ZGram - 11/4/2004 - "Haaretz: Shouting 'Gevalt'"

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny:  Now more than ever!

November 4, 2004

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Now I will announce what I have known for some weeks - that factions 
of the Israeli government have asked the United States to assist them 
in extraditing Ernst Zundel to Israel to be tried for Holocaust 
Denial.  I won't tell you how I know - let's just say someone leaked 
it. 

The story is that, at first, the US State Department told them, 
"Well, he is no longer here" - and then, when the thumb screws were 
applied, they are reported to have refused - nonetheless, there it 
is, for all you Holocaust Deniers out there to contemplate.  It is 
official now - or almost!

You, too, could be a criminal - for using your own brain by adding two and two!

[START]

"Holocaust denial" to be made international offence in Israel 
allowing extradition.

Shouting `Gevalt!' by Shar Ilan Haaretz, November 4, 2004

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/496841.html

Israeli law allows people to be tried in Israel for several types of 
crimes committed beyond its borders - Nazis and their cohorts, for 
example, terrorists who harmed Israelis or Jews, or Israelis who 
broke the law abroad. There is now doubt, however, that the passing 
of the bill initiated by MK Arieh Eldad (National Union) and which is 
in an advanced stage - being prepared for second and third readings 
in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee - will vastly 
extend Israeli legal jurisdiction. The bill calls for any Holocaust 
denier to be tried in Israel.

In most countries in the world there is no prohibition on denying the 
Holocaust. One of Eldad's reasons for submitting the bill was 
effectively to create a deterrent for the citizens of those countries 
too.

"What I want is that if a Holocaust denier publishes a book in 
England, he will be considered a criminal in Israel," explained Eldad 
to a meeting of the committee. He clarified that even if no one is 
tried, it will be sufficient that deniers know they cannot come to 
Israel.

It is reasonable to assume Eldad's bill would not have reached such 
an advanced stage were it not for staunch support from Holocaust 
survivor Justice Minister Tommy Lapid. The ministerial committee on 
legislation, which Lapid heads, decided to support the bill and thus 
granted it coalition support. Lapid told Haaretz that he feels 
denying the Holocaust "is a clearly neo-Nazi crime. Anyone involved 
in this belongs to the group of criminals whom our arm must reach 
anywhere in the world. This is essential even if the law remains 
declarative. We will not hunt them, but they should know that they 
are on our list of criminals. I am very satisfied and happy that this 
will be entering our law books."

The bill is actually quite controversial. During the debate on the 
bill's first reading in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice 
Committee, Justice Ministry representative Tamar Bornstein explained 
that the bill is "symbolic more than practical. If the act does not 
constitute a crime in the country in which it is committed, that 
country will not extradite one of its citizens [to Israel]. If the 
act is a crime, I assume the country would want to try the criminal 
itself."

Attorney Eyal Zandberg, the committee's deputy legal adviser, said 
the bill is "problematic," and proposed that the ministerial 
committee on legislation reconsider it.

Prof. Shneur Zalman Feller, who was awarded the Israel Prize for Law 
and is considered the country's senior criminal jurist, displayed 
callous contempt for the bill during the meeting. Feller opposes 
using criminal law against Holocaust denial even in Israel. "Will 
criminal measures force people to remember?" he asked. "How is this 
the role of criminal law?"

"Do you want to shut the mouths of the whole world?" Feller asked 
Eldad, regarding the extensive application of the law. Feller said 
the passing of the law would be nothing more than a cry of `Gevalt!'"

Committee chairman Michael Eitan (Likud) said caution must be 
exercised against zealousness, making the subject itself ridiculous. 
"I feel a bit uncomfortable with this," said Eitan, "because I do not 
believe this law will be useful forever." This, however, did not 
prevent him from announcing that he would promote the bill within 
three weeks, "unless the Foreign Ministry has second thoughts on the 
matter."