In Part III of "The Importance of the Zundel Hearing in Toronto", Mark Weber's testimony addresses the question "What causes Anti-Semitism?"
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Another passage from Finkelsteins book that Christie cited was this: "...The Holocaust industry orchestrated a shameless campaign of vilification. With an infinitely compliant and credulous press ready to give banner headlines to any Holocaust-related story, however preposterous, the smear campaign [against Switzerland] proved unstoppable."
Commenting on this, I told the Tribunal:
» The revisionist community has emphasized the incredibly shameless nature of this campaign, and how compliant and credulous the media is in giving banner headlines and credence to claims that later turn out to be completely wrong, completely untrue, not only with regard to the Holocaust campaign but, of course, with regard to all sorts of specific stories about the Second World War and Jewish suffering which also turn out to be untrue, however preposterous, as Finkelstein says. There are numerous examples of that, that I and other revisionists have made over the years, some of which I think appear in the complained of documents [cited by the Commission]. This smear campaign, as Finkelstein says and the revisionist community would agree, has proved unstoppable. The revisionist community has made the point over the years that the willingness of the United States of America and other countries to put up with one amazing humiliation after another carried out by the World Jewish Congress and other Jewish organizations seems boundless. «
What Causes Anti-Semitism?
Getting into the emotion-laden question of what causes anti-Jewish sentiment, Christie quoted a passage from Finkelstein's book:
» The shakedown of Switzerland and Germany has been only a prelude to the grand finale: the shakedown of Eastern Europe. With the collapse of the Soviet bloc, alluring prospects opened up in the former heartland of European Jewry. Cloaking itself in the sanctimonious mantle of 'needy Holocaust victims,' the Holocaust industry has sought to extort billions of dollars from these already impoverished countries. Pursuing this end with reckless and ruthless abandon, it has become the main fomenter of anti-Semitism in Europe. «
Christie then asked: "Is that in any way related to or echoed in the field of Holocaust revisionist opinion?" Mindful of the constraints imposed by the Tribunal, I replied:
» Holocaust revisionists have very often stressed a similar sentiment, and that is that this extortion, this campaign against Switzerland and Germany, is but one chapter in a campaign that targets many other countries, and there seems to be no end to it. In fact, I think [that] since this book was published, revisionists have been struck that now the first faint signs of a campaign directed against United States institutions also now seems to be in the works. One of the most striking passages here for revisionists is the final one that you quoted: "Pursuing this end with reckless and ruthless abandon, it has become the main fomenter of anti-Semitism in Europe." This is particularly striking because revisionists have over and over made a statement[s] consistent with this, which is completely at variance with what the Holocaust industry or what Holocaust organizations insist, and that is that anti-Semitism has no relationship whatsoever to what Jews do.
We are told over and over -- in our universities, and [in] magazines and newspapers, and by organizations like the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center -- that anti-Jewish sentiment is a pathological, inexplicable manifestation of tortured, diseased personalities, and has no relationship to what Jews do. Finkelstein says here that hostility or sentiment against Jews is fomented by actions that Jewish organizations carry out. This gets, I think, really at the core of a lot of what this whole Hearing is about, from the point of view of the revisionist community, and that is: What is the origin of anti-Jewish sentiment in not only this society in North America, but also in any society throughout history? Revisionists have, over a long period of time and in numerous articles, that have been published in The Journal of Historical Review and elsewhere, stressed that there is a relationship between anti-Jewish sentiment and what Jews, particularly organized Jewry, do. Revisionists have also strongly stressed that any number of Jewish leaders have on occasion made this same point... «
A short time later I added:
» Revisionists have also stressed on a number of occasions that these campaigns by the World Jewish Congress, by Israel, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and so forth have had the impact, the effect, of increasing anti-Jewish sentiment in Austria, in Switzerland and in other countries. For example, The Journal of Historical Review has talked about the increase in anti-Jewish sentiment in Austria after the World Jewish Congress, in a very public way, went after Austria's President, and insisted or demanded that Austrians not elect Kurt Waldheim, so much so that the World Jewish Congress President, Edgar Bronfman, in a [1986] speech in [Montreal] Canada referred to Austrians as "dirty, anti-Semitic dogs." Statements like that, revisionists have pointed out, have the effect of increasing hostility toward Jews in Austria and other countries. «
Revisionism and Anti-Semitism
On the relevance of Holocaust revisionism for relations between Jews and non-Jews, I testified that revisionists have repeatedly emphasized
» that historical truth and historical understanding are essential for any kind of tolerant relationship between Jews and every other nationality in our world and that, far from promoting anti-Semitism, Holocaust revisionism should ultimately have the effect of diminishing it; that the alternative is to permit a one-sided, exploitive version of history to take hold in society, and [that] ultimately will have the effect, as Finkelstein suggests in this passage, of increasing hostility toward Jews... This is a point that revisionists have also made many times, that this entire Holocaust campaign has the danger certainly, if not the actual import, of harming the interests of "little Jews," or most Jews, or the majority of Jews, and that it benefits only those [Jews] in power and position. «
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Tomorrow: Crossing Swords with Rosen
Comments: -- Mark Weber / weber@ihr.org
Thought for the Day:
"I am not anti-Semitic: There is nothing wrong with your genes except that you are human. It is your allegiance to the Talmud to which I object. It is an evil document, it has an evil history, it carries an evil doctrine, and it has shaped an evil culture. If you want to understand my antipathy to your people, look there, and compare it to the standards of civilized nations.
(Letter to the Zundelsite)