2003 • Norman Finkelstein • Alan Dershowitz • Israel-Palestine

Alan M. Dershowitz is a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. A proponent of Israel’s policies, he authored The Case For Israel, Chutzpah, The Vanishing American Jew, Why Terrorism Works, Shouting Fire and America Declares Independence.

Norman G. Finkelstein is a Professor of Political Science at DePaul University in Chicago. A fierce critic of Israel’s ‘occupation’, he authored The Holocaust Industry, Beyond Chutzpah, The Rise and Fall of Palestine and A Nation on Trial.

Snippets from the exchange where Finkelstein debunks Dershowitz' The Case For Israel:-

FINKELSTEIN: I appreciate Alan Dershowitz’s seriousness at least in these remarks. I have no intention whatsoever of getting involved in an ad hominem debate with Mr. Dershowitz. I’m interested in the facts. I was asked to come in and discuss his new book. I went home, purchased one copy, in fact I purchased two copies. I read the book very carefully. I did what someone serious does with a book. I read the text, I went through the footnotes. I went through it very carefully. There’s only one conclusion one can reach having read the book. This is a scholarly judgment, not an ad hominem attack. Mr. Dershowitz has concocted a fraud. In fact Mr. Dershowitz has concocted a fraud which amazingly in large parts, he plagiarized from another fraud. I found that pretty shocking, shocking coming from a Harvard professor. I find it shocking coming from any professor. 



DERSHOWITZ: We have to cut off. I just want to warn everybody here that although I’m not a litigious person when you make allegations . . 



FINKELSTEIN: I’m proceeded to . .  



DERSHOWITZ: When you make allegations of plagiarism, it has great legal implications. And I can’t obviously sit quietly by and . .  




FINKELSTEIN: You shouldn’t. I agree. Well that’s Let’s look at the evidence. 



DERSHOWITZ: . .  of plagiarism .  . 



FINKELSTEIN: Let’s look at the evidence. In the first two chapters of your book you extensively reproduce all of Joan Peters’ pages in her book. I read it carefully ... I have no interest in you, Mr. Dershowitz. None at all. I’m interested in the scholarship, I’m interested in the facts, I’m interested in your book. In 1984 one Joan Peters published a book called From Time Immemorial the book was universally recognized by serious scholars to be a fraud. Without wanting to toot my own horn I’m widely recognized as the person who exposed the fraud. I know that book inside out. I read it at least four times, I went through all 1854 footnotes. I started to read your book, Mr. Dershowitz, I then came to chapter one, footnotes 10, footnote 11, footnote 12, footnote 13, footnote 14, footnote 15, footnote 16, all of the quotes are from Joan Peters. They’re so from Joan Peters that you have a long quote here from Mark Twain on pages 23 to 24. I turned to Joan Peters page 159 to 160, identical quote from Twain with the ellipses in the same places. With the ellipses in the same places . . 

Courtesy of DemocracyNow (used without permission)

(Advanced appreciation is rendered for materials used without express permission for copyright owners - Tommy Peters)