Quotes by Norman Finkelstein - Page 2

I would not have stayed at a university if it told me upfront that a condition for me getting tenure. my views have to be filtered through Catholic values. I would consider it a betrayal of my parents' legacy.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Betrayal
Catholic
Legacy
Parent
Tenure
University
Views
Condition
Consider
Filtered
Stayed
Upfront
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I don't claim to know Israel. I don't speak Hebrew; my contacts are pretty limited. But I didn't know Vietnam; I didn't know Nicaragua, El Salvador or Honduras. It doesn't mean you can't reach your conclusions.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
El Salvador
Hebrew
Honduras
Nicaragua
Vietnam
Claim
Conclusions
Contacts
Salvador
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The justice of a war basically refers to the question whether there is a right to attack in the first place. Justice in a war is concerned with whether the fighting happens in accordance with the international laws of war.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
War
Fighting
Justice
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DePaul's plot to deny me tenure had nothing to do with my faults. In fact, and ironically, it viciously attacked me and destroyed my career because of my virtues. Which, although few in number, they still found threatening.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Deny
Destroyed
Faults
Plot
Tenure
Threatening
Although
Attacked
Number
In Fact
Ironically
Virtues
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I think sometimes we underestimate just how vulnerable Israel is on the public-relations front. That's why they spend so much money on propaganda. And that's why they panic every time they feel like they're losing the propaganda war.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Israel
Losing
Panic
Propaganda
Underestimate
Vulnerable
So Much Money
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My original interest in the Nazi holocaust was personal. Both my father and mother were survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Nazi concentration camps. Apart from my parents, every family member on both sides was exterminated by the Nazis.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Both Sides
Camps
Concentration
Ghetto
Holocaust
Sides
Warsaw
Family Mother Father
Family Father Parents
Apart
Family Member
Member
Survivors
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I think Israel, as a number of commentators pointed out, is becoming an insane state. And we have to be honest about that. While the rest of the world wants peace, Europe wants peace, the US wants peace, but this state wants war, war and war.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
War
Europe
Thinking
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There's no question that public opinion is changing, and if you're a person of the left, your goal is presumably to try to mobilize public opinion to affect elite policy; and I think now there are unusual, unprecedented opportunities to do so.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Opportunity
Goal
Thinking
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My parents often wondered why I would grow so indignant at the falsification and exploitation of the Nazi genocide. The most obvious answer is that it has been used to justify criminal policies of the Israeli state and US support for these policies.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Criminals
Parent
Support
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Judging by opinion polls, Israel has bigger problems than me. It is among the most hated countries on the planet. It should stop acting like a lunatic state. Once it carries on like a normal country, I will be happily redirect my energies elsewhere.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Country
Crazy
Hate
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American Jews are overwhelmingly liberal. By "liberal," I mean, basically, support for the rule of law, support for human rights, support for peace; and on all those counts - rule of law, human rights, peace - Israel's record has become indefensible.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Human Rights
Mean
Support
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My parents often wondered why I would grow so indignant at the falsification and exploitation of the Nazi genocide. The most obvious answer is that it has been used to justify criminal policies of the Israeli state and U.S. support for these policies.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Exploitation
Genocide
Indignant
Israeli
Justify
Obvious
Criminal
Policies
Wondered
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I think one of the problems when we discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict is people talk too much in terms of, 'What's your preference?,' like politics is a Chinese menu - I'll take one from column A and two from column B. That's not what politics is about.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Chinese
Conflict
Preference
Column
Discuss
Menu
One Of The Problems
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When you are a people's movement, you have one thing. Your only asset is people. And you have to deal with real people. Not the people of your imagination. Not the people you wish people would be. But people as they exist actually out there in the real world.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Imagination World Your
Asset
Real People
The Real World
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I was bashing Israel in the past because nobody else was exposing its true record. Many people are doing it now, so I switched hats from a critic of Israel to a diplomat who wants to resolve the conflict. I have not changed, but I think the spectrum has moved.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Changed
Conflict
Exposing
Hats
Moved
Resolve
Spectrum
Critic
Diplomat
In The Past
Record
Nobody Else
Switched
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Mainstream Jewish intellectuals became 'pro'-Israel after the June 1967 war when Israel became the U.S.A.' s strategic asset in the Middle East, i.e., when it was safe and reaped benefits. To credit them with ideological conviction is, in my opinion, very naive.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Benefits
Conviction
Credit
East
Ideological
Israel
June
Mainstream
Middle East
Naive
Strategic
Jewish
Asset
Intellectuals
In My Opinion
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Goldstone has done terrible damage to the cause of truth and justice and the rule of law. He has poisoned Jewish-Palestinian relations, undermined the courageous work of Israeli dissenters and-most unforgivably-increased the risk of another merciless IDF assault.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Justice
Law
Risk
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There is a fundamental principle. People have the right to defend their country from foreign occupiers, and people have the right to defend their country from invaders who are destroying their country. That to me is a very basic, elementary, and uncomplicated question.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Country
People
Principles
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I no longer say I'm unemployed. I say I'm unemployable. It's different. An unemployed suggests at a certain point in the future, you might be employed. That's not the case with me. I'm unemployable, and unfortunately, that's one of the bits of the web, in particular of Google.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Bits
Employed
Google
Unemployed
Certain Point
Unfortunately
Web
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The Zionists indeed learnt well from the Nazis. So well that it seems that their morally repugnant treatment of the Palestinians, and their attempts to destroy Palestinian society within Israel and the occupied territories, reveals them as basically Nazis with beards and black hats.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Society
Black
Hats
Israel
Palestinian
Seems
Treatment
Zionist
Within
Attempts
Basically
Destroy
Indeed
Learnt
Morally
Occupied
Well
Palestinians
Repugnant
Reveals
Territories
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I think that people like Bloomberg, they're complete thugs. No question about it. But on the other hand, it must be said that they are politically savvy. They don't get into those positions of power - in the case of Bloomberg, both economic and political power - by being anybody's fool.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Fool
Political Power
Savvy
Power Political People
Case
Complete
No Question
Positions
Thugs
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They've (Israel) lost the battle for public opinion. They claim it's because American Jews know too little.. I claim it's because they know too much about the conflict, and young liberal Jews have difficulty defending the use of cluster bombs in Lebanon or supporting the Israeli settlements.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Knowledge
Battle
Israel
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The Holocaust has proven to be an indispensable ideological weapon. Through its deployment, one of the world's most formidable military powers, with a horrendous human rights record, has cast itself as a "victim" state, and the most successful ethnic group in the US has likewise acquired victim status.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Military
Rights
Successful
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I'm not a good writer, and I don't care. Unfortunately, after I left college, I didn't have time much for literature. I wish I did. Most of the time I read documents, and that's not going to help your writing. But I'm a very logical writer, and you can't get out of me. Once I've nailed you, you're finished.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Documents
Logical
Time Good Me
Time Good Your
Unfortunately
Good Writer
Nailed
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I had been a Maoist, and then when the Gang of Four was overthrown, I was completely distraught. I was bedridden for three weeks; it was a very painful experience for me. Not only because I had been wrong, but because I felt really embarrassed that I had been lecturing and pontificating with such self-confidence.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
Experience
Embarrassed
Felt
Four
Gang
Lecturing
Painful
Self Confidence
Three
Weeks
Wrong
Overthrown
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Israel's pro-American orientation exists not just among Israeli elites but also among the whole population. Come what may in Israel, it's inconceivable that this fundamental orientation will change. Combined with its overwhelming military power, this makes Israel a unique and irreplaceable American asset in the Middle East.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
East
Elites
Irreplaceable
Israeli
Middle East
Military
Military Power
Orientation
Overwhelming
Population
Unique
Among
Asset
Combined
Exists
Fundamental
Inconceivable
Pro-American
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There are contradictory tendencies in American society. There's a huge range of activities that one can engage in that mark it as a quite free society. It's also true to say that the powers that be have so much control over how people think that there are fewer and fewer people who make use of the rights and information available to them.
Norman Finkelstein / Political Scientist
American Society
Available
Contradictory
Fewer
Free Society
Mark
Range
Tendencies
Society Free People
Activities
Engage
Powers
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