Marathon Pundit: Finkelstein, Dershowitz battle catches the eye of the New York Times

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Finkelstein, Dershowitz battle catches the eye of the New York Times

There's a lot going in the Norman G. Finkelstein tenure quest at DePaul University.

For starters, there's an online petition calling for the Catholic university to deny the controversial political science (and holocaust-minimizer) professor tenure.

Hat tip to Solomonia.

And there is a pro-Finkelstein tenure petition here. The far-left DePaul Activist Student Union supports Dr. Finkelstein. The photo of Finkelstein is courtesy of their site.

Peter N. Kirstein, a St. Xavier University professor and like, Finkelstein, named by David Horowitz as one of the The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, has essentially turned his blog into a Finkelstein cheerleading site.

Kirstein is yet another nut Chicago professor, who gained national attention in 2002 when he sent an e-mail to an Air Force cadet with this opening sentence:

You are a disgrace to this country and I am furious you would even think I would support you and your aggressive baby killing tactics of collateral damage.

As for the "anti" crowd, Alan M. Dershowitz tops that list, which caught the eye of Patricia Cohen of the New York Times. She writes about the controversy, but unfortunately, focuses more on the feud between the noted Harvard law professor and Finkelstein rather than some of the outrageous statements Finkelstein has made over the years, including:

Calling Elie Wiesel "the resident clown of the Holocaust circus."

Or this statement: "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."

Referring to Holocaust reparations as a "shakedown industry."