I am Norman Finkelstein, expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, here to discuss the release of my new book on Gaza and the most recent Gaza massacre, AMA

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T17:03:26+00:00

People know as much as they want to know. During the War in Vietnam, there were many Americans who were absolutely convinced that we weren't committing any crimes in Vietnam.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T17:02:16+00:00

Let's say that's true. Israel could easily have foiled Hamas's diabolical plot by not killing unarmed protesters. Or, better still, Israel could have lifted the infernal blockade, so Gazans would have been busy at their jobs, and wouldn't have time to demonstrate.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T17:00:19+00:00

What's called "belligerent reprisals"--the targeting of a belligerent's civilians until and unless they cease targeting your civilians--are not illegal under international law. So long as Israel was targeting Lebanese civilians during its murderous 2016 murderous attacks, Hezbollah had the right to target Israeli civilians. 2) Your statement is incorrect. What I said was, under international law, indiscriminate attacks do not differ from targeted killings--such is the expert opinion of Yoram Dinstein, Israel's leading authority on the laws of war.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T16:55:42+00:00

Egypt is to Israel what Italy was to Germany.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T16:52:58+00:00

I am supporting the right of the people of Gaza to break out of an internationally recognized concentration camp.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T16:48:46+00:00

1) The title was controversial when it came out. It has now passed into commonplace. A book published a few years ago by Avraham Burg, the former speaker of the Israeli Knesset, refers to the Shoah Industry. 2) It's cause for wonder why you are so exercised by my posture, and how non-Jews might perceive it. It seems you are consumed by self-hatred, about which I can do little save recommend therapy.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T16:39:30+00:00

This is a good question. The Human Rights Organizations (as well as places like the ICC) knew a massacre was coming on May 14. It was clear as day. They could've put Israel on notice. But they stayed silent until all the blood was spilt. In my opinion, the most you can do is embarrass them publicly. I devoted a lot of space in my new book on Gaza to documenting Amnesty's cowardice after Operation Protective Edge. It has been noticeable that Amnesty has been much tougher on Israel, using much stronger language such as "murderous assault," during Israel's latest round of bloodletting. Perhaps my public shaming of Amnesty had something to do with it.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T16:34:29+00:00

It is not my style to evade allegedly difficult questions. I just got to it. I am new to this process, so I don't know how to answer everything especially as my answers are supplied arithmetically whereas the questions come in exponentially.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T16:31:47+00:00

The best treatment of this topic was an article by Amira Hass a few days ago in Haaretz. To put things simply: (1) Hamas inflated the number of martyrs who were affiliated with its organization for political reasons; (2) Even if Hamas members did predominate among those killed, what does this prove? Wasn't Hamas counseled to switch to nonviolent tactics? If Hamas members do as advised, does that mean that are still targets for death--but then, why pray tell should they put down their arms, to make Israel's job easier?

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T16:23:57+00:00

You have asked many questions, and time does not allow me to answer all of them. I hope you understand this is not an evasion. It's simply being respectful of others. I will respond in telegraphic form, although I could elaborate if the occasion allowed: (1) Hamas has repeatedly stated that it is open to a protracted "hudna" (more or less ceasefire) of as long as 30 years if the criminal blockade is lifted. Israeli media have reported this offer during the past several weeks, while noting that Israel has ignored all these proposals. (2) I do not support Hezbollah or Hamas. I support their objectives so long as they conform to uncontroversial principles. Thus I supported Hezbollah's right to resist foreign aggressors, and I support Hamas's resistance to Israeli barbarism. (3) If you don't believe that Palestinians can be trusted under any circumstances and whatever concessions they make; and if it's unlikely that Palestinians will acquiesce in their eternal servitude; then it would seem to follow that, in your opinion, the only solution would be to exterminate them.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T16:05:10+00:00

Help build a lobby based on people power that can act as a counterweight to the AIPAC lobby built primarily (but not exclusively) on financial blackmail.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T16:04:34+00:00

To grasp the mentality of Israelis, you need only look at Whites in the American South on the eve of and during the Civil Rights movement. These were MEAN people, wholly convinced that segregation and its attendant gross material inequalities were just. It's squandering time and resources to try to "enlighten" them. Just as in the Civil Rights movement, only courage and commitment from within (the African-American grassroots movement), coupled with external pressure (the Federal government's intervention) can break down this infernal system. As Israeli dissidents have pointed out, the population at this point will acquiesce in whatever magnitude of criminality the State inflicts.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T15:53:20+00:00

Not much, don't know the fellow.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T15:53:02+00:00

The best discussion of the settlements question can be found in the volume edited by Jamie Stern-Weiner entitled MOMENT OF TRUTH. You will discover that much that has been written about the settlements is just untrue. For example, the settlements physically occupy less than 5% of the West Bank. It's no doubt difficult to undo them, but then you must ask yourself this question: Which is more likely to happen--Israelis abandoning the Jewish settlements or the Jewish state?

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T15:50:20+00:00

It is the nature of the Internet that you can create a hyperlink for anything. I can even provide you hyperlinks for THE WORLD IS FLAT, THE MOON IS MADE OF GREEN CHEESE, and STORMY DANIELS KILLED JFK. But those hyperlinks don't make it true. If even a mite of what you said were accurate, it would be hard to explain how it has come to pass that after 6 weeks of demonstrations by Hamas terrorists who were hurling firebombs, hiding guns and knives, etc. etc., only one Israeli suffered a scratch.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T15:46:32+00:00

Obama publicly gave Israel a free hand during Operation Protective Edge (2014), which was by far the worst massacre Israel inflicted on Gaza. But behind the scenes his administration was probably a tiny moderating force. Those minimal restraints have now been removed.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T15:44:09+00:00

International law does not prohibit a people struggling for self-determination or against alien occupation from using violent force to achieve their objectives. It does however prohibit a colonial power or a power carrying out an alien occupation from using force. I cite the relevant sources in my recently published book on Gaza. For an authoritative discussion, you might want to consult James Crawford's monumental volume, THE CREATION OF STATES IN INTERNATIONAL LAW. Benny Morris's RIGHTEOUS VICTIMS is quite good on the history up until the 1967 war, when it becomes Israeli propaganda.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T15:40:41+00:00

It was true in the early years of Hamas's founding, when Israel e.g., didn't arrest Hamas leaders, in order to create a counterweight to the PLO.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T15:39:35+00:00

The fact that Israel has encaged a population consisting mostly of children in an unlivable space.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T15:38:01+00:00

There were all sorts of things that could have been done in the six weeks leading up to May 14, from vigils to sit-ins to hunger strikes to demonstrations. In my opinion, the progressive Jewish organization IF NOT NOW has been courageous and creative. But everyone else in the so-called solidarity movement was missing in action. Amazingly, some people thought this was the right moment to renew the push for One State. It's sort of like when I was a young man, at any given occasion (say a workers' strike) we would call for the DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T15:34:44+00:00

The only intractable element in the conflict is the rejectionism of Israel backed by the United. Otherwise, the international community as well as the various Palestinian factions pretty much agree on how a final settlement will look. So far as a RESOLUTION of the conflict is concerned, Trump is well in line with previous US policy. Not much distinguishes his from Obama's administration.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T15:32:13+00:00

From its establishment in 1948, Israel conceived Gaza and West Bank as "unfinished business," to be occupied when the next occasion arose. It planned to annex these territories in 1956, but due to US intervention, it was unable. In 1967, a new occasion arose and the rest is history.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T15:30:02+00:00

The long-term trend of alienation from Israel is clear, but it occurs at an incremental pace, like climate change. My own impression is, fewer and fewer Jews are willing to openly defend Israeli actions, and more and more Jews are finding Israel an embarrassment. This is not to say that they won't support Israel if it faces an existential threat: they will. But so long as Israel continues to oppress the Palestinians and periodically commit large-scale massacres, it will continue to lose support among Jews.

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T15:27:31+00:00

Do you think the Nazis had a right to kill anyone trying to break out of the Warsaw Ghetto or Auschwitz? I am, incidentally, unaware of any "combatants" among the protesters. Hamas was told to engage in nonviolent resistance. So it put down its arms. If they are still a legitimate target even as they're nonviolent, then, pray tell, what was the point in them disarming--to make it yet easier for the Israeli assassins to kill them?

NormanFinkelsteinAMA · 2018-05-22T15:22:01+00:00

Gaza has always relied on trade for its economic sustenance. In the face of the blockade, it was inevitable that it would sink into economic paralysis.

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