The reports I received for the past two days turned out to be wrong: The Irving-Lipstadt trial has not been aborted. There will have to be, apparently, some technical or housekeeping matters to be dealt with on Monday; after that it will be until March 13 when final arguments will be made.
Even so, it is odd that all of a sudden a great silence descends - just when the world held its breath about potential revelations in the newly released Eichmann Diaries. The trial "ended" before these 1,300 pages could be digested, much less analyzed and properly examined in-depth. Very, very odd! No doubt more will be known in due time.
Here is another Michael Horsnell article in the London Times, dated yesterday and titled "Irving challenged over 'cynical anti-Semitism'" As is custom, Zundelsite comments follow each pertinent paragraph to put the official mainstream news into perspective.
London Times:
DAVID IRVING, the controversial Hitler historian, faced accusations at the High Court of mocking the victims of the Holocaust as the evidence in his long-running libel action concluded yesterday.
Zundelsite:
Irving, who has an acid tongue, may or may not have "mocked the victims" - the question is: Which victims? Real victims? Or non-existent victims? One of the main questions in this trial was not whether or not Irving's tongue ran away but whether or not Lipstadt had proven that he falsified history, was a "Hitler lover", associated with unsavory people and groups etc. The well-known "hurt feelings" of professional victims was not a relevant legal issue. Did she libel him or not - ***that*** was the issue.
London Times:
The case was adjourned until March 13 when the two sides will make final speeches. Amid acrimonious exchanges, Mr Irving, 62, was accused by Richard Rampton, QC, of "feeding and encouraging the most cynical anti-Semitism" in his audience during public speaking engagements.
Zundelsite:
The well-known smears to the fore! Mr Irving's record does not substantiate any leadership role in groups who busy themselves with "anti-semitism." He is a name-recognition writer and speaker who makes a living as a legitimate historian, and as such gets invited to give talks to the most diverse people of many nationalities all over the globe. The Zionist instigated vilification campaign against him to deprive him of his freedom of speech rights needs to be subtracted out of the equation.
London Times:
Mr Rampton is representing the American academic Deborah Lipstadt and her publisher, Penguin Books, which Mr Irving is suing over her claims that he poured doubt on the Holocaust and was a Hitler partisan who twists history. Mr Rampton said: "What you are doing is feeding the anti-Semitism in your audience by mocking the survivors and dead of the Holocaust." Mr Irving said he was actually "mocking the liars" who he said had told lies about what had happened to them.
Zundelsite:
Mr Irving is very quick on his feet and gave the perfect answer. No added comment needed. You do not have to mollycoddle people who consciously and as a matter of a goal oriented, political policy and agenda lie about historical events to gain financially and politically.
London Times:
Mr Rampton queried why he got so much applause from his right-wing extremist audiences. Mr Irving: "I am a good speaker." Mr Irving, who denies that gas chambers were used for the mass extermination of Jews at Auschwitz, was referred to a speech he gave in Alberta, Canada, in 1991.
Zundelsite:
Mr Rampton should have also asked whether Mr Irving received likewise applause from his "left-wing extreme audiences." He might have been surprised by the answer.
London Times:
(Irving) told his audience: "I don't see any reason to be tasteful about Auschwitz. It's baloney, it's a legend. Once we admit the fact that it was a brutal slave labour camp and large numbers of people did die, as large numbers of innocent people died elsewhere in the war, why believe the rest of the baloney? There are so many Auschwitz survivors going around, in fact the number increases as the years go past, which is biologically very, very odd to say the least. I'm going to form an association of Auschwitz Survivors, Survivors of the Holocaust and Other Liars, or the ASSHOLS."
Zundelsite:
This is one of the more memorable quotes that Mr Irving managed to deliver. It obviously struck a chord with the people who pay the huge fees of Mr. Rampton. It's verbal shorthand, repeated world-wide! And now it is also in the transcripts for many people to study and ponder, again and again and again. Some people might say it was in bad taste, but many more will say that the truth nuggets that shine in that paragraph are worthy of a double-check, to say the very least. It's the proverbial reality check some cultists need to jolt them back to reality. Let's call it electro-shock treatment for dummies.
London Times:
Defending his remarks on the victims of the camp, Mr Irving told the court: "It's become an important part of their social and religious awareness and it is almost blasphemy to them to tread on that holy ground. There have been increasing numbers in recent years who have capitalised on the Holocaust."
Zundelsite:
Here he touches on what is so offensive to many otherwise neutral people: that the so-called Holocaust gets to be shoved down everyone's throat as a religious dogma that one may only question at risk to life and limb - and reputation, as Irving all too painfully found out.
London Times:
Mr Irving says he has been the victim of an international conspiracy to destroy him and rejects the claim in Professor Lipstadt's book, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, that he has distorted history in order to exonerate Hitler.
Zundelsite:
The Revisionist consensus is that the verdict itself does not matter that much to the cause of Truth in History - what matters is that large chunks of the Edifice of Lies have been undermined. Doubts have been raised. Some lies have actually fallen by the wayside.
However, let's not kid ourselves. It will be extremely difficult for Judge Gray to give a verdict that will go against the people and groups Irving says have unleashed an "international conspiracy" to deprive him of his freedom to speak, write, and live off the fruits of his writings. If Judge Gray were to do so, as one expects judges to do, he would have at his doorsteps the howling wolves of the most powerful people in the world.
Nonetheless, it will be very interesting to see what Judge Gray's verdict will be and how he will phrase it. Who would want to be in his robes? History will record and judge this trial and its outcome as long as English is spoken on this planet.
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Thought for the Day:
"Neither Authority nor Majority make Truth"
(Letter to the Zundelsite)