Holocaust Revisionist Robert Faurisson and the Hypocrisy of the French
Government:
An Open Letter to France’s Ambassador to the United States
January 15, 2008
Ambassador Pierre Vimont
Embassy of France in the United States
4101 Reservoir Road, NW
Washington, D. C. 20007
Dear Ambassador Vimont,
It has been reported that revisionist historian Robert Faurisson will
face trial on charges that he made statements at the Iran Holocaust Conference
in December 2006, which cast doubt on the so-called Jewish Holocaust. As
you know, the Gayssot Act of 1990 prohibits any public doubt in France about
the Holocaust. This legal action was apparently initiated by former President
Jaques Chirac.
The duplicity, hypocritical double standards, and intellectual impotence
of the French government are appalling. Offend Zionist Jews and the French
government erupts in indignation. Yet, if someone makes public statements
that are offensive to Muslims, this is depicted as an expression of "free
speech."
The case of the high school philosophy teacher and author, Robert Redeker,
illustrates the hypocrisy and double standard most clearly. In a commentary
in the center-right daily Le Figaro, he made a scathing attack upon
the Prophet Mohammed and the Islamic religion. He wrote that Mohammed was
a "merciless warlord and looter, a mass-murderer of Jews and polygamist,"
and he labeled the Koran "a book of incredible violence." The French government
labeled his statements as "expressions of free speech." He was not put on
trial or dismissed from his job.
After receiving death threats, including one from an online Islamic forum,
Redeker went into hiding under police protection.
In a show of support, the French government came to the defense of Mr.
Redeker. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called the threats "unacceptable."
He then added this most blatant falsehood: "We are in a democracy. Everyone
has the right to express his views freely, while respecting others, of course."
(See The New York Times, 30 September 2006, p. A 3)
That this is an outrageous lie is demonstrated by the plight of Dr. Faurisson.
In 1991 he was removed from his university chair on the basis of his Holocaust
revisionist views under the Gayssot Act. Many years later he was given a
three-month suspended jail term for Holocaust revisionist remarks he made
on Iranian television in October 2006.
The double standard here is blatantly obvious. The French government
defends a man who insults the Islamic religion, despite the fact that his
statements are offensive to millions of Muslims. Indeed, not only did they
defend his right to freedom of speech in a well publicized statement, but
they offered him police protection as well. Yet, this same French government
allows a French professor to be removed from his university chair, orders
criminal probes into his comments, and gives him a suspended jail sentence
because of his Holocaust revisionist beliefs. This clearly falsifies Prime
Minister Dominque de Villepin’s hypocritical claim that France is a democracy
"where everyone has the right to express his views freely, while respecting
others." One has the right to insult and attack the Islamic religion and
deny the existence of God, but Holocaust revisionists are not allowed to
freely express their viewpoints. The free speech rights of revisionists
like Dr. Faurisson are routinely violated.
Furthermore, it appears as though the policy of the French government
to prosecute Holocaust revisionists is simply a reflection of the wishes
of influential French Jews. It was reported in the February 4, 2006 issue
of The International Jerusalem Post (p.10) that filmmaker Claude
Lanzmann wants Holocaust revisionism to be outlawed. In his own words: "How
do you fight against Arab denial of the Holocaust? Certainly not like in
Western countries. But I don’t know, I’m not Sephardic…It has to be outlawed,
like in France, that’s all."
If you do prosecute Dr. Faurisson, this will not only demonstrate the
French government’s hypocrisy, but it will also help to show that the Holocaust
legend really is a weak and flimsy ideology that cannot be defended with
reason and science. In a word, the Holocaust is a false doctrine that needs
oppressive laws and prison sentences to protect it from rational criticism.
Sincerely,
Paul Grubach
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