ZGram - 10/25/2002 - "UK envoy a 'Holocaust' revisionist?"

irimland@zundelsite.org irimland@zundelsite.org
Wed, 23 Oct 2002 05:54:59 -0700


ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

October 25, 2002

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Isn't "Holocaust" revisionism sprouting in the most unlikely places 
these days?  Here the Simon Wiesenthaler busybodies are helping 
spread its message by sniffing that they are once again "offended" by 
someone's casual remark:

[START]

Subject: Jewish group demands recall

>  Jewish group demands recall of UK envoy to Israel
>
>  Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
>  Monday October 21, 2002
>  The Guardian
>
>  The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has written to the foreign secretary, Jack
Straw, demanding that he recalls the British ambassador to Israel for
"Holocaust > revisionism".
>
>  The centre, set up by the world's leading Nazi hunter, accuses Sherard
Cowper-Coles of describing Israel as turning the West Bank and Gaza into a
"vast concentration camp". Last night the ambassador denied using any such
language and expressed anger at what he said was the misrepresentation of a
friendly warning delivered to Israel at Whitehall's behest.
>
>  The Simon Wiesenthal Centre's letter follows remarks by Mr Cowper-Coles t=
o
the Israeli general overseeing administration of the West Bank in which the
ambassador was reported in the Israeli press as calling the Palestinian
territories the "largest detention camp in the world". Mr Cowper-Coles also
told Major-General Amos Gilad that some Israeli troops maltreated civilians
after the ambassador made a tour of the West Bank.
>
>  Israel's foreign ministry leaked the comments to the Israeli press last
week. Officials were quoted as saying: "The ambassador has forgotten that
the British mandate is over. He went too far."
>
>  But the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, based in California, has taken the issue
further by calling for Mr Cowper-Coles' recall.
>
>  In a letter to Mr Straw, the centre's international liaison director, Dr
Shimon Samuels, accuses the ambassador of using even stronger language than
that outlined in the Israeli press. He quotes Mr Cowper-Coles as saying:
"Israel has reduced the West Bank and Gaza Strip into a vast concentration
camp."
>
>  "If substantiated, we urge the prompt recall of Mr Cowper-Coles for
Holocaust revisionism, banalisation of the memory of its victims, and
endorsement of the most extreme voices of Palestinian anti-semitism," Dr
Samuels said in his letter. He also pressed Mr Straw to distance himself
publicly from the ambassador's alleged comments.
>
>  Mr Cowper-Coles denied the accusation last night. "This is a distortion o=
f
a private conversation between friends. We do not believe in megaphone
diplomacy. I never used the term 'concentration camp' to describe what is
happening in the West Bank and Gaza, nor would I ever do so," he said.
>
>  British officials said that on instruction from London the ambassador had
conveyed concerns to Gen Gilad about Palestinians under perpetual curfew,
and the "unprofessionalism" of some Israeli soldiers. They said Mr
Cowper-Coles had said he understood Israel's security concerns but that it
was in danger of turning the occupied territories into a "vast detention
camp".
>
>  The officials said the ambassador, who is a quarter Dutch, found Mr
Samuels' accusations particularly offensive as members of his family hid
Jewish children from the Nazis in the occupied Netherlands, and a great
uncle had paid with his life for doing so.
>
>   Guardian Unlimited =A9 Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
>