I am still reporting from the road, and I ask your indulgence if my ZGrams appear to be meager. One does what one can, said the bird with a halm in its beak, trying to build a cathedral.
A friend stopped by and brought me the latest Canadia Jewish News, (July 16, 1998) and from it I glean a few important tidbits and a salutary little Jewish fairytale that made me laugh out loud.
First item:
The merciless "Nazi-hunters" have found another victim to harass - this time an 88 year old St. Catharines, Ontario man who, at one time,
". . . according to documents released last week by the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, was a gendarme/police officer in Austria when he joined the Nazi Party and the stormtroops Sturmabteilung (SA) on December 1, 1933.
At the time, membership in those organizations was illegal. On January 1, 1938, Nebel resigned from the SA and joined the Allgemeine-SS, again when it was illegal to do so."
The article goes on to say:
"Nebel subsequently 'collaborated with the Nazi occupation forces by volunteering for and obtaining the position of gendarmerie-hauptmannschaftsführer (lieutenant) first in Warsaw and commencing September 1941 in the Stanislaus District of Galicia, remaining in this post until 1944. (...)
"Canadian Jewish Congress welcomed the case against Nebel. 'This announcement shows the federal Justice Department war crimes unit continues to work steadily on bringing new cases forward. . . There is a level of aggressiveness being displayed which helps us believe that some form of justice may be formed after all.'" (Quote attributed to Irving Abella, chair of Congress' War Crimes Committee).
Second item:
Columnist Doug Collins, believe it or not, is asked to face the Human Rights Commission Inquisition all over again - after he was cleared for having uttered "Swindler's List" and other heresies. In a case too long to explain, Harry Abrams of the B'nai Brith in Victoria, B.C. discovered that his feelings have been hurt by four additional columns Collins wrote before his retirement. Now Abrams wants a cut of the restitutions pie.
Abrams is seeking $5,000 in damages from both Collins and the North Shore News (the paper that printed the columns) ". . . which will go towards the legal fund of B'nai Brith Canada's League for Human Rights" the paper tells us now, to which I say: ". . . so they can do more mischief." Additionally, Abrams is seeking $2,000 for his lost time and expenses, a full apology and an undertaking that Collins and the North Shore News refrain from publishing similar material in the future."
Having whetted its appetite and having set a precedent on the Zundelsite Freedom of Speech case, Marvin Kurz, lawyer for the B'nai Brith and not too coincidentally also the League's co-chair, will be seeking intervenor status.
In the same article, I read the following, here proffered up with explanations:
"(T)he Canadian Human Rights Commission hearing into the "Zundelsite" web page has been adjourned until November. In the interim, Zundel's lawyer, Doug Christie, is seeking judicial review of several commission rulings. If successful, the (judgments by the Federal Court in those four hearings) could bring the case to a halt."
Christie is seeking a review of
1. the commission's decision not to stay proceedings on the grounds of its alleged bias -
(Remember, Judge McGillis had ruled that all Human Rights Tribunal hearings should be null and void until Parliament had legislated changes separating the Tribunals from the Commission per se, thus gaining a semblance of judicial independence)
2. Christie is seeking a review of a decision by a Federal Court judge not to grant an interim stay. . .
(Translated: No "business as usual" monkeying around until there ***is*** a ruling on point 1)
3. Christie is seeking a review of a commission ruling that truth is no defense. . .
(This one is self-explanatory and will give joy to the media - and open Canadian taxpayers' eyes even more!)
4. Christie is seeking a review of a commission's decision denying expert status to two academics from respected universities, both witnesses advanced by Mr. Zundel.
(In other words, Dr. Jacob and Dr. Countess against government expert Dr. Schweitzer - whose "expertise" made him seriously and publicly announce that Jews could criticize other Jews which amounted to family squabble - but if a Gentile, like Zundel, did so, that was a serious anti-semitic offence. Schweitzer actually called it "***lethal*** antisemitism").
Third item:
Remember the trendy Japanese news-weekly, Marco Polo? Was it not Volkswagen that pulled out its advertising budget on Marco Polo who in 1995? According to Rabbi Cooper, Volkswagen". . . led a campaign against a Japanese publishing company after one of its magazines published a Holocaust denial article. . . "
Volkswagen Japan, I have been told, in fact ***started*** the boycott-censorship campaign of Marco Polo. Other major advertising companies quickly joined in the kneefall before the Mighty H, and Marco Polo went belly-up as a result.
Now, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency,
"Volkswagen's decision to establish a fund for Jewish slave laborers ups the ante on other German companies to make similar payments. (...)
"Hailing the move as a "bold step" and a "breath of fresh air," Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los Angeles, said "We now hold up Volkswagen as a corporate leader" (...)
Some people might ask the good rabbi just what, in this context, "hold up" might mean. A Freudian slip? A subliminal message? One wonders.
Time for Revisionists to trade in their Volkswagens - or, at the very least, call up their local Volkswagen dealer and regale them with this story! Or, better yet, consider that this is a perfect and timely "in" for a Letter to the Editor campaign.
Which brings me to a story I read in the same issue of the Canadian Jewish News from which I culled these tidbits, which is too precious not to pass on in this context. With credits to Rabbi Charles Freundlich who told this in "Rabbinic Reflections" on page 12, here goes:
"Once, a Jewish Grandmother was walking hand in hand along the seashore with her 2-year-old grandson. The little boy was dressed in a sailor suit with hat and tie. Suddenly, the sky became cloudy and the waters became turbulent. A giant wave snatched the little boy from his grandmother and took him out to sea. The grandmother was terrified, but soon began to cry and pray, pleading with God to save her little grandson.
So passionately did she pray that the angels stirred and asked God to perform a miracle. The skies became blue, the water became calm and a slow wave brought the little boy back to shore. The grandmother's eyes filled with tears of joy; she grabbed the little boy and hugged him. Then she put him down and looked to the heavens and cried: "Where's his hat?"
Ingrid