„The Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology [MPI] in the city of Halle sparked international criticism because the pro-Hezbollah and allegedly antisemitic activist Norman Finkelstein is slated to hold talks on academia and Gaza on Monday and later in January. ‚Finkelstein is not a scholar or academic. He is a polemicist who misuses sources and violates accepted standards of academic integrity,‘ Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. ‚That is why he was fired ( or not renewed) at universities at which he taught. It would be scandalous for the Planck Institute to lend its academic imprimatur to so non-academic a person,‘ he argued. Dershowitz added: ‚Let me add that the Planck Institute would never seriously consider inviting an anti-Palestinian polemicist with a comparable lack of academic standing. He is invited because of his anti-Israel and borderline antisemitic polemics, not despite them.‘ (…)
The MPI has not listed Finkelstein’s talk on its website but a flyer states Finkelstein will talk about ‚Gaza; an inquest into its martyrdom.‘ Finkelstein is banned for ten years from entering the Jewish state because of his support for Hezbollah – a US and EU classified terrorist organization.“
