IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ALAN QUARTERMAIN  As David Irving retreated to his Internet site to snarl impotent threats at his enemies and heap his fawning adulation on the geriatric remnants of the Third Reich , the IHR reversed Horace Greeley's famous admonition and looked east to improve their fortunes. The IHR had always maintained several friendly contacts with Arab anti-Semites over the years (see: "Between Friends" SPLC Intelligence Report 105; Spring 2002) and now increased that effort.   The first public manifestation of the IHR's new direction was a conference on "Revisionism and Zionism" which the IHR scheduled for March,2001, in Beirut, Lebanon. It was jointly organized by the IHR and Jurgen Graf, a Swiss denier and neo-Nazi then living in exile in Iran (he has since moved to Russia), who claimed "The meeting reflects, and will further strengthen, growing cooperation between revisionists in the West and in Muslim countries." (IHR press release; December 26, 2000) It was clear, however, that the real target was not scholars and academics but a direct appeal for political support from the Muslim leaders of the region. French denier Robert Faurrison minced no words as to whom he addressed his remarks: May the leaders of the Muslim states hear the Palestinians -- and the revisionists -- appeals! Our ordeals are similar and our Intifadas identical. May those leaders finally quit their silence on the biggest imposture of modern times: that of the "Holocaust"! May they, especially, denounce the lie of the alleged Nazi gas chambers! After all, not one of the leaders on the winning side of the Second World War, despite their hatred of Hitler's Germany, stooped so low as to claim that such gas chambers had existed. During that war, in their speeches, as afterwards, in their memoirs, never did Churchill, or de Gaulle, or Eisenhower once mention this demonic horror which they well saw to have been laboriously peddled during the war by propaganda agencies. Already a quarter of a century ago, in a masterly book, the American professor Arthur Robert Butz called the grand imposture "the Hoax of the Twentieth Century." That century is over and as for its hoax, it must vanish into the rubbish bins of history. The tragedy of the Palestinians demands it, the ordeal of the revisionists makes it essential and the cause of humanity as a whole makes it our historical, political and moral duty: the Grand Imposture must be denounced. It is a fomenter of hatred and war. It is in the interest of all that the leaders of the Muslim states quit their silence on the imposture of the "Holocaust". (Published on the Internet by the IHR)   The automatic anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist themes of the conference were accompanied by a flood of anti-American rhetoric equally as shrill as the denunciations of the Jews. As the IHR blasted U.S. policy towards Iran: "This belligerent policy, which reflects America's subservience to Zionist interests, is hypocritical." (IHR "Background on Jurgen Graf") Robert Faurrison - a defender of Nazi Germany and stridently denies that the Holocaust occurred -- bellowed: ". . .Israeli killers are, on a modest scale, the worthy successors of the US Air Force, the military corps which, in all of a cruel human history, has contributed to killing, mutilating, disfiguring or starving more children than any other, first in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, then in Japan, in Vietnam and in much of the rest of Asia, then in the Near- and Middle East and, finally, in still many other places in the world whenever the American soldier receives from his masters the order to hunt down a new "Hitler" and to prevent a new "genocide"."   After protests from moderate Muslim scholars and diplomatic pressure from several sources, the Lebanese government banned the meeting. Stepping into the breach was the Jordanian Writers Association who offered to co-sponsor the conference in Amman, Jordan. Ibrahim Alloush, the head of the Jordanian Writers Association. Alloush is a radical activist and open advocate of "human bombs" who openly calls for the destruction of Israel: "In fact, Zionism is equivalent to Nazism in its crimes in Palestine and worldwide. The existence of the Zionist entity itself is not only a crime against the Arabs, but against humanity as well, and against truth and justice." (Statement of the Jordanian Writers Association, April 11, 2001 published by the IHR). Thus, in their search for new funding and political acceptance, the IHR was willing to embrace even the most violent of Arab radicals as allies.   At the same time as this public overture was made to the Arab leaders of the Middle East, the IHR was actively seeking an Arab ally behind closed doors. Raven and Weber had secretly entered into private negotiations for massive funding from that region. While the specific identity of the proposed donor and the details of the proposals are not known, there is an account by Germar Rudolf of the basic facts: . . . we all might have a real generous sponsor in sight, hundreds of millions of $$$ heavy. He was in touch with Weber, me, Carto, and others, as I understand it, looking for a good opportunity to invest and donate (of course not hundreds of millions, but considerable amounts). Unfortunately, when inquiring about each of these entities, both Carto and Weber started the old business of throwing mud at each other, trying to discourage this sponsor to invest in each others companies (Weber even tried to discourage any investment with me, claiming I had no money. Well isn't that why donators are needed?). I, instead, simply pointed out what I would do with the money, and under which circumstances I could do it (well, primarily, I need to get married). To make such a proposal did apparently not even cross the mind of Weber. Instead, his argument was about why others should not get it and why the IHR as the most reputable organization is the best investment (what reputation?). In my proposal, I didn't even mention anybody else, because if others get the money who pull at the same rope, that is fine with me. Anyway, because of bad style and manners and contra-productive polemics, the IHR dropped off the list of possible investments for this future donator (I do not know anything about Carto in that regard). Hence, by having Weber as the negotiator, the IHR just lost several millions in possible donations. (e-mail; May 17, 2002)   While the IHR's shift to open anti-Semitism is not a surprise, the lengths to which they would go to ingratiate themselves with Arab radicals is more disturbing. At their most recent conference in the United States, Mark Weber extended an invitation to an advocate of terrorism, Ibrahim Alloush of Jordan, to attend and speak. Alloush is a Palestinian activist who openly calls for the destruction of Israel and specifically advocates the use of homicide bombings (which he calls "human bombs") and other acts of terrorism to accomplish his goals. It was not the first time he worked with the IHR. Alloush was present at the conference in Amman, Jordan, as a co-sponsor of the event and read a paper from Roger Garaudy (who decided not to attend) to the audience. Denier Arthur Butz noted that, although the Board of Directors of the IHR later over-ruled Weber's invitation, the composition of that board has since changed and possibly "none of the 4 present Board members oppose a speaker such as Alloush .. . . as things stand now it is possible that, in principle, a speaker advocating suicide bombings, or other terrorist attacks on Jews in Israel/Palestine, will be invited in the future." (Adelaide Institute Newsletter 155; July 2002)   The IHR was founded for the purposes of spreading anti-Semitic propaganda denying the murder of Jews during the Holocaust. When circumstances made it a necessity for the IHR to look for new sources of revenue, it sought out those who share its goals. It is a certainty that the IHR and other Holocaust deniers will continue to attempt to obtain financing from what Prof. John C. Zimmerman of UNLV (author of "Holocaust Denial: Demographics, Testimonies and Ideologies") has described as their "natural constituency." The lure of large sums of money attracts them and the IHR is evidently willing to provide a forum even for radicals who advocate violence and murder.   If the price for support from the Middle East is the implicit endorsement of violence and terrorism against Jews, it is a price Weber and Raven are quite willing pay. In the recent shift in emphasis of the IHR , Weber and Raven have jettisoned their facade of scholarly detachment to embrace the most radical and violent forms of anti-Semitism. The only question that remains is how far the IHR will go obtain the resources it needs to propagate its message of hate.
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