42+ Norman Finkelstein Quotes (Critical, Provocative And Insightful.)

Norman Finkelstein is an American political scientist and author known for his criticism of the Israeli government. He is a graduate of Binghamton University and received his PhD in 1988 from Princeton University. Finkelstein is best known for his book The Holocaust Industry, which critiques the use of the Holocaust for political and financial gain.

Top 10 Norman Finkelstein Quotes

1. International law says people fighting for self-determination can use force in order to achieve their independence.
2. They used to say Palestinians fight like heroes, now they say heroes fight like Palestinians
3. 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?
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Israel has come out of the boils of the hell, a satanic state.
7. Indeed, the field of Holocaust studies is replete with nonsense if not sheer fraud.
8. The Holocaust only emerged in American life after Israel's victory in the 1967 Six Day war against its Arab neighbours.
9. Everybody wants peace. That's a truism. There is no point in accomplishing through war what you can accomplish through peace.
10. 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 Short Quotes

• War is not a means to an end, it is the end, whereas politics is merely the hiatus between wars.
• Every victory of Hezbollah, I celebrate.
• You know, frankly speaking, money just doesn't figure largely in my world view.
• Apart from my parents, every family member on both sides was exterminated by the Nazis.

Norman Finkelstein Famous Quotes And Sayings

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

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

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

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

My parents often wondered why I would grow so indignant at the falsification and exploitation of the Nazi genocide. The most obvious answer is that it has been used to justify criminal policies of the Israeli state and US support for these policies. — 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

American Jews are overwhelmingly liberal. By "liberal," I mean, basically, support for the rule of law, support for human rights, support for peace; and on all those counts - rule of law, human rights, peace - Israel's record has become indefensible. — 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

As one Israeli said, "It's a big mistake for Israel to say it 'won' the war, when there was no war. There were no battles...no military enemy in the field." — 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

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

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

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

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

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

The justice of a war basically refers to the question whether there is a right to attack in the first place. Justice in a war is concerned with whether the fighting happens in accordance with the international laws of war. — 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

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

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

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

There's no question that public opinion is changing, and if you're a person of the left, your goal is presumably to try to mobilize public opinion to affect elite policy; and I think now there are unusual, unprecedented opportunities to do so. — Norman Finkelstein

Public opinion in the United States has shifted significantly, not just outside but also within the Jewish community. — Norman Finkelstein

There are many issues, as everyone knows, in the United States on which public opinion leans very much to the left of elite policy, but that's because public opinion hasn't been turned into a political force. — 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

State terrorism - and yet the Israeli invasion Goldstone investigated is still commonly referred to as the Gaza War. — 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

As Israel becomes like South Africa, it's increasingly becoming a pariah state, being excluded from culture at large. — Norman Finkelstein

Life Lessons by Norman Finkelstein

1. Norman Finkelstein's work emphasizes the importance of understanding the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict in order to create a just and lasting peace.
2. He also emphasizes the need for a two-state solution to the conflict, with both sides recognizing each other's right to exist.
3. Finally, Finkelstein's work highlights the need for a strong international community to ensure that both sides adhere to the terms of any negotiated agreement.