09 May 2010 By Dr. Hamad Al-Majid A young Jewish American woman approached the
prominent Jewish professor; she had been attending the
lecture he was conducting [at the University of
Waterloo] when she asked a question before breaking
down in tears. In a trembling voice, the student asked
"During your speech, you made reference to Jewish
people – some of whom are in this audience –
describing them as Nazis, how can you do this? I find
that extremely offensive." This young woman was talking to Jewish American
professor, academic, and writer, Dr. Norman G.
Finkelstein. Finkelstein's mother survived the
Majdanek concentration camp, while his father survived
the Auschwitz concentration camp; every single member
of his family on both sides was killed by the Nazis.
Dr. Finkelstein is one of the bitter opponents of
Israel, and he has harshly criticized the Israeli
criminal actions and brutality against the Palestinian
people. The young woman's tears did not move the
professor, and instead he fiercely criticized her with
the vigour of a wounded Palestinian whose home, wife,
and children had all been taken away from him by the
Zionists. Frowning at the young student, Dr.
Finkelstein reacted angrily saying, "I don't respect
that…I don't like and I don't respect your crocodile
tears. I don't like to play the Holocaust card before
an audience, but my late father was in Auschwitz and
my late mother was in Majdanek, every single member of
my family on both sides was exterminated, and it is
precisely and exactly because of the lessons that my
parents taught me that I will not be silent while
Israel commits crimes against the Palestinians. There
is nothing more despicable than to use their suffering
and martyrdom to try to justify the torture and
brutalization and the demolition of homes committed by
Israel against the Palestinians. If you had a heart,
you would be crying for the Palestinians." Dr. Finkelstein’s reaction caused the audience to
burst into applause, however if similar comments were
made by anybody else, the speaker would undoubtedly
have been accused of being anti-Semitic, a Nazi
sympathizer, or a terrorist supporter. However nobody
can question a Jewish professor and intellectual whose
family suffered at the hands of Nazism. As a result of
this, Dr. Finkelstein's courageous positions with
regards to exposing the Zionist media machine have
gained deserved publicity. Dr. Finkelstein is a
perfect example of how to benefit from the adversary,
suffering, and the injustices suffered by the Jewish
people, and this is by seeking to prevent such
injustice ever happening again, and it is this kind of
injustice that is being felt by the Palestinians at
the hands of the Israelis. This is a positive way of dealing with the
Holocaust, and this is something that wise Jews and
Westerners should promote in order to prevent such
injustice occurring again. In my opinion, this is
better than entering bitter controversy over the
veracity of the Holocaust, and casting doubts and
denying it. If we compare the French Muslim
intellectual Roger Garaudy's denial of the Holocaust
with Dr. Norman G Finkelstein's condemnation of the
Nazi Holocaust against the Jews, as well as the
Israeli Holocaust against the Palestinians, and how –
in his view – the former is being used to justify the
latter, we find that Finkelstein's controversial view
is far more influential in the West than Garaudy's.
Dr. Finkelstein has received praise from a number of
prominent Holocaust historians including Raul Hilberg
and Avi Shlaim, who are among the most prominent
Holocaust historians. A number of US students also
allied with him by going on hunger-strike and staging
sit-in protests [after he was denied tenure at the
DePaul University]. What is unfortunate in this regard is that the
Arabs are poor at communicating with such courageous
thinkers and intellectuals, and utilizing their voices
to gain support and finance. Professor Finkelstein is
engaged in a fierce battle with the Jewish lobby in
the US and those who sympathize with it, and he came
under great pressure, which resulted in him being
denied tenure in 2007 at the DePaul University in
Chicago and which eventually led to his resignation.
It is unfortunate that the Arab writers, intellectuals
and academics have never reached the level of this
Jewish professor in their defense of the Palestinian
Cause.
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