After a three-year-long, highly suspicious stalemate, suddenly the "Thurston-Barbarash-Rubin" razorblade-mousetrap-parcel-bomb and other arson/violence matter will finally be back in court - though not in the limelight, sadly.
Why not?
Because of a very odd, court-ordered ban on publication on what goes on inside that Vancouver court room! What might be revealed behind closed doors during that trial is anybody's guess. Will the real planners and culprits of the 1995 wave of terror across Canada finally be exposed and brought to justice? Or will some expendable front men take the fall?
Today, I want to tie two dissimilar stories together because there is a proverbial red thread. That thread is censorship through intimidation - in one case the use of a bomb, and in the other case the threatened use of a bomb. More than that I won't say at this point.
I have many new readers on my list who may not be familiar with the Zundel-Haus arson/parcel bomb story. Suffice it to say that in 1995 - after massive street demonstrations by crowds of up to 4000 people and constant media, political and judicial harassment by B'nai Brith and fellow travelers against Ernst Zundel did not succeed in getting him to give up his right to speak and write - his place was burned down by an arsonist caught in a surveillance camera.
This fire, meant to kill Ernst Zündel, resulted in $400,000 damage to the Zündel-Haus and was followed by a powerful parcel bomb ten days later. Had it exploded, it could have resulted in very serious damage to life and limb and even death of anybody within a 300 feet radius, according to police.
Street people talk! The person who knew of the arson, and who told Ernst one night that "someone" had paid $200 to a punk to set the Zundel-Haus on fire, was not interviewed by law enforcement for over a year, even though his name and whereabouts were known and had been given to Toronto Police.
It was clear from the start that there was very little political will by the Toronto Police to commit the necessary manpower, time or resources to find the culprit(s). I might also mention that the Toronto Police did not solve an earlier, 1984 bombing of the Zundel-Haus, much less the 1995 arson.
Shortly afterwards, three other people received parcel bombs, one of which exploded.
To make a long story short, eventually three punks were caught and arrested who, among many other things, had suspicious connections to anarchist groups such as the ARA, described by B'nai Brith as young people with whom they had a "close working relationship" and who were sponsored with grants at taxpayers expense to do their Marxist mischief and terror campaign - while the police stood idly by, watching as they shouted death threats and carried signs like "Burn Zündel down!"
Furthermore, a great many of these unsavory folks, including the three arrested punks - ***after an RCMP investigation, not a Toronto Police investigation*** - were found to belong to some freak animals rights/ecology front movement, with chapters all over the world - mysteriously financed and promoted.
There are many things odd about this story - the targeted individuals, the modus operandi, the crimes, the arrests, the government-sponsored, court-imposed media black-out of just who and what was involved, the dropping of the "attempted murder of Ernst Zundel" charge in the indictment.
I am telling you all this because I remember those tense times very well. They involved, among many other items, extremely ugly, Soviet style harassment by the Intelligence Review Committee to do a hatchet job on Ernst on orders of mysterious entities within Canada's Intelligence Establishment.
It all culminated in the following, as summarized in a ZGram I wrote on June 9, 1996, excerpted here:
History is being made! This is the official press release to unleash "Zundelgate"!
The Zündel team worked all night putting the final touches on events that will begin tomorrow. Nobody knows how it will end. Those of you who have had some legal training will appreciate what this may mean.
The rest is now up to the people, the court - and the media!
Zündel will reveal . . . shocking material in Open Court on Monday.
Zündel claims that SIRC is in bed with CSIS and has painted itself into a corner through its own self-serving, ideologically tainted, slip-shod white-wash report, a Marxist-style document now used by the Government of Canada to deny him his constitutionally protected rights of freedom of expression, association, and the peaceful advocacy of his views.
Zündel asserts he is being scapegoated and railroaded by a powerful lobby who is nesting in the ears of the political establishment. He claims the aim of this Holocaust Lobby is to first criminalize him by the process now in progress and then to deport him because of his claim that the Holocaust is an extortion racket.
The Intelligence bureaucracy is to be used to silence him - and to accomplish what the regular, lawful Court system of Canada has, so far, refused to do.
Zündel urges the Canadian media, the public, and the political elite to take another, more critical look at the whole Intelligence apparatus and its KGB-style "apparatchiki", including the politically appointed "watchdog" SIRC.
And guess what happened next? After a tough and long as well as expensive series of hearings and court cases, Ernst's tormentors dropped the charges against Ernst right after that press release was sent to all Canadian media.
The word was: "Sine die". For the time being! Indefinitely!
I have never forgotten that strange reaction - nor have I stopped wondering just what it was that Ernst was going to reveal. I have always felt, but he has never admitted it to me, that it had to do with his (partial?) knowledge of who was possibly behind the arson and the fire bomb - who really did it, and who was behind it!
Why was there never an attempt to apprehend the arsonists?
I am digging up this story today for two reasons: 1) The SIRC hearings are now to be revived without the slightest rhyme or reason, before the courts have disposed of appeals, and 2) the upcoming trial of the punks involved in the mailing of "things" as per the newly formulated charges.
This trial is bound to hold a surprise or two - but about which there is still that strange court-ordered ban on publication.
And there's another thing - a recent, odd, one might even call it paranoid censorship campaign targeting a New Age writer, David Icke, whose far-out, weirdo ideas are so off the wall that he is only a threat to himself.
Again censorship - with a B'nai Brith connection! And again with the anonymous threat of a bomb! You make of it what you will!
Here is a press release by the
CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION -
http://www.canadafirst.net
March 10, 2000
Intimidation Wins Again: Chapters Crumbles Before Terrorists & Cancels David Icke Book Signing
"Another establishment giant has proven itself no match to those who use intimidation and threats to gag free speech," Paul Fromm, Director of the Canadian Association for Free Expression, said today. "Sadly, in politically correct Canada, intimidation works," Fromm argues.
Book retailing giant Chapters has cancelled a planned book signing event with British author David Icke, a New Age writer who offers a number of conspiracy theories, scheduled for Saturday, March 11 at its Robson Street store in Vancouver.
The book signing came under severe attack from a number of groups opposed to Icke and free speech, including the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith and its Victoria, B.C. operative Harry Abrams.
"Chapters was blindsided by a textbook campaign of intimidation," says Fromm. "At first, 'establishment' groups like B'nai Brith protested and promised demonstrations during the signing. Then others, apparently anonymous, made phone calls to the Robson Street store threatening to cause 'trouble.' Finally, rumours circulated, confirmed by the Vancouver police, that there'd been bomb threats against another bookstore in a similar protest."
"Once again, we see the signal failure of the Vancouver Police to firmly announce that they will protect free speech and stand firmly against threats and terrorism," says Fromm. "They are experts at harassing motorists with endless revenue-generating speed traps, but seem unwilling to stand up to those who threaten institutions which host views these professional censors don't like."
Lisa Blais, Toronto-based Communications Co-ordinator for Chapters, explained the campaign to CAFE. "On Monday afternoon the store received calls from a variety of groups saying they'd picket and be causing trouble." Among those phoning to protest was B'nai Brith, although it did not make specific threats of 'trouble.'" Blais indicates that she'd received about 30 e-mails of protest and that the Vancouver Chapters bookstore had received about 100 phone protests.
"The general manager of Chapters felt it was a security issue. He feared that we'd be unable to run a safe book signing event. There were rumours that there'd been bomb threats elsewhere," Blais said in an interview with Fromm.
"The Green Party alerted interested groups," said Blais. "Obviously, we're supportive of freedom of speech, but the security of our staff and customers has to come first."
"The Vancouver police said they knew of the bomb threat in another incident. They said some of these things aren't nice. They said, 'If you feel there's a threat ...' but didn't tell us what to do," Blais explained.
Green Party of Canada spokesman Richard Warman issued a statement boasting of his party's success in damaging Icke's tour of Ontario last autumn as he protested Icke's current tour. "The Ontario and Canadian Greens were at the heart of the efforts that were so successful in shutting down Icke's attempted tour of Ontario last October, and we're proud to be working together with so many different groups to demonstrate that intolerance isn't welcome in Vancouver, or anywhere else.
One day, I am sure, the puzzle pieces will be coming together. For now, let's just say that the trial of the punks in Vancouver is to Mr Zundel of more than passing interest.
Ingrid
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Thought for the Day:
"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."
(Thoreau)