"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." Elie Wiesel (1928 - 2016)
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b2/a3/bf/b2a3bf15aa2398ec2bf6bf67ef5e1e68.jpg
It is frequently the case, that our judgement of nations, is viewed through the prism of the treatment of identifiable individuals.
Political leaders and establishments, may lay claim to high moral principles for the nations they represent, but the acid test is how in practice their armed forces, police and other enforcement agencies, exercise the considerable power afforded them, when in contact with fellow human beings.
The treatment of Norman Finkelstein by the United States of America is a case in point.
(His own description of how he was recently "kidnapped by the Nassau (New York) County Police on October 9th 2017" (1) can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzaCdY2HTsE&feature=share; https://thegoldwater.com/news/10264-Palestinian-Activist-Norman-Finkelstein-Needs-Your-Help )
It appears he was previously arrested on the 17th September, 2017.
For those unfamiliar with the man, his mission and experience, Norman Finkelstein is the 64 year old son of Jewish parents who survived the German holocaust, moved to America after the war ended and passed away in 1995. Their experiences made them political and radical critics of subsequent American foreign policy, particularly in relation to the "Cold War" and the Vietnam War. They were liberated by Russian forces and therefore took a very different view of it and the American obsession with 'defeating Communism', that dominated '50's and 60's thinking.
Brought up in such an environment, it is not surprising that the intellectually bright Norman, born on the 8th December, 1953, should do well academically - he eventually received his PhD from Princeton in 1988 - or take a radical and outspoken stand. The irony of course proved to be, given his parentage, rather than adopting the prevailing orthodoxy, he became a notable critic of it, to which can be traced his tribulations - indeed victimisation - by Zionist-dominated political power.
Finkelstein achieved his notoriety (and PhD thesis) for challenging and deconstructing a popular book of the 1980's, entitled "From Time Immemorial" by Joan Peters, that basically propounded the notion that Palestinians were peripatetic squatters in an otherwise eternally Jewish homeland - a perspective in line with the stance promulgated by Zionists since the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948.
In contrast, Finkelstein asserted that the book was a "monumental hoax". Needless to say this attracted immediate opposition and criticism from many quarters. Noam Chomsky summed it up with the warning: "If you follow this, you're going to get in trouble—because you're going to expose the American intellectual community as a gang of frauds, and they are not going to like it, and they're going to destroy you." (2)
http://mondoweiss.net/2017/09/finkelstein-response-anderson/
Perhaps an even more damaging and long-running dispute was with the noted Harvard jurist Alan Dershowitz's and since retirement (now a regular CNN and Fox News contributor and political analyst which probably speaks volumes!) over his 2004 book "The Case for Israel" - a Zionism apologetic. The two disputes were related as Dershowitz drew heavily on the earlier work by Peters without properly acknowledging it, which Finkelstein had pleasure in drawing attention to, whilst trashing both. However, it had serious academic consequences for the latter, losing his tenure at dePaul University as a result and illustrating the power of the Jewish lobby on academic freedom of expression. (3)
Meanwhile Dershowitz, described as a "leading defender of civil liberties" perhaps showed his true colours in the cutting remark, quoted by Wikipedia, "I don't think he is a Jew. He's Jewish only on his parents' side." I wonder if his support for civil liberties will prompt him to now to demand Finkelstein be treated fairly and justly to dispel the aura of victimisation and stitch-up by Zionist forces now surrounding his recent arrest?
The people Dershowitz has defended is perhaps instructive, including the notorious Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted prostitution soliciting billionaire and holiday-island-procuring friend of the 'great and the bad'. (4)
Finkelstein's famous response to a questioner is shown in this You Tube clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0CulhsQkTA) but his academic output and activity can only be adequately appreciated by referring to the Wikipedia biography. Rather strangely it makes no reference (as yet) to his recent arrest, the reasons for which, or the alleged brutality in which it was carried out, are hard to discover.
Finkelstein's account of night time arrest and subsequent treatment can be found here. (5) He draws attention to his required psychological assessment because he turned up to court in only the shorts he was arrested in, whilst contrasting the judge's shock with what he claims is "a filthy, racist enclave of Nassau County" where all the defendants on the day were black.
This recent disproportionate treatment appears to be at the instigation of Michael Chetkof and Allyson Burger, although the precise grounds for it are not clear. (6) It would appear that Finkelstein had acted on behalf of an individual being targeted by the above individuals, as a result of which he also was attacked and arrested. What is not clear is to what extent this involves a Zionist conspiracy to finally punish and silence Finkelstein for daring to counter the prevailing narrative of Jewish victim hood that justifies its hegemonic, aggressive and apartheid policies in Palestine?
Time will tell, but in the meantime, I believe he and his efforts to balance the narrative scales deserves whole-hearted support.
REFERENCES
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassau_County_Police_Department
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Finkelstein
3. https://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/finkelstein.html
4. 'The Fantacist' New York Magazine, December 8, 2007. http://nymag.com/news/features/41826/
5. http://normanfinkelstein.com/2017/10/22/sanity-and-lunacy-in-nassau-county-ny/
6. http://normanfinkelstein.com/2017/10/22/michael-chetkof-and-allyson-burger-their-gestapo-tactics-will-not-stop-me-truth-and-justice-are-mightier-weapons-2/
APPENDIX
Following from: http://normanfinkelstein.com/2017/10/06/michael-chetkof-and-allyson-burger-day-of-judgment-approaches/
Michael Chetkof and Allyson Burger: DAY OF JUDGMENT APPROACHES
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE TO DISBAR MICHAEL CHETKOF AND ALLYSON BURGER: UPDATE #2 (06 OCTOBER 2017)
I. Dr Rudolph Baldeo appeared in Court on Wednesday, 04 October 2017. He had been served with an Order of Contempt by the contemptible Michael Chetkof and Allyson Burger. The judge, Hon. Stacy D. Bennett, was eminently fair and compassionate. Indeed, she registered in open court a unique concern with Dr Baldeo’s plight. If Judge Bennett continues to uphold the principles of Truth and Justice in the face of Chetkof and Burger’s pit bull tactics, a reasonable resolution might be within reach.
*****
II. I must appear in Court on Tuesday, 10 October 2017, regarding the incident on 6 September 2017. A member of the UN High Commission on Human Rights has unexpectedly intervened in my case. He has expressed concern about my apparent “arbitrary arrest.” I was asked to describe what happened. Here’s my account (a few points have been omitted to protect the innocent):
1. I was arrested on 6 September 2017.
2. Two police detectives barged into my apartment at 11:30 p.m.
3. [omitted]
4. [omitted]
5. The detectives demanded that I sit on a rickety coffee table in my foyer that comes up to my kneecap. They wouldn’t let me sit on a chair.
6. I was handcuffed as I left my apartment building in order to humiliate me in front of my neighbors.
7. I was transported to a police precinct located fully one hour from where I live. I was handcuffed the entire trip and was in agonizing pain. (I am 64 years old.)
8. I was handcuffed to a pole for five hours in the police precinct while the detective filled out a single-paged form.
9. I was then thrown into an overcrowded jail cell and had to sleep on a stone floor. I asked for a blanket as I was freezing but the request was denied.
10. I was brought before a judge at 11:00 a.m.
11. I was served with an Order of Protection forbidding me to have any contact for one year with the two opposing lawyers, Michael Chetkof and Allyson Burger.
12. The police alleged that I was harassing Chetkof and Burger by constantly emailing them.
13. The allegation is a flat-out lie. Every email I sent to Chetkof and Burger and their colleagues had appended at the head:
Note: I am writing each of you in your private capacity and not as members of a law firm. If you want me to remove you from this ListServe, just email me and I will immediately oblige. (This formulation was recommended and approved by the ACLU to protect this writer from future claims of online harassment.)
14. If Chetkof and Burger didn’t want to receive my emails, they merely had to inform me, and I most certainly would have ceased writing them.
15. They had me arrested in order to intimidate me into silence.
16. This is not the first time Chetkof and Burger tried to intimidate me. When I informed them that I was writing an article to expose their racist shakedown of Dr Rudolph Baldeo, Chetkof threatened to “open Pandora’s Box” and destroy Dr Baldeo “Personally and Professionally” unless I desisted.
17. Because of the Order of Protection, I can no longer accompany Dr Baldeo to Court. They want to isolate him in Court so they can terrorize him into submission.
18. [omitted]
19. I must appear in Court again on 10 October 2017. It is possible that I will again be thrown into jail.
20. I am not afraid. My late parents survived five years in Hitler’s death camps. I will survive a Long Island jail cell.
21. I will not be browbeaten into abandoning Dr Baldeo in his Moment of Truth.
*****
III. Yesterday (05 October), I sent the letter below to Chetkof and Burger’s law partners:
William B Saltzman and Lee Rosenberg,
You are perhaps aware that yesterday ‘s court hearing was not a banner day for Michael Chetkof and Allyson Burger. Hon. Stacy D. Bennett was eminently fair and compassionate. Indeed, Judge Bennett signaled in open court a unique solicitude for Dr Baldeo’s plight.
The tide has turned.
I have repeatedly warned you that you will never prevail against me. You do not possess my intelligence, integrity, courage, stamina, or conviction. But most important of all, I have arrayed in my arsenal the invincible weapons of Truth and Justice. That is why 3,000 people worldwide have signed the petition calling for the disbarment of Chetkof and Burger; that is why the UN High Commission on Human Rights has intervened; that is why an internationally renowned journalist is writing an article on this case (see attachment, cc’d to me this morning).
I have repeatedly warned you to settle this case before Chetkof and Burger drag you over the precipice with them. I of course want to resolve this matter so as to move beyond the sleazy, smarmy, sordid, squalid machinations of Long Island matrimonial lawyers. But it is literally inconceivable that I will abandon Dr Baldeo in his Moment of Truth. However long it takes, however much time it consumes, I will be at his side until and unless his dignity is restored. Dr Baldeo currently resides in his parents’ attic and all his belongings are stored in the boiler room, while his ex-wife demands $250 per month for her “beauty parlor,” $500 per month for her “beauty aids,” and $4550 per month for food. That will not stand! I was Dr Baldeo’s professor when he first came to the US penniless and labored as a shipping clerk. I watched in awe as this guileless and brilliant student, struggling and sweating (like Jewish immigrants of yore), climbed one by one each rung on the ladder of success. I was there at each of his graduations to celebrate his hard-won achievements. But—woe to that ghastly day!—I was also personally witness when all of Dr Baldeo’s life’s earnings were swiped from him in broad daylight by two thieving lawyers, who concocted the monstrous lie that he had committed “countless” acts of “unspeakable” violence against his wife over a quarter century. If this allegation contained even a jot of truth, why couldn’t Burger and Chetkof adduce a single document—a single police record, a single medical record, a single witness affidavit, a single counseling record—to corroborate it?
It is my understanding that Dr Baldeo will be writing you. He is ready to settle and get on with his life. I emphatically do not agree with his terms. Dr Baldeo is generous to an absurd fault, but that is his nature, naively forgiving and forgetting–it is also what makes him so endearing and admirable a human being.
You should think hard about where things are now headed as you contemplate your response to Dr Baldeo’s olive branch.
Sincerely,
Professor Norman G Finkelstein
P.S. You should also advise the District Attorney that the UN High Commission on Human Rights is monitoring my case. The DA might decide it’s the better part of prudence to drop the charges now before I show up in court. It is surely cause for curiosity, not to say incredulity, how it came to pass that a 64-year-old professor was dragged at midnight from his apartment in Coney Island, Brooklyn in handcuffs, transported all the way to Hempstead Long Island an hour away, and held overnight in an overcrowded freezing cell where he had to sleep on a stone floor, on account of an email correspondence that he had offered on request to cease.
DON’T FORGET TO SIGN THE PETITION!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeTpKASahAc
ReplyDeletehttps://www.change.org/p/janet-difiore-chief-judge-of-the-state-of-new-york-norman-g-finkelstein-must-walk-free/w?source_location=psf_petitions_controller
ReplyDelete"A thousand thanks to everyone who wrote me and called the jailhouse.
ReplyDeleteI had to spend the night in jail but I am out now.
One thing I’ve discovered is, No matter how many times you’ve gone to jail, you never get used to it.
It’s not the tight handcuffs or the cold jailhouse floor.
It’s the humiliation and degradation as prison guards treat you like worthless trash.
“Turn around,” “Bend over,” “Spread your legs,” “Shut the fuck up.”
The American system of justice says, You’re innocent until proven guilty.
But when you view the world from the bottom up, it’s just the opposite:
From the moment of arrest, you’re treated as if you are guilty until proven innocent.
If you’re innocent until proven guilty, why are you locked up in a disgusting jail cell often for more than a day before you even get to see a Judge?
As for me, A luta continua (The struggle continues).
I won’t abandon my former student and close friend, Dr Baldeo.
He fell prey to a couple of creepy Long Island matrimonial lawyers (Michael Chetkof and Allyson Burger), who frame and blackmail successful Muslim immigrants.
Right now there is a Court Order against me, so a long prison sentence looms.
But if I betray him in his hour of need, I will betray everything I have stood for in my life.
Say a little prayer for Dr Baldeo and me."
UPDATE: "Strange, but in my mind’s eye the fates of the people of Gaza and Dr Baldeo intersect. An innocent people, an innocent person, crucified. A corrupt system drunk on power that wrecks and destroys lives with impunity. All that remains is a record, to be excavated long after the perpetrators, victims and bystanders are dead and gone."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.change.org/p/12629962/u/22143279?utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_update&utm_campaign=209668&sfmc_tk=GH8wFIsFXmLGEZ36aBKNz3%2bn9UAhm%2bWI3%2b%2fdIBnmU9io6wg0NwzZp5zVrsWi36oB&j=209668&sfmc_sub=156970884&l=32_HTML&u=38589476&mid=7259882&jb=7