Hard Fact: The welcome and headlining of David Duke in Iran did real damage to the Palestinian cause, and this the damned shame of this heinous uplifting of the evil Duke by Ahmadinejad.
Those that defend this action of Ahmadinejad think they are doing Palestine a favor by doing so: what rubbish, as by defending Duke they destroy their own credibilty and thus only end up hurting rather than helping the Palestinian Cause.
But they are too damned SHALLOW to realize that.
an article that addresses this from Lebanon.
<<The Whole Truth in Iran
Elias Harfoush Al-Hayat - 13/12/06//
Iran's Holocaust Conference will not end the historic controversy over the Jewish Holocaust in World War II. On the contrary, it will corroborate the evidence against those who deny the Holocaust happened. The skeptics' denial does not serve the cause they are supposedly fighting for, namely, the Palestinian Cause.
When such a conference, which was organized by the Iranian Foreign Ministry over the past two days, alleges that its 'scientific' goal is to discuss this historical controversy 'away from the Western taboos and restrictions imposed on researchers in Europe', one must assume that the arena in which this controversy is taking place is open to the diversity of opinions and trends, as scientific research dictates.
But the truth is that Iran is now a closed arena in face of all intellectual and academic research that does not meet with the hard-line policy imposed by President Ahmadinejad and his supporters, whether on domestic issues or in relation to the management of foreign policy. It would be sufficient to follow up on the conditions inside Iranian universities (the traditional castles of academic research) and the degree of Ahmadinejad's personal involvement in the appointment of university deans and officials, and his calls to 'purge' these universities of advocates of what he calls 'ideas hostile to the teachings of the Islamic Republic', to show the extent of the academic freedom prevailing in Iran. Can this academic freedom be used as a basis to organize historic conferences on highly sensitive issues, such as what the Jews suffered at the hands of Nazism?
Should the Iranian Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Muttaqi, when he announces that the conference does not aim to confirm or deny the occurrence of the Holocaust, but to give the participants an opportunity to express their views freely, expect us to forget that his president (who is a well-read historian) does not stop reiterating that the Jewish Holocaust is merely an illusion and that the establishment of the Jewish State on the basis of this illusion is invalid and needs to be wiped off the map?
In light of such attitudes taken by the president of the host country for the Conference, how can such a president talk about academic research? How can the discussion be historical and free of political inclinations when the participants are just an 'elite' of people who have long impugned this issue, including David Duke, a former leader of the American Ku Klux Klan group, which is considered one of the most racist organizations against colored people and followers of religions other than Christianity in the US?
Perhaps the Iranian government aims through this conference to serve the Palestinians and bring them closer to achieving their rights. It would have been more appropriate for the Iranian government, if it wants to achieve this sublime goal, to look at the issue from another angle, as was expressed by a participating rabbi from the Natori Karta Movement when he called for discussing how the Zionist movement exploited the Holocaust to justify the establishment of the Jewish State. This is the logical and acceptable goal, which could have helped the Palestinian Cause. The search about whether the Holocaust really did take place or not in the current atmosphere in Iran corresponds to the conference organized by the Israelis in Jerusalem to find out whether the massacres of Deir Yassin and Jenin took place. Indisputable facts that are forcibly imposed on scientific research lead to anything but what can be considered as definitive historical conclusions.
Prominent Palestinian intellectual and academic Edward Said was one of the most outspoken critics of Arabs and Muslims skeptical of the Nazi Holocaust. His criticism was based on his in-depth knowledge of the seriousness of the racist tendencies inherent in Western mentality toward people of other cultures, as well as his awareness of the negative repercussions of such a denial on any Western support for the Palestinian Cause.
Indeed, Edward Said did not need a certificate in patriotism. When national issues are turned into political commodities that are propagated at the expense of truth, the goal is to sell the causes in popular markets, where science and knowledge are the last concern of the masses, and are the last thing they look for.
<h1>The Whole Truth in Iran</h1>
<h4>Elias Harfoush Al-Hayat - 13/12/06//</h4>
<p>
<p>Iran's Holocaust Conference will not end the historic controversy over the Jewish Holocaust in World War II. On the contrary, it will corroborate the evidence against those who deny the Holocaust happened. The skeptics' denial does not serve the cause they are supposedly fighting for, namely, the Palestinian Cause.</p>
<p>When such a conference, which was organized by the Iranian Foreign Ministry over the past two days, alleges that its 'scientific' goal is to discuss this historical controversy 'away from the Western taboos and restrictions imposed on researchers in Europe', one must assume that the arena in which this controversy is taking place is open to the diversity of opinions and trends, as scientific research dictates.</p>
<p>But the truth is that Iran is now a closed arena in face of all intellectual and academic research that does not meet with the hard-line policy imposed by President Ahmadinejad and his supporters, whether on domestic issues or in relation to the management of foreign policy. It would be sufficient to follow up on the conditions inside Iranian universities (the traditional castles of academic research) and the degree of Ahmadinejad's personal involvement in the appointment of university deans and officials, and his calls to 'purge' these universities of advocates of what he calls 'ideas hostile to the teachings of the Islamic Republic', to show the extent of the academic freedom prevailing in Iran. Can this academic freedom be used as a basis to organize historic conferences on highly sensitive issues, such as what the Jews suffered at the hands of Nazism?
<p>Should the Iranian Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Muttaqi, when he announces that the conference does not aim to confirm or deny the occurrence of the Holocaust, but to give the participants an opportunity to express their views freely, expect us to forget that his president (who is a well-read historian) does not stop reiterating that the Jewish Holocaust is merely an illusion and that the establishment of the Jewish State on the basis of this illusion is invalid and needs to be wiped off the map?
In light of such attitudes taken by the president of the host country for the Conference, how can such a president talk about academic research? How can the discussion be historical and free of political inclinations when the participants are just an 'elite' of people who have long impugned this issue, including David Duke, a former leader of the American Ku Klux Klan group, which is considered one of the most racist organizations against colored people and followers of religions other than Christianity in the US?
<p>Perhaps the Iranian government aims through this conference to serve the Palestinians and bring them closer to achieving their rights. It would have been more appropriate for the Iranian government, if it wants to achieve this sublime goal, to look at the issue from another angle, as was expressed by a participating rabbi from the Natori Karta Movement when he called for discussing how the Zionist movement exploited the Holocaust to justify the establishment of the Jewish State. This is the logical and acceptable goal, which could have helped the Palestinian Cause. The search about whether the Holocaust really did take place or not in the current atmosphere in Iran corresponds to the conference organized by the Israelis in Jerusalem to find out whether the massacres of Deir Yassin and Jenin took place. Indisputable facts that are forcibly imposed on scientific research lead to anything but what can be considered as definitive historical conclusions.</p>
<p>Prominent Palestinian intellectual and academic Edward Said was one of the most outspoken critics of Arabs and Muslims skeptical of the Nazi Holocaust. His criticism was based on his in-depth knowledge of the seriousness of the racist tendencies inherent in Western mentality toward people of other cultures, as well as his awareness of the negative repercussions of such a denial on any Western support for the Palestinian Cause.
Indeed, Edward Said did not need a certificate in patriotism. When national issues are turned into political commodities that are propagated at the expense of truth, the goal is to sell the causes in popular markets, where science and knowledge are the last concern of the masses, and are the last thing they look for.
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