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Norman Finkelstein (AP)
Last update - 09:36 08/01/2008
U.S. academic Finkelstein meets top Hezbollah official in Lebanon
By The Associated Press
Tags: Hezbollah, southern Lebanon 

A vocal American critic of Israel met Monday with a senior official from the militant Hezbollah group and visited villages in southern Lebanon that witnessed heavy fighting in the 2006 war between the guerrillas and the Jewish state.

Norman Finkelstein, who resigned last year as a political science professor at DePaul University in Chicago, met Hezbollah's commander in south Lebanon, Nabil Kaouk, in his office in the coastal city of Tyre.

He visited the border village of Maroun el-Rass where heavy fighting between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israeli troops took place during the two side's 34-day war in the summer 2006, according to the state-run National News Agency and Hezbollah's Al-Manar television.
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Finkelstein also toured the border village of Aita al-Shaab, the location from where Hezbollah guerrillas triggered the war after they crossed the border, killing three Israeli soldiers and capturing two others in hopes of trading them for Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails, according to the report.

The 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war left more than 1,000 Lebanese, mostly civilians, dead. About 160 Israelis, including 119 soldiers, also died in the fighting.

"After the horror and after the shame and after the anger there still remain a hope, and I know that I can get in a lot of trouble for what I am about to say, but I think that the Hezbollah represents the hope. They are fighting to defend their homeland," the Brooklyn-born Finkelstein told reporters. The U.S. government has labeled Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

Finkelstein is on a one-week visit to Lebanon where he is scheduled to hold lectures and visit Palestinian refugee camps.

In the past, Finkelstein has argued that some Jewish groups have exploited the Holocaust for political and financial gain. In September, Finkelstein resigned from his job at DePaul University, months after he was denied tenure at the school where his views and scholarship came under fire.

In 2000, Finkelstein published The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the
Exploitation of Jewish Suffering. The reaction to the book - in which he
claimed Jews in Israel and the United States have used the Holocaust to, among other things, extort money from Germany - was both loud and angry.

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      1.   Norman Finkelstine 20:47  |  MO 07/01/08
      2.   Finkelstein 20:48  |  Connie 07/01/08
      3.   Oxfiord Union invited him to present pro-Israel side in debate 20:49  |  Ethan 07/01/08
      4.   Fired from his Academic post for intellectual dishonesty 20:54  |  Genuine Tosefta 07/01/08
      5.   2. my my connie`s venon 20:57  |  Finklestein Admirer 07/01/08
      6.   is this guy a new member of naturei karta??? 20:58  |  bernard k from 07/01/08
      7.   Dispicable person 21:00  |  John 07/01/08
      8.   5. fake Tosefta? actually for telling the truth 21:02  |  Finklestein Admirer 07/01/08
      9.   Finkelstein 21:03  |  Sarah 07/01/08
      10.   Pushed out by Dersh`s smear job, more like 21:11  |  Rowan Berkeley 07/01/08
      11.   Finklestein 21:17  |  Edifice 07/01/08
      12.   #4 Ethan 21:19  |  Boycott 07/01/08
      13.   #1 MO 21:20  |  Sarah 07/01/08
      14.   This calls for writing a new book: "The Hizbullah Industry" 21:25  |  Jake 07/01/08
      15.   the lobby and whore`s witz and dirt bag witz are what got 21:25  |  Finklestein Admirer 07/01/08
      16.   We need to emulate Norman Finkelstein 21:25  |  Naftali Lavie 07/01/08
      17.   How about renaming Hizbullah the F.L.O. 21:27  |  Jake 07/01/08
      18.   U.S. failed academic 21:28  |  dan 07/01/08
      19.   Finkelstein 21:29  |  Sammy 07/01/08
      20.   MO, how about the whole truth then 21:31  |  Jake 07/01/08
      21.   Gideon Levy, Amira Haas, Finklstein.... 21:33  |  Mr. Ami Goldman 07/01/08
      22.   Fan of Finkelstein`s Scholarship but not his views 21:38  |  benjamin 07/01/08
      23.   more partial reporting from haaretz 21:41  |  edgar 07/01/08
      24.   #2 Say there Connie from Canada 21:45  |  ballistic 07/01/08
      25.   #3 Finkelstein Admirer 21:46  |  ballistic 07/01/08
      26.   Finkelstein 21:49  |  Morton 07/01/08
      27.   For Filkenstein admirer 21:50  |  Darth Zaider (Ed) 07/01/08
      28.   sad case 21:51  |  ron 07/01/08
      29.   Coonie the ultimate accolade 21:52  |  Bruce 07/01/08
      30.   #6 Edifice 21:54  |  ballistic 07/01/08
      31.   #15 Dan 22:00  |  ballistic 07/01/08
      32.   #11 Jake 22:03  |  ballistic 07/01/08
      33.   Birds of a feather flock together-he is amongst friends 22:08  |  Alan 07/01/08
      34.   Birds of a feather flock together-he is amongst friends 22:08  |  Alan 07/01/08
      35.   To Naftali Lavie 22:12  |  Jake 07/01/08
      36.   ballistic 22:13  |  Connie 07/01/08
      37.   Norman Finklestein 22:13  |  MR 07/01/08
      38.   Finkelstein is in Lebanon to free Goldwater & Regev 22:14  |  Dutch Dirk 07/01/08
      39.   Defending their homeland, eh? 22:14  |  Phillipe T. Lucre 07/01/08
      40.   #3 finkelstien admirerer 22:19  |  czech man 07/01/08
      41.   Haaretz will be held accountable for posts like #6 22:21  |  Jake 07/01/08
      42.   Praise be to the prophet Finklestein! 22:22  |  Joe Sittizen 07/01/08
      43.   Don`t worry: Finkelstein is a Trojan horse 22:22  |  XYZ 07/01/08
      44.   If Hezboolah is the answer... 22:27  |  Motic 07/01/08
      45.   Connie 22:27  |  I wonder 07/01/08
      46.   For Finkelstein, Hezb. represents hope, hope of destroying Israel 22:28  |  McQueen 07/01/08
      47.   Reply to #6 22:31  |  Joe 07/01/08
      48.   finkelstein admirer`s bigotry 22:32  |  Al 07/01/08
      49.   Antisemites love Finkelstein 22:33  |  Steve Randolph 07/01/08
      50.   #10 distinction without a difference 22:34  |  McQueen 07/01/08
      51.   To no.1: Finkelstein is possibly lying about his background 22:35  |  Steve Randolph 07/01/08
      52.   Don`t say finkelstein`s parents were holocaust survivors. He lies 22:38  |  Steve Randolph 07/01/08
      53.   Finklestein - Right Up Haaretz`s Alley 22:48  |  Tod Zuckerman 07/01/08
      54.   traitors among us 22:50  |  Shmuelshachor 07/01/08
      55.   He did not "resign" 23:02  |  Per 07/01/08
      56.   Now we know why his name begins with `fink` 23:06  |  Iz Ray Leigh 07/01/08
      57.   benjamin 23:09  |  Sarah 07/01/08
      58.   Norman Finkelstein is no longer an academic 23:24  |  An Academic 07/01/08
      59.   He may apply for a tenure 23:27  |  Yosis 07/01/08
      60.   Marxist-Islamic alliance 23:37  |  George Jochnowitz 07/01/08
      61.   Jews 23:38  |  Palomudo 07/01/08
      62.   just another terrorist sympathizer anri-semite 23:41  |  hebro 07/01/08
      63.   The all powered Zionist lobby 23:52  |  sirius 07/01/08
      64.   This monster`s name is Frankenstein... 23:53  |  Misha 07/01/08
      65.   Genuine Toestifa and barefaced lies 00:01  |  Truth 08/01/08
      66.   Dan and another lie. Finkestien exposed two Zionists 00:02  |  Trurth 08/01/08
      67.   Finkelstein who? 00:04  |  leo 08/01/08
      68.   Don`t let him back into the US 00:04  |  Gili 08/01/08
      69.   #27 Fair enough, I condemn Finkelstein 00:05  |  Gili 08/01/08
      70.   Prof. Finkelstein - Please, have merci on him 00:06  |  17 08/01/08
      71.   Finkelstein and Chomsky certainly are refreshing, 00:15  |  Michael 08/01/08