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Brandeis Relents, Norman Finkelstein to Speak
Well, it appears that Brandeis, after Yehuda Reinharz rolled out the red carpet for pro-Israel ideologue, Daniel Pipes, has thought better of the idea of preventing Normal Finkelstein, the harsh critic of Israeli policy and Alan Dershowitz, from speaking. After announcing it would welcome Pipes to campus, it pointedly said it had not decided on whether Finkelstein was welcome.
The odd thing about the turnabout regarding Finkelstein is that at first the University announced he’d speak in the Library. Then the Library announced there was a conflict which essentially put the speaking engagement in limbo once again. Only after Jewish Week reporter Larry Cohler-Esses began inquiring about the room cancellation was another venue approved. Thank God for intrepid reporters.
So if you’re in Boston you might want to get yourself to Brandeis on March 6th for yet another episode in what has become a national debate about Israel. The following installment in the Brandeis-Israel melodrama will be Pipes on April 26th.
I just came across an excellent column in Ynetnews by Ben Gurion University lecturer, Dror Zeevi, which provides a more comprehensive history of hardline pro-Israel attacks on Brandeis.
Thurston Howell III said:
Finkelstein has lost the ability to shock people that he once had. Sure, he may dislodge herring from the dentutes of elderly Holocaust survivors, but his recent feud with Dershowitz has taken on the aura of the Trump-ODonell feud, or where Anna Nicole should be buried. If you really want to make ziocons crap in their pants, I would have Brandeis state a reconciliation between Daniel Barenboim of Argentina, and Imad Mughniyeh, the brains behind the bombing of the Israeli embasssy and the Jewish community center. This would send them into fits of apoplexy
Richard Silverstein said:
I like that, “Ziocons.”
Spyros Yung said:
What do you think about the rest of Thurstons article, ie bringing the terrorist Mugniyeh to Brandeis? He might have some problems entering the US since he is also responsible for blowing up the US marines in Lebanon in 1982