View source for Dershowitz–Finkelstein affair

{{Short description|Public feud between Alan Dershowitz and Norman Finkelstein}}
{{original research|date=September 2024}}
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{{use mdy dates|date=June 2015}}
The '''Dershowitz–Finkelstein affair''' was a public controversy involving academics [[Alan Dershowitz]] and [[Norman Finkelstein]] and their scholarship on the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]] in 2005.

Shortly after the publication of ''[[The Case for Israel]]'' (2003) by [[Harvard Law School]] professor Alan Dershowitz, Norman Finkelstein alleged that it was "a collection of fraud, falsification, plagiarism and nonsense."<ref name=Goodman>[[Amy Goodman]], [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/24/1730205 "Scholar Norman Finkelstein Calls Professor Alan Dershowitz's New Book On Israel a 'Hoax',"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114124931/http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03%2F09%2F24%2F1730205 |date=November 14, 2007 }} ''[[Democracy Now!]]'' September 24, 2003, accessed February 10, 2007.  (Incl. links to full transcript and audio clip and [[MP3]] podcast.)</ref> Finkelstein further derided the book, remarking, "If Dershowitz's book were made of cloth, I wouldn't even use it as a [[wikt:shmatte|schmatta]]&nbsp;... his book is such garbage."<ref>Quoted from interview in ''[[American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein]]''.</ref> Finkelstein charged that Dershowitz had engaged in [[plagiarism]] in his use of [[Joan Peters]]' book ''[[From Time Immemorial]]''.<ref name=Finkelstein>[[Norman Finkelstein|Norman G. Finkelstein]], [http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=4&ar=1 The Dershowitz Hoax] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224053121/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=4&ar=1 |date=February 24, 2008 }}, ''normanfinkelstein.com'' (passim), accessed February 11, 2007.</ref> Dershowitz denied the charges. Former [[Harvard University|Harvard]] president [[Derek Bok]], following a review requested by then-Harvard Law School Dean [[Elena Kagan]], stated that no plagiarism had occurred.<ref name=Bombardieri>Marcella Bombardieri [http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2005/07/09/academic_fight_heads_to_print/ "Academic Fight Heads to Print: Authorship Challenge Dropped from Text,"] ''[[Boston Globe]]'' July 9, 2005, accessed February 12, 2007.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Kelly |first1=M. Aiden |title=Mercy of the Court of Public Opinion |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/9/27/mercy-of-the-court-of-public |access-date=15 November 2023 |publisher=Harvard Crimson |date=27 September 2006}}</ref>

In ''[[Beyond Chutzpah|Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History]]'', published by [[University of California Press]] on August 28, 2005, Finkelstein aimed to debunk ''The Case for Israel''. Dershowitz had written letters to both [[The New Press]] and to the University of California Press to prevent its publication, claiming it contained massive libel and stating that the book should not be published.<ref name=Younge>Gary Younge,  [http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/politicsphilosophyandsociety/story/0,6000,1545972,00.html "J'accuse,"] ''[[The Guardian]]'' August 10, 2005, accessed February 11, 2007.</ref> Dershowitz responded in his book ''[[The Case for Peace]]'' and alleged a campaign of vilification by Finkelstein against several pro-Israel academics.<ref name=DershowitzStatement/>

==Finkelstein's criticisms of Dershowitz==

The book ''Beyond Chutzpah'' is a critique of arguments used to defend Israel's stance in the Israel-Palestine conflict, including the use of the allegation of anti-semitism to deflect criticism of Israel. A major theme of the book is a comparison of Alan Dershowitz's earlier book, ''The Case for Israel'', with the findings of mainstream human rights organisations, such as [[Human Rights Watch]] and [[Amnesty International]]. Finkelstein wrote that Dershowitz had lied, misrepresented and fabricated many of his points in order to protect [[Israel]] and hide its record of alleged human rights violations, while "the real issue is Israel's human rights record".<ref>[[Norman Finkelstein|Norman G. Finkelstein]], [http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=50 The Real Issue is Israel's Human Rights Record] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812032510/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=50 |date=August 12, 2012 }}, accessed July 6, 2007.</ref>

In addition, Finkelstein wrote that he had found plagiarism where Dershowitz reproduced the exact errors found in Peters's citation of original sources. He said this was evidence that Dershowitz did not check the original sources he cited, a claim that Dershowitz adamantly denied.<ref>[[Norman Finkelstein|Norman G. Finkelstein]], [http://www.workingtv.com/finkelstein.html Speech presented at Vancouver Public Library], link to Part 7, webcasts posted at ''workingtv.com'', n.d., accessed February 11, 2007.</ref>

Finkelstein said he had located twenty instances within as many pages, in which Dershowitz used some of the same words from the same sources that Joan Peters had used, largely in the same order. In several paragraph-long quotations, the two books have ellipses in the same positions. Finkelstein wrote that, in one instance, Dershowitz refers to the same page number as Peters, although he is citing a different edition of the same source, in which the words appear on a different page.<ref>[[Norman Finkelstein|Norman G. Finkelstein]], [http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/alan-dershowitz-exposed-what-if-a-harvard-student-did-this/ "Alan Dershowitz Exposed: What if a Harvard Student Did This?"] ''normanfinkelstein.com'' n.d., accessed February 12, 2007.</ref> Finkelstein stated: "It is left to readers to decide whether Dershowitz committed plagiarism as defined by Harvard University—'passing off a source's information, ideas, or words as your own by omitting to cite them.'<ref>[[Norman Finkelstein|Norman G. Finkelstein]], [http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=50 "The Real Issue Is Israel's Human Rights Record:] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812032510/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=50 |date=August 12, 2012 }} A Statement by Norman G. Finkelstein upon Publication of ''Beyond Chutzpah'', 25 August 2005, accessed 13 February 2007.</ref>  According to a book review of ''Beyond Chutzpah'', written by Professor Michael C. Desch in ''[[The American Conservative]]'', "Finkelstein does not accuse Dershowitz of the wholesale lifting of someone else's words, but he does make a very strong case that Dershowitz has violated the spirit, if not the exact letter, of Harvard's prohibitions of the first three forms of plagiarism."<ref name="Desch">[[Michael Desch|Michael C. Desch]],  [http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=98 "The Chutzpah of Alan Dershowitz,"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060327143707/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=98|date=March 27, 2006}} ''[[The American Conservative]]'' December 5, 2005, online posting, ''normanfinkelstein.com'', accessed February 10, 2007.</ref>

During an interview of the two men by [[Amy Goodman]] on ''[[Democracy Now!]]'', Finkelstein also said that Dershowitz may not have written, or even read, the book.<ref name=Goodman/>

Dershowitz took a number of steps to stop publication of ''Beyond Chutzpah''. His lawyers wrote letters to the [[University of California Press]] threatening a lawsuit if it published the book. Dershowitz also wrote to the Governor of California, [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]], asking him to stop the book from being published. Schwarzenegger responded that "he is not inclined to otherwise exert influence in this case because of the clear, academic freedom issue it presents". According to [[Jon Weiner]], writing in ''[[The Nation]]'', Dershowitz' lawyers contacted the president of the [[University of California]], the university provost, seventeen directors of the university press and nineteen members of the university press’s faculty editorial committee to attempt to stop the publication of the book.<ref name="nation230623">{{cite web |last1=Wiener |first1=Jon |title=Giving Chutzpah New Meaning |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/giving-chutzpah-new-meaning/ |website=The Nation |access-date=6 January 2024 |date=23 June 2005}}</ref>

==Dershowitz's response==

Dershowitz threatened to bring a legal action against the [[University of California Press]] in response to the charges in Finkelstein's book.<ref>[http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=1287 June 1, 2005 letter to University of California Press] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080604214612/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=1287 |date=June 4, 2008 }} from Dershowitz's lawyer reads: "...your appendix—if it is not removed before publication—is going to lead to painful surgery for the Press." Verified October 31, 2007.</ref> Dershowitz claimed to have written every word of ''The Case for Israel'' by hand and to have sent the University of California Press his handwritten manuscript. He says there is not a single phrase or sentence in it that was plagiarized, and accused Finkelstein of knowing this and making the charges in order to garner publicity.<ref>[http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/dershowitz/statement.html STATEMENT OF ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051231094329/http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/dershowitz/statement.html |date=December 31, 2005 }}, Harvard Law web-site. Verified October 30, 2007.</ref> Dershowitz offered to produce his handwritten drafts (he does not type) to debunk the claim that ''The Case for Israel'' was ghostwritten and claimed Finkelstein has not asked to see them.<ref name=Unfair/>

Dershowitz also asked [[Governor of California|California Governor]] [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] to intervene in order to prevent the University of California Press from publishing the book.<ref name=Letters>See the reproduction of [http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=126 four letters from Dershowitz] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314041913/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=126 |date=March 14, 2007 }} as posted on ''normanfinkelstein.com'' with a headnote.</ref> Schwarzenegger's legal advisor responded, however, that the governor would not intervene in issues of academic freedom.<ref name=Younge/>

As a result, when ''Beyond Chutzpah'' was published, it no longer used the word "plagiarize" in its argument that Dershowitz inappropriately borrowed from another work, nor did it include the claim that Dershowitz did not write ''The Case for Israel'',<ref name=Bombardieri/> because, the publisher said, "[Finkelstein] couldn't document that."<ref name=Schuker>Daniel J. T. Schuker, [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=508242 "Accusations Fly in Academic Feud:] Harvard Law Prof Tries to Prevent Publication of Book about Israel," ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'' July 8, 2005, accessed February 12, 2007.</ref> "Dershowitz has said he cited sources properly, attempting to check all primary sources and citing Peters when she was his only source."<ref name=SchukerLAE>Lauren A. E. Schuker, [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=349044 "Dershowitz Accused Of Plagiarism:] Law School Professor Denies He Relied on Another's Work,"  ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'' September 29, 2003, and [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=349102 "Dershowitz Defends Book.] Professor Calls Plagiarism Accusation 'funny'."  ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'' October 2, 2003, both accessed February 11, 2007.</ref>

Dershowitz said that Finkelstein has invented false charges in order to discredit supporters of Israel: "The mode of attack is consistent. Chomsky selects the target and directs Finkelstein to probe the writings in minute detail and conclude that the writer didn't actually write the work, that it is plagiarized, that it is a hoax and a fraud," alleging that Finkelstein has leveled the same kind of charges against many others, calling at least 10 "distinguished Jews 'hucksters,' 'hoaxters,' 'thieves,' 'extortionists,' and worse."<ref name=JBooks>[[Alan Dershowitz|Alan M. Dershowitz]], [http://www.jbooks.com/interviews/index/IP_Dershowitz.htm "The Hazards of Making ''The Case for Israel'',"] ''jbooks.com'' n.d., accessed February 11, 2007.</ref>

Dershowitz's subsequent book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ''[[The Case for Peace]]'', contains a chapter rebutting Finkelstein's charges, which Dershowitz made available on his web site.<ref name=DershowitzStatement/>

==Additional responses by Finkelstein and Dershowitz==

Finkelstein argued in a letter to ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'' published on October 3, 2003, that Dershowitz reproduced exactly two of Peters' mistakes, and made one relevant mistake of his own.<ref name=FinkLetter>Norman Finkelstein, [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=349123 "Finkelstein Proclaims 'The Glove Does Fit',"] Letter to the editors, ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'' October 3, 2003, accessed February 10, 2007.</ref> In quoting [[Mark Twain]], Finkelstein argued, "Dershowitz cites two paragraphs from Twain as continuous text, just as Peters cites them as continuous text, but in Twain's book the two paragraphs are separated by 87 pages."<ref name=FinkLetter/>  While still quoting Twain, although Dershowitz cited a different edition of Twain's ''[[Innocents Abroad]]'' than Joan Peters cites, Finkelstein continues, "the relevant quotes do not appear on these pages in the edition of Twain's book that Dershowitz cites."  Finkelstein points out that these quotations do, however, appear on the pages that Joan Peters cites as her edition of ''Innocents Abroad''. Finkelstein asserted: "Quoting a statement depicting the miserable fate of Jews in mid-19th century [[Jerusalem]], Peters cites a British consular letter from 'Wm. T. Young to Viscount Canning.' Dershowitz cites the same statement as Peters, reporting that Young 'attributed the plight of the Jew in Jerusalem' to pervasive [[anti-Semitism]]. Turning to the original, however, we find that the relevant statement did not come from Young but, as is unmistakably clear to anyone who actually consulted the original, from an enclosed memorandum written by an 'A. Benisch' that Young was forwarding to Canning."  He concluded: "It would be impossible for anyone who checked the original source[s] to make the[se] error[s]."<ref name=FinkLetter/>

In response to the general charge of plagiarism, Dershowitz had characterized the excerpts as quotations that historians and scholars of the region cite routinely, such as [[Mark Twain]] and the reports of government commissions.<ref>From the preface of "The Case for Israel" by Alan Dershowitz, 2003 edition</ref>

In "Statement of Alan M. Dershowitz" featured on a faculty webpage at Harvard Law School,
Dershowitz writes:
<blockquote>I will no longer participate in this transparent ploy to gather media attention for Finkelstein and his publisher. I answer all of his charges fully in Chapter 16 of my forthcoming book ''The Case For Peace'', to be published by Wiley in August. My book deals with important and current issues, such as the prospects for peace in the immediate future. Finkelstein's deals with the irrelevant past that both Israelis and Palestinians are trying to put behind them. Let the marketplace judge our books. As far as I'm concerned, the public controversy is over and I will comment no further on the false charges leveled by Finkelstein and the UCP. Let them henceforth pay for their own publicity, instead of trying to get it on the cheap by launching phony attacks against me.

I will not debate Finkelstein. I have a longstanding policy against debating [[Holocaust]] deniers, revisionists, trivializers or minimizers. Nor is a serious debate about Israel possible with someone who acknowledges that he knows "very little" about that country. I will be happy to debate any legitimate experts from [[Amnesty International]] or any other human rights organization. Indeed, I have a debate scheduled with [[Noam Chomsky]] about these issues in the fall [2005].<ref name=DershowitzStatement>[http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/dershowitz/statement.html "Statement of Alan M. Dershowitz."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051231094329/http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/dershowitz/statement.html |date=December 31, 2005 }}</ref></blockquote>

Dershowitz strenuously denied that he did not credit Peters' book adequately in his own book, and [[Harvard University]] supported him in that position in exonerating him against Finkelstein's charges that he committed "[[plagiarism]]".<ref name=DershowitzStatement/><ref name=Rests>[[Alan Dershowitz|Alan M. Dershowitz]], [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=349122 "Professor Dershowitz 'Rests His Case',"] ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'' October 3, 2003, Letter to the Editors (Opinion), accessed February 11, 2007.</ref><ref name=Unfair>[[Alan Dershowitz]], [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=513348 "Plagiarism Accusations Unfairly Characterized,"] ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'' May 5, 2006, Letter to the Editors (Opinion) dated May 1, 2006 (appended correction), accessed February 12, 2007.{{dead link|date=November 2023}}</ref>

==$10,000 challenge==

During the joint interview of Dershowitz and Finkelstein in a 2003 ''Democracy Now!'' broadcast, host Amy Goodman alluded to an appearance on [[MSNBC]]'s ''[[Scarborough Country]]'' in which Dershowitz made a challenge to "give $10,000 to the PLO" ([[Palestine Liberation Organization]]), playing a clip from the other program. In the headnote to the transcript, Goodman wrote:

<blockquote>On MSNBC's Scarborough Country on September 8, 2003, renowned appellate lawyer, Harvard Law professor and author Alan Dershowitz says: "I will give $10,000 to the PLO... if you can find a historical fact in my book that you can prove to be false." The book Dershowitz refers to is his latest work ''The Case For Israel''.
Today author and professor Norman Finkelstein takes him on and charges that Dershowitz makes numerous factual errors in his book. Dershowitz denies the charges. Finkelstein teaches at DePaul University and is the author of four books including ''[[The Holocaust Industry]]: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering''.</blockquote>

The segment of ''Democracy Now!'' appears in the included transcript of the program:

<blockquote>'''Amy Goodman''': ...we were intrigued on watching ''[[Scarborough Country]]'' when you debated, the offer that you made [....] just play it for a moment.</blockquote>

<blockquote><blockquote>'''Alan Dershowitz''': Tell you what, I will give $10,000 to the P.L.O. in your name if you can find historical fact in my book that you can prove to be false. I issue that challenge, I issue it to you, I issue it to the [[Palestinian Authority]], I issue it to Noam Chomsky to [[Edward Said]], every word in my book is accurate and you can't just simply say it's false without documenting it. Tell me one thing in the book now that is false?</blockquote></blockquote>

<blockquote>'''Amy Goodman''': Okay. Let's go to the book. The Case for Israel $10,000.<ref name=Goodman/></blockquote><!--What is the primary MSNBC source?-->

On ''Democracy Now!'' Finkelstein replied to that specific challenge for material errors found in his book overall, and Dershowitz upped it to $25,000 for another particular "issue" that they disputed.<ref name=Goodman/>

Finkelstein referred to "concrete facts which are not particularly controversial," stating that in ''The Case for Israel'' Dershowitz attributes to Israeli historian [[Benny Morris]] the figure of between 2,000 and 3,000 Palestinian [[Arabs]] who fled their homes from April to June 1948, when the range in the figures presented by Morris is actually 200,000 to 300,000.<ref>Morris, Benny. "Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict." Vintage Press, 1999, p. 256: "Altogether about two to three hundred thousands Arabs fled their homes during this second stage of the exodus."</ref>

Dershowitz responded to Finkelstein's reply by stating that such a mistake could not have been intentional, as it harmed his own side of the debate: "Obviously, the phrase '2,000 to 3,000 Arabs' refers either to a sub-phase [of the flight] or is a typographical error."<ref name=Goodman/> In this particular context, Dershowitz's argument is that Palestinians [[Causes of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight#"Arab leaders' endorsement of flight" explanation|left as a result of orders issued by Palestinian commanders]]: "If in fact, 200,000 were told to leave instead of 2,000, that strengthens my argument considerably."<ref name=Goodman/>

==Others on the plagiarism controversy==

===Support for Finkelstein===

In his review of ''Beyond Chutzpah'', echoing Finkelstein's criticisms, Michael Desch, political science professor at [[University of Notre Dame]] observed:

<blockquote>Not only did Dershowitz improperly present Peters's ideas, he may not even have bothered to read the original sources she used to come up with them. Finkelstein somehow managed to get uncorrected page proofs of ''The Case for Israel'' in which Dershowitz appears to direct his research assistant to go to certain pages and notes in Peters's book and place them in his footnotes directly (32, col. 3).<ref name=Desch/></blockquote>

Oxford academic [[Avi Shlaim]] had also been critical of Dershowitz, saying he believed that the charge of plagiarism "is proved in a manner that would stand up in court."<ref name=Garner>Mandy Garner,"The Good Jewish Boys Go into Battle," ''[[Times Higher Education Supplement]]'', December 16, 2005 {{cite web |url=http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=112 |title=Norman G. Finkelstein |access-date=2007-08-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929102645/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=112 |archive-date=September 29, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

In Desch's review of ''Beyond Chutzpah'', summarizing Finkelstein's case against Dershowitz for "torturing the evidence," particularly Finkelstein's argument relating to Dershowitz's citations of Morris, Desch observed:
<blockquote>There are two problems with Dershowitz's heavy reliance on Morris. The first is that Morris is hardly the left-wing peacenik that Dershowitz makes him out to be, which means that calling him as a witness in Israel's defense is not very helpful to the case. The more important problem is that many of the points Dershowitz cites Morris as supporting—that the early Zionists wanted peaceful coexistence with the Arabs, that the Arabs began the 1948 War to destroy Israel, that the Arabs were guilty of many massacres while the Israelis were scrupulous about protecting human rights, and that the Arabs fled at the behest of their leaders rather than being ethnically cleansed by the Israel Defense Forces—turn out to be based on a partial reading or misreading of Morris's books. Finkelstein documents these charges in exhaustive detail in Appendix II of his book and the preponderance of evidence he provides is conclusive." (30–31)<ref name=Desch/><ref>See Appendix II in ''Beyond Chutzpah'', where Finkelstein says that Morris attributes nearly all of the flight of Palestinians which occurred during that phase of the 1948 war to fear of Jewish military actions, not to any orders from Arab leaders or expulsion.</ref></blockquote>

===Support for Dershowitz===
{{Expand section|date=May 2013}}

As Desch acknowledges in his book review of ''Beyond Chutzpah'', "In the wake of a number of similar complaints against Dershowitz and two of his Harvard Law School colleagues [[Laurence Tribe]] and [[Charles Ogletree]], former Harvard President [[Derek Bok]] conducted an investigation—the details of which were not made public—that... vindicated Dershowitz" (32, col. 3).<ref name=Desch/>

==Dershowitz's involvement in Finkelstein's denial of tenure==

In September 2006, Alan Dershowitz sent members of [[DePaul University]]'s law and political science faculties what he described as "a dossier of Norman Finkelstein's most egregious academic sins, and especially his outright lies, misquotations, and distortions that... are not incidental to Finkelstein's purported scholarship; they are Finkelstein's purported scholarship," and he lobbied professors, alumni and administrators to deny Finkelstein tenure.<ref name="chron"/><ref name="Forer"/>  DePaul's political science committee investigated the accusations against Finkelstein and concluded that they were not based on legitimate criticism. The department subsequently invited [[John Mearsheimer]] and [[Ian Lustick]], two uninvolved academics with expertise on the Israel/Palestine conflict, to evaluate the academic merit of Finkelstein's work. Mearsheimer and Lustick came to the same conclusion.<ref name="Forer">Richard Forer ''Breakthrough: Transforming Fear Into Compassion : a New Perspective on the Israel-Palestine Conflict'' [[E-book]] 2010 {{ISBN|9780615404585}} Pg 45 - 46</ref> In April 2007 the De Paul University Liberal Arts and Sciences' Faculty Governance Council had voted unanimously to send a letter to Harvard University expressing "the council's dismay at Professor Dershowitz's interference in Finkelstein's tenure and promotion case."<ref name="chron">'' Chronicle of Higher Education'' Thursday, April 5, 2007 [http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=g4gfPKPrmfSXvwhvXzRPxd2Msdzzgrpm "Harvard Law Professor Works to Disrupt Tenure Bid of Longtime Nemesis at DePaul U."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930182543/http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=g4gfPKPrmfSXvwhvXzRPxd2Msdzzgrpm |date=September 30, 2007 }}</ref>

In early 2007, the DePaul University Political Science department voted 9 to 3, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Personnel Committee 5 to 0, in favor of giving Finkelstein [[tenure]]. The three opposing faculty members subsequently filed a minority report opposing tenure, supported by the Dean of the College, Chuck Suchar. Suchar stated he opposed tenure because Finkelstein's "personal and reputation demeaning attacks on Alan Dershowitz, [[Benny Morris]], and the holocaust authors Eli Wiesel and Jerzy Kosinski" were inconsistent with DePaul's [[Vincentian Studies Institute|"Vincentian" values]].<ref>[http://english.sxu.edu/sites/kirstein/?p=680 The Suchar Memorandum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927220612/http://english.sxu.edu/sites/kirstein/?p=680 |date=September 27, 2007 }} March 22, 2007</ref> In June 2007 a 4–3 vote by DePaul University's Board on Promotion and Tenure (a faculty board), affirmed by the university's president, the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, denied Finkelstein tenure.<ref name=CNNtenure>[http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/06/11/depaul.professor.ap/ "DePaul denies tenure to controversial professor"]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, CNN, June 11, 2007.</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20070707083735/http://sherman.depaul.edu/media/webapp/mrNews.asp?NID=1630 DePaul University Statement on the Tenure and Promotion Decision Concerning Professor Norman Finkelstein] June 6, 2007</ref> Finkelstein was placed on administrative leave for the 2007–2008 academic year (the remainder of his contract with DePaul), his sole course having been cancelled.<ref>http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/worldwide/story/0,,2158192,00.html Holocaust academic vows to fight axe of university class</ref> However, in announcing his decision, Holtschneider said the outside attention "was unwelcome and inappropriate and had no impact on either the process or the outcome of this case." On September 5, 2007, Finkelstein resigned after he and the university reached a settlement; they released a joint statement on the resolution of the conflict.<ref>
{{Cite news
 |title=DePaul Rejects Tenure Bid by Finkelstein and Says Dershowitz Pressure Played No Role 
 |newspaper=The Chronicle of Higher Education 
 |date=June 2007 
 |url=http://chronicle.com/news/index.php?id=2462 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927185045/http://chronicle.com/news/index.php?id=2462 
 |archive-date=September 27, 2007 
 |df=mdy 
}}</ref><ref>Zhou, Kevin.[http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518002 "Feud Weakens Prof's Tenure Bid"] ''Harvard Crimson'' April 4, 2007</ref><ref>Flow, Christian B. [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=519265 "Dershowitz Foes Face Scrutiny"]''Harvard Crimson'' June 22, 2007</ref><ref>[http://sherman.depaul.edu/media/webapp/mrNews2.asp?NID=1655&ln=true "Joint statement of Norman Finkelstein and DePaul University on their tenure controversy and its resolution."] September 5, 2007 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070908184549/http://sherman.depaul.edu/media/webapp/mrNews2.asp?NID=1655&ln=true |date=September 8, 2007 }}</ref>

==Additional points of dispute between Finkelstein and Dershowitz==

In ''The Holocaust Industry'', Finkelstein questioned [[Elie Wiesel]]'s claim to have read [[Immanuel Kant]]'s ''[[Critique of Pure Reason]]'' in [[Yiddish]]. According to Finkelstein, no translation of the work existed in Yiddish at the time.<ref>{{cite book|last=Finkelstein|first=Norman|title=The Holocaust Industry|url=https://archive.org/details/holocaustindustr00fink|url-access=limited|date=2003|publisher=Verso|page=[https://archive.org/details/holocaustindustr00fink/page/n70 82]|isbn=9781859844885|quote="Because survivors are now revered as secular saints, one doesn't dare question them. Preposterous statements pass without comment. Elie Wiesel reminisces in his acclaimed memoir that, recently liberated from Buchenwald and only eighteen years old, 'I read ''The Critique of Pure Reason'' — don't laugh! — in Yiddish.' Leaving aside Wiesel's acknowledgment that at the time 'I was wholly ignorant of Yiddish grammar,' ''The Critique of Pure Reason'' was never translated into Yiddish."}}</ref> Dershowitz responded that this was not so: he alleged that one had been published in [[Warsaw]] in 1929, and said that he had seen a copy at the [[Harvard University Library|Harvard Library]].<ref name=Rests/> Finkelstein described this latter claim as false and inept, writing that the only work by Kant in Yiddish owned by the library was a partial translation of the ''[[Critique of Practical Reason]]'', a completely different work than the one referred to by Wiesel and Dershowitz.<ref>[[Norman Finkelstein|Norman G. Finkelstein]], [https://www.normanfinkelstein.com/dershowitz-exposed-yet-again-the-critique-of-pure-cant/ "Dershowitz Exposed Yet Again: The Critique of Pure Cant,"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051226182649/http://normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=6 |date=December 26, 2005 }} online posting in "The Dershowitz Hoax", ''normanfinkelstein.com'' December 2003, accessed February 11, 2007.</ref>

During a clash with members of [[J Street (advocacy group)|J Street]] at the 2010 [[American Israel Public Affairs Committee]] conference, Dershowitz chastised J Street for pandering to anti-Israel activists and asked, "Why are you so popular with Norman Finkelstein?"<ref name="Httpwwwcommentarymagazinecomblogsindexphppollak">{{cite web |url=http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/pollak/265611 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-11-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102051900/http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/pollak/265611 |archive-date=January 2, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> J Street<ref name="Httpwwwcommentarymagazinecomblogsindexphppollak" /> rebuffed Dershowitz's claim.

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Arkes, Hadley. [https://web.archive.org/web/20051226144754/http://www.claremont.org/writings/crb/fall2005/arkes.html "The Rights and Wrongs of Alan Dershowitz."] ''[[Claremont Review of Books]]'' November 4, 2005. Accessed February 11, 2007.
* Chrucky, Andrew [http://www.ditext.com/chrucky/finkelstein.html "Norman Finkelstein, DePaul, and U.S. Academia: Reductio Ad Absurdum of Centralized Universities"], July 23, 2007.
* [[Alan Dershowitz|Dershowitz, Alan M.]] [http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193455201&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull "The Lerner-Finkelstein Duet."]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} ''[[The Jerusalem Post]]'' October 16, 2006. Accessed February 11, 2007.
* –––.  [http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378347880&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull "Neve Gordon Can't Take Criticism."]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}  ''[[The Jerusalem Post]]'' November 8, 2006. Accessed February 11, 2007.
* –––. [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=349031 "Plagiarism Accusations Political, Unfounded."] ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'' September 23, 2003. Accessed February 11, 2006.
* –––.  [https://web.archive.org/web/20051215233541/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=49 "Tsuris Over Chutzpah."] ''[[The Nation]]'' August 29, 2005. Rpt. in ''normanfinkelstein.com'' n.d. Accessed February 11, 2007.  (Comment on Wiener; see below.) [This article is followed by a letter from Dershowitz's research assistants: Holly Beth Billington (2002–2004), Alexander J. Blenkinsopp (2004–2005), Eric Citron (2003–2004), C. Wallace DeWitt (2004–2005), Aaron Voloj Dessauer (2004–2005), and Mitch Webber (2005); a reply by [[Jon Wiener]]; and a comment by Finkelstein.]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060327143015/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=122 "Dershowitz v. Desch."]  ''[[The American Conservative]]'' January 16, 2006, Forum. Rpt. ''normanfinkelstein.com'' n.d. Accessed February 12, 2007.  (Incl. detailed reply by [[Alan Dershowitz]] to book review of ''Beyond Chutzpah'' by Desch (see below) and reply by Desch (with pdf link), and a response added to his own site's presentation of this material by Finkelstein.)
* Eichner, Itamar, and Tova Tzimuki: [https://web.archive.org/web/20051228125659/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=85#tran "Simpson's Attorney Advises: "Acquittal" of Israel."] ''[[Yedioth Ahronoth]]'' November 18, 2003: 11. Rpt. in ''normanfinkelstein.com'' n.d. Accessed February 11, 2007.  (Incl. English translation & scan of Hebrew original.)
* [[Norman Finkelstein|Finkelstein, Norman]]. [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=509739 "Dershowitz Was To Meet With Israeli Officials."] ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'' November 8, 2005, Letter to the Editors (Opinion). Accessed February 11, 2007.
* –––.[https://web.archive.org/web/20060208140322/http://leitrimproductions.net/ "Finkelstein at Yale: ''Beyond Chutzpah''.] Video prod. by Leitrim Productions of lecture and discussion.  [[Yale University]], [[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]], [[Connecticut]].  October 20, 2005. Accessed February 11, 2007.
* –––. [https://web.archive.org/web/20061115190822/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=597 "Little Prissy Al."]  ''normanfinkelstein.com'' October 17, 2006. Accessed February 11, 2007.  (Response to Dershowitz, "The Lerner-Finkelstein Duet.")
* –––.  [https://web.archive.org/web/20061115185727/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=665 "Moment of Truth – Will Dershowitz Release the Letters?"]  ''normanfinkelstein.com'' November 9, 2006. Accessed February 11, 2007.
* –––. [https://web.archive.org/web/20051228133429/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=109 "Never Before Aired: Watch Part II of the Debate between Finkelstein and Dershowitz."]  Online posting.  ''normanfinkelstein.com'' n.d. Accessed February 11, 2007.  (Incl. link to Part I of the debate.)  (See Goodman.)
* Francois, Wendy.  [http://www.columbiaspectator.com/media/storage/paper865/news/2006/03/28/Opinion/Politics.Rip.Through.Columbia-2027977.shtml "Politics Rip through Columbia."]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} ''[[Columbia Daily Spectator]]''  March 28, 2006. Accessed February 11, 2007.
* [[Human Rights Watch]].  [http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1154526022655 "Human Rights Watch Responds to Dershowitz."]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}  ''[[The Jerusalem Post]]'' September 7, 2006. Accessed February 11, 2007.
* Maizel, Lindsay A. [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=509661 "At Talk, Finkelstein Calls Dershowitz Book a Fraud."] ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'' November 4, 2005. Accessed February 11, 2007.
* Segev, Tom. [https://web.archive.org/web/20051216000347/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=68 "Sharon Recommends a Book."] ''[[Ha'aretz]]'' October 24, 2005. Accessed February 11, 2007.
* Seiderman, Ian.  [http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1157913606877 "Right of Reply: Biased against Israel?]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Not at all Amnesty International responds to Dershowitz."  ''[[The Jerusalem Post]]'' September 11, 2006. Accessed February 11, 2007.
* Tetley, William.  [https://web.archive.org/web/20061029062444/http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/editorialsletters/story.html?id=f9a541e5-0c9e-428e-baaf-d3d3157cf4f5 "Another Dershowitz Diatribe."]  ''[[National Post]]'' July 24, 2006, letter to the editor. Accessed February 11, 2007.
* Troianovski, Anton S. [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=515328 Crimson Cuts Columnist for Lifting Material:] Online Magazine Slate Says It Won't Pursue Action Against Paper." ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'' October 27, 2006. Accessed February 11, 2007.
* [[Jon Wiener|Wiener, Jon]]. [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050711/wiener "Giving Chutzpah New Meaning."] ''[[The Nation]]'' July 11, 2005. Accessed February 11, 2007.
{{refend}}

==External links==
*[http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/facdir.php?id=12&show=bibliography Alan M. Dershowitz's Faculty Bibliography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060905094042/http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/facdir.php?id=12&show=bibliography |date=September 5, 2006 }} at [[Harvard Law School]] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20070210005627/http://www.alandershowitz.com/index.php Alan M. Dershowitz]'s own commercial website (''alandershowitz.com'') with links to publications by Alan M. Dershowitz and responses to some comments and publications by [[Norman Finkelstein]].
**[https://web.archive.org/web/20051231094329/http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/dershowitz/statement.html "Statement of Alan M. Dershowitz"].
*[http://www.normanfinkelstein.com Norman Finkelstein's website]
**[https://web.archive.org/web/20080224053121/http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=4&ar=1 "The Dershowitz Hoax"] (2003–2006) at the "official website of Norman G. Finkelstein" (''normanfinkelstein.com''), an in depth collection of materials relating to the affair from Finkelstein's point of view.

{{Norman Finkelstein}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dershowitz-Finkelstein Affair}}
[[Category:Historiography of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict]]
[[Category:Academic scandals]]
[[Category:DePaul University]]
[[Category:Harvard University]]
[[Category:Plagiarism controversies]]
[[Category:Norman Finkelstein]]
[[Category:Alan Dershowitz]]
[[Category:Academic freedom controversies]]