09 January 2008
The controversial Jewish American writer Norman Finkelstein has met with Hezbollah's top commander in southern Lebanon, Nabil Kaouk, according to a report by the Associated Press (AP) news agency. A vociferous critic of Israel, Finkelstein resigned as a political science professor at Chicago's DePaul University last year when he was denied tenure after his views and scholarship came under fire.
"After the horror and after the shame and after the anger there still remains a hope, and I know that I can get in a lot of trouble for what I am about to say, but I think that the Hezbollah represents the hope. They are fighting to defend their homeland," Finkelstein told reporters, according to AP. Finkelstein toured the sites where some of the heaviest fighting occurred during the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006, as well as Palestinian refugee camps, including Sabra and Shatila.
