Beinin sues Horowitz

From the Jewish News of Northern California:

[Joel] Beinin, an outspoken Middle Eastern history professor at Stanford and a prominent critic of Israel, filed a complaint last month against David Horowitz after the conservative firebrand published a booklet titled “Campus Support for Terrorism” with a photo of Beinin featured on the cover.

And while Beinin claims Horowitz has deliberately misrepresented his views to portray him as a terror supporter, that’s not what this suit is about. Beinin owns the rights to the photograph in question, and his complaint is for copyright infringement . . .

[Beinin] fingers Horowitz as one of the leading right-wing critics of academia and the field of Middle Eastern Studies, who is specifically leading a “McCarthyite” attack against anyone who espouses views contrary to the neocon line.

“He is most definitely part of a concerted effort to defame, delegitimize and discredit [professors] who disagree with the Bush administration and Bush administration policy. And I do disagree with Bush administration policy,” said Beinin.

Horowitz, not surprisingly, disagreed with that perspective. He’s already named Beinin in his earlier book “The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America,” and said that he is preparing a long article documenting “Joel Beinin’s support for terrorism.”

I found the following paragraph, quoting Beinin, especially interesting:

“I have both written and spoken many times on the record that I believe that attacks on unarmed civilians are morally unacceptable and politically unproductive. That sounds like someone who supports terrorism?” he asked.

Yes.

Tags: Beinin, Horowitz, terrorism, lawsuits