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Dec 10, 2010

JONATHAN ROSENBLUM: Think Again: Are Holocaust denialstatutes worth it? [1 Attachment]

 
[Attachment(s) from ReporterNotebook included below]


Page 1
Think Again: Are Holocaust denial
statutes worth it?
By JONATHAN ROSENBLUM
12/10/2010 15:38
They are, in fact, likely to be counterproductive. Worse, they could
add credibility to the claims of the deniers.
Growing up in the US, I never gave much thought to statutes criminalizing Holocaust
denial. Any such statute would almost surely be struck down under the First Amendment
of the Constitution. Such statutes, however, are common in Europe. Most Jews probably
have an instinctive sympathy for outlawing Holocaust denial and experience satisfaction
when some European Holocaust denier is sentenced to jail or fined. And indeed there
are at least two powerful arguments in favor of such statutes. The first has to do with the
special pain felt by the victims of the Holocaust caused by the denial of the hell they
went through and inhuman cruelty inflicted upon them. Few of them could have imagined
in their worst nightmares that within 50 years of their liberation, there would be a whole
cottage industry devoted to denial of their suffering.
The more compelling argument lies in the role of Holocaust denial in the arsenal of the
most virulent of contemporary anti-Semites. Until reading Prof. Robert Wistrich's The
Lethal Obsession, I never fully appreciated how important Holocaust denial is to present
day Hitler wannabes. Wistrich details how Holocaust deniers fan the flames of potentially
lethal anti-Semitism with their claims. For them, the "Holocaust myth" is but the latest
example of the Jews' talent for manipulation – a gigantic conspiracy that has
brainwashed almost the entire Western world and has been used to extract huge
reparations from the Germans and create sympathy for Jews and the State of Israel.
At the end of the day, however, anti-Holocaust denial statutes are likely to be
counterproductive. The very existence of such statutes will always be pointed to by anti-
Semites as further proof of the reach of the Jewish tentacles that hold European
legislators in their clutches. Worse, they could very well add credibility to the claims of
the deniers. The latter will point to the illegalization of Holocaust denial as proof of the
power of the their arguments. Precisely because they cannot refuted, the deniers will
claim, must their ideas be ruled outside the pale of legitimate discussion.
THE MOST powerful argument, however, has nothing to do with Jews. Such statutes
create a dangerous precedent for other efforts to outlaw certain discussion as beyond
the pale.
In his classic On Liberty, John Stuart Mill observes, "All silencing of discussion is an
assumption of infallibility."
Most of us could come up with a few candidates of propositions that we consider beyond
legitimate debate. Some global warming enthusiasts, for instance, refer to opponents as
"deniers" to link them to Holocaust deniers in their depravity.
Classical liberals are largely protected from the "assumption of infallibility" by their
emphasis on what Isaiah Berlin termed "negative liberty," the absence of barriers or
constraints on individuals, particularly on their freedom of thought and expression. But
those who conceive liberty positively, in terms of the liberation or self-realization of the
individual, or more typically some collectivity, are subject to the totalitarian temptation,
for that self-realization, particularly of the collective, requires the coercive power of the
state.
The totalitarian temptation, and its less extreme expressions, is further heightened
among those who have grown up in an environment in which one political viewpoint is so
dominant that it is easy to suspect anyone holding opposing views of being mentally
incompetent or morally corrupt. That would describe students at many elite universities
in the West. Not surprisingly, the speech and conduct codes at some American
universities are perhaps the most glaring examples of limitations on freedom of speech
in America. Opposition to homosexual behavior, for instance, as immoral, or even
quoting the biblical prohibition, could run afoul of some such codes.
WITH RESPECT to no subject is freedom of speech so imperiled as to Islam and its
adherents. Under a Council of Europe framework decision that went into effect on
November 28, all European Union member states are required to combat "certain forms
and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law."
Inevitably, those laws will be used to prosecute critics of Islam and those who warn of
the dangers from Europe's growing Muslim population.
Indeed they already have. Elisabeth Sabaditsch- Wolff has been charged with "inciting
hatred against a religious group" and "defamation of religion" for a 2009 presentation on
the "Islamization of Europe."
And an Amsterdam Appeals Court overruled the Dutch Prosecutorial Services decision
not to charge Geert Wilders, the head of the Freedom Party, for comparing the Koran
toMein Kampf. An Austrian court even fined a retiree whose Muslim neighbors
complained that his yodeling sounded like the muezzin's call to prayer and was thus
insulting.
In both the Sabaditsch-Wolff and Wilders cases, the presentations for which they were
charged consisted primarily of quotations from the Koran and the hadith literature. Quite
likely, those presentations were tendentious and one-sided. Certainly some of
Sabaditsch-Wolff's examples of the imposition of Shari'a (Muslim religious law) – i.e.,
Muslim parents preventing their daughters from mixed swimming – will strike most
Americans and all religious Jews as legitimate exercises of freedom of religion. But
where the gravamen of a criminal complaint consists of quotes from Muslim sources,
then legitimate debate about an Islamic threat to Europe is being cut-off.
By attempting to shut down discussion of Islam, under the rubric of combating
Islamophobia, European policymakers are helping to bring about their worst nightmares.
Those nightmares involve bloody clashes between Muslims and native Europeans who
feel that their culture is under assault from fast-growing, poorly assimilated, immigrant
populations. That is indeed possible. But placing Islam or the behavior of Muslims so far
beyond the pale of discussion that even truth is no defense only exacerbates the danger.
Nothing injects more bitterness into the political system than the widespread feeling that
the playing field is tilted. If native Europeans see that prosecutions are never brought
against local imams for incitement against the infidels or that Christianity, but not Islam,
may be denigrated with impunity, their fury will only grow.
In addition, limits on discussion of issues of public concern because of the
uncomfortable implications of certain facts make it less likely that appropriate solutions
will be found in time.
Airport security in the US is a good example. The refusal to acknowledge that likely
terrorists are drawn from a small and largely discernible slice of the population imposes
an immense burden on air travelers and delivers a victory to terrorists.
The rising Muslim population in Europe, especially as that population grows more
radicalized, is a threat to European civilization, and pretending otherwise will not make
the threat go away. But such pretending by policy-makers will prevent the adoption of
immigration and social welfare policies that can reverse, in part, those trends.
Legal prohibitions on Holocaust denial serve as an attractive example for government
meddling in the free marketplace of ideas. But given the costs of any precedent for
allowing European elites to determine what is proper and improper speech, and what
topics may be discussed, giving up Holocaust denial statutes is a small sacrifice.
The writer is the director of Jewish Media Resources. He has written a regular column
inThe Jerusalem Post Magazine since 1997, and is the author of eight biographies of
modern Jewish leaders.
More about: Isaiah BerlinGeert WildersRobert S. WistrichCouncil of Europe


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This is the mentality of this Jewish professor, when I informed him of the news item...

 

Dec. 10, 2010

Dear Friend,

Below is the mentality of this Jewish professor, when I informed him of the news item titled, Israel's racist rabbis: wave of edicts urge "Hate the gentile".
 
His immature and callous response:

"Thanks for providing the anti-Semitic web site.  I forwarded it to the JIDF for action."

The JIDF is the "Jewish Internet Defense Force", the link for that:


Peace. 
Michael Santomauro

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Chuck Weinblatt <csw2@bex.net>
Date: Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 3:24 PM
Subject: RE: Israel's racist rabbis: wave of edicts urge "Hate the gentile" > Palestine > Redress Information & Analysis
To: Michael <reporternotebook@gmail.com>


Thanks for providing the anti-Semitic web site.  I forwarded it to the JIDF for action.

 

From: Michael [mailto:reporternotebook@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 10:11 AM
To: Charles Weinblatt
Subject: Israel's racist rabbis: wave of edicts urge "Hate the gentile" > Palestine > Redress Information & Analysis

 


10 December 2010

Jonathan Cook views the vile racism disseminated by prominent Israeli rabbis,from edicts prohibiting the renting of homes to gentiles, to justifications for murdering Palestinian babies, to  utterances defining non-Jews as talking animals and equating them with donkeys whose sole purpose is to serve Jews.


 

Peace.

Michael Santomauro 

@ 917-974-6367 

 

What sort of TRUTH is it that crushes the freedom to seek the truth?



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Former EU leaders sign letter urging creation of state with East Jerusalem as capital and settlement freeze

 

From: Manuel Sotil <msotil@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 3:31 PM


Twenty-six European grandees have urged the EU to adopt a tougher stance towards Israel including taking "concrete measures" and exacting "consequences" over continued settlement building on occupied land, which they say is illegal under international law.

The former EU leaders said that in the face of "the ongoing deterioration of the situation on the ground", the EU, in co-operation with other international bodies, should put forward a "concrete and comprehensive proposal for the resolution of this conflict". A deadline of April 2011 for progress in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians should be set, after which the international community should intervene.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/10/former-eu-tougher-stance-israel


================
This is getting out of United Nations hands where Israel enjoys absolute veto power (through its US colony).



Manuel Sotil



--

Being happy–is it good for the Jews? "Before Professor Dershowitz accused me of being an anti-Semite (news to me), I was a happy person. Since then, I'm still a happy person". –Michael Santomauro

An antisemite condemns people for being Jews, I am not an antisemite.--Michael Santomauro

Most of us are mentally trapped to think Jewish. Actually, it is safe to say that virtually every mainstream publication or or other type of media organ is "nothing more than a screen to present chosen views." The great battle over the last century has been a battle for the mind of the Western peoples, i.e., non-Jewish Euros. The chosen won it by acquiring control over essentially the complete mainstream news, information, education and entertainment media of every type, and using that control to infuse and disseminate their message, agenda and worldview, their way of thinking, or rather the way they want us to think. Since at least the 1960s this campaign has been effectively complete. Since then they have shaped and controlled the minds of all but a seeming few of us in varying degree with almost no opposition or competition from any alternative worldview. So now most of us are mentally trapped in the box the chosen have made for us, which we have lived in all our lives. Only a few have managed to avoid it or escape it, or to even sometimes see outside of it, and so actually "think outside of the (Jewish) box." --Michael Santomauro

Thank you and remember: 

Peace is patriotic!

Michael Santomauro
253 W. 72nd Street
New York, NY 10023

Call anytime: 917-974-6367

E-mail me anything:
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

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Media amnesia continues...

 


The Hoffman Wire
Dedicated to Freedom of the Press, Investigative Reporting and Revisionist History

Subscribe: HoffmanWire-subscribe@topica.com
Michael A. Hoffman II: Editor. RevisionistHistory.org

***

U.S. Media continues its amnesia over recent terrorist attack on Iran's
scientists
http://revisionistreview.blogspot.com/2010/12/media-continues-its-amnesia-over.html


Letter to New York Times reporter David E. Sanger from Michael Hoffman

Dear Mr. Sanger

Why did you omit mention of the recent, Nov. 29 assassination of Iranian
nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari in your Dec. 10 report on U.S.
opposition to Iranian nuclear power?

You mentioned the Stuxnet "worm" whose provenance pre-dates the
assassination, but the not the assassination itself, or the murder of
another scientist's wife, Mrs. Fereydoon Abbasi, in the same attack.

Sincerely,
Michael Hoffman

Note how Sanger (below) reports that Gary Samore, an Obama
administration official, is pleased that covert attacks against Iran,
such as the Stuxnet worm, are in place. By omitting reference to the
recent assassination of the Iranian scientist, Sanger does not have to
ask the administration any embarrassing questions about whether they are
pleased about that covert operation as well.

Furthermore, it seems that Mr. Sanger, along with most of the US media
including NPR, intends to have us forget about the terror attack against
Iran's scientists. By omission and distortion, the US propaganda system,
in which Mr. Sanger is a prominent player, seeks to teach us that terror
attacks worth remembering occur only against the Israelis and the West,
not Muslims or Iranians.

Gary Samore represented the Obama administration on Iran at the
conference of the noble-sounding "Foundation for the Defense of
Democracies" ((http://www.defenddemocracy.org) which David Sanger fails
to mention is actually a neocon front group whose "Leadership council"
consists of Newt Gingrich, Sen. Joe Lieberman andWilliam Kristol.

****

U.S. and Allies Plan More Sanctions Against Iran
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/11/world/middleeast/11nuke.html?hp

by David E. Sanger | NY Times | Dec. 10, 2010

WASHINGTON  Three days after the first nuclear talks with Iran in more
than a year adjourned with no progress, President Obama's chief nuclear
adviser said on Friday that the United States and its allies planned a
new round of sanctions against the country in coming weeks, part of an
effort to test "how high Iran's pain threshold is" and force the country
into suspending its production of nuclear fuel.

Another session of talks with Iran is scheduled to take place next
month, probably in Turkey. But at a conference on Friday held by the
Foundation for the Defense of DemocraciesMr. Obama's coordinator for
weapons of mass destruction, Gary Samore, suggested that Iran may have
decided to resume talks with the with the members of the United Nations
Security Council and Germany "because it believes it can manipulate the
appearance of negotiations to weaken existing sanctions and avoid
additional measures."

"This ploy will not work," Mr. Samore said. "In the wake of the Geneva
talks, we and our allies are determined to maintain and even increase
pressure. We need to send the message to Iran that sanctions will only
increase if Iran avoids serious negotiations and will not be lifted
until our concerns are fully addressed."

Mr. Samore was not specific about the sanctions now being contemplated.
He also would not comment on the effects of the Stuxnet worm, which
appears to have been directed at disrupting Iran's centrifuges.

"I'm glad to hear they are having troubles with their centrifuge
machines," he said with a smile, "and the U.S. and its allies are doing
everything we can to make it more complicated." But he said nothing
about who was responsible for the worm. (END QUOTE)

For further research: NPR's Propaganda System against Iran
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bf-FAhIkE0

****

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analyst, then please:

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Some strong words for a change..

 


1. Israelis Are Subject to Palestinian Future Kindness (a strong video)

This is a brief  address by Gilad Atzmon at the Stuttgart - Palästinakonferenz
To watch video:

 

2. Gilad Atzmon: Once again I salute Dr Hajo Meyer

 

Last week I posted a very well-made video featuring  Dr Hajo Meyer. I allowed myself to offer a light criticism of Meyer who suggested that "Jews were pioneers of inter-human ethics"

I wrote:

"Though I agree and support Meyer's stand against Israel I also think that Meyer may be  slightly wrong. The Old Testament certainly  contains some isolated patches of ethical insights. However, the vast majority of Jewish teaching, the Jewish Bible and the Talmud are anti humanist, non ethical, racially supremacist and tribally orientated."

It didn't take long before some people out there found my criticism offensive and inappropriate. As we all know truth is 'offensive'.  But then, pretty much out of the blue Dr  Meyer appeared on my mail box. In the most respected and amicable manner he wrote:

Your criticism of my text is correct.

I now know that Rabbi Hillel's golden rule was actually formulated

500 years earlier by Confucius.

Besides, modern ethnology has shown that empathy is evolutionary determined.

This makes the Israeli crimes look worse.

Best regards      

Hajo

(Dr Meyer gave his permission to publish this email)

It is indeed refreshing to come across a person like Meyer, a man who is driven by ethics and intellectual integrity. I salute the man and admire his courage.
 
To watch video:

 



       

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Israel’s racist rabbis: wave of edicts urge “Hate the gentile” > Palestine > Redress Information & Analysis

 


10 December 2010

Jonathan Cook views the vile racism disseminated by prominent Israeli rabbis,
from edicts prohibiting the renting of homes to gentiles, to justifications for
murdering Palestinian babies, to  utterances defining non-Jews as talking
animals and equating them with donkeys whose sole purpose is to serve Jews.


Peace.
Michael Santomauro 
@ 917-974-6367 

What sort of TRUTH is it that crushes the freedom to seek the truth?

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Tikun Olam : Carmel Fire Thaws Israeli Relations With Turkey

 



From: Richard Silverstein <richards1052@comcast.net>
Date: December 10, 2010 4:48:21 AM EST

Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place
December 10, 2010 1:46 AM

Carmel Fire Thaws Israeli Relations With Turkey

mavi marmara victim

Mavi Marmara victim who couldn't be saved

Turkey's humanitarian gesture of sending firefighting air tankers to help combat the Carmel fire seems to have melted the ice in Turkish-Israeli relations.  Haaretz is reporting that a possible resolution of the Mavi Marmara impasse may be at hand, by which Israel would pay $100,000

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Israel’s racist rabbis: wave of edicts urge “Hate the gentile”

 



From: richardforer <rich_forer@yahoo.com>
Date: December 10, 2010 9:06:16 AM EST

Richard Forer has posted a new item, 'Israel's racist rabbis: wave of edicts
urge "Hate the gentile"'

10 December 2010

Jonathan Cook views the vile racism disseminated by prominent  Israeli rabbis,
from edicts prohibiting the renting of homes to  gentiles, to justifications for
murdering Palestinian babies, to  utterances defining non-Jews as talking
animals and equating them with  donkeys whose sole purpose is to serve Jews.

Read More:

You may view the latest post at:

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