Larry Flynt

When David Horowitz’s book—The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America—went on sale in early 2006, a storm of controversy and outrage erupted on college campuses nationwide. The book was essentially a hit list of “liberal” professors, and possible targets held their collective breath while flipping through the incendiary pages.

Harvard University, however, could rest easy. Despite its liberal climate and prominent reputation for Progressive thought, Harvard—located in Cambridge, Massachusetts—was one of the few top schools that had remained unscathed by Horowitz’s critique. Well, almost unscathed.

While Horowitz didn’t pick any current faculty member among his 101 “most dangerous,” he did include Joel Beinin—a 1974 Harvard graduate. Beinin, who now teaches Middle East studies at California’s Stanford University, has made a name for himself as a respected scholar and as a critic of Israel’s human rights abuses.

Beinin’s background and political leanings make him an easy target for conservatives. Campus-Watch.org (founded by Horowitz’s right-wing pal Daniel Pipes) attacked Beinin’s credibility in the classroom due to his “pro-Palestinian” viewpoints. Beinin, who is Jewish, argues that the U.S. and Israel should negotiate with the Palestinian Authority as a means toward peace.

Horowitz is a longtime critic of the outspoken professor, labeling Beinin an “apologist” and a “self-hating Jew.” This past summer the neocon went a step further, publishing a pamphlet titled “Campus Leaders on Terror,” which described Beinin as a supporter of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Beinin’s photograph even graced the cover, although Horowitz didn’t have permission to use the image.

Disputing the allegations, Beinin has struck back. But rather than pursue charges of libel (usually difficult to prove in court), the tenured Stanford professor has taken a clever—and less risky—tack. First, Beinin obtained legal rights to the pamphlet photo from the photographer, then later sued Horowitz for using it without authorization.

Shortly thereafter, in a letter to The Stanford Daily, Horowitz fired off a cannon shot of his own: “If Joel Beinin thinks that my assessment of his work…is false and is an attempt to ‘destroy his reputation’…why doesn’t he sue me for libel? The answer is that truth is a defense against libel, and Beinin (or his lawyer) knows this.”

The right-winger also claims that the lawsuit is meant to intimidate him into silence, violating his freedom of speech. Horowitz maintains that Beinin is taking an “underhanded” approach by suing him over a copyright that the plaintiff did not own at the time “Campus Leaders on Terror” was published. The Horowitz-Beinin clash has already sparked debate on both the Harvard and Stanford campuses.

Harvard sophomore Frances Martel says that Professor Beinin shouldn’t be surprised to find himself in the limelight. “If you’re going to attack Israel, especially in academia and in this day and age,” she says, “you have to expect that reaction.”

Argues Harvard student Chris Murphy: “The root of Horowitz’s argument is in the text, not in the photograph. Beinin is pushing for censorship in this case.”

Considering Horowitz’s pamphlet a threat to academic freedom, Professor Beinin vows to battle to the bitter end. “If you don’t fight back,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle, “[if you] allow the Horowitzes to do and say what they want, it pollutes the political environment to the point where you can’t have intelligent discussions about what we do in the world.”

As a result of the lawsuit, Beinin’s now-copyrighted image has been removed from future printings of “Campus Leaders on Terror,” but the ideological debate rages on.

Lena Chen, a sophomore sociology major at Harvard University, writes for the Ivy League school’s venerable daily newspaper, The Harvard Crimson.

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