Rating: 
Summary: A Misguided Polemic by a Paranoid Self-Hater
Review: Norman Finkelstein has worn the badge of a Jew and child of the Holocaust to trumpet his thesis that the Jewish people have turned the Holocaust into nothing more than a money-making scam.His proof? There is none. The entire book is less a work of scholarship than a sustained polemic that must be motivated by the deepest and most pathological self-hatred one can imagine. Finkelstein says that the Holocaust was little discussed until the 1967 Israeli-Arab war. And that it subsequently was exploited as a rationale for the unqualified support of Israel by the US and other nations. This is false on the face of it. The Holocaust was in fact one of the principal reasons that the United Nations recognized the State of Israel in 1948, and it is also one of the reasons that Jewish people everywhere, when Israel is threatened, rally to her defense. The reason? If the Holocaust proved anything, it demonstrated that Jews who have lived and worked for many generations in the midst of civilized Europe could not count on their fellow citizens and neighbors to protect them against a madness like Naziism, which slaughtered six million innocents simply because they were Jews. Hitler seemed to prove the Zionists right, at least to the satisfaction of the UN: That the Jews would only be safe in their own homeland, where being Jewish did not relegate one to the status of a hated minority. THAT is what is behind the connection between the Holocaust and Israel. It has nothing to do with money, power, or deception. It has everything to do with survivial. Only a self-hating Jew like Norman Finkelstein would be unable to see that.
Rating: 
Summary: American Jewish Elites Exposed!!
Review: A must read! Finkelstein, gives the reader an inside look into the "American Jewish lobby" that we always use in conversation in passing. We know there are some powerful elite Jews out there controlling a lot of the policy here in the US, and Finkelstein exposes who they are, and a lot of the shady/immoral things they are involved in through extensive documentation and clever insight. For some other useful info, check out http://www.jewsnotzionists.org/
Rating:
Summary: another way to deny
Review: Finkelstein is aligned with the "elitist" left-wing intellectuals who, as he states, deny the enormity of the Holocaust for their own political gain. He is a self-hating Jew who makes an elaborate attempt to disparage his identity behind an elaborate dissertation. One wonders if he published because he was perishing, or that he wrote this to persuade himself that he is not who he is, and does not come from the legacy left to him. This is a sorry excuse for a man who is a survivor.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally some rational discourse on the Holocaust.
Review: When Elie Wiesel refused to condemn the carpet bombing of Beirut by the IDF in 1982, claiming that he would support whatever Israel did because of the Holocaust, he was doing exactly what Finkelstein deplores in this book...Using the Holocaust to excuse any moral short-coming or hypocrasy of modern day Jewish groups. In this book, Finkelstein documents that the aboce example is not an isolated incident. He demonstrates that Jewish activist groups have been exploiting the Holocaust for the advancement of thier own agendas on a large scale. These agendas range from supporting the state of Israel to claiming that Jews, the wealthiest ethnic group in America, are a victim class! This book does NOT deny the Holocaust or the suffering of individual Holocaust survivors. It does, however, take issue with the large number of Jews who falsely claim to be Holocaust survivors. Only between 100,000 to 250,000 Jews survived the concentration camps, yet several times that many claim to be survivors. It does not take a mathematical genius to figure out that some people are lying to cash in on the victim power capital of the Holocaust. Finkeltstein also does a brilliant expose of the Swiss lawsuit, in which he accuses the Jewish activists involved of behaving like an extortion racket. Many ethnicities have experienced atrocities on a similar scale to the Jewish Holocaust among the are: Ukrainians: Between 1929-1932 Stalin and his chief mass murderer Lazar Kaganovich unleashed genocide on the Ukraine by creating an artificial famine and authorizing the NKVD to conduct mass shootings of Ukrainians. Some 7 million people (25% of the Ukraine's population) perished. This is higher than the 6 million figure for the Holocaust. Cambodians: One third of Cambodia's population perished under Pol Pot's rule between 1976-1979. Serbs: During world war 2 some 2 million Serbs were butchered by Croat and Muslim thugs. While the numeric figure is lower than the Holocaust, the Serbs actually suffered higher PER CAPITA losses than the Jews in World War 2. Armenians: The Young Turks in Turkey slaughtered anywhere from between 1.5 to 3 million Armenians during World War 1. Annihilating some three quarters of the Armenian population. No one suggests that present day members of these ethnic groups recieve any special excuses for moral short comings, nor should they. And the same should apply to people of jewish decent. Why did i give this book 4 stars instead of 5. This book neglects to mention one of the biggest uses of Holocaust exploitation: The accusation that Christianity bears responsibility for the Holocaust. Jewish groups have claimed that the Holocaust was inspired by Christian teachings in order to obtain many concessions from Christian Churches, even to the point that some of them want the New Testament censored! Read the Book Hitler, the War and the Pope for a thorough debunking of the ridiculous claim that Christians should feel guilt about the Holocaust. (I do not have time on this review to go in to all the details).
Rating:
Summary: A brave book by a brave author
Review: Dr. Finkelstein is a Princeton PhD graduate majoring in political science who "used" to teach in New York State University (under the pressure of the same machines operating the industry he exposed in the book, he was forced to leave his post there). I admire the priciples of Dr. Finkelstein, who, despite his jewish origin and his family history, refuses to cover his eyes and ears and shut up in the face of injustice. His intelect enables him to see past the smoke clouds, his personal ideals prevents him from complacency and accepting the norm, and his strong character supports him in the face of pressure from those who would prefer he is not heard. All of these traits are manifested in this book, and other books by him. What I liked most about the book is the overwhelming sensetivity to human suffering and the pain for this that the author demonstrates towards it. Starting from his personal pain for the "holocaust" (with small 'h' as he would distinguish from the propaganda machine with the big 'H') to the general pain towards human suffering in general. My favorite quote comes early in the book, page 8 (the emphases are present in the original text): "The time is long past to open our hearts to the rest of humanity's sufferings. This was the main lesson my mother imparted. I never once heard her say: Do not compare. My mother ALWAYS compared. No doubt historical distinctions must be made. But to make out MORAL distinctions between OUR suffering and THEIRS is itself a moral travesty. 'You can't compare any two miserable people', Plato humanely observed, 'and say that one is happier than the other.' In the face of the sufferings of African-Americans, Vietnamese and Palestinians, my mother's credo always was: We are all holocaust victims." The facts of life for Dr. Finkelstein only stands to witness for the truthfullness of his assertions. If Dr. Finkelstein's status as the jewish son of a holocaust survivor with such intellect and knowledge could not save him from being called "anti-semite", "self hater" or a "traitor", one could only imagine what will happen to an author of my name had he written about some of the facts in the book in a publication for the western reader. The book is an easy read and can be considered a long essay (150 pages of the small size) and shouldn't take more than 3 hours. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: This book changed completely my views on the HOLOCAUST and showed me the real causes and the costs we are stuck with as Americans, It all make sense now!!!!
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Summary: Biased and Partisan-- and Hypocritical
Review: Finkelstein makes a lot of money suggesting that others (mainly Jews) make money "exploiting" the Holocaust. Most of my family was murdered by the Germans, some in particularly gruesome ways. All of the property of my family on both sides was lost. I have pictures of whole families (cousins) in their comfortable homes, all dead. Their homes and businesses were taken over by the citizens of Holland and Germany and Hungary. The wealth of the Jews was stolen by the very people who murdered them or their neighbors. Some people think the Holocaust was started out of greed for money. Read Ian MacMillan: Village of a Million Spirits: A Novel of the Treblinka Uprising. Despite the fact that I have lost most of my family in the Holocaust, I have never got a penny out of it. No one paid me to write this review. Finkelstein wrote a book disparaging Goldhagen's Book: "Hitler's Willing Executioners" (which by the way was a best-seller in Germany and Goldhagen much respected) by way of respect for his father, who was a survivor. I think Finkelstein should be ashamed of himself for his bigoted and ugly theses, such as the one he espouses in this book. It is not justice to blame the victims.
Rating:
Summary: Norman Finkelstein's "Holocaust Industry"
Review: If anyone has been a wee-bit suspicious of the way America is run, the Middle East conflict, and the ponderous influence that the organized American Jewish community wields in international affairs, then get your hands on a copy of this book now. Why is the Holocaust such an omnipresent factor in American culture and in our collective historical consciousness? Is it because after the Six Day War in which Israel seized by force the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights from its Arab neighbors, many Jews and Israeli national interests needed to provide a massive incident of Jewish suffering to further their political goals and provide justification for Israel's continuing acts of aggression in regards towards bordering states? Furthermore, did the Jews need to misconstrue an historical event in order to portray themselves as an underdog, a constantly oppressed and tormented people, despite their power and affluence? Consider the following quote from Finkelstein: "The Holocaust has proven to be an indispensable ideological weapon. Through its deployment, one of the world's most formidable military powers, with a horrendous human rights record, has cast itself as a 'victim' state, and the most successful ethnic group in the United States has likewise acquired victim status." This book makes plain a lot of questionable actions and beliefs held by the Jewish bearers of the Holocaust remembrance flame. Although if you question them in any way, shape or form, it is "anti-Semitic," Finkelstein states some of the attitudes surrounding the Holocaust need to be reexamined. "The Holocaust Industry" as Finkelstein calls it, are money making gimmicks (such as the multi-million dollar reparations from Switzerland) that serve more to "Jewish aggrandizement than to Jewish suffering." Read this book if you dare to hearken to something that casts a few of the "Chosen People" in a less than godly role. By the way, _The Holocaust Industry_ is written by a Jewish, left-wing, anti-American author.
Rating:
Summary: Convincing
Review: Norman Finkelstein presents a convincing case against some Jewish organizations and individuals he accuses of exploiting the Holocaust for personal gains. Contrary to what some of his his detractors say Finkelstein is not a Holocaust denier in the sense that he does not dispute the fact that over 5 million Jews were intentionally killed by the Nazi regime, nor does he refute the use of poison gas in the process.
Rating:
Summary: An eyeopener
Review: By way of introduction I would like to make one thing clear. Before I read this book, my opinions about this burning subject were very clear. I always thought that jewish organizations' claims were justified and fair, because the poor victims in the concentration camps suffered extremely much. I thought that the money went to the victims and maybe their children. And I took for granted that every victim, jews, gypsies, communists etc. received their share of the cake. BUT, all I can say is that this book is a real eye opener. It is very well written by a writer who really knows his subject and it will certainly shake the jewish community. Real criticisms can only come from one of your own. And it is heart breaking to hear about the corruption and lies that come from jewish organizations. To use a horrible crime for personal gain...
We are talking about billions of dollars here, money that belongs to the victims of World War 2, mainly in Europe, and not to already rich and powerful American jewish movements. It is not surprising to hear about the links between the American government, the Israeli lobbyist and the "holocaust industry". It is strange that there have been only small claims to the American banks but enormous claims to European banks. But don't get me wrong here, most of the claims were justified, but the money has to go to the rightful owners and all the banks involved must compensate the victims. I also read about the heads of the jewish committees that were not even in Europe by the time of World War 2 and are now billionaires. Finally, as prospective teachers, we have to understand that the holocaust, as horribles as it was, it was not unique. The Sovjet union killed approximately 70 million people, many of whom were jews. All the victims of the slavery in the United States and ofcourse the native american population still haven't received any restitution.
But, God must be screaming in heaven. And what do the "real" jews say about this?
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