Norman Finkelstein - Term Paper Example

It has taken away the moral stature of the entire martyrdom and placed it at parallel with Monte Carlo Casino. Finkelstein’s account on the Holocaust Industry is a rather liberal account of the Holocaust Industry, which he feels is today an American-driven myth designed to serve the larger interests of the Jewish elites. It is a part of growing commercialism with respect to the Holocaust Industry. There has been an avalanche of books, statutes, movies and Holocaust memorial. A recent development was the shakedown of Swiss banks and German insurance companies for victims of the Holocaust.

Finkelstein argues that all of this is a part of the corrupt “Holocaust Industry” and it should be exposed and ripped off any business it is doing so that the lives of Auschwitz and Treblinka can finally be in peace. Finkelstein is not the first one to point this out. A lot of British, American and Israeli scholars have said things about it in the last few years. According to Frankelistein’s arguments, after the wars, American Jews seemed to be more ignorant and apathetic towards the Nazi Holocaust.

Rather, their entire focus was on adapting themselves fully to the American life style. They were least bothered about harping a dreadful historical episode which could have isolated them as a separate ethnic group from the American society and could have victimized them. There was a lot that changed. Finkelstein explained the shift in U.S. foreign policy interests towards the Middle East. After the Second World War, the British were quite bankrupt and they were caught between diverging demands of the Arabs and Jews.

Due to this, they declared the mandate in Palestine “unworkable”. Therein, the matter was referred to the United Nations, established after the War. The UN established special committee on Palestine, which was the first international body established with the aim to solve the Palestinian problem. The committee recommended the partitioning of the area, and eventually on November 29, 1947 partitioned Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. The partition was not accepted by the Arabs but accepted by the Jews.

When Israel announced its independence, it was to face opposition from the Arabs The Jews of Israel celebrated with joy and gladness for they had hoped to gain this freedom for over two thousand years (Silverman). However, the Arabs were not happy because they were eventually forced into exile. Therefore, there was a clash of rights, which is one of the main reasons for the war. The war that ensued was marked bloody from both the sides. Israel was fighting its war for independence and the war continued from 1947 to 1949.

In 1948, the Palestinian Exodus occurred in which around 725,000 Palestinian Arabs fled from their homes or either were expelled and Israel did not allow them to return as McDowall, David, Palley recount. Post the 1967 six day war, there was a shift in US policy towards the Israel. This move was cheered by the all growing powerful Jewish lobby groups who were looking out for fresh fund raising ways. They capitalized on this by encouraging a pro-Israel foreign policy. This happened in the 1970s by the right wing Israeli governments who were looking out to deflect attention from the bitter treatment of the Palestinians.

Finkelstein argued that they achieved the same by a Holocaust