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Holocaust Revisionist Conference in Iran

18:47 / 13.12.06

International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust

I'm aghast.
The Foreign Minister of Iran and other officials stated that the conference was meant to allow the expression of various viewpoints which cannot be legally expressed in Europe.
FOR GOOD REASON!

On the second day of the conference, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted the destruction of Israel once again, saying that, "The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom".
GAH!

Iran's sole Jewish member of parliament, Maurice Motamed said that: "Holding this conference after having a competition of cartoons about the Holocaust has put a lot of pressure on Jews all over the world and it can give nations and governments a very negative impression of Iran."

Well he's certainly right about that. It's brought international condemnation and apparently Germany is hosting a counter-conference.
Wolfgang Benz, head of Germany's Center for Anti-Semitism Research, says: "We have to say very clearly: This is what happened. Reality cannot be a matter for debate and does not belong in the political realm to be viewed according to one's political ideology."

19:13 / 13.12.06

Holocaust denial in Arab nations is not uncommon. I recently heard a story on NPR with the author of a book called Among the Righteous. It's about Arabs who helped save the lives of many Jews during WWII. Apparently, these days, the families of these heroes are embarrassed about it. One family has rearranged the story so that they were helping the Germans.

Iran, among others, has long hoped for the end of the state of Israel. I suppose that the reason for the conference is that their chances of success are looking up these days.

19:16 / 13.12.06

Damn. I called Iran an Arab nation. I meant Muslim nations.

(Which is not to say that Muslim nations are generally interchangeable — but I'm not aware of major differences in the kind of anti-semitism in that region)

19:43 / 13.12.06

Of course, it's not just people who deny the Holocaust who are at the Iran conference, according to this BBC report There are some Orthodox Jews who apparently object to the use of the Holocaust as justification for the existence of the state of Israel.

19:45 / 13.12.06

It calls to mind just how terrible the world can be sometimes. I remember as a child having people constantly reinforce the tragedy and horror of the Holocaust and thinking "how could anyone forget?".

It is such a dark awful idea that there are people who would deny or water down the lesson of history until it no longer stands between us and a repeated genocide.

Phex: Dorset Doom

20:43 / 13.12.06

Well, it's not like anybody at that conference forgets the Holocaust happened, or even that they want people to forget (the idea that the evil, evil Zionists managed to fabricate massive amounts of bulletproof evidence whilst isolated from each other in concentration, but not extermination, camps to get a small patch of dirt surrounded on all sides by people who hate them and want them dead is too juicy a political morsel for governments in the region to pass up)- they know it happened, they've seen as much evidence for it as any sane Holocaust researcher. There's not a person at that conference who really believes a single thing they say (the Orthodox Jewish contingent aside). The 'conference' is a live-action roleplaying game, a long and well publicized session of make-believe where David Duke and friends get to play the small band of heroes alone against the terrible threat posed by international Jewry.
This performance, apart from being a way for assholes to connect with each other in a way not seen since the ending of Requiem for a Dream, is not for the benefit of the speakers though. The speeches will be broadcast on Iranian TV, excepts translated into every language spoken by anti-semitic fuckwits (hopefully we'll see some of the English translations soon) and bound into books to be sold at Gun-shows and the like. The intention is precisely to deny the lesson of history until nothing stands between us and the second Holocaust, which we (the U.S and U.K) will be unable to prevent while our respective forces are locked in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

00:57 / 14.12.06

Please explain connection between holocaust denial and gun shows.

02:03 / 14.12.06

...are we sure it isn't actually a plan by the IDF to get all these idiots in one place at the same time? It really is quite the opportunity...

Phex: Dorset Doom

06:20 / 14.12.06

Please explain connection between holocaust denial and gun shows.

Though there are probably some well regulated shows in the U.S, at some extreme right-wing literature is sold under the counter or openly- Neo-Nazi stuff like the Turner Diaries and pamphlets on holocaust denial.

10:06 / 14.12.06

What on earth does he mean, 'wiped out the way the Soviet Union was'?

All Acting Regiment

12:17 / 14.12.06

Well, quite a lot of the ex-Soviet countries associate communism with Judaism- because of Marx and Lenin I suppose. And I guess that makes an audience who like to hear "Jews" and "Soviets" slagged off, and will react favourably to one's bullshit if one slags off said groups.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

14:54 / 14.12.06

Presumably he means in the sense of uprisings from beneath, ie: the Palestinians, rather than by the representatives of the Israeli and Palestinian states having meetings and coming to agreement.

There's some loony ennobled woman there representing Irving as he's stll in jail.

08:11 / 16.12.06

The first time I met a Holocaust Denier, I thought they were just joking for the first few minutes, just because they were so over the top about it, but after it became clear they Really Believed (or Really Refused To Believe, as the case may be), I was flabergasted that such a person could exist.

I was almost equally surprised when I heard that an Orthodox Jewish group was attending. I can understand their belief that Israel shouldn't exist, but it seems they'd understand that the thrust of the conference is not anti-Israel or anti-Zionism, but anti-Semitism, and not lend their name to such an effort.

08:18 / 16.12.06

this is the website of neturei karta, the group attending.

i spoke to some of them in edinburgh during the g8 alternatives conference, but i have to admit to having forgotten much of our conversation. as i recall they seemed reasonable and peaceful, and none of their representatives seemed exceptional or insane.