It was a big loss for Israel?s radical Left, and a big win for the freedom to criticize it and describe it accurately.
An appeals court in the Israeli town of Nazareth overturned an earlier lower-court ruling that had awarded a legal victory to Neve Gordon, a far-Left Israeli lecturer in political scientist at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba. Gordon had filed a SLAPP suit in that court against Prof. Steven Plaut, a prominent columnist and academic economist, based on articles Plaut had published denouncing Gordon?s political opinions and public political activities. Plaut is a critic of Israel?s radical academic Left and is associated with websites that monitor it, including > style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" face="Times New Roman">.
SLAPP stands for ?Strategic Lawsuit against Public Participation.? In many parts of the United States there are serious penalties for filing SLAPP suits, but to date none in Israel.
In particular, Plaut had censured Gordon for repeatedly endorsing the views and writings of Prof. Norman Finkelstein, recently fired by DePaul University in Chicago, and even comparing him to the biblical Prophets. Finkelstein, a fawning admirer of the Hezbollah terror organization, is a favorite of neo-Nazis like Ernst Zundel. Commentary senior editor Gabriel Schoenfeld has condemned his ?crackpot ideas, some of them mirrored almost verbatim in the propaganda put out by neo-Nazis around the world? (Commentary, January 2001, p. 20).
Plaut had also slammed Gordon for illegally entering Ramallah to interfere with Israeli military operations, describing Gordon?s ?human shield? group as ?Judenrat wannabes.? On February 3, 2002, Israel?s ynet reported (in Hebrew, with photo) that ?250 left-wing activists violated the Israeli army?s orders and entered Ramallah for a meeting with [Yasser] Arafat. . . . Neve Gordon . . . was photographed with Arafat with hands clasped . . . .?
In his suit Gordon claimed that Plaut had called him a ?Jew for Hitler? and Holocaust denier. The appeals court ruled that Plaut had only characterized Finkelstein as a neo-Nazi and had
An appeals court in the Israeli town of Nazareth overturned an earlier lower-court ruling that had awarded a legal victory to Neve Gordon, a far-Left Israeli lecturer in political scientist at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba. Gordon had filed a SLAPP suit in that court against Prof. Steven Plaut, a prominent columnist and academic economist, based on articles Plaut had published denouncing Gordon?s political opinions and public political activities. Plaut is a critic of Israel?s radical academic Left and is associated with websites that monitor it, including > style="font-size: 11pt;" face="Times New Roman">.
Quote Reply