Tehran Times: Norman Finkelstein calls Israel "satanic"

He is becoming more bilious, if that's possible. This is actually from an interview in a Turkish newspaper. Here is one of his answers:

I think Israel, as a number of commentators pointed out, is becoming an insane state. And we have to be honest about that. While the rest of the world wants peace, Europe wants peace, the U.S. wants peace, but this state wants war, war and war. In the first week of the massacres, there were reports in the Israeli press that Israel did not want to put all its ground forces in Gaza because it was preparing attacks on Iran. Then there were reports it was planning attacks on Lebanon. It is a lunatic state.

One question asked "How do you feel about Israel’s operation in Gaza personally as the son of Holocaust survivors?" His answer:

It has been a long time since I felt any emotional connection with the state of Israel, which relentlessly and brutally and inhumanly keeps these vicious, murderous wars. It is a vandal state. There is a Russian writer who once described vandal states as Genghis Khan with a telegraph. Israel is Genghis Khan with a computer. I feel no emotion of affinity with that state. I have some good friends and their families there, and of course I would not want any of them to be hurt. That said, sometimes I feel that Israel has come out of the boils of the hell, a satanic state. Ninety percent of the population continues to cheer, to exalt and feel proud and heroic. They send a Sherman tank to a playground and torch children . . .

Asked why the U.S. media is so "pro-Israel," he answers that Israel "serves American interests." Then he adds:

And there is, of course, the secondary factor, which is the ethnic element. In many of these newspapers and the media in general, there is a large Jewish presence, and there is a sense of Jewish ethnic solidarity, which plays a role.

But there are also good Jews:

But I think we have to qualify the secondary factor in two ways. We should not lose sight of the primary factor, which is Israel is the client state of U.S. No. 2: In this past war, the liberal Jewish population mostly under the age of 40 completely defected from the war, the massacre. They have been opposed to the massacres from the first day.

That's a relief. We wouldn't want those Muslim readers to come away from this with anti-Jewish feelings or anything.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad