I posted last weekend that the Tehran Times. published a ridiculous piece of holocaust denial titled "Lies of the Holocaust Industry" where they libelled Norman Finkelstein as being a holocaust denier himself. It's usually Zionists that do that so I wrote to the man himself and he responded to the Times. thus:
Dear Sir:
In the 26 January 2005 issue of your paper, in an article titled "Lies of the holocaust industry," you state: "Norman J. Finkelstein, a Jewish professor at New York University critical of Zionist policies, has called the claim [of the Nazi holocaust] the 'holocaust industry', which is only meant to boost support for the government of Israel."
Inasmuch as most of my family perished in gas chambers at Treblinka, it would not make sense for me to deny the existence of gas chambers. I do NOT deny that the Nazis exterminated 5-6 million Jews during World War II. Rather, I argue that that Israel and American Jews have exploited the colossal suffering of Jews during World War II to justify criminal policies against Palestinians and other Arabs.
I do not think it is wise, let alone moral, to deny the facts of other peoples' suffering. It is also not wise, let alone moral, to exploit suffering for evil purposes. I do not deny the suffering of Jews, including my own family, by the Nazis; but I don't want this suffering to be used to justify the criminal persecution of Palestinians.
Out of respect for the memory of my family and for the journalistic standards of your paper, I kindly ask you to print this letter in the next issue of the Tehran Times.
Sincerely,
Norman G. Finkelstein
I can't find the letter on their website so I don't know if they published it or not. Any readers of the Tehran Times hard copy in English out there please let me know.
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