Instead of addressing the legal reasoning behind the opinion of UN Resolution 242, the disgraced Finkelstein made fallacious tautologies and appeals to the authority of non-enforceable decisions of the International Court of Justice. Essentially, "I'm right because I'm right." They're right because they are the courts. Using such relative logic, the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) decisions also conveyed moral authority during their respective times.

So let's take a look at Resolution 242. Finkelstein asserts that the resolution's application of the following popular clause (Section 1, Clause 1) means total withdrawal of all '67 territories absent of preconditions. The clause demands for:

Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.

But language of the clause never stipulates "total," nor does it stipulate transfer without its qualification. If Israel agreed on such a resolution, they would certainly empower their aggressors to invade with little or no opportunity cost:

The first point addressed by the resolution is the "inadmissability of the acquisition of territory by war." Some people read 242 as though it ends here and the case for requiring a total Israeli withdrawal from the territories is proven. On the contrary, this clause does no such thing, because the reference clearly applies only to an offensive war. If not, the resolution would provide an incentive for aggression. If one country attacks another, and the defender repels the attack and acquires territory in the process, the former interpretation would require the defender to return the land it took. Thus, aggressors would have little to lose because they would be insured against the main consequence of defeat.

Finkelstein also fails to acknowledge the history behind Resolution 242 and the primary actors behind the evolution and ratification of the document.

One of the drafters, professor and international law expert Eugene V. Rostow articulated the original reasoning behind Resolution 242:

"Resolution 242, which as Undersecretary of State of Political Affairs between 1966 and 1969, I helped to produce, calls on the parties to make peace and allows Israel to administer the territories it occupied in 1967 until 'a just and lasting peace in the Middle East' is achieved. ... Speaker after speaker made it explicit that Israel was not to be forced back to the 'fragile' and 'vulnerable' Armistice Demarcation Lines, but should retire once peace was made to what Resolution 242 called 'secure and recognized' boundaries, agreed upon by the parties.

Ostensibly, the Israeli control of the previously governed Jordanian and Egyptian territories (not Palestinian), was supposed to be exchanged for the additional condition which Finkelstein deliberately ignored (Section 1, Clause 2):

Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.

British Ambassador and principle author of the resolution Lord Caradon echoed these stipulations in 1974:

It would have been wrong to demand that Israel return to its positions of 4 June 1967. ... That's why we didn't demand that the Israelis return to them and I think we were right not to.

Put more simply, Israel has a fundamental right not to take a disadvantageous position in dealings with its aggressive Arab neighbors.

But don't expect Finkelstein and his rubber stamping followers to even consider historical precedent. Their adherence is not predicated on intellectual inquiry, but rather the affirmation of their extreme beliefs. But such is the world of Totalitarian Islam. It's not a place of noble ideals, but rather a certain shameless and immoral pragmatism set on the establishment of malicious ones. Therefore it comes to no surprise that the only venues for liars and defrocked academics like Finkelstein are Muslim Student Associations across the United States.