MEMRI is ‘propaganda machine,’ expert says ("expert" = Finkelstein = BARF!)

InFocus (South Cal Muslim Mag) ^ | 5 June 2007 | Lawrence Swaim

[Stultis]

"InFocus" seems focused on excusing Judenhass.

[tkas]

I think that I will immediately make ANOTHER contribution to MEMRI. They are critical to the pursuit of truth and contribute mightily to the US armed forces intelligence effort.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

Kinda like the NY Times Editorial Board?

[weegee]

Biography:

Norman G. Finkelstein received his doctorate in 1988 from the Department of Politics, Princeton University, for a thesis on the theory of Zionism. He currently teaches political theory at DePaul University in Chicago.

Finkelstein is the author of five books:

Beyond Chutzpah: On the misuse of anti-Semitism and the abuse of history (University of California Press, August 2005)

The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the exploitation of Jewish suffering (Verso: 2000; expanded second edition, 2003); an international bestseller, it has been translated into twenty four foreign languages

Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict (Verso: 1995; expanded second edition, 2003); translated into five foreign languages

A Nation on Trial: The Goldhagen thesis and historical truth (with Ruth Bettina Birn) (Henry Holt: 1998); named a “notable book of 1998” by the New York Times Sunday Book Review, it has been translated into three foreign languages

The Rise and Fall of Palestine: A personal account of the intifada years (University of Minnesota: 1996); translated into two foreign languages

In April 2005, Finkelstein was the presenter for an hour-long documentary (”The Final Insult”) based on The Holocaust Industry, to be broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. He is also the subject of several independent film documentaries currently in production. In 2003 he was the keynote speaker on the main panel at the Rome Historical Book Fair and was a guest on Europe’s main television news hour, the Sabine Christiansen show. In 2002 he delivered the annual memorial lecture in history at Alfred University.

Finkelstein was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1953. The dedication for his first book read:

To my beloved parents,

Maryla Husyt Finkelstein,
survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto,
Maidanek concentration camp

and

Zacharias Finkelstein,
survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto,
Auschwitz concentration camp.

May I never forget or forgive what was done to them.

http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/content.php?pg=5

[Alouette]

Finkelstein is propaganda machine, MEMRI says.

FReepMail to be added or removed from this pro-Israel/Judaic/Russian Jewry ping list.

Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.

[Asclepius]

I think that I will immediately make ANOTHER contribution to MEMRI. They are critical to the pursuit of truth and contribute mightily to the US armed forces intelligence effort.

Me too.

[weegee]

“They use the same sort of propaganda techniques as the Nazis” Interesting turn of a phrase from a man who believes that the Holocaust is oversold.

[SolidWood]

Norman G. Finkelstein

Anti-semitic JINO. He can go to Gaza and try out how long he lasts,

[weegee]

Nor does MEMRI feature stories about Palestinian suffering, Israeli dissenters, moderate Islamists, Christians in Arab governments or the growing nonviolent movement against the apartheid wall in the Occupied Territories, especially around Bal’in.

"Apartheid wall". Good one. What's the wall outside Mecca called. The one enforced by death penalty when kufir/non-muslims try to enter? What's the policy of prohibited Jews entry to Saudi Arabia called?

There IS apartheid in the Middle East and it isn't in Israel.

[sageb1]

Lawrence Swaim

http://www.muzzlewatch.com/?p=188

#13

# Lawrence Swaim, Executive Director, Interfaith Freedom Foundation Says:
May 31st, 2007 at 7:15 pm

Cecilie,

How about mud wrestling on Harvard Yard?
Boys only. Sorry, Cecilie.

Seriously, I’m afraid Trivers went over the line in his WSJ letter. In my world, offering to pay someone a personal visit is considered threatening, although I certainly heard worse when I was in union politics. But Dersh was probably within his rights to call the cops. We all need to take a giant step backwards where this kind of talk is concerned.

There was no reason to cancel the speaking engagement, however.

This might be a good time to congratulate you for the tone you’ve established at Muzzlewatch. Objectivity bordering on actual civility! What a novel and exciting idea…and you’ve developed that objective reportorial stances in dealing with the explosive twin issues of Israel/Palestine and the US Israel Lobby, no less. That’s a real accomplishment.

I feel sorry for all those angry guys out there in the blogosphere, but you’re on to something, Cecilie–it’s such a pleasure to come in out of all that self-righteousness and histrionics to read a considered opinion or a summary about something as complicated as the Middle East.

Incidentally, look for my feature article in the Muslim newspaper InFocus, about MEMRI, in the June issue just coming out. Researching it I found out something rather intriguing about MEMRI’s approach to copyright law…but you’ll just have to read the article to find out what it is.

Anyway, thanks for a wonderful blog and a wonderful organization. Jewish Voice for Peace embodies the best of the democratic left with the prophetic voice of the Abrahamic tradition. Keep on keepin’ on, and keep on speaking truth to power!

In your case, you always seem to do it with civility. What a treat!

Lawrence Swaim
Interfaith Freedom Foundation
P.O. Box 133
Fremont CA 94537
510-745-8178

[Stultis]

Ping...

[iopscusa]

Did he not get tenure at DePaul? He is one bitter JINO....now he will be unemployed...karma works.

[Nachum]

It is said by TV viewers who watched the entire debate that al-Kouly was rather patient with Sultan despite her extreme opinions.

Al-Kouly was smoked by an effective debater. Only someone who had never witnessed the debate or someone with another agenda would say something like the above. It is a slimy weasel worded way to get around the truth. Nice try.

[Nachum]

What they really hate is that MEMRI puts a spotlight on the cockeroaches.

[cripplecreek]

Youtube video posted by CAIRtv titled “Wafa Sultan spews hate on Glenn Beck show”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZXj2shOzkY

Note that the comments are disabled.

[sageb1]

Also this:

http://www.jihadchat.com/index.php?act=Print&client=printer&f=6&t=1832

Posted by: jack Apr 10 2007, 06:40 PM

AN INTERFAITH VIEW: DRIVING ISLAMOPHOBIA - TOP
Lawrence Swaim, InFocus, 4/10/07
http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/10954/135/

“In the 1950s, ultra-conservatives torpedoed their critics by calling them Communist. Today the same tactic is used against Muslim organizations by calling them apologists for terrorism. And like the 1950s, the intent of the ultra-conservatives today is to distract the public from their own undemocratic maledictions. As the French say, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

It was a déjà vu all over again, too, when Republicans in the House of Representatives asked Nancy Pelosi to deny the Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR) a capital conference room for a seminar. If religious McCarthyism is the intent of House Republicans, so is their ultimate political intent. They want to peel off Jewish voters from the Democratic base, moving them to the right by an appeal to Islamophobia. That was precisely the strategy behind Karl Rove’s gambit of putting Daniel Pipes on the Board of Directors at the Institute of Peace. This latest move also aims to expose the Democratic leadership as unprincipled flip-floppers by hassling Nancy Pelosi until she caves in to their demands. The Republicans want more votes and money from the pro-Israel lobby, while driving the Dems crazy by threatening their base.

So how does one react to terror-baiting? Go on the offensive. The more you try to explain that you’re not a terrorist, the more the Islamophobes will control the discussion. Single out your most vulnerable attackers by name and sue them for defamation. Then show how they and their friends are undermining religious liberty in America, and how their political posturing is based on religious bigotry. Show how they support authoritarian government, torture and the Iraq war. Root your arguments in religious and political pluralism, the American constitution, and the American way of life. Show how religious McCarthyism helps the terrorists and besmirches America’s good name in the Muslim and Arabic-speaking worlds. Insist that it endangers the lives of our young people in uniform. Fight back with everything in your legal and rhetorical arsenal.

Secondly, we need to find better ways of confronting the underlying problem that drives Islamophobia in America. It’s all about Israel, folks, and the way Jews and Muslims get defined by various contending parties to that issue. More than anything we need a frank and open national debate about Israel/Palestine and the future of American foreign policy, but we’ll never get there until we confront the pro-Israel lobby head-on. “

[Zionist Conspirator]

So, he's basically saying that invoking the victims of the Holocaust on behalf of Israel is part of "the Holocaust industry," but to invoke them against Israel is perfectly legitimate???

Communists have been doing that for over sixty years, btw.

[Stultis]

Great links, great info, sageb1. Haven’t noticed your contributions here before but you’re now on my “savvy freepers to keep a virtual eye out for” list.

[Safetgiver]

view the Arab world as a malevolent, mind-numbing monsters’ ball, populated almost exclusively by fanatics, freaks and fundamentalists. ....As true a statement as I’ve ever seen.

[theBuckwheat]

So, all those ‘death to infidels’ sermons that MEMRI translated are just fakes?