Iranian Parliamentary President's Call: Some Thoughts

My general inclination is to take a very cautious approach to statements such as those made by the Iranian Parliamentary President. They are so off the wall, that I treat them with a bit of contempt.

I also react against a lot of people in the Jewish community who tend to cry "the sky is falling" more often than I think is accurate or efficacious.

However, I am finding this steady drumbeat of claims about the Holocaust and this call for an "investigation" disturbing. It suggests death by a 1000 cuts.

One last thought: When David Irving gets out of Austrian jail [my guess is that he will get off with time served -- a wise move on the Austrians part], he will probably be welcomed as a hero in Iran.

Iranian Parliamentary President calls for investigation of the Holocaust

Two more news items about Iran's stance on the Holocaust. The piece
published by the Austrian Kurier website is based on news items by APA and Reuters and is followed by translation by Albrecht Kolthoff. I have highlighted the crucial sentence.

Iran fordert Holocaust-Untersuchung

Teheran - Der iranische Parlamentspräsident Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel hat eine Untersuchung zum Holocaust gefordert.

Er reagierte damit auf massive internationale Kritik an Äußerungen von Präsident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, der in der vergangenen Woche den Holocaust geleugnet und vorgeschlagen hatte, Israel nach Europa zu verlegen.

Haddad-Adel warf den Europäern am Dienstag vor, eine erartige Untersuchung zu verhindern. "Wir glauben, dass die Hindernisse, die die Europäer einer Untersuchung in den Weg legen, Zweifel an ihrer Ehrlichkeit aufkommen lassen", sagte Haddad-Adel in Moskau. Eine Untersuchung könne alle offenen Fragen klären.
[...]

Artikel vom 13.12.2005 apa, reuters jos

Iran demands Holocaust probe

Tehran - Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel has demanded an examination of the Holocaust.

He reacted to mssive international criticism of statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who in the past week had denied the Holocaust and proposed to move Israel to Europe. Haddad-Adel on Tuesday accused the Europeans of preventing such an examination.

"We believe that the obstacles the Europeans lay in the way of an examination give rise to doubts about their honesty", Haddad-Adel said in Moscow. A probe could clear up all open questions.

Hezbollah symposium calls for Arabs to emulate Hitler and burn Jews

I am not sure which is worse: Iran's Prez's denial or these kind of threats. At some point it becomes really difficult to slough these things off and attribute them to angry rhetoric.

See Memri's special dispatch

No comment necessary

Further details on Ahmadineijad's comments.

Iranian Prez: excuses? excuses?

The BBC, in its pretty straight forward coverage of this statement by the Iranian President [it was the lead item on its program "The World"] observed that some people tended to attribute his earlier statements [Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth and the Jews should go back to Europe and Europeans should give them a territory] to his "inexperience" as a President. What does "inexperience" have to do with making statements such as this?

The BBC then went on and sort of saved itself by observing that that excuse now has no credence since this is his third outrageous statement about Jews.

Some Further Thoughts on Iran's President

Some analysts say that he denied the Holocaust as a means of winning the support of a broad swatch of the Iranian people. This is the impact, in great measure, of years of Holocaust denial in the Arab/Muslim world.

Holocaust Denial: Iran's President Does it Again

According to a report in the Guardian, for the second time in two weeks, Iran's president has discussed the Holocaust. The first time he just called for the return of Jews to Europe. Today he went a step further, calling the Holocaust a myth.

Iran Leader Escalates Holocaust Rhetoric
Wednesday December 14, 2005 1:16 PM

By ALI HACKBERRY DARWIN
Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad escalated his anti-Israeli rhetoric Wednesday, calling the Holocaust a ``myth'' used by Europeans to create a Jewish state in the heart of the Islamic world.

``Today, they have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets,'' Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in the southeastern city of Zahedan.

[...]

Touring southeast Iran, Ahmadinejad said that if Europeans insist the Holocaust happened, then they are responsible and should pay the price. "If you committed this big crime, then why should the oppressed Palestinian nation pay the price?" Ahmadinejad asked rhetorically.

"This is our proposal: if you committed the crime, then give a part of your own land in Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to them so that the Jews can establish their country," he said, developing a theme he raised in Saudi Arabia last week.

[...]

It is interesting to note that I heard an interview on NPR this a.m. with a journalist from Iran who was markedly critical of statements such as this and called them harmful to Iran's best interests. It was clear from the interview that he gives absolutely no credence to Ahmanijad's statements.

Irving's Trial: February 20th

Austrian Press Agency reports that Irving's trial in Vienna will be on
February 20 (one trial day).

According to the report Irving will plead for remorse. Apparently he and
his lawyer have noticed that his tactics of "new insights" after a visit
to Russian archives isn't very convincing when he had uttered his usual
stuff just a short time ago. As he now said in a pre-trial interrogation,
he will use a slightly modified tactic:

"Ihm sei vor wenigen Wochen klar geworden, dass die Existenz von
Gaskammern in Auschwitz erwiesen sei." (He realized a few weeks ago that the existence of gas chambers in Auschwitz is proved.)

Holocaust Denier Germar Rudolf deported from USA

In the course of the conversation about Irving's arrest, some attention has been given to the deportation from the United States of another Holocaust denier, Germar Rudolf. There is an interesting press release on the website of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE]about this deportation.

In short, Rudolf was wanted by Germany for having violated the law against inciting racial hatred. He fled Germany and after hiding out in a number of countries ended up in the United States where he applied for political asylum, claiming political persecution in Germany.

A federal immigration judge denied Rudolf’s asylum claim and ordered him deported in June 2003. Rudolf appealed and lost. He then appealed to the US Court of Appeals and to the Supreme Court. All denied Rudolf’s requests .

He became a fugitive, and then, after a period of time, showed up at an Immigration Office to apply for a Green Card on the basis of his having subsequently married an American citizen. [I guess you have to admire his hutzpah.] A quick check of the ICE computers indicated he was a fugitive and he was arrested.

His behavior reminds me of Irving who announced on his website the fact that he was going to Austria where there was a warrant for his arrest to give a speech. Then, he went and was arrested.

I would argue that part of the modus operandi of people such as this is to "spit in the eye" of authorities by breaking the law and then to test the resolve of the governing authorities [whether here in the US or in Austria].

If the authorities do nothing, they herald this as indicating that they are above the law. If the authorities act and arrest them, then they cry "Free speech" or "Victim!."

Free Speech and Laws vs. Holocaust Denial

In certain circles an impassioned discussion about Free Speech and arresting people for Holocaust denial has been fomented by Irving's arrest. I thought I might make the following points:

Irving offered to settle with me shortly before the trial if I agreed to apologize for calling him a denier and agreed to the pulping of all my books. [and if I made a fairly substantial contribution to a charity of his choice]. Pulping of books does not exactly fit into my definition of free speech.

Two other points:
1. The law under which Irving has been charged is that of minimization of crimes of the Third Reich which was passed in 1947 or 1948. It is not a law vs. Holocaust denial per se.

2. Austria is a democracy. What's stopping the Austrian people from repealing that law if they are against it? If not, isn't there something wrong with people from another country with a markedly different history telling them what they should include in their legal system and what they should not? Is that not a certain form of hubris?

Just some thoughts.

Free Speech and Laws vs. Holocaust Denial

My good friend Harry Mazal recently wrote the following about laws against Holocaust denial. It is right on target.

Each country has a right to enforce their laws even when they are repugnant to us. I'll use a small example. If a person dons a white robe with a peaked hat and two holes in the sheet for the eyes, he can get arrested in this country. (If I recall correctly, KKK members must not cover their faces when demonstrating). On the other hand, if one visits Spain during Holy Week, one
can see hundreds of men wearing almost identical costumes as the KKK, with their faces well covered except for two peepholes. It is legal in Spain, but not in the US.

Perhaps the U.S. has had particular reasons for passing that law; reasons that don't apply in Spain. Spaniards are probably aghast at this interference in a mans' right to wear his clothes or a mask or what-have-you. Before I get jumped on for such a simplistic comparison, please bear in mind that Austria and Germany lived a different reality than did this country. We were not the organizers or perpetrators of a massive campaign of murder and terror, so perhaps we don't recogize their need for atonement and their attempts to prevent a future occurrence.

Mel Gibson Redux?

It's hard to believe but, according to the New York Times Mel Gibson, son of Hutton Gibson an acknowledged Holocaust denier, is producing a mini-series on the Holocaust. It's about a Dutch victim who was saved by Christians.

I wonder if the Jewish community will do for this Gibson production what it did for his previous movie: guarantee it a tremendous audience.

Irving to Stand Trial in February

According to the Austrian paper, Der Standard, David Irving will stand trial in February. There will be, the paper predicts, a one day trial sometime between February 20 and 24th. There will be an additional pre-trial hearing to decide whether he must remain in custody.

A bit of British satire on Irving's arrest

Here's a bit of satire on Irving's arrest and a comment about his having discovered two of his books in the prison library!! It's from Anorak.

Holocaust Denier, Bradley Smith, on David Irving's recanting of his denial of the gas chambers

Bradley Smith, the Holocaust denier who pioneered the idea of placing ads denying the Holocaust in college newspapers and who created the Committee on Open Debate on the Holocaust [CODOH], has posted the following comment about David Irving's recanting. Note, that at the end he shares my prediction about what Irving will say once he is out of Austria:

Sunday, November 27, 2005

WILL DAVID IRVING BETRAY HIMSELF, AND US?

When I first heard that David Irving had been arrested in Austria on his way to talk to some college students and was being held in jail, I was flabbergasted. I didn’t know what to make of it.

[...]

Irving in jail? It was out of character for him. I had a hard time getting my brain around it. Irving is, in fact, guilty of breaking Austrian law. He did “deny” the Holocaust, to use the usual jargon. His lawyer, Elmar Kresbach, tells the Guardian on 26 November: “There are the transcripts of his speeches, there is a newspaper interview that he gave [in 1989]. It’s pretty black and white.”

“But Irving told me that he has changed his views after researching in the Russian archives in the 1990s. He said, ‘I’ve repented. I’ve no intention of repeating these views. That would be historically stupid and I’m not a stupid man.’

“He said, ‘I fully accept this, it’s a fact. The discussion on Auschwitz, the gas chambers and the Holocaust is finished ... it’s useless to dispute it’.”

So the news—and this is only news—is that David Irving is going to recant his “revisionist” views on the Holocaust story. Who would have thought?Irving is an absolutely unique individual. His capacity for work, his genius for organization, the quality of his intellect, his learning, his endless energy, his physical strength, his unwillingness to suffer fools and his easy willingness to offend friends, his daring—I have never met anyone to match him. No one.

At the same time, among we lesser folk, we have watched David Irving make one mistake after another. It began with his unwillingness to take on the Holocaust Industry straight on by setting aside his life-long interest in Hitler’s inside circle and do a real book on Auschwitz, the book he better than anyone else anywhere was capable of producing and promoting.

[...]

Then there was the stupidly conceived libel suit against Deborah Lipstadt, where during the trial he was brilliant and wrong-headed and utterly full of himself. Irving’s defeat at that trial was the most serious single blow that revisionism has ever received. Only last week a correspondent reminded me that it was the Lipstadt trial that convinced serious people that, okay, revisionists had taken an interesting run at the Holocaust story, they had failed in full view of the Western world, and there was no reason to worry about Holocaust revisionism any longer.

[...]

If we are to believe his lawyer, who sounds like a practical man, David Irving is going to recant his views with regard to Auschwitz, the gas chambers, and who knows what else? He may. He may not. It would not be beyond him. This is a man for whom there is nothing “beyond.”

But I feel a betrayal in the works. I hesitate to say it, but betrayal is in the air. My hope? That he recants to the Austrian court, is freed, and when he is out in the world again that he stands up in public to declare:“I lied before a corrupt court. There is no honor in telling a corrupt court the truth if you do not enjoy being punished at the hands of corrupt law. The Auschwitz story is crap. I know it, and millions of people all over the Western and Muslim worlds know it. When I said ‘Auschwitz is a sinking ship,’ I was right. I meant it then, and I mean it now.”

Will David Irving betray himself then? And us? Or has David discovered evidence that supports the gas chamber stories and kept it secret from us and everyone else all these years? We are not going to know until he is a free man.

Sympathy for David Irving? A matter of free speech?

There have been a number of articles concerning the supposed violation of Irving's freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

If you have been reading this blog you know my views about laws regarding Holocaust denial, however -- lest you be overcome by sympathy for Irving -- it pays to keep a number of things in mind.

1. Irving knew there was a warrant for his arrest.
2. He knew he was in violation of Austrian law.
3. Is it possible that he wanted to be arrested? [Lots of pr, sympathy, and money]
4. Did he think the laws did not apply to him?
5. Did he care about my freedom of speech [which he tried to curtail by demanding that I pulp my book and apologize to him]?

My good friend Harry Mazal, whose Holocaust History Project is a fantastic contribution to the effort to expose deniers lies and fabrications, came across an article entitled "The Cost of Free Speech," from the Guardian which encapsulates some of the free speech issues involved in my trial. [The article was published a few days after the judgment was issued.]

David Irving's Reality Check

Irving has long maintained a website on which he posts many things including his correspondence, diaries, and diatribes against the enemies of free speech [in his world this generally means the Jewish community]. A few days ago, friends of mine, who went on the site to see if anyone had posted anything regarding his arrest, discovered that it is now password protected.

I wonder if someone explained to Irving that he cannot maintain he has changed his mind when all the evidence to the contrary is sitting on his web site.

According to his lawyer, he has changed his mind regarding the gas chambers as a result of a visit he made to Moscow where he saw "new" evidence. The problem for Irving is that he was in Moscow in the 1990s. During the trial, which was in 2000, he consistently argued that gas chambers were an impossibility. Since the trial he has repeated his disbelief about gas chambers. As I noted on November 25th, he was vigorously arguing that gas chambers were impossible as late as two months ago.

Maybe, at long last, he has come to realize he cannot have it both ways, i.e. say one thing when it is convenient to do so and something else when it is not convenient to maintain his first position. Or maybe his lawyer has explained to him that he will have a hard time convincing an Austrian court of his newfound position with all this information readily available on his website.

Antisemitism and Anti-Israelism on Campus

I have been asked by a number of people about the recent testimony by a number of leaders of Jewish organizations regarding antisemitism and anti-Israel attitudes on campus. I recently completed a paper on this topic which will be published by the American Jewish Committee's Koppelman Institute. As soon as it is published I will post a link to it on this site.

In short, while the situation is not great, neither is it as dire as many people would have you believe. In many respects Jewish life on the North American campus is thriving. There are a broad array of Jewish Studies courses available and Hillel is undergoing an unprecedented renaissance.

There certainly are problems regarding the presentation of Israel and Israel's position, but the cry of "oy gevalt" regarding the campus strike me as somewhat out of touch with reality.

Moderated Comments on lipstadt.blogspot.com

Hilary Ostrov will soon set up moderated comments on this blog.

For a short while after I started blogging I had allowed comments to be posted. Soon, however, I realized that deniers were using it to post their arguments. The last thing I wanted my blog to be was a bulletin board for their discredited claims. I, therefore, turned off comments.

However, I miss hearing from serious folks. I look forward to a robust discussion, i.e. discussion with both folks who agree and disagree with me.

Deniers and their ilk should be forewarned: don't waste your time [or mine], your comments won't be posted.

Deborah's Speaking Schedule

Many readers and emailers have asked me to post where I will be speaking so that they can try to attend. And my friends and family are constantly commenting that they don't know where I am. This should help resolve the problem. [I have listed certain "private events" so that people will know if I am in their city on a particular date.]

[Hilary Ostrov will shortly create a link to my Emory webpage on which we will post and continuously update my schedule.]

December 4th: Denver Emory Alumni, private event. For information contact John Ingersoll at fingers@emory.edu

December 4th: Denver Jewish Book Fair at the Denver Jewish Community Center, 7 p.m. For information see Mizel Center .

December 7th: North Palm Beach, Fla. Jewish Federation, 4-6 p.m. City Club of the Palm Beaches 11780 US 1, contact: Randee Schneider, 561-242-6679.

December 8th: Palm Beach, 9:30-12 noon:One Woman’s Voice" - Eissey Theatre on Palm Beach Community College’s Palm Beach Gardens Campus. The program includes an address by Dr. Deborah Lipstadt and a special performance of "The Diary of Anne Frank" by Ballet Florida. Continental breakfast will be served. Contact:Sherri Siskin 561-640-0700, ext. 616 s.siskin@cjepb.org or Jewish Federation of Palm Beach.

December 13: JCC in Manhattan 7:00 PM. Upper West Side, Manhattan; For more information and to register or call 646-505-5708.

December 14: Princeton University, private event.

December 16th: Panama City, Panama, noon, for details contact Yvonne Snaider, 011 507 6616 1886

December 20th: Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Wexner Israel Fellows program, private event.

December 23-28th: Limmud, UK, University of Nottingham, UK.

January 7th: Jersey City, Jewish Community Centers of American [JCCA], quarterly board meeting, private event.

January 8-9th: St Mark's School, Dallas, Texas. Most events are closed. For information on any public events contact Roberta Lou Mailer: mailer@smtexas.org , Dennard Visiting Scholars Program,St. Mark's School, (214) 346-8130

January 13th: Manhattan Jewish Experience [MJE], Shabbat dinner, at the Jewish Center, W. 86th st. For reservations and information contact Jeannie Doppelt, 212.787.9533

January 22nd: University of Washington, Seattle. 2:30 p.m. For information contact Rochelle Roseman: roseman@u.washington.edu

January 30th: University of Miami. Details to follow.