Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism & the Abuse

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 expose 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 mendacious 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 demonstrates that Dershowitz has systematically misrepresented the facts. Thoroughly researched and tightly argued, Beyond Chutzpah lifts the veil of contrived controversy shrouding the Israel-Palestine conflict, enabling readers in search of a just and lasting peace to act on the basis of truth.

"Finkelstein, a political science professor and author of The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, has conducted a rancorous public feud with Harvard Law professor and pro-Israel stalwart Alan Dershowitz over the latter's The Case for Israel, and here expands his arguments into a vigorous polemic on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The first part of the book examines what he feels is a growing tendency of pro-Israel commentators to use spurious charges of anti-Semitism to deflect and discredit legitimate criticism of Israel. The second, much longer, part is a line-by-line debunking of The Case for Israel, which he compares to Communist apologetics for Stalinist Russia. Rebutting Dershowitz's claims about Israel's 'superb' human rights record, Finkelstein cites human rights organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Israeli group B'Tselem to document Israeli abuses in the occupied territories, including killings of Palestinian civilians, torture of Palestinian prisoners and home demolitions. Lengthy appendices flesh out his explosive assertion that Dershowitz plagiarized the historical research and interpretations (but not the actual phrasing) of Joan Peters's From Time Immemorial. The Middle East conflict rarely inspires calm discussion, and Finkelstein duly pillories his opponents as perpetrators of 'hoax' and 'fraud' who lack 'ordinary moral values' and whose behavior resembles anti-Semitic stereotypes. Inflammatory rhetoric aside, he does raise serious questions about the veracity, scholarly methods and fairness of Dershowitz and others. More important, he presents a wealth of evidence on the human rights situation in the occupied territories, so often ignored in American debate on these issues. Exhaustively researched and meticulously-if intemperately-argued, Finkelstein's book is a formidable challenge to the conventional wisdom on the Middle East. Photos. " Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Beyond Chutzpah is the most comprehensive, systematic and well documented work of its kind. It is one of the harshest — rational and non-emotional — texts about the daily practices of the occupation and colonization of the Palestinian territories by Israel..." Baruch Kimmerling, George S. Wise Professor of Sociology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

"The scholarship is simply superb. Finkelstein has clearly done his homework, and consulted and mastered a breathtaking range of material....He has left no stone unturned." Mouin Rabbani, Contributing Editor, Middle East Report

"Accurate, well-written, and devastatingly important." Daniel Boyarin, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, UC Berkeley

"A vigorous, intelligent, succinct and powerfully argued analysis that is difficult if not impossible to reproach." Sara Roy, Senior Research Scholar, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University

"On display are all the sterling qualities for which Finkelstein has become famous: erudition, originality, spark, meticulous attention to detail, intellectual integrity, courage, and formidable forensic skills." Avi Shlaim, Professor of International Relations, Oxford University

This volume corrects the historical record of anti-Semitism, revealing recent scholarly consensus on the hottest issues of the Israel-Palestine conflict, especially human rights.

Norman G. Finkelstein teaches Political Science at DePaul University. His books include The Holocaust Industry (2000); A Nation on Trial (1998; with Ruth Bettina Birn), named a notable book for 1998 by the New York Times Sunday Book Review; and Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict (1995).

Acknowledgments
Introduction

PART I. THE NOT-SO-NEW "NEW ANTI-SEMITISM"
1. From Jesus Christ Superstar to The Passion of the Christ
2. Israel: "The Jew of the World"
3. Exaggeration, Diversion, Spillover

PART II. THE GREATEST FRAUD EVER SOLD
Introduction
Trampling Rights: Preliminary Remarks
4. Casualties
5. Political Liquidations
6. Torture
7. Willful Destruction of Property
8. Economy
9. Supreme Court
10. Of Crimes and Misdemeanors
Trampling Rights: Concluding Remarks

Appendix I: History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Appendix II: Peace Process
Index