Dershowitz is extremely argumentative himself. Who is Dershowitz to mettle in a tenure situation at DePaul? His department voted for him. I think we can rule out the theory that the guy has a personality problem. Sadly like the reaction to Jimmy Carter's book , prominent American scholars Walt and Mearsheimer on the Israel Lobby http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html . etc. it is just another example of the extremist tactics and support for silencing all opposition to Israel's policies under the guise that virtually any opposition is anti-semtic.
Agree with TigerMission1 that and Durvasa that this is a MUST-READ for this thread. Oh my god... Dershowitz should be ashamed of himself. In fact, I feel embarrassed to have him teaching at my school... Totally a fraud and a scumbag...
Wow. Finkelstein did wreck shop on Dershowitz and it's actually Dershowitz that Amy Goodman is constantly having to remind to be respectful as he kept interrupting Finkelstein and threatening to sue him. Seems it's Dershowitz who should be fired. Incidentally, I agree that Israel tends to just shout "anti-semitism!" any time they are criticized, regardless of whether or not the criticism is valid. It's really annoying. It's like when the NAACP cries racism in the case of Michael Vick when Michael Vick is actually guilty of reprehensible crimes. It's unfortunate too, because as a consequence we become desensitized to those claims and tend to pay less attention in genuine cases of racism and anti-semitism.
Strangely enough . .the stigma of being Race baiters and 'using the race card' does not stick to them . ..as it does black folx. . . I wonder why that is so? Rocket River
He could very well be a 'difficult' person to be around/work with; he might not do enough to promote the program/department he works for thereby irritating school officials...it could really be a number of things. I really have no way of knowing. But departmental politics at any number of schools can get in the way if you don't play by the rules. I've seen how it works. But judging his scholarship on its own merit, many political scientists consider him an authority in the field, and for good reason I might add. Honestly, I don't think his fallout with DePaul has to do with his views, probably more so with interpersonal relations/departmental politics. I can see how an obsessed scholar (which is what Finkelstein is) can rub his colleagues the wrong way. But even then, the article points out that most faculty members voted for him to get tenure, but apparently he isn't well-received by the 'higher ups' at DePaul. Either way -- as that video shows -- a tenured Harvard law professor doesn't hold a candle to a guy that has just been fired by his school. So in retrospect, tenure might not mean as much as we thought it once did.
NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: I read your book. Or the book you purport to have written. ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Now you claim somebody else wrote it? NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: I hope so. For your sake I truly hope you did not write this book. ALAN DERSHOWITZ: I proudly wrote it. NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: I think the honorable thing for you to do would be to say I didn't write the book, I had no time to read it. I'm sorry. ALAN DERSHOWITZ: I wrote every word of it. ----- That part had me rolling on the floor!
