‘Gaza Is Over, It’s Gone. There’s Nothing Left' | Aaron Bastani meets Norman Finkelstein

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Support our work: http://novara.media/support Norman Finkelstein is one of the West’s leading anti-Zionist scholars. The son of holocaust survivors, he has spent his life studying and critiquing Israel’s assault on Palestine, decades before it became socially acceptable to do so in the West. ​ Yet despite having dedicated his career to it, by the day before Hamas’ attack in October 2023, Norman had all but given up on the cause of Palestinian liberation. His most recent book on the subject had sold 370 copies. When news of the attack arrived, Norman knew people would want to hear from him. He wrestled with what to say, eventually coming to the view that Hamas’ actions could be viewed through the lens of the Slave Rebellions in the early 1800s: heinous acts of violence borne out of desperate circumstances. Acts that he could not condemn. ​ In conversation with Aaron Bastani, Norman tells the story of his parents’ lives before the war, and the life they built in the shadow of the Holocaust. Could they speak about what they had been through? How did their experience impact Norman’s work and his devotion to the truth? What was it like arguing with his mentor, Noam Chomsky? And what is Israel’s endgame? 00:00 Intro 02:42 Who Were Norman’s Parents, Before the Holocaust? 09:55 What Was Their Life Like, As Survivors? 17:16 What Drives Norman’s Work? 18:38 Stalinists: A Deep Debt to the Soviet Union 23:41 ‘My Words Are Not For Sale’ 28:25 In Pursuit of the Truth: Norman’s Anti Zionist Scholarship 34:26 On MAGA’s ‘Intellectually Void’ Figureheads 41:10 The Failures of the Left Today 46:36 The Great Noam Chomsky 50:53 Crocodile Tears: How Video Is Changing Our Culture? 52:53 Wrestling With October 7th 58:36 Hamas’ Violence and Slave Rebellions 1:02:44 ‘I Don’t Want to Get Adjusted to this World’ 1:07:16 On Religion 1:13:39 Fighting for Tiny Victories 1:18:26 Nat Turner’s Rebellion 1:22:34 Why Norman Won’t Condemn Hamas 1:25:43 Israel’s End Game Buy a copy of Gaza’s Gravediggers: An Inquiry into Corruption in High Places by Norman Finklestein from OR Books here https://orbooks.com/catalog/gazas-gravediggers/ Buy Novara Media merch: https://shop.novaramedia.com/