Ernst Zundel has just lost another legal round - in an Appeal Court ruling so shocking and unprofessional the democratic West hasn't likely experienced anything remotely similar. Ever!
I have not yet read the 50 page document, so I can't tell you more. I hope to do so in the near future, because this ruling will take the struggle for freedom of speech in so-called "freedom-loving democracies" onto an altogether different plane..
For now, I'd like to juxtapose:
Barry Chamish is an Israeli journalist who has also locked horns with the powers that be - and whose experience with entrenched oligarchy making use of a corrupt judicial system is remarkably similar to what Ernst has experienced in two decades' worth of royal legal battles with the Canadian court system.
When I told Ernst about Barry Chamish, his reply was a dry ". . . so it doesn't even help to be a Jew?"
I guess not, as Barry Chamish found out.
Here is his narration about censorship, Israeli style, of a politically incorrect book:
MY DAY IN COURT
or
HOW I LEARNED TO
DESPISE THE ISRAELI JUDICIAL SYSTEM
by Barry Chamish
Last October, Knesset Member Ofir Pines sent a letter to the Steimatzky Book chain, Israel's book monopoly, demanding that it remove my book Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin from its shelves. In the letter he called me "the country's biggest inciter and his book is a pack of lies."
So I sued him for slander. A month ago he defended himself in court, citing parliamentary immunity. Or simply, no one can sue him for anything because he's a Knesset member. Judge Boaz Okun, of the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court, turned down his defence and today, May 1, a procedural hearing was held. But wouldn't you know it, the judge had a change of heart and ruled that Pines was immune from further trial.
Here was my day. At 11 AM, my attorney Nitzana Darshan Leitner phoned from the court saying, "You won't believe it. The Attorney General sent his lawyer to influence the judge. He wants to speak to you. Can you get here in an hour?"
I did and she was right. Sitting at Pines' table were his two lawyers but the General Attorney Elyakim Rubinstein had sent his mouthpiece, a curly-haired semi-youngish woman named Orit Podansky to do 90% of the talking. She came armed with a brief prepared by the Attorney General's office explaining why Pines' parliamentary immunity had to be protected.
Nitzana received her copy of the brief three hours after the hearing began. "This," she acknowledged, "is called an ambush."
Later in the day, another attorney, Dror Bar Nahum was incredulous. "I've never heard of the Attorney General intervening in a civil case before. This appears to be scandalous."
Before the afternoon session began, Nitzana informed me, "He's already reached a decision. He wants you to comply with it so it won't be overturned later on. If you do, he'll waive court costs."
"What if not?" I asked.
"We'll appeal but it won't be cheap."
"Let's hear what he has to say first and maybe I can sway him to change his mind."
Judge Okun addressed me. "It would be a waste of time for you to carry on with your suit. It is legal in this country to criticize someone and anyone can legally write a book store asking it to remove a book from its shelves. There is no basis for a continuance."
I asked Nitzana, "Is it really legal?"
She whispered, "He's lying."
I asked for permission to speak and began, "Mr. Pines did not merely criticize me. He called me a liar and then deliberately abused his power as a Knesset member to wreck my income. I worked for almost four years on the book without pay and his goal was to deprive me of an income. To do so, he sent copies of his letter to Steimatzky to most of the Israeli media, and this resulted in headlines calling me a liar. There are hundreds of thousands of readers who still believe what's printed in the papers and they didn't buy my book because a member of the government said it was a lie. And, though I admit, sales rose initially because of the scandal, later stores turned the book down because they thought selling it was illegal. I'll bring my publisher and he'll show you the refusals.
"Pines tried his best to ban my book. This is barbaric and primitive and has no place in the twentieth century. You seemed to have already made your ruling and it justifies book banning and the repression of free thought."
Judge Okun was clearly taken aback as was the gallery where loud murmurs arose. The judge tried a new strategy. Reading from the Attorney General's brief, he quoted my book's allegations against Carmi Gillon and Meir Shamgar. He had hoped I would trip up and say nasty things about them.
I replied, "So let them sue me. My fight in this courtroom is only with Pines. You can take passages you dislike and read them out of context but the fact is I based my book on police lab results, hospital findings and eye witness reports. I have brought my notes for you to examine. They prove I'm no liar since the book's quotes are from official sources."
The judge answered, "This isn't the time to read your notes. I haven't even read your book."
"It comes highly recommended," I said. Then I added, "Ofir Pines took an illegal action against me and even Leah Rabin called his act, 'too drastic. People should read the book if they like.' Since the book's release, polls by Gallup and the Jerusalem Post show that two thirds of Israelis, including the Rabin family, want the assassination reinvestigated. If you rule against continuation of the trial, you will be alienating those with doubts. They will further lose faith in our judicial system."
Judge Okun replied, "We are dealing with technical matters here. This court is not the right place for you to pursue your argument with Mr. Pines?"
"If a civil court isn't the right place, where is?" I asked.
"In the public arena," the judge replied.
I knew then that, yes, Judge Okun had been influenced by the government. He must have known how flimsy his arguments were. Still, I added, "And who in this public arena will compensate me for the damage Mr. Pines has done to my reputation and income? This court is the last stop. If you rule against continuation, you will set some very dangerous legal precedents. From now on Knesset members will be free to slander whoever they want and interfere in anyone's honest business affairs. That will be your legacy."
>From that point on, Ofir Pines sat in the gallery with his assistant. The
government sent in its forces and turned an honest judge into a compromised weakling. Attorney Avi Leitner summed it up, "You just got a front seat view of judicial corruption."
For the next four hours, the lawyers entered their arguments but it was already a done deal. Judge Okun ruled in favor of Pines' parliamentary immunity and opened the door to dictatorship in Israel.
* * *
(...)
Today was a sad day for Israeli justice but the push towards truth is now a shove. We'll all get there. And, oh yes...I SHALL APPEAL THE WRETCHED RULING.
Brookline Books will be issuing a new edition of Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin in a few weeks. Call 1 800 666BOOK. The first edition is sold over Amazon.com. The Hebrew and Russian editions can be acquired from Gefen Books. Write isragefen@netmedia.net.il or call 02 5380247. The French edition is available by writing lurcat@netvision.net.il Please visit www.webseers.com/rabin
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Thought for the Day:
"In Canada, we respect freedom of speech but do not worship it."
(The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council)