"...in the U.S. a deafening silence has descended on (his book). Nobody wants to touch it." Excerpt of interview with author Norman G. Finkelstein: Q: Your "J'Accuse" -- or rant, depending on your viewpoint -- doesn't only target "corrupt" Jewish organizations like the World Jewish Congress and its leaders, such as billionaire Edgar Bronfman and real estate tycoon Israel Singer. You also attack Elie Wiesel. Why? A: Elie Wiesel is such a ridiculous character. In private Elie Wiesel is the subject of much ridicule. The expression "There's no business like Shoah-business" is literally coined for him. So it's not as if I'm the first one to call the emperor naked, but in public -- yes. Q: Isn't it a cheap shot to attack him on his lecture fee of "$25,000, plus limousine"? A: Why is that a cheap shot? He's turned it into a business, where he casts himself as a person who's doing all this from anguish and pain and personal sacrifice, while he has made a fortune out of it. If it were a cheap shot, he wouldn't invest so much in denying it... "Thanks to Elie Wiesel we have a distorted and disfigured and frankly meaningless version of the Nazi Holocaust and we only know about those genocides that serve the interest of the U.S. and Israel, and we forget the ones that don't." "The only way we can learn from the Holocaust is by restoring it as a rational object of historical inquiry, and the only way we can do that is by putting the Holocaust industry out of business." More of the interview here: http://www.salon.com/books/int/2000/08/30/finkelstein/index.html?CP=YA H&DN=110 comment to Brasscheck: I've heard Finkelstein interviewed on KPFA. I'm amazed he is still alive, but I suppose that ignoring his book is the same as killing him. Brasscheck response: As John Stockwell said when asked why he thought he was being allowed carry on his work of exposing corruption in the CIA: "They don't have to kill me. They're winning." I think like everything else it all boils down to bureaucratic expediency. Assassination is expensive and truth tellers only get killed if they offend someone with enough budget to order one. However, Finkelstein has received death threats for his work. He certainly has been the victim of character assassination. For those too busy to follow up the link with the Finkelstein interview, more excerpts of the work of this son of an Auschwitz survivor follow. It might make interesting reading as the Middle East sits on the precipice of war. "Thanks to Elie Wiesel we have a distorted and disfigured and frankly meaningless version of the Nazi Holocaust and we only know about those genocides that serve the interest of the U.S. and Israel, and we forget the ones that don't." "By the way, nobody noticed one of the most interesting revelations in the book: that banks in the U.S. also sit on dormant Jewish accounts from the war." Q: Your parents are Holocaust survivors. Doesn't that make you a second-generation survivor? A: I think such a concept is repulsive. That's simply an effort to milk the Holocaust for another generation. If I had ever said that to my mother, she would have given me a good smack in the face! And rightfully so! Q: You suggest but never state explicitly that only camp survivors are real Holocaust survivors. What about Jews who fled to the Soviet Union, came back and had nothing -- why not call them "Holocaust survivors" as well? A: Fine, then we should call Palestinians "Holocaust survivors." If you make the definition so elastic, so flexible that it includes refugees, then you should count them all. Q: "Your family is from Poland. You could get some money back after all. A: "No! It never occurred to us. We don't want the money. My mother's father owned a little tobacco store, my father's father owned a little lumber mill. Jewish organizations are claiming back my grandparents' property without asking our permission. We never gave our sanction! It's grave robbery! ...(we) don't need to evict Polish peasants from their land, Polish tenants from their homes and Polish sick from the hospitals." "I lay out my argument really simply, in three parts. The first concerns the question of why the Holocaust came to the U.S. only after the Six Day War in 1967. If you agree that the Holocaust served as an ideological weapon in the Palestinian conflict, the next question is how. I mean, the Holocaust could also be used for other reasons. For instance, my parents used it to defend certain Palestinian rights." "All the survivors I talk to -- the Finkelstein residence quickly became known as CCBC, Claims Conference Buster Central -- say the same thing: We want the money that was distributed by the German government; we don't want the money given to the Jewish organizations. I think that is one of the most devastating insights on the Holocaust industry -- that the victims of Nazi persecution trust the German government more than they do the Jewish organizations." "The only way we can learn from the Holocaust is by restoring it as a rational object of historical inquiry, and the only way we can do that is by putting the Holocaust industry out of business." The Salon summary: "Finkelstein's main and most devastating charge is that "American Jewish elites" and organizations are extorting billions of dollars from European countries and corporations in the name of "needy Holocaust survivors" in order to fund Holocaust programs, Holocaust memorials, Holocaust studies, Holocaust literature and, in general, "the Jewish community." Together they form not just a cottage industry but a full-fledged "Holocaust industry" sustained by a persistent ideology of "Holocaust correctness" that serves "certain class and political interests." Instead of helping the Jewish cause, Finkelstein goes on to argue, the Holocaust industry has become "the main fomenter of anti-Semitism in Europe" by spreading an image of greedy Jews." link MainPage

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