Norman Finkelstein Quotes & Sayings

Given the nonsense that is turned out daily by the Holocaust industry, the wonder is that there are so few skeptics. — Norman Finkelstein

Mainstream Jewish intellectuals became 'pro'-Israel after the June 1967 war when Israel became the U.S.A.' s strategic asset in the Middle East, i.e., when it was safe and reaped benefits. To credit them with ideological conviction is, in my opinion, very naive. — Norman Finkelstein

War is not a means to an end, it is the end, whereas politics is merely the hiatus between wars. — Norman Finkelstein

I focus on my work. If I let myself get distracted by the insults and slanders I wouldn't get anything substantive done. — Norman Finkelstein

I was probably unusually close to my parents, so I do what I can now to preserve the integrity of their memory. The Holocaust deserves to be remembered. — Norman Finkelstein

Goldstone has done terrible damage to the cause of truth and justice and the rule of law. He has poisoned Jewish-Palestinian relations, undermined the courageous work of Israeli dissenters and-most unforgivably-increased the risk of another merciless IDF assault. — Norman Finkelstein

I had been a Maoist, and then when the Gang of Four was overthrown, I was completely distraught. I was bedridden for three weeks; it was a very painful experience for me. Not only because I had been wrong, but because I felt really embarrassed that I had been lecturing and pontificating with such self-confidence. — Norman Finkelstein

I don't feel particularly attached to Israel - 'nationalism,' as Noam Chomsky said, 'is not my cup of tea' - but I feel no particular need to demonize it. — Norman Finkelstein

I earn - I'm not - I don't want to claim I'm a scholar of great stature, but I have made a certain reputation for myself, I've published several books, I've never been able to get a permanent teaching job. — Norman Finkelstein

I am opposed to any state with an ethnic character, not only to Israel. — Norman Finkelstein

International law says people fighting for self-determination can use force in order to achieve their independence. — Norman Finkelstein

I'm an old fan of the Negro spirituals. — Norman Finkelstein

The Holocaust has proven to be an indispensable ideological weapon. Through its deployment, one of the world's most formidable military powers, with a horrendous human rights record, has cast itself as a "victim" state, and the most successful ethnic group in the US has likewise acquired victim status. — Norman Finkelstein

Why should these Palestinians, who have lived in Jerusalem for hundreds of years, be evicted from their homes so that Jews from Brooklyn can live in them? — Norman Finkelstein

Both my father and mother were survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Nazi concentration camps. Apart from my parents, every family member on both sides was exterminated by the Nazis. — Norman Finkelstein

People have the right to defend their country from foreign occupiers, and people have the right to defend their country from invaders who are destroying their country. — Norman Finkelstein

No doubt one can, in light of further study and life experience, come to repudiate past convictions. — Norman Finkelstein

The Zionists indeed learnt well from the Nazis. So well that it seems that their morally repugnant treatment of the Palestinians, and their attempts to destroy Palestinian society within Israel and the occupied territories, reveals them as basically Nazis with beards and black hats. — Norman Finkelstein

I think that people like Bloomberg, they're complete thugs. No question about it. But on the other hand, it must be said that they are politically savvy. They don't get into those positions of power - in the case of Bloomberg, both economic and political power - by being anybody's fool. — Norman Finkelstein

DePaul's plot to deny me tenure had nothing to do with my faults. In fact, and ironically, it viciously attacked me and destroyed my career because of my virtues. Which, although few in number, they still found threatening. — Norman Finkelstein

Personal convictions are not politics. Personal convictions, if they become the subject of a group conviction, they become a cult. — Norman Finkelstein

The moment you have massive social and political commentary trying to explain a phenomenon, then you know we are no longer dealing with a strictly psychiatric question. — Norman Finkelstein

Every victory of Hezbollah, I celebrate. — Norman Finkelstein

I think sometimes we underestimate just how vulnerable Israel is on the public-relations front. That's why they spend so much money on propaganda. And that's why they panic every time they feel like they're losing the propaganda war. — Norman Finkelstein

I was bashing Israel in the past because nobody else was exposing its true record. Many people are doing it now, so I switched hats from a critic of Israel to a diplomat who wants to resolve the conflict. I have not changed, but I think the spectrum has moved. — Norman Finkelstein

The Holocaust only emerged in American life after Israel's victory in the 1967 Six Day war against its Arab neighbours. — Norman Finkelstein

The real goal of politics has to be getting people to act on what they already know was wrong. — Norman Finkelstein

Everybody wants peace. That's a truism. There is no point in accomplishing through war what you can accomplish through peace. — Norman Finkelstein

It's utterly hypocritical for Israelis to wonder aloud why Palestinians don't pursue a non-violent strategy. One obvious reason is that, whenever they have, Israel brutally represses it. — Norman Finkelstein

Judging by opinion polls, Israel has bigger problems than me. It is among the most hated countries on the planet. It should stop acting like a lunatic state. Once it carries on like a normal country, I will be happily redirect my energies elsewhere. — Norman Finkelstein

My books don't sell anymore. There are many reasons why they don't sell, but one of the reasons is because people don't read anymore. Forget about reading books of detail - they don't read at all. — Norman Finkelstein

I'm politically on the left, no question about it. I oppose sweatshops, I oppose exploitation of labour in the third world. — Norman Finkelstein

I would not have stayed at a university if it told me upfront that a condition for me getting tenure. my views have to be filtered through Catholic values. I would consider it a betrayal of my parents' legacy. — Norman Finkelstein

You know, frankly speaking, money just doesn't figure largely in my world view. — Norman Finkelstein

There is no way a non-Jew could say what I did in 'The Holocaust Industry' without being labelled a Holocaust denier. I am labelled a Holocaust denier, too. — Norman Finkelstein

Indeed, the field of Holocaust studies is replete with nonsense if not sheer fraud. — Norman Finkelstein

Insofar as Zionism sought to solve the Jewish question, it must be reckoned not just a failure but a catastrophe: Israel is the main cause of anti-Semitism in the world today. — Norman Finkelstein

There's nothing Israel can do without US support. It can't breathe without US support. The US bankrolls everything, and it's just silly to think that Israel can do anything without the support. — Norman Finkelstein

I no longer say I'm unemployed. I say I'm unemployable. It's different. An unemployed suggests at a certain point in the future, you might be employed. That's not the case with me. I'm unemployable, and unfortunately, that's one of the bits of the web, in particular of Google. — Norman Finkelstein

If there were an Oscar for best theatrical performance by a country, Israel would win every year. It's a country based on theater. It's a lunatic state - completely insane. — Norman Finkelstein

There are contradictory tendencies in American society. There's a huge range of activities that one can engage in that mark it as a quite free society. It's also true to say that the powers that be have so much control over how people think that there are fewer and fewer people who make use of the rights and information available to them. — Norman Finkelstein

I'm not a good writer, and I don't care. Unfortunately, after I left college, I didn't have time much for literature. I wish I did. Most of the time I read documents, and that's not going to help your writing. But I'm a very logical writer, and you can't get out of me. Once I've nailed you, you're finished. — Norman Finkelstein

Each of the various tactics that have been tried to get Israel to budge.. nonviolent resistance, legal accountability, BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions).. has had some measure of success. — Norman Finkelstein

People are motivated by the desires for privilege, for power, for profit. Those are not shocking revelations. Anyone who's had any experience in life knows these things. — Norman Finkelstein

September 11 was a godsend for Israel. It could now conjoin its merciless persecution of the Palestinians with Bush's War against Terror. But my impression is that it wasn't altogether successful. — Norman Finkelstein

The Holocaust industry has always been bankrupt. What remains is to openly declare it so. The time is long past to put it out of business. — Norman Finkelstein

There is a fundamental principle. People have the right to defend their country from foreign occupiers, and people have the right to defend their country from invaders who are destroying their country. That to me is a very basic, elementary, and uncomplicated question. — Norman Finkelstein

I don't think it's a good thing to have Christian states, Muslim states, or any kind of ethnic states. — Norman Finkelstein

The whole purpose of annual reviews is to keep you abreast of whether or not you are fulfilling the requirements of tenure. — Norman Finkelstein

Why should Americans go on with their lives as normal, worrying about calories and hair loss, while other people are worrying about where they are going to get their next piece of bread? — Norman Finkelstein

Israel has been a stage on which American Jews have played out their fantasies of toughness - often from Martha's Vineyard. — Norman Finkelstein

I voted for Nader, and I have no doubts at all that it was the right thing to do because the Nader candidacy was extremely energising and a terrific phenomenon in American life, and I hope he continues. — Norman Finkelstein

I don't want to become a rhetorical speaker. My effectiveness is mastering all of the data and being able to respond. — Norman Finkelstein

Israel's pro-American orientation exists not just among Israeli elites but also among the whole population. Come what may in Israel, it's inconceivable that this fundamental orientation will change. Combined with its overwhelming military power, this makes Israel a unique and irreplaceable American asset in the Middle East. — Norman Finkelstein

They've (Israel) lost the battle for public opinion. They claim it's because American Jews know too little.. I claim it's because they know too much about the conflict, and young liberal Jews have difficulty defending the use of cluster bombs in Lebanon or supporting the Israeli settlements. — Norman Finkelstein

Teaching is in my bones. I love to teach. — Norman Finkelstein

People have to liberate themselves, because liberation is not a single act. It's a question of eternal vigilance. Otherwise, you'll just become enslaved by someone else. — Norman Finkelstein

Israel has come out of the boils of the hell, a satanic state. — Norman Finkelstein

I think Israel, as a number of commentators pointed out, is becoming an insane state. And we have to be honest about that. While the rest of the world wants peace, Europe wants peace, the US wants peace, but this state wants war, war and war. — Norman Finkelstein

They used to say Palestinians fight like heroes, now they say heroes fight like Palestinians — Norman Finkelstein

I don't claim to know Israel. I don't speak Hebrew; my contacts are pretty limited. But I didn't know Vietnam; I didn't know Nicaragua, El Salvador or Honduras. It doesn't mean you can't reach your conclusions. — Norman Finkelstein

I don't want to pretend to be a prophet or a saint. I'm very conscious of my limitations. I know my flaws. But I don't like lying. — Norman Finkelstein

I think one of the problems when we discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict is people talk too much in terms of, 'What's your preference?,' like politics is a Chinese menu - I'll take one from column A and two from column B. That's not what politics is about. — Norman Finkelstein

When I was a young man, my mother said to me, 'You can't be a communist without being a militant atheist.' So I had to be a militant atheist because I wanted to be a communist. — Norman Finkelstein