Norman Finkelstein at Solidarity stage in 2013. Photo: Wiki Commons.

In both a televised segment and online report on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, Boston 25 News interviewed controversial academic Norman Finkelstein, presenting him as a “noted expert on Gaza.”

According to Finkelstein himself, this was the first time that he had ever appeared on American television.

There’s a good reason for that.

While Boston 25 News presented Norman Finkelstein as a dispassionate scholar capable of giving an objective analysis of the current war as well as South Africa’s allegation of genocide against the Jewish state at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), this is far from the truth.

In the almost half-century of his career as both an academic and a public persona, Norman Finkelstein has made a name for himself by engaging in the trivialization of both the Holocaust and modern-day antisemitism; the whitewashing of terrorism; and the vilification of the Jewish state.

In his controversial 2000 book The Holocaust Industry, Finkelstein asserted that the Holocaust is exploited by Jewish organizations and Israel in order to shield the latter from criticism.

In more recent years, he has made the same argument about allegations of a resurgence in antisemitism, claiming that there is no “new antisemitism” and that it is merely a cynical ploy used to defame critics of Israel.

In the past, Finkelstein has also invoked classic antisemitic stereotypes, claiming that “Jews are over-represented in the media” and “Jews are tapped into the networks of power and privilege” in the United States.

In 2020, Finkelstein even went so far as to assert that Holocaust deniers should not be considered antisemites and praised renowned Holocaust denier David Irving as “a very good historian” who “produced works that are substantive.”

Norman Finkelstein says infamous #Holocaust denier David Irving is a “very good historian” who “knew a thing, or two or three”. He said that at a meeting of @LAW_witchhunt which #antisemite Jackie Walker says was the “best” she attended this year. Golly.https://t.co/ZLLehis1zF

— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) August 13, 2020

When it comes to internationally-recognized terror organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, Finkelstein has gone on record as justifying their actions against Israel.

In a 2011 interview, Finkelstein said that “it is impossible to justify terrorism” but, one sentence later, stated, “I do believe that Hezbollah has the right to target Israeli civilians … until Israel ceases its terrorist acts.”

In the same interview, he denied that Hamas uses human shields.

In response to Hamas’ brutal invasion on October 7, Finkelstein’s initial response was to say that the attack “warms every fiber of my soul.”

Two weeks later, as the full gravity of the attack was becoming more known, Finkelstein said it was difficult to “morally evaluate” those who committed the atrocities and also called into question certain aspects of the massacres themselves.

Along with venerating terror organizations, Finkelstein has referred to Israel as a “Jewish supremacist state,” accusing it of practicing apartheid.

In the past, Finkelstein has also referred to Israel as a “lunatic state” and accused it of committing a “holocaust” during its defensive military operation against Hamas, Cast Lead, in 2009.

Boston 25 News’s Biased Reporting

The uncritical reliance of Boston 25 News on Norman Finkelstein’s “expert” analysis is not the only concerning issue with this report.

In both the televised segment and accompanying article, Hamas’ brutal invasion is casually referred to as a “sneak attack.”

In addition, the article puts doubt into its readers’ minds as to the extent of Hamas’ atrocities as it claims that “it’s not clear whether friendly fire played a significant role in the bloodshed.”

Referencing those killed on October 7, the article says that “some 1,200 Israelis were killed,” minimizing the fact that the majority of those killed were civilians.

However, in the next paragraph, it states that “Israeli armed forces have killed more than 20,000 Palestinian civilians, most of them women and children.” There is no mention that a substantial percentage of this number (which is provided by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health) includes Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.

Similarly, the article notes that “hospitals, schools and refugee camps have been bombed,” and also that “Israel cut off water, food, medicine, electricity and fuel to Gaza after the October 7th Hamas attack.”

This picture of Israel’s activities in Gaza is deficient without mentioning how Hamas uses civilian infrastructure as cover for its terrorist activities, and how Israel has been cooperating with the international community to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza for use by the territory’s civilian population.

Additionally, both the televised segment and the article give voice to Finkelstein’s false claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, while the article goes further, uncritically parroting his assertion that the power of the Jewish communities in some of the ICJ justices’ home countries might affect their adjudicating South Africa’s case against Israel.

When a media organization gives a platform to the likes of Norman Finkelstein to provide the sole analysis of such a contentious topic, the report will ultimately fail to meet any journalistic standards of objectivity.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.