It's ironic that those who shout loudest about freedom of speech for themselves and their friends are often the first to try to silence those with whom they disagree.

A case in point is Dr. Neve Gordon of Ben-Gurion University, who has defamed so many people, as well as the nation of Israel. He also recently defamed me by saying that I had tried to prevent the publication of Norman Finkelstein's latest anti-Zionist screed, Beyond Chutzpah. In fact, as I specifically wrote in my letters to Finkelstein's publishers - as Gordon knew, because I released the letters - "I have no interest in censoring or suppressing Finkelstein's freedom of expression."

Gordon's lie came straight from Finkelstein, who has a history of claiming that prominent Jews are trying to silence him, prevent publication of his books and keep them from being reviewed: "All opinion-leaders, from the left to the right, are Jews… The Silence around my book in the US - if this is not a conspiracy, then what is one?"

What's ironic about Gordon's article, though, is that just as he was falsely accusing me of trying to silence Finkelstein, he was trying to silence Prof. Steven Plaut of Haifa University.

THE GENESIS OF Gordon's notorious lawsuit against Plaut was a fawning book review Gordon wrote of Beyond Chutzpah for Haaretz. In response, Plaut wrote an Internet posting entitled "Haaretz Promotes the 'Jews for Hitler.'" Plaut subsequently wrote that Yasser Arafat was Gordon's "guru" and compared Gordon to members of Judenrats after Gordon illegally entered Arafat's compound in solidarity with the terrorist leader.

For exercising his freedom of speech in this way, Plaut was found liable for slander and fined NIS 80,000, by a Nazareth judge, Reem Naddaf, who went out of her way in her opinion's dicta to justify Holocaust revisionism, which of course often goes over the line into something far darker, as it does when Finkelstein espouses it to mock survivors and condemn those seeking justice.

The verdict against Prof. Plaut was wrong, as I will explain by discussing both substantive and legal aspects of Plaut's accusations.

First, as to substance: Gordon argued, dubiously, that Plaut meant to include him (Gordon) when he wrote "Jews for Hitler," rather than Finkelstein and his fellow-travelers such as Noam Chomsky, who have openly endorsed Holocaust deniers and revisionists.

Even so, is there a factual basis behind the claim that Gordon supports genocidal anti-Semites, considering his admiration for Norman Finkelstein?

Finkelstein himself isn't an outright Holocaust denier (though neither was Hitler, of course), because he acknowledges the basic facts of the Holocaust, while minimizing the number of victims. But Finkelstein is, in many ways, worse than an outright denier. He denies the reality of survivors, calling them "hoaxes" and "hucksters" and accuses Elie Wiesel of lying about his past.

The major theme of the Finkelstein book that Gordon was extolling is that Jews are responsible for anti-Semitism. "Alongside Israel, [American Jewish elites] are the main fomenters of anti-Semitism in the world today. They must be stopped."

FINKELSTEIN'S and Gordon's articles are featured on Holocaust denial and neo-Nazi Web sites, such as that of the Hitler-loving Ernst Zundel, who said of Finkelstein that "[h]e is making three-fourths of our argument - and making it effectively."

So if Finkelstein and Gordon aren't themselves explicitly neo-Nazi, they're at least very highly regarded by those who are - and for good reason.

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