[PREV - ON_DEFENSIBLE_BORDERS] [TOP]
HOLOCAUST_INDUSTRY_FUNNIES
November 2, 2014
A review of Norman G. Finkelstein's Originally posted
"The Holocaust Industry" (2000) to the dailykos.
I've known of Finkelstein for some time, but not
read his major works-- and that was a loss on my
part. I already know the gist of his arguments, and
I may not have needed to see them supported at
length, but Finkelstein is the kind of guy who can't
resist bringing up inconvenient, embarrassing facts,
and if you're blessed with a vicious sense of humor,
he's very entertaining.
In the forward to the first paper edition [p. xvii],
Finkelstein discusses the remarkably dismissive review
he received from the New York Times, following it up
with a footnote:
"Indeed, even the author of _Mein Kampf_ fared rather
better in the _Times_ book review. Although highly
critical of Hitler's anti-Semitism, the original
_Times_ review awarded "this extraordinary man" high
marks for 'his unification of the Germans, his
destruction of Communism, his training of the young,
his creation of a Spartan State animated by
patriotism, his curbing of parliamentary government,
so unsuited to the German character, his protection of
the right of private property.' (James W. Gerard,
'Hitler As He Explains Himself,' in _The New York
Times Book Review_ [15 October 1933])"
Authors are often counseled not to respond to their
reviews, but I think Finkelstein won that exchange.
Another example, when talking about the Holocaust
Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, Finkelstein
remarks [p.74]:
"It is situated on Raoul Wallenberg Place. Wallenberg,
a Swedish diplomat, is honored because he rescued
thousands of Jews and ended up in a Soviet prison.
Fellow Swede Count Folke Bernadotte is not honored
because, although he too rescued thousands of Jews,
former Israel Prime Minister Yitzak Shamir ordered his
assassination for being too 'pro-Arab'."
(On that point, Finkelstein references Kati Marton,
_A Death in Jerusalem_)
The thesis of the book, in case you haven't heard, is that
there was a group of organizations that engaged in a legal
shakedown of Swedish banks for billions of dollars in the
90s, supposedly for reparations to holocaust victims, but
actually largely to benefit organizations themselves.
The use of The Holocaust as a political propaganda
weapon for Israel isn't the primary focus of the book,
though it is discussed in Chapter 1, where Finkelstein
comments that it "proved to be the perfect weapon for
deflecting criticism of Israel" [p.30]. And it's still
employed that way today, for example see the comments
here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/17/1322484/-A-Not-Pro-Israel-Primer-revised
You will be shocked to learn that for his pains,
Finkelstein has been accused of being some sort of
self-hating Jew holocaust denier himself (his parents
were actual survivors of the Nazi holocaust, by the way:
in many ways this book was inspired by some of his
mother's comments).
Finkelstein makes the point that "All the hype
notwithstanding, there is no evidence that Holocaust
deniers exert any more influence in the United States
than the flat-earth society does" (p.68): the prevalence
and importance of holocaust deniers is exaggerated by
what he calls "The Holocaust Industry".
Finkelstein then goes off into one of his amusing asides:
"In fact, the one truly mainstream holocaust denier is
Bernard Lewis. A French court even convicted Lewis of
denying genocide. But Lewis denied the Turkish genocide of
Armenians during World War I, not the Nazi genocide of Jews,
and Lewis is pro-Israel. ... Accordingly, this instance of
holocaust denial raises no hackles in the United States.
Turkey is an Israeli ally, extenuating matters even further.
Mention of an Armenian genocide is therefore taboo." [p.69]
...
Acting at Israel's behest, the US Holocaust Council
practically eliminated mention of Armenians in the Washington
Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Jewish lobbyists in Congress
blocked a day of remembrance for the Armenian genocide.
[p.69-70]
The core of the book is actually rather short and to the point,
where much of it is taken up with careful and voluminous
footnotes-- as always, Finkelstein's scholarship is impeccable.
A good third of the second edition is a postscript,
which is largely a critique of Clinton-administration
insider Stuart Eizenstat and his book _Imperfect Justice_.
This section is not without its own grimly humorous bits,
for example:
During his last hours in office, Clinton pardoned
Marc Rich, a billionaire commodities trader who fled
to Switzerland in 1983 before standing trial on an
indictment for fifty-one counts of tax evasion,
racketeering and violating trade sanctions with Iran.
Building a multibillion-dollar business empire from
his Swiss redoubt, Rich became a major benefactor of
Jewish and Israeli organizations, while simultaneously--
and with perfect consistency -- cultivating lucrative
ties with the Russian mafia. The recipients of Rich's
largess ... subsequently lobbied Clinton on Rich's
behalf. [p.212]
But needless to say, no Serious person would suggest
that one can buy a presidential pardon.
Going through Finkelstein's description of these events
in detail makes me wonder how people in Europe feel
about this whole affair. Right now Israel's reputation
in Europe is pretty low-- worse than it is in the US,
where it's also slipping. I wouldn't be surprised is a
lot of that is fallout from watching Switzerland get
shaken down by "the Holocaust Industry".
One thing that I definitely learned from Finkelstein's
account was the prominence of boycotts at the
institutional level in this process (p. 101). These were
government boycotts at the state and local levels,
e.g. the first of them was Los Angeles which withdrew
pension funds from a Swiss bank.
And one wonders what the BDS movement might eventually
achieve in its attempts at putting pressure on Israel:
BOYCOTT_WHILE_YOU_WAIT
All page numbers above are for the Trade Paperback
edition of the Second Edition, 2003 Verso, London-New
York. ISBN 978-1-85984-488-5
This by the way, is the first in what I think I'll make an
irregular series: reviews of books not reviewed by "The
New York Review of Books". Though just this year they've
discovered that Finkelstein exists:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/aug/14/liberal-zionists/
--------
[NEXT - OCASIO_CORTEZ_WEPT]