Meticulously researched and tightly argued, Beyond Chutzpah points to a consensus among historians and human rights organizations on the factual record of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Norman G. Finkelstein exposes the corruption of scholarship and the contrivance of controversy shrouding human rights abuses, and interrogates the new anti-Semitism. This paperback edition adds a preface analyzing recent developments in the conflict, and a new afterword on Israel's construction of a wall in the West Bank.
Beyond Chutzpah On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History, Updated Edition, With a New Preface
About the Book
Reviews
“This book cracks the wall of deception and hypocrisy that enables the daily violation of human and civil rights in Palestine. As such, it has the potential to contribute to the removal of the real wall that shuts out those in the occupied territories.”—Ilan Pappe Bookforum
"Very little of Dershowitz's widely acclaimed defense of Israel's occupation policies escapes Finkelstein's withering scrutiny. Behind Dershowitz's firm assurances that Israel is dealing with its adversaries justly and humanely, Finkelstein discerns ugly realities, including brutal torture of Palestinian prisoners and lethal disregard for Palestinian children and noncombatants."—Booklist
“UC Press should be commended for standing by the legitimacy of ‘Chutzpah’, checking it many times over and not balking from publishing controversial work just because its contents don’t coincide with the prevailing attitude. The healthy exchange of ideas in an open society depends on authors and publishers brave enough to continue in spite of such threats and accusations.”—Daily Californian
“What is the controversy about? . . . .On the one hand, the controversy surrounding Beyond Chutzpah seems to be a reaction to Dr. Finkelstein’s attempt to expose how elements in academia have played an active role in concealing Israel’s abuse and, by extension, the abuse of other rogue regimes, not least the United States itself. Obviously those intellectuals who do resort to this tactic prefer to operate in the dark. On the other hand, the heated response to his book is just another example of how the literature discussing the new anti-Semitism delegitimizes those who expose Israel’s egregious violations of international law. The major irony informing this saga is that Dr. Finkelstein’s book, not Mr. Dershowitz’s, constitutes the real case for Israel, that is, for a moral Israel.”—Neve Gordon National Catholic Reporter
"A formidable challenge to the conventional wisdom on the Middle East."—Publishers Weekly
“Finkelstein’s most recent book is . . . an exercise in scholarly truthtelling. . . .The story Finkelstein tells in Beyond Chutzpah is hard to believe, but it needs to be told. My hat is off to him for having the courage to tell it.”—Michael C. Desch, Professor & Robert M. Gates Chair In Intelligence and National Security Decision-Making at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A & M University. The American Conservative
“Finkelstein is absolutely right to assert the absurdity of linking criticism of Israel’s horrendous treatment of Palestinians to anti-Semitism. And his documentation of human rights abuses in the Occupied Territories is invaluable.”—Tikkun"A very solid, important, and highly informative book. Norman Finkelstein provides extensive details and analysis, with considerable historical depth and expert research, of a very wide range of issues concerning Israel, the Palestinians, and the U.S."—Noam Chomsky, author of Hegemony or Survival
"The most comprehensive, systematic, and well-documented work of its kind. It is one of the harshest—rational and nonemotional—texts about the daily practices of the occupation and colonization of the Palestinian territories by Israel, and it is an excellent demonstration of how and why the blind defenders of Israel, by basing their arguments on false facts and figures, actually bring more damage than gains to their cause."—Baruch Kimmerling, George S. Wise Professor of Sociology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"A brave and daring challenge, meticulously researched. Must reading for anyone committed to a just and enduring peace in the Middle East."—Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!
“Beyond Chutzpah is a brilliantly illuminating study of the lengths to which some American Jews will go to present Israel in a favorable light. On display are all the sterling qualities for which Finkelstein has become famous: erudition, originality, spark, meticulous attention to detail, intellectual integrity, courage, and formidable forensic skills.”—Avi Shlaim, Professor of International Relations, Oxford University
“The scholarship is simply superb. Finkelstein has clearly done his homework, and consulted and mastered a breathtaking range of material: primary sources and documents, scholarly works, reports old and new, correspondence with relevant individuals, and numerous other sources too. He has left no stone unturned.”—Mouin Rabbani, Contributing Editor, Middle East Report
Table of Contents
Preface to the First Paperback Edition
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART ONE THE NOT-SO-NEW “NEW ANTI-SEMITISM”
1 From Jesus Christ Superstar to The Passion of the Christ
2 Israel: The “Jew among Nations”
3 Crying Wolf
PART TWO THE GREATEST TALE EVER SOLD
Introduction
4 Impurity of Arms
5 Three in the Back of the Head
6 Israel’s Abu Ghraib
7 Return of the Vandals
8 Blight unto the Nations
9 High Court Takes the Low Road
Conclusion
Postscript: Reconciling Irreconcilables:
How Israel’s High Court of Justice Proved
the Wall Was Legal
Appendix I: Of Crimes and Misdemeanors
Appendix II: History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Appendix III: Peace Process
Epilogue: Dershowitz v. Finkelstein: Who’s Right and Who’s Wrong,
by Frank J. Menetrez
Index
Awards
- University Philosophical Society Honorary Patronage, Trinity College