Soccer Dad

Norman Finkelstein For The Defense

Here is a trial that has been surfacing now and then in the news:

Salah, 53, of Bridgeview, has been on trial in Chicago for two months on charges that he served as a high-ranking operative of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, which the U.S. government considers a terrorist organization. Defense attorneys contend that the Salah prosecution is a politically motivated appeasement of the Israeli lobby.

The defense strategy seems to be two-pronged:

Back in September the New York Sun reported that a judge found that Hamas is a political party.

On Friday, a federal judge in Chicago ruled that defense attorneys for two men accused of handling Hamas's financial affairs here, Abdelhaleem Ashqar and Muhammad Salah, may tell jurors about the vote in January that gave the group a majority in the Palestinian Arab parliament.

Judge Amy St. Eve said she agreed with lawyers for Mr. Ashqar that the electoral victory "is relevant because it demonstrates that Hamas engages in legitimate political and social measures." The judge also said Hamas's role in the Palestinian Arab government could support Mr. Ashqar's contention "that the money he donated went to the legitimate purpose of consensus building and campaigning, rather than terrorist activities."

Earlier, in August, it was reported by the New York Sun:

In a motion filed yesterday, attorneys for Muhammad Salah asked to call witnesses and present other evidence to prove that the criminal case is the product of "the joint venture, cooperation, and partnership" between the American and Israeli governments. The defense lawyers said Israel should be compelled to turn over evidence favorable to Mr. Salah because the Israeli and American governments have acted in lockstep in the case.

...A defense lawyer, Michael Deutsch, described a "longstanding and profound political military and law enforcement relationship" between Israel and America. One authority he cited is an academic paper published in March, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy." The hotly disputed treatise by a political science professor at the University of Chicago, John Mearsheimer, and the academic dean at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Stephen Walt, argues that pro-Israel elements have effective control over American strategy in the Middle East.

Mr. Deutsch also asked to present evidence about the role of the Anti-Defamation League as a "conduit and facilitator" between Israeli and American authorities.

In order to strengthen the second point, the defense team is calling in the academic version of the Neturei Karta to discredit the prosecution's case:

Norman Finkelstein, a Jew whose parents survived the Holocaust, is an outspoken critic of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories and the influence of Israeli interest groups in the United States. In court Tuesday, the scholar of Israeli affairs called prominent pro-Israel law professor Alan Dershowitz a "complete fraudster."

Defense attorneys want Finkelstein to testify as an expert on the theory that the Israeli government has influenced American media to help shape favorable U.S. policy.

Before actually testifying in front of the jury, the judge has had Finkelstein explain what he is going to testify about. Finkelstein's response:

Finkelstein said it's impossible to study events in the Middle East over the past four decades without also analyzing the relationship between Israel and the United States. He described a powerful and complex "system" of U.S.-based Israeli interests working to influence American foreign policy.

"I'm not prepared to simplify matters by trying to conjure a conspiracy theory," Finkelstein said of the Israelis. "They have a lobby, and it's very effective, and it's been working very well since 1967."

When pushed for proof that Israeli interests greatly influence American policy, he pointed to past instances in United Nations debates when Israel and the United States have been lone allies on controversial issues.

"The record is: The whole world on one side, and the U.S. and Israel on the other side," Finkelstein said. "How do you explain that?"

Supposedly, Finkelstein has more to offer the defense to prove this point than the fact that the two are allies. After all, this could also be used to prove that US interests greatly influence American policy--something that is clearly demonstrable from the the agreements that Israel has been cajoled into by the US, as well as the arm deals that Israel has backed out of at US insistence. The more likely description--that the US and Israel share a somewhat symbiotic political relationship where both have followed policies that benefit the other--appears not to have occurred to Finkelstein.

Finkelstein said he personally has been an "object" of powerful pro-Israeli forces, citing verbal attacks on him for his views that some Jews exploit memories of the Holocaust for financial gain and political capital.

He also alluded to pro-Israeli machinations that he suspects recently led to the cancellations of his book-promoting appearances on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" and WTTW-TV's "Chicago Tonight."

"It's very sinister, and it's not happening to Jimmy Carter," Finkelstein said.

The former U.S. president has been making the rounds of news programs, touting the recent release of his book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Finkelstein has a long-running feud with Dershowitz, a Harvard University law professor, and he devoted much of a recent book to trashing a Dershowitz best-seller, "The Case for Israel."

In court Tuesday, Finkelstein attributed to Israeli influence the fact that Dershowitz's book received glowing reviews from leading U.S. newspapers.

"How do you account for that?" he said. "How do you account for the fact the senior-most professor of law at Harvard is a complete fraudster?"

As is well known, Dershowitz is not fond of Finkelstein either, having written of him:

Finkelstein is a transient academic who describes himself as "in exile" at De Paul University because he has been—by his own account—"thrown out of every school in New York."[6] He has been fired by Brooklyn College, N.Y.U., and several other schools for "incompetence," "mental instability," and "abuse" of students with politics different from his own, according to a high-ranking official at one of the schools. Finkelstein has admitted, "Never has one of my articles been published in a scientific magazine."[7] And deservedly so, as Peter Novick, whose book The Holocaust in American Life Finkelstein has characterized as "the initial stimulus for [his] book,"[8] wrote: "As concerns particular assertions made by Finkelstein concerning reparations and restitution, and on other matters as well, the appropriate response is not (exhilarating) ‘debate’ but (tedious) examination of his footnotes. Such an examination reveals that many of those assertions are pure invention. […] No facts alleged by Finkelstein should be assumed to be really facts, no quotation in his book should be assumed to! be accurate, without taking the time to carefully compare his claims with the sources he cites."[9]

Finkelstein has said that he "can’t imagine why Israel’s apologists would be offended by a comparison with the Gestapo"[10] and asserted that Israel’s human rights record is "interchangeable with Iraq’s" when it was ruled by Saddam Hussein.[11] He has said that most alleged Holocaust survivors—including Elie Wiesel—have fabricated their past, are "bogus," and that those seeking reparations are "cheats" and "greedy." Because of my support of Israel, he has compared me to "Adolf Eichman [sic],"[12] and accused me of expressing "Nazi moral judgments."[13]

This is a trial whose verdict is going to have real repercussions should Salah be found innocent on the basis of the claim of Israeli influence. Considering his history, it is not surprising to find Norman Finkelstein there.

by Daled Amos

Technorati Tag: Norman Finkelstein and Mohammed Salah and Hamas.

Posted by daledamos at December 14, 2006 1:09 AM | TrackBack