Jews, unlike the Palestinians, have no right to a nation of their own, and that
the existence of the Jewish state is an obstacle to world peace, was shared
(and continues to be shared) by large numbers of European and American
leftists, including many academics (see Rising 167 n).
10. According to a 2002 Anti-Defamation League poll, 29 percent of
French citizens favored the Palestinians whereas 10 percent favored the Is-
raelis, with the rest showing no preference. Yet the French Muslim popula-
tion is more moderate, and more favorable toward Jews, than Muslims in the
rest of Europe. While solid majorities of Muslims in other European coun-
tries, and even in America, refused to admit that Arabs carried out the terror
attacks of September 11 , 48 percent of French Muslims stated that Arabs were
involved in the attacks (Pew poll released June 22 , 2006 : http://www.pewglobal
.org/reports).
11. Edward Rothstein, “The Man Who Showed Us How to Take the
World Apart,”New York Times,October 11 , 2004.
12. In her commentary in the 9 / 11 book, Borradori seconds another of
Derrida’s contentions: that there was no significant connection between
Osama bin Laden and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Borradori argues
that the “thesis that there are nations ‘harboring’ terrorist activity is hard to
prove” ( 169 ). History has provided a sufficient answer to Derrida’s and Bor-
radori’s opinion. Moreover, the facts demonstrating the relationship be-
tween Al Qaeda and the Taliban were already available before 9 / 11.
13. An earlier film about Derrida,Derrida’s Elsewhere,directed by
Safaa Fathy, appeared in 2000.
14. Interview with Jean Birnbaum published as To Live Finally: The
Last Interview,tr. Pascale-Anne Braule and Michael Naas (London: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2007 ), 52.
Coda
- In its December 26 , 2004 , issue commemorating the most memo-
rable people who had died during the year, the Times Magazinepointedly
chose to memorialize the down-to-earth philosophy professor Sidney Mor-
genbesser, Columbia University’s “sidewalk Socrates,” rather than Derrida.
Notes to Pages 237 – 44 257