I protest in the strongest possible terms the inclusion into the Al-Akhbar discussion list of an article by notorious Holocaust-Revisionist Arthur Butz[1] as well as a pointer to what you wrote of as his "astonishing supportive material" for such Revisionist theories.
Such anti-Semitic and anti-historical posts demonstrate an enormous contempt for the real victims of the Nazi extermination efforts so amply documented at the tribunals on war crimes held at Nuremberg and elsewhere. These included murders not just of millions of Jews but of similar efforts to exterminate other groups like the Romis ("Gypsies") as well as illegal immigrants, homosexuals, and the physically disabled. Today, theories of Holocaust Denial are also found among forces who advocate new attempts at genocide against Asian people (e.g. "Nuke the Gooks!")
Moreover, the pseudo-science on which theories of Holocaust Revisionism rest has other far reaching implications in today's world.
One is the repeated negative propaganda, especially in the United States, against Islam itself.
Providing any credibility for Butz's anti-scientific history, methods, or theories casts massive contempt towards the positive role played by Islamic thinkers in the development of modern real science. Such people include the physician/philosophers Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) as well as Ibn Khaldun, one of the world's first sociologists.
At a time of heightened white racism, the pseudo-science lurking behind Holocaust-Revisionist theories can only strengthen public support for other forms of pseudo-science that seek to justify white superiority via theories and methods similar to those of the Holocaust Revisionists.
The editors of Al-Akhbar who approved placing the Butz article on your list thus demonstrate more than a "simple" anti-Semitism. They show an anti-Semitism so strong as to attack the other victims of fascist inhumanity as well as one that is willing to tolerate and even build contempt for progressive Islamic thought while strengthening reactionary white racist views.
For all of these reasons I urge you to dismiss the editors and to issue a public apology for their actions.
-- tallpaul (Paul Kneisel)[2]
[1] Other readers can confirm this by examining the post on-line
at:
[2] Author's permission not required to reprint.