The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has run a fascinating long report this week offering a disturbing snapshot of the political climate rapidly emerging across Europe on the issue of antisemitism. The article documents a kind of cultural, political and intellectual reign of terror in Germany since the parliament passed a resolution last year equating support for non-violent boycotts of Israel – in solidarity with Palestinians oppressed by Israel – with antisemitism.
This May 31 marks 10 years since Israeli commandos attacked the Gaza Humanitarian Flotilla in international waters and killed 10 people. Norman Finkelstein, one of the world’s most effective critics of Israel, is observing the occasion with a persuasive indictment of Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, for refusing to take legal action over Israel’s lethal attack on the Mavi Marmara, the Flotilla’s flagship.
Speaking at Princeton, Norman Finkelstein said a former Israeli soldier should be ashamed of having been a “concentration camp guard” for having served on the Gaza border. The Princetonian termed his remarks anti-Semitic. Finkelstein says reporters don’t want to address the central fact: Gaza’s martyrdom.
In a wide-ranging interview, Norman Finkelstein says the Palestinians are, at this moment, a defeated people, they should recall the success of the first intifada, and “I used to live for my teaching” but has not had a job in ten years.
A Passover diary, in which a friend tells me that Jews need to forgive European anti-Semites their historical crimes because that is all that will stop Israel from reenacting the crimes against Jews