Haifa University professor nailed for holocaust denial smear

According to Counterpunch, Haifa University professor, Stephen Plaut has been found "guilty" of falsely accusing Ben-Gurion University professor, Neve Gordon, of, among other things, "holocaust denial."

Haifa University economist Steven Plaut was convicted last week of libeling a fellow academic [and CounterPuncher], Neve Gordon of Ben-Gurion University's Department of Politics and Government, and ordered to pay the plaintiff NIS 80,000(aprox. $18,600) in compensation plus NIS 15,000 (approx. $3,500) in legal fees.

Plaut, who teaches in the Graduate School of Business Administration, has called Gordon a "fanatic anti-Semite" and a "Judenrat wannabe." Such statements overstep the bounds of free speech and constitute libel, Nazareth Magistrate's Court Judge Reem Naddaf ruled last week.

Plaut, 55, is originally from Philadelphia. He received his doctorate from Princeton University before immigrating to Israel in 1981. Besides his academic work in economics, he publishes scathing, right-wing commentaries in several print and online publications.

Gordon, 41, is a third-generation Israeli and left-wing activist who completed a Ph.D. at Notre Dame University and began teaching at Ben-Gurion University (BGU) in 1999.

Judge Naddaf emphasized in her ruling that the court's role was not to adjudicate opposing political views but rather to decide whether Plaut's published remarks about Gordon were libelous. In her decision, the judge reviewed several of Plaut's articles and wrote that Plaut did cross the "red line" between legitimate criticism and unlawful defamation of character.

Plaut plans to appeal the verdict and is thus reluctant to discuss the case. "Because it will go to appeal, I prefer not to go into detail about it," he explains. "I will just say that the judgment amounts to selective protection of freedom of speech in Israel, under which the most outrageous and even illegal behavior and statements made by anti-Israel extremists is always protected speech while denunciation of the public political activities and behavior of such people is deemed 'libel.'"

Earlier in the proceedings, Plaut unsuccessfully appealed against convening the trial in Nazareth, where there is a greater likelihood of an Arab judge presiding. "Neither defendant nor claimant live in the Nazareth region," he notes. His attorney, Haim Misgav, argued that Gordon had "shopped" for a sympathetic forum for his case. But Gordon explains that he filed his lawsuit in Nazareth primarily because it was the most convenient venue for his attorney, Farid Ghanem, who does almost all of his court work in Nazareth. The notion that an Arab judge would be automatically biased speaks volumes about Plaut's illiberal worldview, Gordon suggests.

Even Plaut's pre-trial maneouvres were racist!