in ordure in their frustration with the obstinacy of the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, the Persian Genii will not be stuffed back in the bottle. This was also predicted before they headed the tanks for Baghdad. The rise of Greater Shi'iastan is well on it's way. They are going to have to live with it now.

There is nothing they can do about Iran, or at least, all of the things they can do about Iran will only make things much worse, so nothing will be done.