The Case for Israel
| The Case for Israel | |
|---|---|
 First edition cover. |
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| Author(s) | Alan Dershowitz |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Wiley |
| Publication date | 2003 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 264 |
| ISBN | 0-471-46502-X |
| OCLC Number | 52133082 |
The Case for Israel is a New York Times bestseller by Alan Dershowitz,[1] a law professor at Harvard University. The book responds to common criticisms of Israel.
The book is divided into several chapters, each of which addresses what Dershowitz identifies as being particularly strong accusations and myths about Israel, such as "Israel is the 'prime' human rights violator in the world" and "Israel is the cause of the Arab–Israeli conflict." Each chapter is divided into several sections. "The Accusation" states a common criticism of Israel, "The Accusers" lists several quotations from critics supporting the accusation, "The Reality" contains a short statement contradicting the accusation, and "The Proof" contains Dershowitz's explanation of his viewpoint. Edward Said and Noam Chomsky are among the critics that he quotes the most heavily.
Dershowitz has released a sequel in 2005 championing the two state solution. The book, The Case for Peace, explains what he believes is needed to be done in order to achieve peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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[edit] Critical reception
The political scientist and author Norman Finkelstein says the book is a hoax[2] and says that some of its citations are plagiarized from From Time Immemorial, a book by Joan Peters.[3] In the 2005 book "Beyond Chutzpah," Finkelstein cites 20 different instances where Dershowitz borrows quotations, including long quotations with ellipses in exactly the same place as in Joan Peters' book. Dershowitz also claims in the book that 2,000-3,000 Palestinians were displaced by Arab authorities, citing a book by Benny Morris as the source. The book by Benny Morris actually states that 200,000-300,000 Palestinians were displaced. This error has since been corrected in a later edition. After a heated debate between the two on Democracy Now! [4] Finkelstein released a book, Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History, where the second part is about The Case for Israel. Although repeatedly being approached by third parties to debate the book Dershowitz refused on the ground that he had a "longstanding policy against debating Holocaust deniers, revisionists, trivializers or minimizers" .[5] Former Harvard president Derek Bok exonerated Dershowitz of the plagiarism charges.[6] Dr. Frank Menetrez looked into Finkelstein's claims and in his 26-page study entitled Dershowitz v. Finkelstein: who's right and who's wrong reaches the conclusion that Dershowitz is indeed guilty of fraud and plagiarism.[7] In a later article commenting on the case Menetrez writes "(...) the book Dershowitz was accused of plagiarizing contained 20 identical errors in a mere 21 lines of text. (...) There was no way Dershowitz could have independently generated exactly those 20 errors—he must have copied them." [8]
Michael Neumann, a professor of philosophy at Trent University, wrote a book entitled The Case Against Israel published by CounterPunch in response to The Case for Israel.[9]
[edit] See also
- Hasbara
- Right to Exist by Yaacov Lozowick
- The Case for Peace
- The Case For Democracy by Natan Sharansky
- Bibliography of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
[edit] Notes
- ^ Dershowitz, Alan (2003). The Case for Israel. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-46502-X.
- ^ The Dershowitz hoax
- ^ Alan Dershowitz Exposed: What if a Harvard Student Did This?
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ndY4Rilyg
- ^ http://www.counterpunch.org/finkelstein12292006.html
- ^ Marcella Bombardieri, "Academic Fight Heads to Print", The Boston Globe, July 9, 2005.
- ^ http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/dershowitz-v-finkelstein-whos-right-and-whos-wrong/
- ^ http://www.counterpunch.org/menetrez06282010.html
- ^ Neumann, Michael (2005). The Case Against Israel. AK Press. ISBN.
