Calif. Press will publish controversial book on Israel

[Violet_Crumble]

Legal wrangling and disputes over the author's claims plagued 'Beyond Chutzpah'

by Jennifer Howard
July 19, 2005

The University of California Press announced this month that it would proceed with the publication of a controversial book by Norman G. Finkelstein, an assistant professor of political science at DePaul University, that attacks some pro-Israel scholarship on the continuing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

The press will release Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History, next month, despite the threat of legal action by one of the chief targets of the book, the Harvard University law professor Alan M. Dershowitz.

The wrangling over the book has put Lynne Withey, director of the press, to a highly public test of the resolve she publicly expressed last month in remarks to the Association of American University Presses. In her first speech as president of the association, Ms. Withey called on members to continue publishing on controversial topics despite "a political culture that seems bent on suppressing information."

The fight over Beyond Chutzpah has embroiled the press in a pitched battle between Mr. Finkelstein and Mr. Dershowitz, himself the author of many books, including Chutzpah (Little, Brown) and The Case for Israel (John Wiley & Sons). But it is also a case study in how hard it can be for an academic press to publish a book that deals with such charged material.

Mr. Finkelstein's book examines documentation assembled by human-rights groups, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, and unfavorably dissects the writings of certain pro-Israel commentators, including Mr. Dershowitz, in light of those groups' findings. Earlier versions of the manuscript also reiterated allegations of plagiarism that Mr. Finkelstein has made elsewhere against Mr. Dershowitz.



http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=8331

[Jim Sagle]

1. The Fink SUXXXX and the Dersh RRRAWWKSSS!! Pass it on.

[HawkerHurricane]

2. When all else fails...

a good ad hominem is called for.

[Violet_Crumble]

3. nyuck nyuck...

..was about to say something similar myself...

Violet...

[Coastie for Truth]

4. Who knows

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x96903

[Violet_Crumble]

6. Not me...

Here's the spot where I should plonk in a link to a totally irrelevant thread, I guess...

Violet...

[Coastie for Truth]

8. Sometimes there's nothing like a good

kabbalistic curse.

[Monkie]

5. "On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History"

"In the body of the book, the word "plagiarizes" has been replaced with such phrases as "lifts from" or "appropriates from without attribution," the author says. An appendix now refers readers to the definition of plagiarism laid out in Harvard University's Writing With Sources: A Guide for Students.


"We juxtapose the definition with the evidence and leave it to the reader to decide," Mr. Finkelstein says."

I think the pressure Dershowitz has been applying is only going to have a negative effect for him.By the time the book comes out it will be so rock-solid legally due to the many revisions that if Dershowitz does sue all it is going to do is keep this mess right in the public eye.
People who normally wouldnt be interested in some vague academic dispute will be drawn to the titillating aspects of a courtcase like this.

Regarding the actual premise of the book, those that peddle revisionist histories need to be exposed for what they are,it is important that there is academic scrutiny of this disturbing trend of unchallenged historically nonsense and the baseless charges throw at those that see it for what it is.

[Englander]

7. Beyond Chutzpah - "illuminating"

"Beyond Chutzpah is the most comprehensive, systematic, and well-documented work of its kind. It is one of the harshest--rational and nonemotional--texts about the daily practices of the occupation and colonization of the Palestinian territories by Israel, and it is an excellent demonstration of how and why the blind defenders of Israel, by basing their arguments on false facts and figures, actually bring more damage than gains to their cause."--Baruch Kimmerling, George S. Wise Professor of Sociology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

"The scholarship is simply superb. Finkelstein has clearly done his homework, and consulted and mastered a breathtaking range of material: primary sources and documents, scholarly works, reports old and new, correspondence with relevant individuals, and numerous other sources too. He has left no stone unturned."--Mouin Rabbani, Contributing Editor, Middle East Report

"A vigorous, intelligent, succinct and powerfully argued analysis that is difficult if not impossible to reproach."--Sara Roy, Senior Research Scholar, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University

"Beyond Chutzpah is a brilliantly illuminating study of the lengths to which some American Jews will go to present Israel in a favorable light. On display are all the sterling qualities for which Finkelstein has become famous: erudition, originality, spark, meticulous attention to detail, intellectual integrity, courage, and formidable forensic skills."--Avi Shlaim, Professor of International Relations, Oxford University

"A brave and daring challenge, meticulously researched. Must reading for anyone committed to a just and enduring peace in the Middle East." - Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!

Pre-order it at;
University of California Press

[Englander]

9. Heh...

"In the body of the book, the word "plagiarizes" has been replaced with such phrases as "lifts from" or "appropriates from without attribution," the author says. An appendix now refers readers to the definition of plagiarism laid out in Harvard University's Writing With Sources: A Guide for Students."

:rofl:

[Behind the Aegis]

10. Gotta love it!

When a Jew hates Israel and diminishes anti-Semitism in the US, it is a "score" for the "other" side! What is better than a Jew backing up the hate people peddle?

[Englander]

11. wtf? What tf are you talking about?!?!

Have you read any of the article,or the
rest of this thread?

:wtf:

[Behind the Aegis]

12. the book!

The book is a Isreal hate-fest and how Jews are "too sensitive."