Dr Norman Finkelstein @ UNM

Visiting UNM On National Tour:  It is Abq Jew 's unpleasant responsibility to inform the Abq Jewish community of the following event, promoted by the University of New Mexico's Students for Justice in Palestine:

Dr Norman Finkelstein

Mon 05 Dec 2011 @ 5:30 - 7:30pm

UNM Student Union Building, Ballroom B

Who, exactly, is UNM-SJP?  The group's website states:

University of New Mexico Students for Justice in Palestine (UNM-SJP) is a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, and community members at colleges & universities throughout the US. Our group is organized according to democratic principles in order to promote justice, human rights, liberation, and self-determination for the Palestinian People.

This sounds OK to Abq Jew, who can see nothing wrong in promoting justice, human rights, liberation, and self-determination for any people.

UNM-SJP says it is committed to "overcoming anti-Semitic sentiments towards both Arabs and Jews in the community."  But the group is also committed to

certain key principles ....   These include the full decolonization of all illegally held Palestinian lands, the end of the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

Not comfortable with that?  Think that "decolonization" and "occupation" are code words for a plan to first delegitimize, then destroy the State of Israel?  Well, you ask, who else is endorsing this event?  How about:

1. UNM Peace Studies Program
2. UNM Muslim Students Association
3. Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions- New Mexico
4. Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel
5. Friends of Sabeel Albuquerque

Now, there's a real mix.  #1 seems like it would be OK (Abq Jew really doesn't know).  #5 proclaims itself the "Voice of the Palestinian Christians", and promotes "awareness and understanding".  That sounds promising.  But #2, #3, and #4 sure make Abq Jew nervous.

Who is Dr Norman Finkelstein?  What do we know about him?

Norman G. Finkelstein received his doctorate in 1988 from the Department of Politics at Princeton University.  For many years he taught political theory and the Israel-Palestine conflict. He currently writes and lectures.  He lives in Brooklyn.

Finkelstein is the author of six books that have been translated into more than 40 foreign editions:

1. This Time We Went Too Far: Truth and consequences of the Gaza invasion
2. Beyond Chutzpah: On the misuse of anti-Semitism and the abuse of history
3. The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the exploitation of Jewish suffering
4. Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict
5. A Nation on Trial: The Goldhagen thesis and historical truth
6. The Rise and Fall of Palestine: A personal account of the intifada years

Finkelstein has recently published the pamphlet:

Goldstone Recants: Richard Goldstone renews Israel’s license to kill.  

and is currently working on a new book entitled:

Knowing Too Much: Why the American Jewish love affair with Israel is coming to an end

Somehow, Abq Jew does not perceive Dr Finkelstein as objective in his judgments, and doubts whether cool, dispassionate discourse could be the mode of the evening.

Or - do Abq Jew and Dr Finkelstein simply disagree?  And if not at UNM, where could a civil, civilized, respectful discussion of The Situation (as Israelis call it) take place?  Hard questions  must be asked, even if - especially if - we don't like the answers.

Here is one possibility (Abq Jew is sure there are others):

On October 19, Professor Jeff Halper, an Israeli anthropologist and the head of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), kicked off Congregation Nahalat Shalom’s 4th year of Jewish Voices on Peace in the Middle East lecture series.

Abq Jew did not attend - it was Erev Shemini Atzeret.  But: there are good, Jewish reasons to be in favor of demolishing the homes of Palestinian terrorists.  There are also good, Jewish reasons to be against that policy.  This is a discussion we should have.  Reasonable people who believe in the safety and sanctity of the State of Israel can disagree about this.

By all reports, Professor Halper's  lecture was a low-keyed, lightly-attended, serious discussion - the family sitting around the kitchen table.  In contrast, Dr Finkelstein's lecture is anticipated to be the diametric opposite - high-pitched, heavily-attended, inflammatory, and very public.

Abq Jew says: May the evening go well, and may all emerge enlightened.