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Holocaust Denial:
A Global Survey - 2003
by Alex Grobman & Rafael Medoff
www.WymanInstitute.org
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
On the campus of Gratz College
7605 Old York Road
Melrose Park, PA 19027
tel (215) 635-5622 / fax (215) 635-5644
E-mail: rafaelmedoff@aol.com
Professor F. Littell has said "You can't discuss the truth of
the holocaust.
That is a distortion of the concept of free speech. The United States
should
emulate West Germany, which outlaws such exercises."
Table of Contents
North America
Europe
Middle East
Australia
Malaysia
New Zealand
Executive Summary: Holocaust Denial - A Global Survey: 2003
Holocaust denial activity decreased in the United States during 2003,
but
continued full force in government-sponsored media in Arab countries and
the
Palestinian Authority.
The decrease in the United States was due to the ongoing legal conflicts
between the two major U.S. promoters of Holocaust denial, the Institute
for
Historical Review and Liberty Lobby founder Willis Carto. At the same
time, British
Holocaust-denier David Irving maintained an active presence on the U.S.
lecture circuit throughout the year, speaking in at least twenty-five
cities.
Other notable developments in 2003:
* For the first time ever, a Holocaust denier was invited to
the White
House. Palestinian Authority prime minister Mahmoud Abbas, author of a
book
denying the Holocaust, visited the White House in July 2003.
* A prominent former United States Senator, Mike Gravel
(D-Alaska),
appeared as a speaker at the June 2003 conference of a
Holocaust-deniers'
publication, The Barnes Review.
* The leader of a major Muslim country, Malaysian prime
minister Mahathir
Mohammed, publicly affirmed that the Holocaust occurred. However, he did
so in
a speech alleging Jewish control of the world, and it was that theme,
not his
acknowledgment of the Holocaust, which attracted attention.
North America
Canada
On February 5, 2003, Canadian Holocaust-denier Ernst Zundel was arrested
near
Knoxville, Tennessee for having failed to show up an an immigration
hearing.
On February 19 , Zundel was deported to Canada. Zundel, 63, a German
citizen,
lived in Canada for more than forty years but was unable to obtain
Canadian
citizenship, in part because he was regarded by the Canadian authorities
as a
national security threat. Zundel was convicted by a Canadian human
rights
tribunal in January 2001 of promoting hatred against Jews through his
web site, but
he left the country prior to the verdict. There is an outstanding
warrant for
his arrest in Germany, where he was convicted in absentia of Holocaust
denial.
[footnote 01]
On March 27, the Canadian Human Rights Commission alerted the
Denver-based
internet provider QWest COmmunications, which was hosting Ernst Zundel's
web
site, that the site contains hate literature. On May 12, QWest, which
has 25
million customers, said that it had decided, in response to the Canadian
alert, to
take down Zundel's site. However, the site soon reappeared on another
web
server. [footnote 02]
The Institute for Historical Review organized rallies on Zundel's behalf
outside the Canadian consulates in Los Angeles and Seattle on May 22,
2003. About
a dozen people took part in each rally. On June 1, 2003, and again on
November
22, 2003, several dozen Zundel supporters rallied outside the Metro West
Detention Centre in Toronto, where he is being held.
In response to appeals from Zundel's supporters that it intervene on his
behalf, the London-based International Secretariat of Amnesty
International issued
a statement on June 16, 2003, that it "does not consider Ernst
Zundel to be a
prisoner of conscience and is not calling for his release ... Amnesty
International does not adopt persons who are imprisoned for 'hate
speech' as
prisoners of conscience." Alex Neve, Secretary-General of the
Canadian branch of
Amnesty International, told that Canadian National Post: "When it
comes to freedom
of expression, there are some legitimate limits and inciting people to
hatred
is one such limit." [footnote 03]
On June 22, 2003, Zundel's wife, Ingrid Rimland Zundel, placed a
full-page
advertisement in the Washington Times and the Russian newspaper Zavtra,
calling
for his release. Mrs. Zundel subsequently charged, on her web site, that
the
Washington Times version was "the same ad, but with modifications
requested by
them and reluctantly agreed to by me. Essentially, all references to the
Holocaust Enforcer Lobby were deleted." The Ottawa Hill Times
refused to publish
the advertisement.
On August 8, the Canadian Jewish Congress petitioned the Canadian
Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, urging rejection of
a request to
include the Arab television network Al-Jazeera among the satellite
television
stations available to Canadian viewers. The 37-page CJC brief argued
that
Al-Jazeera's "programming content contains hate propaganda, in
contravention of
Canadian laws and broadcast standards," including Holocaust denial,
which it said is
"commonplace" on the network. The request to include
Al-Jazeera was made by
Videotron, Quebec's largest cable company, and the Canadian Cable
Television
Association. [footnote 04]
United States
The Institute for Historical Review, the leading Holocaust denial
organization in the United States, held a public meeting on February 15,
2003, in Costa
Mesa, CA. The featured speakers were IHR director Mark Weber and
Tomislav
Sunic, formerly a member of the staff of the Croatian embassies in
Brussels and
Copenhagen. In his remarks, Weber indicated that the IHR is suffering
significant
and ongoing financial problems as a result of its legal battles with a
former
comrade, Willis Carto.
In a March 26, 2003 fundraising letter, Weber wrote that the IHR has
been
devoting much of its resources to assisting the imprisoned Canadian
Holocaust-denier Ernst Zundel (see above). Weber and Zundel's wife,
Ingrid, were guests on
the Jeff Rense Radio Show on February 10, and Weber appeared again on
February
27, to defend Zundel. On May 22, Weber led a "Free Ernst Zundel"
rally
outside the Canadian Consulate in Los Angeles.
In an August 2003 fundraising letter, Weber reported that ongoing
financial
difficulties had forced him to "postpone" publication of the
IHR's magazine,
The Journal of Historical Review (the last issue to be published was in
late
2002). The letter also emphasized: "Courageous men as diverse as
Pete McCloskey
and John Schmitz - both former Congressmen and presidential candidates -
and
author/columnist Joseph Sobran, have understood the unique importance of
the IHR
and its work." [footnote 05]
Rep. Pete McCloskey spoke at a Tikkun conference in Washington , D.C. in
June, and "provided advice on lobbying Congress based on his eight
terms in the
House." The Washington Jewish Week, reporting on the event (June 5,
2003),
stated: "McCloskey was a puzzling choice of panelist, considering
his ties to a
group that traffics in Holocaust denial. The former House member spoke
at the
Institute for Historical Review's 2000 conference, which also featured
David
Irving ... An IHR publication quoted McCloskey as telling the 2000 IHR
conference,
'I don't know if you are right or wrong about the Holocaust,' but 'I
hope
you'll keep examining history.' He also wished the group 'good luck.' [Tikkun
leader Michael] Lerner said he knew nothing of McCloskey's appearance at
the IHR
gathering, until asked about it by a reporter Tuesday morning. 'Had I
known
about it, I would not have allowed him to speak,' said Lerner, who noted
that he
he lost many family members in the Holocaust. He pledged to follow up
after
the conference, adding, 'I don't want to have anything to do with him'
if
'that's true.'" [footnote 06]
Hutton and Joye Gibson, the parents of actor Mel Gibson, told the New
York
Times in a March 9, 2003 interview that they consider the Holocaust to
be a
hoax. Hutton told the Times that the Holocaust was fabricated in order
to hide a
secret deal between Hitler and "financiers" to move Jews from
Germany to the
Middle East to fight the Arabs. "Go and ask an undertaker or the
guy who
operates the crematorium what it takes to get rid of a dead body,"
Hutton Gibson
remarked to The Times. "It takes one liter of petrol and 20
minutes. Now six
million?" His wife Joye added: "That weren't even that many
Jews in all of Europe."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Holocaust-denying journal Barnes Review held its "Fourth
International
Conference on Authentic History, Real News, and the First
Amendment," on June
20, 21, 22 and 23 at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Washington National
Airport,
in Virginia. Barnes Review was founded by Willis Carto, longtime leader
of the
now-defunct Liberty Lobby.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the speakers at the Barnes Review conference was Mike Gravel,
former
U.S. Senator from Alaska (1969-1981), who spoke on "The National
Initiative"
during the conference's "Political Options Seminar. During his
years in the
Senate, Gravel served on the Finance, Interior, and Environment &
Public Works
committees, chairing the subcommittees on Energy, Water Resources, and
Environmental Pollution. According to his official biography, during his
years in office
Gravel became convinced that in America's current system of government,
"the
people's interests are subordinated to those of powerful special
interests."
As a result, in the early 1990s he established two nonprofit
organizations,
"Philadelphia II" and "Direct Democracy," which have
undertaken a campaign known
as "The National Initiative" to promote a Constitutional
amendment to create a
"Legislature of the People" that would "establish public
policy and make laws
outside the control of representative government but in parallel with
our
elected representatives." [footnote 07]
Another speaker at the Barnes Review conference was Hutton Gibson,
father of
actor Mel Gibson, who spoke on "Traditional Catholicism" (one
media report
described his theme as "how to rebuild public respect for Christian
institutions
in the teeth of anti-Christian influences"). [footnote 08]
In April 2003, Barnes Review announced that it is the exclusive
distributor
for Jewish Supremacism, a new book by Holocaust-denier and former Ku
Klux Klan
leader David Duke. The journal's web site advertises the book as
including "a
panoramic summary of fifty years of findings by Holocaust revisionists
who
have left the official version of 'the Holocaust' in shreds."
[footnote 09]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boca Raton (FL) attorney Rob Ross, the finance committee chairman for
the
Palm Beach County Democratic Party, resigned that position on June 22,
2003,
after it was revealed that he had sent a friendly e-mail to British
Holocaust-denier David Irving in 1998. Ross sent the e-mail in the midst
of Irving's libel
suit against U.S. historian Deborah Lipstadt. Ross's letter called
Deborah
Lipstadt a "pawn" of the Anti-Defamation League and
recommended that Irving take
legal action "alleging that there has been a longstanding
international
conspiracy by the ADL to ruin your reputation and spread false
allegations regarding
the quality of your research and writings." [footnote 10]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
British Holocaust-denier David Irving spoke to audiences in numerous
cities
around the United States during 2003. Speeches scheduled in Louisville
and at
the University of Kentucky in February were canceled due to what Irving
called
"outside pressure," but he did speak at St. Catherine's School
in Louisville
on February 20. He also spoke in Indianapolis, in New York City at the
Holy
Trinity Episcopal Church , in Arlington (Virginia), and Niagara Falls.
Irving returned to the United States in the late summer, to host his
fifth
annual "Real History USA Convention," at the Cincinnati
Airport Mariott Hotel,
over Labor Day weekend (August 29-September 1). Speakers included
syndicated
columnist Joseph Sobran. Tom Catherall, an Assistant Professor at
Brigham Young
University, was originally scheduled to speak but later withdrew, citing
medical reasons.
In November, Irving spoke in Arlington (Texas), Cleveland, Louisville,
Atlanta, Hamond (Louisiana), and Houston. In December, he spoke in
Oklahoma City,
Albuquerque, Tucson, Phoenix, Sherman Oaks, San Francisco, Sacramento,
Portland,
Seattle, Moscow (Idaho), Salt Lake City, and the Denver suburb of
Aurora.
On December 8, Irving spoke in Las Vegas to a group of twenty-one
"men and
women, teenagers and seniors, skin-head types and businessmen and even
retired
military officers" at the St. Tropez Hotel, according to the Las
Vegas Sun,
which published a news story and interview with him. The meeting had
originally
been schedule to take place at the Casa Di Amore Italian restaurant,
until
owner Paul Schiada learned of Irving's background and canceled the
engagement.
On December 10, Irving addressed a meeting of the Institute for
Historical
Review in Orange County, CA. He spoke on "Comparing the Churchill
and Hitler
Records on War and War Crimes." IHR director Mark Weber also
addressed the
gathering.
Europe
Austria
Austrian Holocaust-denier Wolfgang Fröhlich was arrested in Vienna on
June
21, 2003. He had been in hiding since 2001, following the issuing of a
warrant
for his arrest in connection with the publication of his 368-page
manuscript,
The Gas Chamber Lie.
Belgium
On September 9, 2003, Belgian Holocaust-denier Siegfried Verbke was
sentenced
to a suspended prison term of one year and deprived of his civil rights
for
ten years, following his conviction for distributing pamphlets denying
the
Holocaust. [footnote 11]
France
On June 30, 3003, French Holocaust-denier Jean Plantin won his appeal to
a
Lyon administrative court to require the University of Lyon to restore
his two
degrees, which had been revoked. Plantin was awarded an M.A. from the
University of Lyon 2 in 1990 for a thesis supporting Holocaust denier
Paul Rassinier,
and in 1991 received a postgraduate diploma from University of Lyon 3
for his
research on typhus epidemics in Nazi concentration camps. (Holocaust
deniers
often claim that Jews who perished in Nazi camps were not murdered, but
died of
diseases.) In 1999, Plantin was convicted of denying crimes against
humanity,
given a suspended sentence of six months in prison, and barred from
publishing
in the future. Subsequently his two degrees were revoked (in 2000 and
2001,
respectively). The appeals court ruled that the revocation violated a
law
mandating that degrees can be annulled only within four months of when
they are
granted.
Several days after winning his appeal regarding the degrees, a Lyon
appeal
court upheld a January 2003 ruling that sentenced Plantin to six months
in jail
for violating the previously-issued ban on publishing his views.
[footnote 12]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
On July 7, 2003, the European Court of Human Rights rejected an appeal
by
French philosopher Roger Garaudy against his conviction for Holocaust
denial.
Garaudy had been convicted, in 1998, of "disputing the existence of
crimes
against humanity, public defamation of a group of people--namely the
Jewish
community - and incitement to discrimination and racial hatred."
The court ruled that
Garaudy could not seek protection under the European Convention on Human
Rights for actions of his that ran counter to the provisions of the
Convention.
Garaudy's original conviction was based on passages in his book, The
Founding
Myths of Israel Politics (later reprinted as Samiszdat Roger Garaudy),
in which
he disputed the existence of gas chambers in Nazi death camps. "The
real
purpose of such a work was to rehabilitate the National Socialist
regime," the court
ruled, and taken as a whole "it ran counter to the fundamental
values of the
Convention, namely justice and peace."
Garaudy was sentenced to nine months in prison (suspended) and fined
25,900
euros. In addition, he was ordered to pay more than 33,500 euros in
compensation to civil claimants. [footnote 13]
Great Britain
On February 18, 2003, Cambridge University Union canceled its
previously-issued invitation to British Holocaust-denier David Irving to
take part in its
annual Free Speech Debate at Cambridge Union in April. Cambridge
University Forum
also invited Irving to speak, in March, but subsequently canceled the
invitation due to security considerations.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Holocaust-denying magazine The Revisionist, published by the British
firm
Castle Hill Publishers, resumed its print edition in February 2003, and
published four issues during the year. From 2001 until 2003, it had been
available
only in an on-line edition. Its editor is Germar Rudolf, a German
Holocaust-denier who presently resides in the United States.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Guardian reported on March 8, 2003, that Amazon.com.uk has decided
to
stop selling a book by Richard J. Evans, Telling Lies About Hitler (
published by
Verso), concerning the Lipstadt-Irving trial. Evans was the chief
defense
witness at the trial; Amazon reportedly fears a possible lawsuit by
Irving over
the book.
Greece
British Holocaust-denier David Irving lectured at the Royal Hellenic War
Museum in Athens, Greece, on April 20, 2003, in connection with the
publication of
the Greek edition of his book Hitler's War. While in Greece, he was
interviewed by the largest Greek newspaper, To Vima, and by the Greek
edition of
Esquire.
Latvia
Latvia's Special Minister for Integration, Nils Muiznieks, urged the
General
Prosecutor's Office to investigate the newspaper DDD for publishing an
article
titled "Falsifiers of History," which stated that Jews spread
"legends about
gas chambers in which six million kikes died. That is a historical lie
composed by kike historians." Muiznieks said the article "may
inspire dangerous
consequences for the broader public and publicly undermine the honor and
dignity of
a concrete ethnic group." [footnote 14]
Romania
Following the conclusion of a cooperation agreement between the Romanian
National Archives on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the
Romanian
Ministry of Public Information on June 13, 2003, issued a statement
welcoming
research into "the Holocaust phenomena in Europe," but
emphasizing its claim that
"within the borders of Romania between 1940 and 1945 there was no
Holocaust."
In response to international criticism, the Romanian government issued a
statement on June 17, 2003, acknowledging that Romania "was guilty
of grave war
crimes, pogroms, and mass deportation of Romanian Jews to territories
occupied
or controlled by the Romanian army" during World War II and that
the pro-Nazi
Romanian regime employed "methods of discrimination and
extermination, which
are part of the Holocaust." In July, however, Romanian President
Ion Iliescu,
during a visit to Israel, told the newspaper Ha'aretz that "the
Holocaust was
not unique to the Jewish population in Europe." On October 22,
2003, President
Iliescu announced the formation of a Holocaust Commission to investigate
the
Holocaust in Romania, and said Romania will henceforth observe a
national
Holocaust Remembrance Day. [footnote 15]
Switzerland
On January 13, 2003, Swiss Holocaust-denier Gaston-Armand Amaudruz
surrendered to Swiss authorities and began serving a three-month prison
sentence for his
conviction, in April 2000, of violating the law that makes it illegal to
"deny, grossly minimize or seek to justify genocide or other crimes
against
humanity." Amaudruz was also ordered to pay court costs and pay a
fine of 1,000
Swiss francs (about $600) to each of four complainants against him.
Amaudruz is
one of the earliest Holocaust-deniers, having authored a book in 1949,
Ubu
Justicier au Premier Proces de Nuremberg, which questioned whether the
Holocaust
occurred.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swiss Holocaust denier Albert "Ahmed" Huber told an
interviewer from the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency on July 12, 2003, that he now serves as the
liaison
between European neo-Nazis and Islamic organizations in Europe. "I
am very happy
that the right-wing world in Europe more and more understands that the
Holocaust was a big fraud and the European neo-Nazi should join Islamic
organizations
to fight Israel, the Jews and America," Huber told JTA. The Swiss
Ministry of
Justice told the JTA that they are investigating Huber, following the
inclusion of his name on United Nations and European Union lists of
involved in
terrorism. [footnote 16]
Middle East
Egypt
In an interview with BBC News on August 10, 2003 (www.bbcnews.co.uk),
Muhammad Salmawi, editor of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram Hebdo, and
Muhammad
Khalil, one of the newspaper's correspondents, "repeated denial of
the Holocaust."
Khalil said that "only" half a million Jews were murdered in
the Holocaust."
An article in the November 17, 2003 issue of the Egyptian weekly
newspaper
Al-Usbu' reported the opening of a manuscript museum in the
newly-renovated
Alexandria library. The article mentioned the decision by the museum to
include an
early Arabic translation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the
exhibit, positioned next to a Torah scroll. In the article, museum
director, Dr.
Yousef Ziedan, was quoted as having written: "When Hitler's
atrocities are
mentioned, [people] immediately point out the cremation of the Jews in
the gas
chambers. This happens because of the knowledge that is passed on
regarding the
Holocaust. This is knowledge that has reached the world via a diverse
stream of
information ... What is important is that the information arrived, but
what
about reality? In reality, 50,000,000 fell victim to the Nazis, among
them
1,000,000 Jews and the rest Gypsies, Poles, and other nations. In
reality, an
analysis of samples from the purported gas chambers has proven that
these were
sterilization chambers, without a sufficient quantity of cyanide to
kill. In
reality, had Hitler wanted to annihilate the Jews of Europe, he would
have. He had
an opportunity. The distance between events and widespread knowledge
about them
is great." [footnote 17]
Israel
In February 2003, a group of Israeli Arabs led by Nazareth priest Father
Emil
Shufani announced their intention to visit the site of the Auschwitz
death
camp, together with a number of Israeli Jews and a delegation of Jews
and
Muslims from France. In preparation for the visit, thirty of the Israeli
Arab
participants took a guided tour of Yad Vashem on February 19, 2003. As
background
material for the trip to Auschwitz, Yad Vashem provided the visitors
with two
published articles by Arab authors which acknowledged and condemned the
Holocaust. However, one of the articles, authored by Israeli Arab Member
of Parliament
Azmi Bishara, erroneously stated that "the Palestinian National
movement once
considered ... making an alliance with Nazi Germany, [but] this alliance
did
not come to fruition." [footnote 18]
Israeli journalist Yossi Klein Halevi was one of the 450 participants in
the
visit to Auschwitz, which took place on May 26-30, 2003. He later wrote:
"While much of the Arab world promotes Holocaust denial, here Arabs
are affirming
the legitimacy of our story." However, he also recounted that one
Arab
participant in the mission said to him: "Arabs had nothing to do
with this. The
Palestinians are also victims of this place." Regarding the
erroneous claim that
Arabs had no connection to the Holocaust, Klein commented in his
article: "What
about Arab pressure on the British to turn back refugee boats? Or the
Mufti,
the Palestinian leader who spent the war years as a Nazi propagandist in
Berlin?" [footnote 19]
Palestinian Authority
On May 27, 2003, Palestinian Authority Television broadcast an interview
with
Ismail Elbakawi, a translator, concerning the book The Holocaust
Industry, by
Norman Finkelstein. Elbakawi remarked: "[The Holocaust] was a real
event that
occurred from 1939 to 1945. However, it did not just affect the Jews of
Europe, but also other nations including the Poles, the Hungarians, the
Russians--as you remember, 20 million Russians were killed and Germans,
and Gypsies. They
were annihilated and killed ad a result of the war, and not due to a
prior
plan. It is possibly true that Hitler planned the extermination of
disabled
Germans. It is likely that these things are true, I don't know. This is
the
historical truth: the true Nazi Holocaust. I apologize for using the
word
'Holocaust.' This is a word that they try to attach only to the Jews who
were killed,
but I use this expression in the human sense. It can also be used to
refer to
the Palestinians and the suffering that the Israelis [have caused] them.
The
Palestinians also have their own private Holocaust, and this is also
true of the
Gypsies." [footnote 20]
On June 24 ,2003, the Palestinian Authority's official newspaper, Al-Hayat
Al-Jadida, published an article which stated: "[C]oming back to the
suffering
and tribulations [caused] by the Nazis, we would read hair-raising
things about
the entanglement of the Zionist leaders in the 'sacrifice' of many Jews
in
order to kill two birds with one stone: to be rid of those who disagreed
with
them (meaning Jews opposed to Zionism) on the one hand and, on the
other, to push
all the Jews to immigrate to Palestine, since Europe had become an
unbearable
Hell. I would like to say that, based on the above, the Jewish--or more
accurately Zionist--willingness to sacrifice Jews for the above
mentioned cause is
a known historical tradition." [footnote 21]
On July 25, 2003, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority,
Mahmoud
Abbas, became the first Holocaust-denier to be invited to the White
House . He
met with President Bush and other senior members of the administration
and
afterwards spoke to reporters, but was not asked about his 1983 book
denying the
Holocaust.
The book was titled The Other Side: The Secret Relations Between Nazism
and
the Leadership of the Zionist Movement. It was originally his doctoral
dissertation, completed at Moscow Oriental College, in the Soviet Union.
According to
a translation of the text provided by the Simon Wiesenthal Center,
Abbas's
book repeatedly attempted to cast doubt on the fact that the Nazis
slaughtered
six million Jews. He wrote: "Following the war, word was spread
that six million
Jews were amongst the victims and that a war of extermination was aimed
primarily at the Jews ... The truth is that no one can either confirm or
deny this
figure. In other words, it is possible that the number of Jewish victims
re
ached six million, but at the same time it is possible that the figure
is much
smaller--below one million ... It seems that the interest of the Zionist
movement, however, is to inflate this figure so that their gains will be
greater.
This led them to emphasize this figure [six million] in order to gain
the
solidarity of international public opinion with Zionism. Many scholars
have debated
the figure of six million and reached stunning conclusions--fixing the
number
of Jewish victims at only a few hundred thousand." Abbas denied
that the gas
chambers were used to murder Jews, quoting a "scientific
study" to that effect
by French Holocaust-denier Robert Faurisson. In an interview with the
Israeli
newspaper Ha'aretz on May 28, 2003, Abbas asserted that in his book, he
"did
not address the question of the number of victims but cited historians
who said
the victims ranged in number from one million to 12 million ... The
Holocaust
was a terrible thing, and nobody can claim I denied it."
On August 21, 2003, Al-Risala, the official weekly newspaper of Hamas,
published an article by senior Hamas official Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rantisi,
in which
he wrote:
"Many thinkers and historians have exposed the lies of the
Zionists, thus
becoming a target of Zionist persecution. Some have been assassinated,
some
arrested, and some are prevented from making a living. For example,
Jewish
associations and organizations have filed lawsuits against famous French
philosopher
Roger Garaudy, who in 1995 published a book The Founding Myths of
Israeli
Politics, in which he disproves the myth of the 'gas chambers' ...
British
historian David Irving was also sued, while Austrian author Gerd Honsik
was sentenced
to 18 months' imprisonment because he wrote a number of articles denying
the
existence of the gas chambers in the Nazi detention camps. It is no
longer a
secret that the Zionists were behind the Nazis' murder of many Jews, and
agreed
to it, with the aim of intimidating them and forcing them to immigrate
to
Palestine. Every time they failed to persuade a group of Jews to
immigrate, they
unhesitatingly sentenced [them] to death. Afterwards, they would
organize great
propaganda campaigns to cash in on their blood.
"The Nazis received tremendous financial aid from the Zionist banks
and
monopolies, and this contributed to their rise to power. In 1929, the
Nazis
received $10 million from Mendelssohn and Company, the Zionist bank in
Amsterdam. In
1931, they received $15 million, and after Hitler rose to power in 1933,
they
received $126 million...
"The German researcher Prof. Frederick Toben believes there was no
animosity
between the Nazis and the Jews, whether politically, ideologically, or
philosophically. He said, 'There is no historical scientific evidence
proving such
[animosity]. On the contrary --there is proof of collaboration between
the Jews
and the Nazis'...
"When we compare the Zionists to the Nazis, we insult the Nazis -
despite the
abhorrent terror they carried out, which we cannot but condemn. The
crimes
perpetrated by the Nazis against humanity, with all their atrocities,
are no
more than a tiny particle compared to the Zionists' terror against the
Palestinian people. While disagreement proliferates about the veracity
of the Zionist
charges regarding the Nazis' deeds, no one denies the abhorrent Zionist
crimes,
some of which camera lenses have managed to document. [footnote 22]
In September 2003, Hafez Barghouti, editor in chief of the Palestinian
Authority's official newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, which has published
numerous
articles denying the Holocaust, was part of a delegation of ten
journalists from
the Middle East that met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in
London.
The group was in London to take part in a conference called the Middle
East
Editors' Dialogue, sponsored by The Guardian and the Portland Trust.
[footnote 23]
In October 2003, Hatem Abd al-Qader, a member of the Palestinian
Legislative
Council from Jerusalem who has denied the Holocaust, was part of a
three-person delegation that visited Washington, D.C., at the initiative
of former U.S.
Mideast envoy Dennis Ross. Abd al-Qader and his colleagues held meetings
with
Members of Congress and were featured at a luncheon by the Washington
Institute
for Near East Policy. In an interview with the Islamic Jihad weekly
newspaper
Al Istiqlal on April 20, 2000, Abd al-Qader rejected the idea of
teaching the
Holocaust in Arab schools, saying: "First, the Jews should learn
about our
disaster, the massacres, the murder and the exile, because this disaster
is
still alive. As for the falsely alleged Holocaust, it has already been
moved into
the museum of History."
Syria
During October and November 2003, Al-Manar Television, a
Hezbollah-affiliated
television station in Syrian-occupied Lebanon, broadcast a 29-part
Syrian-produced series called "Al-Shatat" (Diaspora), a survey
of Jewish history and the
rise of the Zionist movement Although the Syrian government denied
reports
that it was involved in producing the series, the credits at the end of
each
episode give special thanks to "The Defense Ministry, the Culture
Ministry, the
Damascus Police commanders, the Archeology and Museums Administration,
Damascus
District, Aleppo District, Tartus District, [and] the Tartus Port
Administration" for their assistance in the production. It was
produced by the Syrian
company "Linn" at a reported cost of $5.1-million.
The series alleges that Jews have been attempting to control the world
for
many centuries and have engaged in a variety of conspiracies to further
that
aim. Regarding the Holocaust, the series claims that the Nazis murdered
one
million, not six million Jews, and that Jewish leaders actively
collaborated in
those murders. In Episode 22, broadcast on November 20, 2003, members of
the
"global Jewish government" are shown celebrating the deaths of
one million
European Jews, and their leader explains:
"The higher the number of Jews killed in this war, the more we will
be able
to convince the world that the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' is
nothing
more than a lie invented by the Christian world to increase people's
hatred for
the Jews. After public opinion is persuaded that this book is nothing
more than
a lie, we will launch a secret and quiet offensive to prove the truth of
this
book, until the world again fears us deep inside, and will be defeated
by us
without a war. Now, a toast in honor of this great war." [footnote
24]
United Arab Emirates
An Arab League-sponsored think tank that promotes Holocaust denial, the
Zayed
Center for Coordination and Follow-Up, was at the center of controversy
in
2003. The center was named after United Arab Emirates president Sheikh
Zayed bin
Sultan al-Nahyan. In March 2003, Harvard Divinity School graduate
student
Rachel Fish launched a campaign against Harvard's acceptance of a
$2.5-million
gift from President Zayed to endow a chair in Islamic studies. Fish
revealed
that the Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-Up promotes
anti-Semitism and
Holocaust denial. Fish's research also revealed that Zayed's wife
contributed
$50,000 to French Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy. While Harvard was
considering
the matter, it was announced in August 2003 that the Zayed Center had
been
closed down. [footnote 25]
Yemen
On May 1, 2003, the Yemeni newspaper Sanaa published a column by Ghalib
Ali
Jamil concerning British Member of Parliament George Galloway, "who
has become
a mobile information ministry for Arab causes, with the Palestinian and
Iraqi
issues to the fore." Jamil then singled out additional supporters
of the Arab
cause for praise, including French Holocaust-denier Roger Garaudy:
"The
Palestinian issue and the Iraqi issue have attracted the most sympathy
and
enthusiastic advocacy by well-known international personalities, such as
Dr Roger
Garaudy, Congressman Paul Findley, former US Justice Secretary Ramsey
Clark, and
several of the US elite in Hollywood, who have been coming under vicious
attack
by intelligence bodies, the extremist right, and the Zionist lobby that
currently controls the most important decision-making institutions: The
White House,
Defence Department, and the Department of State." [footnote 26]
Elsewhere
Australia
On January 8, 2003, Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock
informed
British Holocaust-denier David Irving that his request to enter
Australia was
being denied, because of Irving's "past and present criminal
conduct and past
and present general conduct," citing Irving's 1992 conviction in
German for
"defaming the memory of the dead," his 1994 conviction in
England for contempt of
court, and his 1992 expulsion from Canada after entering the country
without
authorization and lying under oath. Irving was denied entry to Australia
in
1993 and 1996, as well.
Malaysia
Speaking to the Organization of the Islamic Conference on October 16,
2003,
Malayasian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad acknowledged that "The
Europeans
killed six million Jews..." However, the major theme of the speech
was that "the
Jews rule the world by proxy--they get others to fight and die for
them," and
he mentioned the Holocaust not in order to encourage his audience of
Muslim
leaders to change their view of the Nazi genocide, but to illustrate his
argument that Muslims should learn from history, including Jewish
history, that those
who are steadfast can overcome adversity and eventually attain
"final
victory" over "the enemy" (which he defined as "the
Balfour and Zionist
transgression").
New Zealand
Controversy continues over the master's thesis written by Joel Hayward
at
Canterbury University, "The Fate of Jews in German Hands: An
Historical Enquiry
into the Development and Significance of Holocaust Revisionism."
Among other
things, the thesis endorsed the claim by Holocaust deniers that the
Nazis did
not use gas chambers to systematically murder Jews. After a public
outcry in
1999, the university appointed an investigation committee, consisting of
retired
High Court Judge Sir Ian Barker and two history professors, to examine
the
thesis. The committee concluded that while the thesis was seriously
flawed, there
was no evidence that it was motivated by racism or malice, and the
committee
did not recommend that the university revoke the degree it had awarded
to
Hayward.
The controversy entered a new chapter this year, when Thomas A. Fudge, a
lecturer at Canterbury University on medieval history, authored an
article titled
"The Fate of Joel Hayward in New Zealand Hands: From Holocaust
Historian to
Holocaust?," which portrayed Hayward as a victim of savage
persecution by his
critics. The article was initially accepted for publication by History
Now, the
journal of the Canterbury University History Department, and printed in
its
May 6, 2003 edition. However, prior to distribution of that issue, other
history
professors objected. After reviewing the article, the university
administration, supported by most of the history department faculty and
staff, decided
that it contained a number of inaccuracies and misleading statements and
could
expose the university to legal action for defamation. Therefore a new
version of
the May 6 edition was printed, without Fudge's article. Fudge publicly
threatened to resign his university position in protest, but then later
withdrew the
threat. His article was published by the New Zealand Herald and other
newspapers in July 2003.
++++++++++++++++++++
Professor F. Littell has said "You can't discuss the truth of the
holocaust.
That is a distortion of the concept of free speech. The United States
should
emulate West Germany, which outlaws such
exercises."--Mind-boggling! Don't you
think?
http://64.143.9.197/jhr/v11/v11p365_Bennett.html
+++++++
"Deep down, I believe that a little anti-Semitism is a good thing
for the
Jews - reminds us who we are." --Jay Lefkowitz (NYT Magazine. 12 F.
1995, 65) Jay
Lefkowitz is now Deputy assistant to the President for Domestic Policy.
A
sick man! Don't you think?
Chinese Axiom:
When things are investigated, knowledge is extended.
When knowledge is extended, the will becomes sincere.
When the will is sincere, the mind is correct.
When the mind is correct, the self is cultivated.
--Confucius
"An anti-Semite condemns people because they are Jews" --ICHEE.org
I am not an anti-Semite
---Michael Santomauro
"An anti-Semite is someone that the Jews hate."
---Joe Sobran
Another way of putting it:
An anti-Semite used to be someone who does not like Jews; now it is
someone who the Jews do not like.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace is patriotic!
Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
253 West 72nd street #1711
New York, NY 10023
http://www.RePortersNoteBook.com
Available for Talk-Radio interviews 24hours 212-787-7891
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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