Battleangel | Personal

Beyond Chutzpah. On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History. Norman G. Finkelstein. University of California Press, 2005, 343p.

UC Press – In this long-awaited sequel to his international bestseller The Holocaust Industry, Norman G. Finkelstein moves from an iconoclastic interrogation of the new anti-Semitism to a meticulously researched exposé of the corruption of scholarship on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Bringing to bear the latest findings on the conflict and recasting the scholarly debate, Finkelstein points to a consensus among historians and human rights organizations on the factual record. Why, then, does so much controversy swirl around the conflict? Finkelstein’s answer, copiously documented, is that apologists for Israel contrive controversy. Whenever Israel comes under international pressure, another media campaign alleging a global outbreak of anti-Semitism is mounted.

Finkelstein also scrutinizes the proliferation of distortion masquerading as history. Recalling Joan Peters’ book From Time Immemorial, published to great fanfare in 1984 but subsequently exposed as an academic hoax, he asks deeply troubling questions here about the periodic reappearance of spurious scholarship and the uncritical acclaim it receives. The most recent addition to this genre, Finkelstein argues, is Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz’s bestseller, The Case for Israel.

The core analysis of Beyond Chutzpah sets Dershowitz’s assertions on Israel’s human rights record against the findings of the mainstream human rights community. Sifting through thousands of pages of reports from organizations such as Amnesty International, B’Tselem, and Human Rights Watch, Finkelstein argues that Dershowitz has misrepresented the facts.

Thoroughly researched and tightly argued, Beyond Chutzpah lifts the veil of controversy shrouding the Israel-Palestine conflict.

While I usually don’t comment on books directly, only through later pennings, this work is in a league of its own and deserves some sort of acknowledgement. From the hype it promises to be just a refutation of Dershowitz’s poor academic standards. And at least one reviewer thought it was difficult to read, in essence filled with facts piled upon facts, which despite its clear scholarly merits, doesn’t make for good mainstream reading material. Again unlike the rather fluid science fiction put forward by Dershowitz. Then again I don’t see Beyond Chutzpah being leisure reading. Also, because many of the arguments that Dershowitz is peddling (and plagiarizing, even though the plagiarizing itself is a breeze compared to the fact that the plagiarized parts are in effect fraudulent) have been echoed by Israel’s apologists for decades, debunking Dershowitz also debunks the Israel lobby as a whole. This is important since, as Finkelstein himself notes, Dershowitz’s book was quickly extolled and made the centerpiece of the “Church of Israel” and its ideological acolytes. As such, Finkelstein’s services are invaluable.

In fact, Beyond Chutzpah is the essential work on the topic. The facts of the Israel – Palestine conflict could surely be found elsewhere, and less abridged too. But what you also get is an extremely well researched and documented up-to-date primer on the conflict. One that connects the dots in an adept way to Finkelstein’s Holocaust Industry, in effect fatuous Zionism, and the rudimentary problems that Israel faces if it ever wants to leave the nation state doghouse where it is currently at. Not to mention the US connection of course and the joint assault on international law and humanitarian organizations. One that frankly threatens us all, regardless of how well versed one is in, or concerned with, the matters of Palestine, past or present.