Author uses faulty scholarship

In October 2003, the noisy Harvard Law School Professor Alan
Dershowitz was a visitor to the UCLA campus. He came to give a
typically nuanced talk at Royce Hall titled “The Case for
Israel.” At the time of his speech, attention was being
brought to the charge that his new book of the same name was, in
the words of notable Middle East expert Norman G. Finkelstein,
“a hoax.”

Various exchanges adorned the pages of the Daily Bruin in the
aftermath, as Dershowitz accused a letter writer who had drawn
attention to Finkelstein’s charges of being “part of a
widespread, coordinated and well-funded campaign to attack my book,
“˜The Case for Israel,’ not on its merits, but instead
by raising phony issues regarding my integrity and
credibility.”

It was quite a grandiose response to a timid 102-word letter by
a Berkeley alumna but, as you will see, it is entirely consistent
with the character and bully-tactics of this particular
professor.

I thought Finkelstein’s charges against Dershowitz were
important enough to investigate, so I did. As I looked through the
extensive charge-sheet constructed by Finkelstein, the
self-appointed gatekeeper of the intellectual wars over the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it became clear that Dershowitz had
indeed constructed a book replete with dodgy scholarship.

There is not enough room in a short article to document to any
satisfying degree the brazen appropriation of other scholars’
work and the misrepresentation of facts, highlighted assiduously by
Finkelstein, that pepper Dershowitz’s book. Here’s a
quick and salient example: According to journalist Alexander
Cockburn of the weekly publication The Nation, 22 of the first 52
footnotes from the first two chapters of “The Case for
Israel” are lifted from Joan Peters’ book “From
Time Immemorial.”

This is not a crime in itself even if it is an example of lazy
scholarship. The problem comes in the fact Dershowitz doesn’t
mention Peters once in his citations. It cannot be a coincidence
that Peters and Dershowitz both use the same quotes with the same
ellipses from the same places, can it?

Suffice to say, there are enough examples like these, and of the
more sinister misrepresentation of facts, to fill a book. And, for
the inquisitive among you, this is exactly what Finkelstein has
done, and he is publishing it with our university press. In June
2005, the University of California Press will publish “Beyond
Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of
History” by Finkelstein. According to the UC Press Web site,
this book “demonstrates that Dershowitz has systematically
misrepresented the facts.”

The problem is that it seems Dershowitz is so worried that this
book will irrevocably damage his reputation that he is applying
pressure to UC Press with the hope that they won”˜t publish
it. Lynne Withy, UC Press director, would not comment in any detail
about Dershowitz’s pressure until after Finkelstein’s
book is published, but did say that Dershowitz “had written
quite a few letters,” and “wasn’t happy”
about the book’s publication.

And remember, this is the same man who told UCLA students in
2003, “I unequivocally state my opposition to any legislation
that would in any way impose … any government controls on
what’s taught in the classroom.” Maybe a slight
contradiction here between the rhetoric and actions of this free
speech advocate?

Finkelstein also points out on his Web site that Dershowitz
managed to misspell four of the five names of pro-Israeli scholars
he cites in his letter to the Daily Bruin. And there are several
other examples of his buffoonery.

To his credit, Dershowitz does realize that in the face of
legitimate and grave accusations against his scholarship, the best
way to divert attention is to blame “a politically motivated
campaign” or “literary McCarthyism.” The truth is
that whatever the motivations of Finkelstein and a few other
writers, they are dealing with the facts and these facts are
certainly not “phony issues.” For this reason,
Dershowitz simply shouldn’t be able to intimidate the UC
Press into not printing this exposé of his work.

I suspect Dershowitz has already reviewed Finkelstein’s
book. In fact, it is easy to get a review of it. All that has to be
done is to take some of Dershowitz’s comments on a recent
ragtag collection of anti-Chomsky articles and replace the name
Chomsky with the name Dershowitz: “This book documents the
reality that (Chomsky) chronically “˜fabricates facts;’
“˜fakes figures;’ “˜misquotes authorities;’
“˜distorts data;’ plays “˜fast and loose with
source material,’ and engages in “˜blatant professional
mendacity.’ … After reading this book, no one will be able
to rely on anything Chomsky says without independently checking
every claim.”

Kennard is a third-year history student. Email him at
[email protected]. Send general comments to
[email protected].