Pappé and the Neo Nazis 2
Ilan Pappé has issued a statement on his interview with the neo-Nazi National Zeitung:
Dear Friends,
As a point of clarification, it came to my notice that among the many interviews I gave while being in Germany one of them was copied to the National Zeitung. Had I known that I would appear in this newspaper, I would have not agreed to do that. I do not blame that paper, but myself from not inquiring to whom I am giving press conferences and interviews. I would like to stress that my ideology and moral stance are in total contradiction to what this newspaper represent and the unfortunate appearance in it has nothing to associate myself or the cause of Palestine with the paper and the political party behind it.
Yours faithfully,
Professor Ilan Pappe
Chair
Department of History
University of Exeter
UK
Good for him.
It is kind of a relief. There is a thematic convergence between parts of the far Right and parts of the far Left, where Israel is concerned. Very few have crossed over, and embraced Red-Brown politics.
Pappé is not one of those.
(Hat tip: Benji, who contacted Pappé)
Comments
| 2 May 2008, 8:57 am |
Good as well. But
I do not blame that paper,
Why not? (Damn, we’re never going to get Benji banned now.)
| 2 May 2008, 9:10 am |
Pappé is not one of those.
Of course not. Controversial public figures routinely give interviews without checking the identity of the interviewer or the place of publication. They do this to make sure that they can be tricked by cranks and neo-Nazis.
The alternative explanation is that Pappé didn’t expect to be caught. Just as Chomsky never thought anyone would see his friendly communications with Holocaust deniers.
| 2 May 2008, 9:11 am |
Well done Benji for confounding yet another smear attempt.
Damn, we’re never going to get Benji banned now
Good. He’s been smeared non-stop for 5 years here for pointing out the poverty of the analysis and commentary here while racists, ethnic chauvinists and apologists for the slaugther of human beings get a free pass.
| 2 May 2008, 9:20 am |
When I die, I hope to meet not Jesus but Benji… no, I meant… hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
| 2 May 2008, 1:02 pm |
“I would like to stress that my ideology and moral stance are in total contradiction to what this newspaper represent”
- I wonder why National Zeitung had the opposite opinion?
3 guesses anyone?
| 2 May 2008, 2:20 pm |
This is a rather extraordinary situation, a professor of political science, an activist, someone well versed in political manoeuvring but he is fooled by a pile of neo-Nazis?
Prof. Pappé doesn’t ask elementary questions of people who wish to interview him
Prof. Pappé doesn’t even seem to assume that Jew haters could welcome any of his pronouncements and use them for their own ends?
and when found out, he issues a rather weak statement, instead of putting considerable distance between him and those neo-Nazis his statement is couched in fairly moderate tones.
If he had been serious he would have stated his direct objection to the neo-Nazi views held by the paper, he would have made it clear and unambiguous that he is an opponent of the neo-Nazis in Germany, but instead his statement comes over as feeble.
| 2 May 2008, 3:58 pm |
a professor of political science… fooled by a pile of neo-Nazis?
Come on, he’s a professor, goddamit. They don’t know what day of the week it is :-)
| 2 May 2008, 5:20 pm |
Benji,
I also wrote that he was an activist, thus that he must have some grasp of people’s motivations in the political sphere, and it doesn’t take a great deal of experience to understand that neo-Nazis will exploit any situation to drum up hatred for Jews, etc
a cursory glance across Neo-nazi web sites and their bulletin boards will indicate that they will selectively pick from Jewish authors, mangle their meaning and present a warp picture of history
so it is not unreasonable to assume that a Professor of history and political science would be aware of these basic facts and take care as a result.
| 2 May 2008, 6:16 pm |
David T:
I’m afraid I’m a lot less impressed than you are.
Pappe’s current employers may have been able to overlook the fact that Pappe enouraged one of his MA students back in Israel to publish material about some members of the Israeli defence forces deemed libelous in court, and that he continues to misrepresent Plan Dalit despite a thorough debunking by Beny Morris. It’s unlikely, however, that Exeter (or whichever university that gave him an appointment) would be amused by the shit storm likely to blow up over giving interviews to neo-Nazis.
| 2 May 2008, 10:26 pm |
One of the most enjoyable book reviews I have ever read was the one in the New Republic where Benny Morris simply demolished and destroyed Pappe. The review can be seen on-line on the following three links.
http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~censor/katz-directory/04-03-22benny-morris-The%20New%20Republic-1.pdf
http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~censor/katz-directory/04-03-22benny-morris-The%20New%20Republic-2.pdf
http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~censor/katz-directory/04-03-22benny-morris-The%20New%20Republic-3.pdf
| 3 May 2008, 9:25 am |
Was the article published in the Nazi Newspaper Pappé’s?
Is he saying that his article was “kosher” when published in a “kosher” magazine, but “treif” when taken up by Nazis?
| 13 May 2008, 8:55 pm |
Bit late to be joining in this one, but for the record: yes, what appeared in the paper was a straight transcript of the interview Pappe gave, and there seems to be no suggestion that he was misrepresented in any way.
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