Security chiefs blast UK visit of anti-Israel professor Finkelstein

Jewish security chiefs in Britain have blasted American Jewish professor Norman Finkelstein ahead of his speaking appearance in London next week, saying he “perverts the word Zionist”.

Finkelstein, who is known for his strident anti-Israel views, is speaking about “the new anti-Semitism and the Holocaust industry” during the Community University’s annual summer school on Monday. On Tuesday, he is speaking about “the future of Palestine” and on philosopher John Stuart Mill.

In addition, UK-based Jewish communists Moshé Machover and Tony Greenstein, who was suspended by the Labour Party, will be speaking on anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism on Saturday.

Community Security Trust director Mark Gardner said: “Norman Finkelstein and the other speakers on anti-Semitism speak volumes for the Communist Party’s derisive attitude towards the mainstream of the Jewish community.”

He added: “They treat us like some kind of class enemy and pervert the meaning of the word Zionist into a term of absolute hatred and abuse. Stalin would have been proud of them, but his brief ally Adolf Hitler might well have questioned using Jews to deliver the message.”