For Immediate Release
Toronto… (July 20, 2001) The League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada applauds the British Court of Appeal ruling today stating that David Irving could not try to overturn his earlier loss in his lawsuit against author Deborah Lipstadt.
“This ruling cements the powerful decision of the High Court in April, 2000 where Irving was called a Holocaust denier and an antisemite,” noted Marvin Kurz, National Legal Counsel for the League for Human Rights. “This is a welcome verdict especially in light of the libel chill that Irving and his ilk are trying to use to silence human rights activists and legitimate historians.”
“Holocaust denial is one of the most pernicious and insidious forms of antisemitism. The manipulation of historical records and shoddy so-called scientific studies influence the un-informed and are fodder for the worst kind of hate rhetoric used by hate groups, white supremacists, and bigots alike,” expressed Professor Stephen Scheinberg, historian and National Chair of the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada. “The horror for the remaining survivors of the Holocaust to see people like Irving deny their experience and their history is the greatest insult and should be treated by the harshest possible means.”
Irving claimed Lipstadt’s 1995 book, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory which described him as “one of the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial”, was harmful to his reputation. The trial court judge, Judge Gray vindicated Lipstadt however when he described Irving as “an active Holocaust denier” who is “anti-Semitic, racist and associates with right-wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism.” Furthermore, the Judge noted that Irving “has for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence.”
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B’nai Brith has been active since 1875 as the country’s senior advocacy and volunteer agency.
For further details or comment contact:
Dr. Karen Mock, Director, League for Human Rights
(416) 633-6224 ext. 111 (office), (416) 802-1105 (cell)
Amelia Golden, Community Relations Coordinator
(416) 633-6224, ext. 130 (office). (416) 802-2163 (cell)
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