Norman Finkelstein speaks at University of Cambridge on Gaza and ‘Western interests’
Norman Finkelstein delivered a talk titled ‘Professor Norman Finkelstein Gaza’s Struggle’ in the Palmerston Room at St John’s College on Friday (29 November) and subsequently spoke to the Cambridge Independent of the role Israel plays “as a regional protector of Western interests”.
Subtitled ‘Hope Amidst Despair’, the talk, which was hosted by Cambridge for Palestine, Cambridge Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and Cambridge Artists 4 Palestine, was billed as a “powerful event [which] will explore: What happened? Where do things stand? What’s next?”
The date is a solemn moment in Palestinian and Middle East history: on November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 181, also known as the Partition Plan, which proposed dividing Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states. The following May saw the creation of the state of Israel.
Prof Tony Booth, who attended the sold-out event, said: “He was talking about the history of Hamas and how to interpret what’s happening now in light of the history of Israel's involvement in Gaza. He answered two questions: one, do you condemn Hamas, and the other was did Israel have the right to defend itself?
“Answering the first question, he assessed the history and said just as under slavery that there would inevitably be violent attempts to break out from their situation. He said, yes, it was an atrocity on October 7, but it was inevitable because of what had happened before.
“The response to Israel's right to defend itself included making the point that there is a difference between defending yourself and what he called a bloodlust. He contrasted the idea of whether someone has a legal right to self-defence to someone having a moral right.”
Prof Finkelstein was born in New York City in 1953 to Jewish Holocaust-survivor parents. He received his master's degree in political science in 1980, and his PhD in political studies from Princeton in 1988. His involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict began in 1982 when he and a handful of other Jews in New York protested against the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. In 2000 he wrote The Holocaust Industry, in which he argues that the American Jewish establishment exploits the memory of the Nazi Holocaust for political and financial gain and to further Israeli interests. Earlier this year Jewish Journal described him as “the foremost Jewish anti-Semite in America”.
Prof Finkelstein describes himself as a "forensic" scholar who has worked to demystify what he considers pseudo-scholarly arguments.
In the Palmerston Room, “the talk went down very well”, says Prof Booth, adding: “He said that ‘people [in Gaza] should be told they have two choices - stay and starve or leave’.”
Afterwards, as Prof Finkelstein made his way to the car park, the question was put to him: could the reluctance or inability of Western governments to slow the rising death toll in Gaza be due to a new species of state capture by external interests?
“No, I wouldn't call it state capture,” Prof Finkelstein replied. “They [Western governments] have their interests. There is the element of the Israel lobby, there's no question about that, but they all see Israel as serving Western interests in the region.
“So this notion of state capture, I feel, is a caricature of what's happening. It’s an element, but the larger element is that Israel is seen as a regional protector of Western interests and a good investment. Israel’s invincibility seemed to have been undermined by October 7th and they wanted to restore it.
“They wanted to restore the image of Israel as an invincible fighting force.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said this week: “The UK and its allies will continue to be at the forefront of efforts to break the ongoing cycle of violence in pursuit of a long-term, sustainable peace in the Middle East.”
Cambridge 4 Palestine campaigners gathered outside St John’s College marched to the Senate House lawn - where a reoccupation began earlier this week - after the talk.
