The debate with Finkelstein
-
Shortly after the publication of Dershowitz's book The Case for Israel,
Norman Finkelstein
accused Dershowitz, of "fraud, falsification, plagiarism and nonsense."
Saying that Dershowitz lacked knowledge about specific contents of his
own book during a radio debate, Finkelstein also claimed that
Dershowitz could not have written the book, and may not have even read
it.[2]
Finkelstein later expanded on his charges in a book, Beyond Chutzpah. The book also
contains chapters contrasting Dershowitz's arguments in The Case
for Israel with the views of some human rights organizations, such
as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International
.
Dershowitz asked Harvard to investigate the charge of plagiarism
and was exonerated.
[3]
Dershowitz and some prominent supporters say that Finkelstein is simply
accusing him of good scholarly practice: citing references he learned
of in Peters' book after first consulting them.[4]
Dershowitz threatened libel action over the charges in Finkelstein's
book, and produced his handwritten book manuscript to rebut the claim
that The Case for Israel was ghostwritten. Finkelstein switched
publishers and removed all uses of the word "plagiarism" in favor of
less actionable language like "lifted from."
[5]
Dershowitz responded to Finkelstein's charges at length in chapter
16 of his 2005 The Case for Peace.
In that chapter, titled "A Case Study in Hate and Intimidation,"
Dershowitz alleges that the plagiarism charges are the latest
manifestation of an ongoing conspiracy masterminded by Noam
Chomsky,
who "selects the target and directs Finkelstein to probe the writings
in minute detail and conclude that the writer didn't actually write the
work." In the process, according to Dershowitz, Finkelstein "makes up
quotes" in order to defame the victim selected by Chomsky.
