This House believes the pro-Israeli lobby has successfully stifled Western debate about Israel's actions

Tuesday May 01 2007
Oxford Union Society, Oxford, UK
MOTION PASSED by 66% to 34%

Speakers

Norman Finkelstein

Speaking for the motion

Norman Finkelstein is an author and professor of political science at DePaul University in Chicago and is the son of Jewish Holocaust survivors. He is known as a strong critic of Israel and US foreign policy and has written five books including the most recent 'Beyond Chutzpah: On the misuse of anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History'.

His other books include 'The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the exploitation of Jewish suffering' and 'Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict'. In April 2005, the UK's Channel 4 broadcast an hour-long documentary called 'The Final Insult' which was based on his Holocaust Industry book.

He received his doctorate in 1988 from Princeton University for a thesis on the theory of Zionism.

Martin Indyk

Speaking against the motion

Dr. Martin Indyk is a Middle East expert, former US Ambassador to Israel and Director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy and Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. He is also the former Director of Research for the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Ambassador Indyk served two tours in Israel, the first during the Rabin years (1995-97), and the second (2000-June 2001) during efforts to achieve a comprehensive peace and stem the violence of the intifada. Prior to his first assignment in Israel, Dr. Indyk served as special assistant to President Clinton and as senior director of Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC). He was a senior member of Secretary Warren Christopher's Middle East peace team and in the second Clinton Administration he was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, responsible for Middle East policy, under Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Dr. Indyk has published widely on US policy towards the Arab-Israeli peace process and the complex challenges of the Middle East. Before entering government service, Dr. Indyk served for eight years as founding executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He is Chairman of the International Council of the New Israel Fund, Vice-President of the American Friends of the Rabin Center and serves on the boards of several organisations including Freedom from Hunger.

He received a bachelor of Economics degree from Sydney University and a doctorate in International Relations from the Australian National University.

Andrew Cockburn

Speaking for the motion

Andrew Cockburn is a full-time writer, lecturer on defense and international affairs and award winning documentary maker. His latest book 'Rumsfeld, An American Disaster' which was published in the US as 'Rumsfeld, His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy' was released this year.

Mr. Cockburn grew up in Ireland and after graduating from Oxford University, went to work on Fleet Street, first for the Evening Standard, then the Daily Mail. After working on 'World in Action,' a British TV investigative documentary programme, Mr. Cockburn moved to New York, where he worked as a producer for ABC News before joining WGBH 'World'. There he produced 'The Red Army," which won the George Foster Peabody award in 1982, and, later, 'Frontline,' for which he made hour-long documentaries on topics ranging from the Colombian cocaine cartels ('Inside the Cartels') to the aftermath of the first Gulf War ('The War We Left Behind'). In 1997 he co-produced 'The Peacemaker' starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman.

He has also written for numerous newspapers and magazines ranging from The New York Times to The Guardian and National Geographic. His books include 'The Threat; Inside the Soviet Military Machine' and 'Dangerous Liaison,' co-authored with Leslie Cockburn, on the US-Israeli defense and intelligence relationship.

He now lives in Washington DC.

David Aaronovitch

Speaking against the motion

David Aaronovitch is a British journalist, broadcaster and author and is a regular columnist for The Times. He won the George Orwell prize for political journalism in 2000 and was the 'What the Papers Say Columnist of the Year' for 2003. He is the author of 'Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country' (2000) and he is currently completing a book about conspiracy theories which will be published in Spring 2008.

A former BBC programme editor and executive, Mr. Aaronovitch joined The Independent in 1995 and soon became a columnist, sketch-writer and for two years TV reviewer on The Independent on Sunday. At the beginning of 2003, he switched to The Guardian and Observer becoming only one of two writers working on both titles. In June 2005, he moved to The Times.

Mr. Aaronovitch has presented and appeared in numerous television programmes. He has presented Newsnight, Parkinson's Radio 2 programme as well as being a guest on Question Time.