Houses of Cards

The film “Denial” is being/has been released on Holocaust Memorial Day, to mixed reviews. The cynic in me wonders if the timing was purely mercenary or a fortuitous coincidence. Either way, it has sparked off quite a bit of interest. The Today programme tackled the subject.

At the time of the original ten week trial on which the film was based (David Irving had sued Deborah Lipstadt), the BBC’s Sanchia Berg had gone to interview David Irving at his Mayfair flat. The interview took place during the pause before the verdict was delivered. Irving was quite confident that the judge would find in his favour.

We heard part of that interview, where Irving claimed to be a sceptical historian, not a liar.

“[the holocaust] has been grossly inflated, and there’s been a hell of a lot of lying by the eyewitnesses” Irving intoned in that clipped, authoritarian tone that actor Timothy Spall, (playing Irving in the film Denial) almost manages to invoke.

When Sanchia Berg told him she’d been to Auschwitz, Irving asked if she’d seen the gas chambers. “The Germans blew them up” she said. “Well, somebody blew them up” came the retort.

As we now know, the judge found against David Irving, having concluded that he had, for his own ideological reasons, deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence.

“But on the internet holocaust denial lives on, unchecked, “ said Ms Berg.

Nick Robinson introduced Richard Rampton QC who had represented Deborah Lipstadt in the original trial.

"Why did you spend so much of your life on this?" wondered Nick. "Do you think it was a good use of your three years?"

“Yes I do. I still think that truth matters. It’s probably the worst massacre, if you can call it that, in the world’s history considering the scale of it, and the fact that it was done deliberately during wartime.

[…]“Yes, we had to uproot the source of the problem”

[…] “Holocaust denial is not only a falsification of history, it’s an expression of anti-Semitism and if we could uproot the source of the poison perhaps the house would fall down.

Last year the Huffington Post, not noted for its philosemitism, published the kind of article  that you rarely see in the left-wing press. Muslim Migrants Fan European Antisemitism.

It’s gradually beginning to be almost acceptable to mention anti-Semitism and Muslim immigration in the same sentence. But you still have to watch your step.

“While all of the incoming refugees and migrants, fleeing Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other Muslim lands, may not hold anti-Jewish views, an extremely large number do — simply as a result of being raised in places where anti-Jewish vitriol is poured out in TV, newspapers, schools and mosques.”

Wrote Ben Barber.

Harry’s Place suffered a post Brexit/post Obama wobble, but it’s returning to normal with this post about Geert Wilders, or to be more precise Douglas Murray’s Spectator article about him.

 Now that Holocaust remembrance day has become ‘inclusive’ all sorts of people are allowing themselves to join in. Boris, and yes, even Jeremy Corbyn  has had a go - “Survivors of genocide” covers it -not to mention Brendan Cox, widower of Jo.

Some of this rings hollow.

Now for a quick reference to Question Time, which also seems to be returning to abnormal after its recent brief wobble – nay, a glimmer of light - when the SJWs had temporarily deserted the auditorium. They’re back now. There was no-one nice on the panel.

The comedian, whom I hadn’t heard of, was a Conservative who was forced to be humorously apologetic about it.

Diane Abbott seems to be speaking even slower these days. Perhaps she’ll grind to a halt soon.

The question was something like: What would you like Theresa May to say to the new POTUS?

 All the usual stuff. Then one man of Asian appearance said Theresa May should stop President Trump supporting Israel and tell him to support the Palestinians, because Israel had just announced more settlements illegal under international law etc etc. I mean, that’s par for the course. But not one member of the panel challenged this, in fact they all appeared to be nodding in agreement.

It’s that ignorant acceptance of the falsification of history, which is an expression of anti-Semitism that gets to me. And if we could uproot the source of the poison perhaps the house would fall down

Finally, this piece "German Muslim Students Protest Holocaust Remembrance, Attack Israel"

Muslim students with with Arab and Turkish origins protested participation in an International Holocaust remembrance event for the liberation of the German extermination camp Auschwitz on January, 27­ while the school management showed understanding for their criticism of Israel.

[…]The Holocaust Remembrance event is part of a global commemoration action to take selfie photographs with a sign saying “I Remember“ or “We Remember.“ A remembrance plaque at the school was desecrated with the sentence: “F*** Israel, free Palestine.” The school was not able to identify the perpetrator or perpetrators.

[…] In January, a German court reaffirmed a legal decision from the city of Wuppertal stating the torching of a synagogue by three Muslims was not motivated by antisemitism. The court wrote the men only sought via the arson of the synagogue “to clearly draw attention to the blazing conflict between Israel and Palestinians” during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. The original synagogue in Wuppertal was burned by Germans in 1938.

Some of us are hoping that “house” will fall down soon but we’re not holding our breath.