Norman Finkelstein Sighting: He Is Teaching in Turkey

Hat tip Campus Watch

We were all wondering whatever happened to Norman Finklestein after his speaking engagements dried up and he was lamenting the fact that he had become unemployable. Well now we know. Norman is teaching in Sakarya, Turkey.

Not only that, he is comparing Charlie Hebdo to Julius Streicher and Der Stuermer.

 http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/14440

When dealing with Israel-basher Finkelstein, it is hard to depart from humor, but I will try. Perhaps, one difference between Der Stuermer and Charlie Hebdo is that the former was not all that interested in debunking the theological underpinnings of Judaism or insulting Moses. The real purpose of Der Stuermer was to stir up sheer hatred for Jews as a race-as a people. Readers would send in letters advocating the death penalty for Jewish men who had dared to defile the Aryan race by having sexual relations with Aryan women. Did Charlie Hebdo ever go that far?

And I might add something else that goes to Finkelstein's hypocrisy and selective outrage. In January 2009, Finkelstein participated in an event at UC Irvine called; "Whither the Levant". It was hosted by the Levantine Cultural Center in Los Angeles and was an all-day affair featuring numerous academic types all devoted to bashing Israel. During one panel discussion, I sent up a written question, which was-miracle of miracles- selected and directed to Finkelstein. My question went something like this:

"In recent days, we have seen pro-Palestinian protests in places like Ft Lauderdale and Los Angeles, where protesters were chanting things like, "Jews back to the ovens"and "Long live Hitler".  Will you condemn that and don't you think that this detracts from your cause?"

In his reply, Finkelstein said that he doubted the veracity of those charges, that he had never heard about them, and that they may have been staged by Zionists masquerading as Arabs. He then went on some analogy about pogroms in Russia and ended by suggesting that people like me should pull their heads out of their navels (to wild applause).

In April 2013, I again caught up with Finkelstein at Cerritos College near LA, where he was speaking to a college audience. I reminded him of the above event and asked him if he had had enough time to verify the referenced incidents since they were readily available on YouTube. Again, he denied any knowledge of the incidents.

So much for the credibility of Norman Finkelstein.