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http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=1369
Some reflections on Holocaust denial in the Muslim world: Finkelstein
speaks at Islamophobia conference in Istanbul
Islamophobia and Holocaust Denial
12.08.2007 | Transcript (MS Word) | IslamophobiaConference.org
By Norman G. Finkelstein
A frequent allegation used to demonize Muslims is that Holocaust
denial is widespread in the Muslim world. Recent remarks by President
Achmadinejad of Iran seem to have reinforced this prejudice against
Muslims.
No rational person can deny that during World War II the Nazis and
their collaborators systematically murdered 5-6 million European
Jews.
It is correct that no truth is sacred and that in the course of time
even what seem to be the most obvious truths have frequently been
shown to be false. It is equally correct that human beings are
fallible, none has a monopoly on truth, and an overwhelming majority
can be wrong while a minority of one can be right.
However serious persons are also very careful before rejecting an
obvious truth that is supported by a vast amount of evidence. It
requires more than showing that a fact here or there might be wrong to
demolish a scholarly edifice constructed over many years and labored
on by many competent minds.
In the case of truths that bear on moral concerns such as human
suffering compassionate human beings are especially cautious to
question established truths because of the needless offense and injury
they might cause. Japanese would rightfully be outraged if someone
were to say, But isn't it possible that the U.S. did not drop an
atomic bombing on Hiroshima?, just as Iranians would be rightfully
outraged if someone were to say, But isn't it possible that the U.S.
did not overthrow the Mossadeq regime and the SAVAK did not torture
political prisoners.
In addition, every culture, every religion honors the memory of the
dead and one aspect of honoring that memory is respecting the specific
circumstances of their deaths. It should be obvious that it is deeply
offensive to rewrite these circumstances for the sake of political
convenience or, worse, for amusement.
Yet, there are many understandable reasons why Holocaust denial is to
be found in the Muslim world. The assertion that the Nazis
exterminated millions of Jews in an assembly-line fashion does seem
hard to believe. I remember a very decent Palestinian in a refugee
camp whispering to me not in malice but in wonderment, Did it really
happen? In fact many Jewish leaders in the West did not believe it
themselves when witnesses from the death camps managed to escape and
inform them.
Moreover, because Israel has consistently lied about the history of
the Israel-Arab conflict, alleging that Palestine was empty before the
Jews came and that the Arabs are responsible for all the wars Israel
has fought, it is unsurprising that many Arabs would also conclude
that Israel is lying about what happened to Jews during World War II.
It is also true that the Nazi holocaust has been used as a weapon to
legitimize Israel's crimes against the Palestinians as well as against
its Arab neighbors. It is often said that because of the unique
suffering of Jews during World War II it is understandable that Israel
sometimes goes to extremes to defend itself. Because the Nazi
holocaust has been used to deny Palestinians their rights, it was
perhaps inevitable that some Palestinians would seek to deny the Nazi
holocaust in order to "neutralize" this potent weapon.
However, another approach, which also has the virtue of being
consistent with truth and morality, is to turn this weapon against
Israel's brutal policies. The meaning of the Nazi holocaust should not
be Never Again to Jews but Never Again to Anyone. The lesson of the
Nazi holocaust should not be to rank human suffering in order to
diminish the horror of "lesser" forms of human suffering. Instead, as
the epitome of human suffering the lesson of the Nazi holocaust should
be to sensitize us to all forms of human suffering. Wherever there is
mayhem and murder, wherever there is hunger and homelessness, wherever
there is discrimination and degradation - there is the Nazi holocaust.
That, at any rate, is the lesson my late parents, who survived the
Nazi holocaust, taught me.
It might also be noted that the U.S. and Israel typically invoke the
memory of the Nazi holocaust for the purpose not of averting the
horrors of war but to justify inflicting them. Whenever the United
States and Israel prepare to attack Muslims it is almost always the
case that the leaders will be compared to Hitler. In the 1950s-1960s
Nasser was compared to Hitler, in the 1990s and again in the 2000s
Hussein was compared to Hitler. Now Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran are
being compared to Hitler. Those who oppose the illegal war plans of
the U.S. and Israel are accused of being like the appeasers of Hitler.
It is hard to conceive a more cynical exploitation of the suffering of
Jews during World War II than its use to justify murderous wars of
aggression.
It should finally be said that before the so-called West deplores
Holocaust denial in the Muslim world, it should take a closer look at
itself.
The U.S.-imposed economic sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s were
responsible for the deaths of many hundreds of thousands of Iraqi
children. Respected United Nations officials called these sanctions
genocidal, yet U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that
the "price is worth it." She did worse than deny genocide; she
justified it.
In the 1980s during the U.S.-backed wars in Central America, tens of
thousands of Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Nicaraguans were killed. The
Truth Commission of Guatemala called it a genocide. But in bestselling
books nowadays it is said that these murderous wars are a model for
how to defeat the insurgents in Iraq. Is this the meaning of Never
Again?
In the 1960s-1970s during the U.S. aggression against Indochina, 3-4
million Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians were killed. But the only
question that is asked in the U.S. is, When will the Vietnamese
apologize for what they did to us?
The Muslim world is demonized for denying the Nazi holocaust. And it
is undoubtedly true that, however understandable, such denial is
wrong. Indeed, it shames and demeans the deniers not those whose
martyrdom is being questioned.
It is true that the U.S. does not deny the many holocausts it has
committed. But this is because to deny a fact you first have to
acknowledge its existence. The U.S. has not yet even taken this first
step of acknowledging the existence of the numberless colossal crimes
it has committed.
Norman Finkelstein
1 December 2007
New York City

 wrote in message 
news:d4c94a32-e198-49c2...@a35g2000prf.googlegroups.com...

#_Bell'articolo!
Una bottiglia di "amaro" digestivo per Natale, impacchettato e coi fiocchi!
Giano 

 million Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians were killed. But the only
In 3-4 milioni vengono contati tutti i morti o i soli morti civili?
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