Norman Finkelstein, Beyond Chutzpah (2005), Norman G. Finkelstein (2005), Beyond Chutzpah, "Beyond Chutzpah." publisher: University of California Press, ISBN: 9780520245983
“

Thus, as already mentioned, the scholarly consensus is that Palestinians were ethnically cleansed in 1948. Israel’s leading historian on the topic, Benny Morris, although having done more than anyone else to clarify exactly what happened, nonetheless concludes that, morally, it was a good thing—just as, in his view, the 'annihilation' of Native Americans was a good thing—that, legally, Palestinians have no right to return to their homes, and that, politically, Israel’s big error in 1948 was that it hadn’t 'carried out a large expulsion and cleansed the whole country—the whole Land of Israel, as far as the Jordan' of Palestinians.

— Norman Finkelstein

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Thus, as already mentioned, the scholarly consensus is that Palestinians were ethnically cleansed in 1948. Israel’s leading historian on the topic, Benny Morris, although having done more than anyone else to clarify exactly what happened, nonetheless concludes that, morally, it was a good thing—just as, in his view, the 'annihilation' of Native Americans was a good thing—that, legally, Palestinians have no right to return to their homes, and that, politically, Israel’s big error in 1948 was that it hadn’t 'carried out a large expulsion and cleansed the whole country—the whole Land of Israel, as far as the Jordan' of Palestinians." in the context of "Norman Finkelstein, Beyond Chutzpah (2005), Norman G. Finkelstein (2005), Beyond Chutzpah, "Beyond Chutzpah." publisher: University of California Press, ISBN: 9780520245983" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "Benny Morris" (Quotes about Benny Morris) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Benny Morris

About Benny Morris

Benny Morris (בני מוריס; born 8 December 1948) is an Israeli historian and former professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Beersheba, Israel.