Finkelstein's book alleges Holocaust 'exploited'
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Anti-Israel academic faces tenure challenge
Norman Finkelstein, author of 'Holocaust Industry,' may be rejected by DePaul University, and other news from the Jewish press
An attempt by an American-Jewish academic, Dr. Norman Finkelstein, to obtain tenure at DePaul University in Chicago may fail following objections by the university's dean, the New York Jewish Week reported
Friday.
Finkelstein is author of the notorious book "The Holocaust Industry," in which he alleges that the slaughter of six million Jews by the Nazis has been "exploited" by Jewish leaders to attack critics of Israel. Finkelstein has been widely condemned, and described by some US Jews as being supportive of anti-Semitism. He has subsequently authored other books targeting, among others, the pro-Israel civil liberties lawyer Alan Dershowitz.
"Now, as he seeks tenure from DePaul University, Finkelstein's words are coming back to haunt him, and the controversial scholar is in the fight of his academic life," the Jewish Week said. "Charles Suchar, dean of DePaul's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has recommended against tenure, reportedly explaining in a memo that he found 'the personal attacks in many of Dr. Finkelstein's books to border on character assassination,'" the report said.
"Finkelstein told The Jewish Week that he believes the president has already decided to deny him tenure," it added.
Menorah in Saddam's palace
A US-Jewish naval officer recently celebrated Passover in a lodge once owned by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and spent Hanukah in one of Saddam's palaces, the Canadian Jewish News (CJN) reported.
Lieutenant Laurie Zimmet, of Los Angeles, has completed two tours of duty in Iraq, during which she held a "Chanukah party in an old palace, complete with a huge menorah," the report said.
"Zimmet, 42, returned in September after one year in Iraq, serving in a non-combat, but armed role with the navy's ground forces at the war's 'brain centre,'" the CJN said.
The CJN added that "Zimmet took it upon herself to organize the Seder last year, which drew Jewish personnel from all over Iraq."
Zimmet was quoted by the CJN as saying that "Jews are over-represented in the US military proportional to their population, and Jews from all walks of life – from doctors to cooks to public affairs officers - are serving throughout Iraq."
Author backs bus segregation for women
"Jewish men wearing black hats are sitting in the front of some buses in Israel. The women's section is in the back. Segregation? Nope. It's empowerment of women ," Shira Leibowitz Schmidt, a Netanya-based author, wrote in an editorial in the Chicago Jewish News.
Schmidt was addressing bus routes that cross Orthodox neighbourhoods, and in which men and women voluntarily sit separately.
"Why women in the back? It isn't strictly required, but in the Shema prayer we are warned not to follow our roving eyes, and some Orthodox men take an extra stringency upon themselves to minimize such opportunities," Schmidt wrote.
"The fervently Orthodox community has observed the degradation of Israel's public square in recent decades and wondered, how low can you go? Forced to listen to raunchy music, gaze at indecent ads and observe bare midriffs, religious women and men arranged their own private buses," she added.
"Women who chose to ride in the rear of the bus see themselves as partners in, and beneficiaries of, the attempt to encourage family integrity by creating temptation-free comfort zones," Schmidt said.
