Alan Dershowitz joins the debate on Finkelstein's DePaul tenure application

The battle lines over whether controversial DePaul political science professor Norman G. Finkelstein will receive tenure got a little bit clearer today, as the role of Harvard law professor and best-selling author Alan J. Dershowitz was described by Jennifer Howard in today's Chronicle for Higher Education.

Dershowitz and Finkelstein have feuded for years; Finkelstein fired the first salvo, claiming the Harvard professor lifted material from the Joan Peters book From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine that critics of that book say is false.

Since then, in a similar manner Al Franken juxtaposes himself with Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly, Finkelstein at times presents himself as anti-matter to Dersh's matter. Dershowitz wrote a book called Chutzpah, Finkelstein came out with one called Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History.

Finkelstein's web site, along with Nazi references to Jews and Israel, is filled with potshots about Dershowitz.

Holocaust reparations to victims of Nazi terror are viewed as a racket by Finkelstein, as he outlines in his book The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering.

Back to Dershowitz and and Howard's article:

Last fall, with Mr. Finkelstein up for tenure, Mr. Dershowitz sent the DePaul law school faculty and members of the political-science department what he described, in a letter dated October 3, as a "dossier of Norman Finkelstein's most egregious academic sins, and especially his outright lies, misquotations, and distortions."

"I hope that this will serve as an introduction and primer to the so-called scholarship that Finkelstein will present this term as he is considered for tenure," Mr. Dershowitz wrote.

More...

The packet included what Mr. Dershowitz's letter called "some of the lies I am absolutely confident that Finkelstein told" on such points as Israeli torture and whether or not Mr. Dershowitz writes his own books.

In a telephone interview on Wednesday with The Chronicle, Mr. Dershowitz confirmed that he had sent the information to "everybody who would read it." He said he had compiled the material at the request of some two dozen DePaul students, alumni, and faculty members who were alarmed at the prospect of Mr. Finkelstein's receiving tenure.

Like the Conrad Black trial, this is another Chicago story that is getting attention in a lot of places--just not so much in Chicago.

One more item: Although DePaul is a Catholic university, the growth in Muslim students among the student body has helped propel DePaul to America's largest Catholic college. Thomas Klocek, a former DePaul professor was sacrificed to appease the Muslims there. A denial of tenure for Finkelstein will upset this important segment of tuition payers.

Hat tip and a belated Happy Passover to Dr. Steven Plaut in the Holy Land.

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