Norman Finkelstein v. Alan Dershowitz: The academic battle gripping America
Like the two professors in Irvine Welsh's The Acid House who abandon their high-minded theoretical clashes for a drunken brawl in a car park, Finkelstein and Dershowitz hover between principle and raw verbal pugilism in which the personal and the political are almost indistinguishable.
Finkelstein says Dershowitz is a "total liar", adding that "If a true word were to leap out of his mouth he would explode." Dershowitz eschews direct personal attacks only to ascribe his jibes to others. "Many people have thought he was unstable ... he is like a child ... he makes up facts."
But beneath the vitriol lie many vital issues: namely Israel, Palestine, human rights in the Middle East, anti-semitism, academic freedom and intellectual honesty. Not to mention the scope for discussing these subjects in the United States, Israel's greatest ally, where the parameters for debate are relatively narrow compared with the rest of the western world. "The atmosphere for publishing critical stuff on Israel here is very intimidating," says Colin Robinson, who as publisher of the New Press initially intended to publish Finkelstein's book.