In response to my Dennis Shaw/Anthony Keller ZGram of February 19 - "Grassroots Revisionism" - I received to my amazement and delight an e-mail from one Moshe ben Levi - chastizing Anthony Keller, a fellow Jew.
This letter was so transparently ". . . on our side" that it occurred to me that maybe it was tailor-written ***by*** someone on our side. In fact, I thought I recognized the style. So I consulted with Ernst to find out what he thought.
Ernst suggested I go to the sources - to check with Shaw, Keller and Levi himself. Before I could do so, I had a letter back from Shaw saying not to take that letter at face value because it was clearly a prop.
Still, I wrote to Moshe to satisfy my own curiosity:
"Moshe, I get a lot of mail from people whose authenticity I question. I would love to publish your letter, but I have to be sure you are who you are. Your style reminds me of someone in our own camp. Can you tell me who you are, and will you permit me to publish your replies?"
Here's what came back posthaste:
Greetings Dr. Rimland,
I am sure you must get some unusual, questionable email. I do not know how I can make you sure of who I am. I'm sure you understand that I do not want to go into hiding with David Cole.
You may publish my reply to Keller if you wish (...).
I am not the only one who thinks the way I do. There is genuine concern that the Zionist leadership in the world has simply gone too far, and - as in the 1928-1945 period - innocent Jews took the brunt of the punishment for the ill deeds of the few. That CAN happen again, if the entire matter is not handled with great care. The "leaders" are fully aware of this, but are blind to the concept of total honesty; "coming clean," "fessing up." They are attempting to prevent disclosure through legislation, instead of confession. They believe that denying expression will "contain" the facts; thus, the threat. The answer for peace, reconciliation, and safety is full disclosure and contrition for the deeds of the few - who took it upon themselves to speak for all of us BEFORE and AFTER WWII.
Mr. Keller is apparently not interested in receiving email from anyone other than those who have his NEW email address. <end >
You be the judge if this is an authentic letter from Moshe ben Levi to Anthony Keller of the Globe and Mail. I am publishing it because the answers are so good and are exactly what Ernst Zundel has told the Jewish community for years. Here is that letter, unedited:
Mr. Keller:
I have received a forward of an email, called a "ZGram," originating with an Ingrid Rimland. Within the email were copies of ten emails betwen yourself and one Mr. Dennis Shaw. I am CC-ing them, as they are principals in the context of the total communication/discussion, and it is time to be forth- coming, for the sake of peace. I am sending the "ZGram" in a separate email, since this system apparently does not 'like' long bits.
First, however, I find it repugnant to discover that Canada has a "list of material reviewed by the Prohibited Importations Unit at Headquarters in Ottawa." What sort of nonsense is that? Is that really true? Canada has a "literary bogey-man" police?
Is it true that books or materials hateful to Moslems, Christians, and other religions were NOT banned; but only things which simply referred to jews, and =presumably= hateful?
I am terribly embarassed by the rather weak representation you have made, Mr. Keller. Shaw came off as quite reasonable - though I believe he has now been irretrievably influenced - - in the negative - - by your reprehensible conduct and your contradictory writing in the Globe.
Your attempt at rational dialogue with Shaw began with no less than 50+-year-old puffery and ended with NON-response, an admission of incompetence. Is this the best we can expect from a fellow jew - especially an Editor of the largest circulation newspaper in Canada?
To NOT answer his very reasonable request for information - given your ability to get the ear and support of those Shaw mentioned - is unforgivable behaviour. While Deborah Lipstadt insists that we not venture into dialogue nor debate, I am truly convinced that THAT position is only taken as valid by those who are attached to the Holocaust strictly on an emotional level.
There have been very significant admissions of perfidy by Official, quasi-official, and other Jewish organs in high-profile positions; Jewish figures in positions of expertise and authority - Simon Wiesenthal (1), Dr. Yehuda Bauer (2), and significant admissions of deception by organizations such as the Yad Vashem (3).
Those admissions have been terribly embarassing to those of us who believed in (and parroted) the post-war puffery, while all along wondering just exactly what the total truth is. To hide under the pretext that Jews should not debate the issue is to use an umbrella that -- when looked at closely, has no fabric.
With your connections and access to wire-copy, I would be overwhelmingly surprized if you were ignorant of the many admissions. By you sticking to old rhetoric, so much of it now proven and/or admitted false -- or simply patently unbelievable, you are doing all Jews a dangerous dis-service.
I look at the long term threat, Mr. Keller. Intelligent people ARE looking askance, and noticing. They are not 'bad' people. They don't hate Jews, or they wouldn't discuss such a sensitive thing with me. They talk openly ONLY within a small group of us, afraid of people like yourself, who will call them 'antisemitic,' or 'neo-nazi,' and once identified and vilified falsely in the press, they are all too aware of the horrors that follow. The image of "The Vengeful, Hateful, Vindictive, Violent Jew" is NOT the image nor legacy I want for myself, my children, nor theirs.
These people, both Jew and not, have expressed the same concern as I -- that there will come a time when everything is known, perhaps that records have been altered, or destroyed -- and a copy found elsewhere -- and we Jews will ALL be taken for deceiving the world for the sake of sympathy=privilege=$$$.
Simon Wiesenthal (1) said, "There were no extermination camps on German soil." THAT is a significant admission, since most of the Western world has been given the impression for the past 50+ years that ALL camps were "death camps," -- and let's not mince words -- all these years, the use of the term, "death camp" was intentionally & unilaterally used to mean "extermination camp."
SO - why not address the problem of 6 minus 3 still equalling 6? Dr. Yehuda Bauer admitted that the 4 million figure was wrong, and placed the number of deaths (of all types of people) at "perhaps 1.1 Million (from all causes)." (2) Any school child can see that 6 - 3 = 3. Are Jews, then, to be taken as incorrigible liars, or profoundly retarded in mathematics?
The same criticism goes to the alleged "human skin lampshades," and the other things Mr. Shaw mentioned, and much more.
The WRONG position is to ignore the questions. Why?
When my friends have brought up an issue; let's say the Yad Vashem's admission there was no "Jewish Soap." (3) Wouldn't it be acutely ignorant of me to deny it? What else is there to do? DO AS YOU, and ignore them?
When Dr. Bauer reduced the number of deaths at Auschwitz - that was a reduction of DEAD, which means there are 3Million ALIVE -- for which we should rejoice!!!
Good G-d, do you even begin to see how utterly stupid, foolish, greedy, pathetic,... I'm at a loss to describe how ugly the thought is... that -- when Jews are told their relatives did NOT perish, our august representatives DENY the facts! Instead of leading Jews considering the news REWARDING, and rejoicing before the world - the news is treated as though they NEED to remain DEAD! Indeed, Jewish leaders DEMAND they REMAIN DEAD.
Do you remember one of the earliest lessons in life; that when you broke something belonging to your mother or father, it was far better to run to them, and with genuine tears of regret, and to tell them that you broke the ______? It was FAR better than if they found the broken thing by themselves later on, right?
It's time we began to admit the admittable, humbly, and with the honor that comes with admitting when one is wrong -- no matter how painful. It's the honest thing to do, and safer in the long run, for us and our children.
Moshe
Thought for the Day:
The ADL (Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith) advertises a poster as a teachers' "discussion guide" for grades 5 - 12: It shows a Jewish child and the number 6,258,673.
In the description brochure advertising this poster, it says: "The number 6,258,673 is only an approximation."
Back to Table of Contents of the Feb. 1999 ZGrams