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THE HEART OF DARKNESS
Beaver County Times, PA
Dec 17 2006
Holocaust deniers conference reveals depths of anti-Semitism
The intellectual dishonesty and moral bankruptcy of anti-Semitism
were on full display at the conference of Holocaust deniers last week
in Iran.
The Associated Press reported the Tehran conference was touted by
participants and organizers as an exercise in academic freedom and a
chance to openly consider whether 6 million Jews really died in the
Holocaust, away from Western taboos and the restrictions imposed on
scholars in Europe, where some countries have made it a crime to deny
the Nazi genocide during World War II.
The conference gathered 67 writers and researchers from 30 countries,
most of whom argue that either the Holocaust did not happen or that
it was vastly exaggerated. Many have been jailed or fined in France,
Germany or Austria, where it is illegal to deny the Holocaust. (See
the following editorial on the European laws.)
Try as they might, though, they couldn't prevent the real purpose of
the meeting from showing through - hatred of Jews.
To begin with, Jews weren't the only ones targeted by the Nazis.
Although Jews made up the overwhelming majority of victims killed
and persecuted between 1933 and 1945, gypsies, homosexuals and other
Nazi-designated socially undesirables were targeted. Holocaust deniers
can't deny their tragic fates because they're intertwined, albeit
on a much smaller scale, with the mindset behind Nazi atrocities
against Jews.
Doing Adolf Hitler proud, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told
attendees that the "Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same
way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom."
In the past, Ahmadinejad has referred to the Holocaust as a "myth"
used to impose the state of Israel on the Arab world.
Not to be outdone, David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader who
received almost 40 percent of the popular vote in a 1991 runoff
election to become governor of Louisiana, told the AP the "Holocaust
is the device used as the pillar of Zionist imperialism, Zionist
aggression, Zionist terror and Zionist murder."
In an amazing display of chutzpah, Ahmadinejad announced the
conference would set up a "fact-finding commission" to determine
whether the Holocaust happened or not. The commission will "help end
a 60-year-old dispute,"
In the minds of all but the most mindless, the so-called dispute
was resolved more than 60 years ago when allied forces entered Nazi
death camps.
In addition to being dishonest and bankrupt, Arabic and Iranian
anti-Semites are being hypocritical because they are ignoring genocide
that took place in their backyard.
However, because it involves their co-religionists, the Turks, and
the victims were Armenian Christians, they pretend it never happened.
The Washington Post reports an estimated 1.5 million Armenian civilians
were killed in eastern Turkey from 1915 to 1920. The paper reported
Armenians call it the 20th century's first genocide, "a view that
has gained acceptance among Western scholars and governments."
What took place last week in Iran was a look into the heart of darkness
of anti-Semitism. It's a lesson none of us should forget.
Beaver County Times, PA
Dec 17 2006
Holocaust deniers conference reveals depths of anti-Semitism
The intellectual dishonesty and moral bankruptcy of anti-Semitism
were on full display at the conference of Holocaust deniers last week
in Iran.
The Associated Press reported the Tehran conference was touted by
participants and organizers as an exercise in academic freedom and a
chance to openly consider whether 6 million Jews really died in the
Holocaust, away from Western taboos and the restrictions imposed on
scholars in Europe, where some countries have made it a crime to deny
the Nazi genocide during World War II.
The conference gathered 67 writers and researchers from 30 countries,
most of whom argue that either the Holocaust did not happen or that
it was vastly exaggerated. Many have been jailed or fined in France,
Germany or Austria, where it is illegal to deny the Holocaust. (See
the following editorial on the European laws.)
Try as they might, though, they couldn't prevent the real purpose of
the meeting from showing through - hatred of Jews.
To begin with, Jews weren't the only ones targeted by the Nazis.
Although Jews made up the overwhelming majority of victims killed
and persecuted between 1933 and 1945, gypsies, homosexuals and other
Nazi-designated socially undesirables were targeted. Holocaust deniers
can't deny their tragic fates because they're intertwined, albeit
on a much smaller scale, with the mindset behind Nazi atrocities
against Jews.
Doing Adolf Hitler proud, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told
attendees that the "Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same
way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom."
In the past, Ahmadinejad has referred to the Holocaust as a "myth"
used to impose the state of Israel on the Arab world.
Not to be outdone, David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader who
received almost 40 percent of the popular vote in a 1991 runoff
election to become governor of Louisiana, told the AP the "Holocaust
is the device used as the pillar of Zionist imperialism, Zionist
aggression, Zionist terror and Zionist murder."
In an amazing display of chutzpah, Ahmadinejad announced the
conference would set up a "fact-finding commission" to determine
whether the Holocaust happened or not. The commission will "help end
a 60-year-old dispute,"
In the minds of all but the most mindless, the so-called dispute
was resolved more than 60 years ago when allied forces entered Nazi
death camps.
In addition to being dishonest and bankrupt, Arabic and Iranian
anti-Semites are being hypocritical because they are ignoring genocide
that took place in their backyard.
However, because it involves their co-religionists, the Turks, and
the victims were Armenian Christians, they pretend it never happened.
The Washington Post reports an estimated 1.5 million Armenian civilians
were killed in eastern Turkey from 1915 to 1920. The paper reported
Armenians call it the 20th century's first genocide, "a view that
has gained acceptance among Western scholars and governments."
What took place last week in Iran was a look into the heart of darkness
of anti-Semitism. It's a lesson none of us should forget.