Confronting Ahmadinejad and Other Liars

As we sat in our synagogues during the recent Jewish High Holy Days, we were repeatedly confronted with the importance our rabbis, our prophets and our sages have always placed on the concept of truth as a paramount precept. During the morning Shaharit service, we were reminded, as we are every day, 365 days a year, that we are commanded to revere and respect God, in private and in public, by acknowledging truth and speaking truth.

This insistence on truth as a core Jewish religious value stands in sharp contrast to the utter disdain for facts that has become commonplace in contemporary political discourse, both domestically and in the international arena.

One day before Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust a "lie," and a "myth" invented by Western leaders to justify the creation of the State of Israel.

Speaking at the site of the Buchenwald concentration camp in June, President Obama denounced Holocaust denial as "a denial of fact and truth that is baseless and ignorant and hateful. This place is the ultimate rebuke to such thoughts; a reminder of our duty to confront those who would tell lies about our history."

The good news is that much of the international community joined the White House in condemning the Iranian president's latest diatribe. The strongest response came from a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman who said: "Attempts to rewrite history, especially as the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II is being marked this year, are an offense to the memory of all victims and all those who fought fascism."

Holocaust denial is Ahmadinejad's big lie, a key underpinning of his demagogic calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.

Along the same lines, Bishop Richard Williamson, the renegade cleric whom Pope Benedict XVI sought to rehabilitate last January, has integrated his contempt for truth into a virulent anti-Semitism. Williamson's theology features "the false messianic vocation of Jewish world dominion, to prepare the Anti-Christ's throne in Jerusalem." He also declared on Swedish television "that the historical evidence is largely against, is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler. I believe there were no gas chambers."

Ahmadinejad and Williamson are hardly the only ones intent on twisting, distorting and ignoring the truth.

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin claims that Democratic health care reform initiatives include so-called "death panels," even though she knows perfectly well that nothing of the sort is even remotely contemplated in any of the different plans that have been put forward.

Rush Limbaugh likens health care reform to Nazism and President Obama to Hitler. Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minn) warns darkly -- and falsely -- that a bill to expand national community service programs would establish "re-education camps ... where young kids will have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward."

Frank J. Gaffney Jr., a former Defense Department official in the Reagan administration, writes in The Washington Times, "There is mounting evidence that the president not only identifies with Muslims, but actually may still be one himself." A gaggle of at least 10 paleo-Republican members of Congress further inflame their extremist base by insinuating that Barack Obama was not really born in Hawaii, and is therefore ineligible to be president.

This is not to say that all Democrats and liberals are paragons of veracity. John Edwards and Rod Blagojevich readily come to mind. But their disregard for the truth is tawdry, idiosyncratic and petty. The far right, on the other hand, has adopted prevarication as a deliberate and obsessive strategy.

Nor is this an attack on Republicans or conservatives. Barry Goldwater and William F. Buckley Jr. were men of integrity, and I respect George Will, Senator Olympia Snowe, Joe Scarborough, Governor Charlie Christ, Kathleen Parker, David Brooks and Peggy Noonan, among others.

Why does all this matter to us as Jews? Because over the centuries we have suffered more from lies than any other people. "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," the late 19th-early 20th centuries Russian forgery that purports to depict a Jewish conspiracy for world domination; blood libels; Henry Ford's slur that "Communism all over the world and not only in Russia is Jewish"; the American radio preacher Father Charles Coughlin's charge that the Great Depression was caused by an "international conspiracy of Jewish bankers"; the composer Richard Wagner's declaration that "I hold the Jewish race to be the born enemy of pure humanity and everything noble in it"; Communist claims that Jews are bourgeois exploiters of the working class.

The list goes on.

Heated political and ideological debates are cornerstone elements of democracy, but only if they are rooted in integrity on all sides. For us merely to acknowledge truth and speak truth is insufficient. We, too, have a "duty to confront those who would tell lies."

Menachem Rosensaft is Adjunct Professor of Law at Cornell Law School and Vice President of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants

Comments

[hebrew prophet]

First the butcher of Sudan,OmarAl-Bashir turned up in Nigeria his now in Turkey,so where will he turn up next,hopefully not in the White House?

[UKOH]

I lived for a number of years in Saudi Arabia. The vast majority of Saudis I met , even the extremely wealthy, high ranking ones, did not have a problem with Jews at all. Some of them had a problem with the way Israel was created but that was out of political not religious or racial reasons.

In the year 2000, in the millenium village in the EPCOT center in Florida two attractions were a Saudi Benuin tent and a magic carpet trip to the holy land. I noticed a couple of Israeli girls and a couple of Saudi men from the attractions talking to each other during a break. I asked them how since according to Saudi custom they should not be talking to women, let alone Israeli women, this could be happening. They all looked at me, smiled and explained that left to their own devices, Arabls and Israelis get on just fine; it is only the politicians that screw it up for everybody.

The recent unrest in Iran after the botched elections are further testimony to that fact.

As much as it is vital for Arab states to draw a line over the past and recognize the reality of Israel it is also important for Israel to remember that the vast majority of Arabs are peace loving, normal people. Neither violence nor sanctions will ultimately succeed. Compromise and active fostering of those who are looking for a better life is the way to go.

[kold]

people who spread lies are evil and they follow a personal gain. from their point of view, a lie is a legitimate tool by which they get that which they need, it doesn't really matter to them what the lie says. they'll say anything to reach their goal, which basically is to get rid of their own selves, their mind, spirit, to retain only the flesh (due to this they call themselves realists, a lie too, surprisingly) and to live on some other spirit, mind. they consume one, hop onto another, and another... who knows what these "others" are really after. telling a lie and trying to believe it is like smashing one's mind full speed against a wall, so they don't feel anything as they are usually very afraid of pain. using someone else's mind poses no pain and there is no more lie or truth. the more and bigger lies they say, the sooner they get there. the more needy they grow too, their lives turning into a hunt for fresh minds, selves. that's their reality, and everything is subordinated to it. but alas, in the final reckoning they have to accept this, realise it, stop hunting and live in pain. some realise it before they die, some don't.

[JNagarya]

The largest population of Jews in the Middle East, outside of Israel, is in Iran.

It's been said that Iran's "Holocaust denial" is actually a deliberate mistranslation of what Iran says on the issue. I wouldn't be surprised.

But as long as smears are being slung from "our" side of the equation -- El Baredi, who was correct about Iraq NOT having WMDs, has repeatedly said that Iran DOES NOT have a "bomb" program. Yet all we are told is what the US says: that Iran does have such a program.

And whenver that is confronted, the excuse is to yet again smear Iran.

[wereeverywhere]

"It's been said that Iran's "Holocaust denial" is actually a deliberate mistranslation..."

Oh the joys of the passive voice. It's been said that the Earth's flat as well. Ahma denied the holocaust, most recently at the Qods Day speech where he added some racist conspiracy theory to maintain his standard. You might be thinking of the wipe-Izrl-­­off-the-m­a­p quote, which was indeed mistranslated. Google Juan Cole for either issue. (pardon if this double posts)

[Khirad]

A bit old, but:

"I told him [Ahmadinejad] that he could not achieve any benefits for the Iranian nation, the Muslim community or the situation in Palestine by denying the Holocaust. Unfortunately we didn't receive any answer."

- Haroun Yashayaie, leader of Iran's Jewish community, 2006.

For someone like Ahmadinejad always complaining of the arrogant West trying to stir up tensions, one might reflect on that. What exactly is HE trying to accomplish, except proving himself a hypocrite?

I also wonder what benefit the Michelle Bachmann's or Sarah Palin's out there think they're promoting with such mendacious lies of re-education camps or death panels. Much the same, I'm afraid. Naked demagoguery, exemplified. Unfortunately for all three, I suspect it's not just cynical, but that they actually believe the words they are saying.

[Crowhaul]

"the importance our rabbis, our prophets and our sages have always placed on the concept of truth"

Indeed. If that were true, they would be atheists like me. In the words of Gloria Steinem, "the truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off."

[ohjoe]

The far right…has adopted prevarication as a deliberate and obsessive strategy.

I believe that this is the most important observation in this article. Uneducated people are being inundated with extreme falsehoods all day long and there are few people out there attacking the lies head-on. The ignorant or uninformed watch Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Beck and others of their ilk. Those who are reality-based watch Olbermann, Maddow, etc. They are each preaching to their choirs.

Where can we find a platform that brings the two together? Our main stream media doesn't speak truth to lies and, in fact, often gives credibility to those lies by treating them as serious arguments or facts.

Meantime, our children aren't being taught the most basic premises of our government and constitution, nor are they learning rational thinking and ethics.

So frustrating.

[DianneU]

So true, so true. I appreciate his views, and agree completely. Our whole discourse across the nation has been vilified by the right-wing lies and distortions. Millions get their "news" daily from the likes of Hannity, Limbaugh, O'Reilley, Beck and Malkin. Thos that listen to radio get theirs from Savage and worse. It's getting so frustrating and makes one disillusioned. What can we do to get liars called out? When the "media" that's mostly owned by a man that agrees and contributes to these lies....what are we to do?

Writing letters to our papers, to blogs, and to the people at fault does no good. They consider this to be their badge of ego - their words are creating the effect that they desire. So what are HONEST people to do? I'm so sick of lies, but other than making sure I don't reinforce them, or repeat them myself....what else can we do to make this kind of "garbage media" stop?

[kold]

do answer that question for yourself, that's the beginning.

[butterfly218]

My hope is that one day on Keith or Rachel I would just see Rush or Sarah or any of the rest of the liars faces with the words " YOU LIE "across the front of their faces and give them no more news time than that . Leave it up to Fox to feed on them . Put them in the " We do not care about you " box and go on to the news that matters . Why give the liars and crazy people a platform ? The media gives them power .

[Khirad]

I agree on not feeding them and yet a lie unchallenged can become as fact. It's a no-win.

[ohjoe]

The feeding comes by allowing their statements to be taken at face value, to be given credibility. We need to keep letting everyone know what they are saying, their falsehood, what they are up to.

To paraphrase Sun-tzu: Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.

This is why I watch Fox news in addition to whatever else I have time for.

[Khirad]

Fanned.

[mariegachelin]

Not to minimize the dangers in his denying of the holocaust, but Mr. Ahmadinejad makes those statements because they get him support from pro- Palestinians groups, those who hate Jews, Islamic terrorist groups and those who lack the ability to exercise mature judgment.

His ultimate purpose is to deflect attention. It’s a simple trick.
Mr. Ahmadinejad knows very well that the Holocaust happened but like any other villain, he has to use vulnerable Arabs and Muslims to push his own agenda. Worst of all, many have not yet seen him for the fraud and the user that he is. Russia and China use him as a ploy against the West so the man sees nothing wrong with being a crook and using innocent people. It’s a shame that he gets sympathy by denying the holocaust, but lately, many have to begun to speak against corrupted leaders and their self-graditying tactics.

[JNagarya]

Yer right: he's the villain: the US, and Israel, say so.

[Aikaterina]

What our conservative pundits (in government and the media) won't consider is the cost of yet a third war, in terms of lives and money.
We were told the Iraq war would pay for itself, yet borrowed trillions from China to pay for it, as our debt soared from $4.5 to $11 trillion in 8 years. While conservative pundits beat the drums for war, they decry deficit spending, want more tax cuts, and won't be willing to pay higher taxes to finance their wet-dream.
We saw signs heard "Mission Accomplished" when Hussein was toppled, yet 6 years later, the violence, instability and terrorist attacks within Iraq (there were none before our invasion) are escalating, even with our puppet regime, newly armed-trained security forces in place.
We're using National Guard troops, and keeping them there years (with but a few weeks' break between deployments) since we don't have sufficient troop levels in the regular military. Will we need a draft? Will the conservatives (Chicken-Hawks, neo-cons, AIPAC, PNAC, et al) enlist, or allow their children to be sent to Iran for their personal profit-political gain? Will we need to hire more $100K mercenaries to slaughter civilians in streets, rape and torture, ignoring the rules of engagement, international laws, for which we'll immunize them?
Let's get real here, folks. It's easy to want and perhaps to start a war, but quite a bit more difficult dealing with the consequences thereof.

[LCLA]

"What our conservative pundits (in government and the media) won't consider is the cost of yet a third war, in terms of lives and money."
They are considering their own profit. They have no concern for general public welfare. In fact, they attack efforts to promote general public welfare. It is only the welfare of the affluent which are of concern to them. All else is secondary in concern.

[mgloraine]

The denial of atrocities and war crimes seems to be in style these days:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091019/horowitz_weiss

Perhaps everyone is just "looking forward, not back"...

[desmo4]

Yes, it's the season of the lie

[AUDZ]

To tell the truth, I am oh so tired of the story of the holocaust. Yes, we are told that countless Jews died under Hitler's regime. And we are sometimes (not many mind you) told of the countless others who died. We remember once a year that soldiers died to protect our freedom. But seriously, what does it all accomplish? The very Jews who suffered so much are continuing the suffering by marginalizing others, whist, at the same time, making sure that only their suffering is at the top of the agenda. Let's move on already and start a new chapter, where we try to include all the sufferers and try to make sure that NO ONE suffers ever again. It is too much to ask? Yes, I guess it is!

[Garioch]

You get tired of the truth? Because that was the essence of the article. Those who forget history are those who are condemned to repeat the mistakes and those who look at the Holocaust or for that matter any holocaust and can only see it as a reflection of one groups suffering and not as a universal lesson is slightly psychotic.

[AUDZ]

We are repeating history. Not one thing has changed in thousands of years. It is war, war and more war. To what end? If you see anything changed please tell me what it is, because I fail to see it.

[JanP]

I am so tired of people who say we shouldn;'t talk about the Holocaust.

I live about 5 miles from Manassas Battlefield Park. There is a whole vistor's center. The Ciil War is the big topic of history in virginia Schools.

Tell me, what response would you have given to people who sent 10,000 rockets and mortars into your city over a 3 year period?

You might also ask why there are suicide bombers killing Muslims all over the Muslim world.

Actually, it is too much to ask because that would include the perps who suffered as equals to their victims;.

[AUDZ]

There are no 'perps' and there are no victims. There are just people who have been taught to hate each other over centuries. If you believe what you have always believed and keep doing the things you have always done, you will always get the same results. Isn't is time for us all to grow up?

[mommamia526]

Repeating the story of the holocaust, in fact many of the examples in the Bible, or Torah, is not to repeat it only and to make you hear it again and again. People cite their scriptures not because it says something no one has ever heard of, but becvause there is a lesson to be learned. The objective is EXACTLY, what you propose, making certain NO ONE every suffers again. Human beings do the same things, again, and again. There is a playbook. Games people play is one analysis of what is really going on. Before the Holocaust in Germany, and that took victims all over Europe, there was one in Turkey, and no one spoke of it. Today there is a holocaust going on in Africa. We must speak out about it, and repeat what happened before, sothat what happens now may be stopped, sothat it will not happen again in the future. Repetition by itself, however, is not enough, we have to state WHY we repeat it. We want persons like Ahmadinejad to understand what his lies mean. He, especially, must be made to understand what it means. His parents were jews, apostates who converted to Islam. His real name is Sabourjian, Taylor, a very common jewish name. In denying the holocaust and attaccking Israel and the jews, he attacks himself. The fact that his parents converted to Islam, does not absolve him from his duties as a jew. This is not about religion, it is about truth.

[eileenflemingWAWA]

Doing my "duty to confront those who would tell lies."

Bibi said:

"The United Nations was founded after the carnage of World War II...Nothing has undermined that central mission more than the systematic assault on the truth."

The Truth:

"Israel has been targeted by at least 65 UN resolutions and the Palestinians have been targeted by none.

"Israel holds the record for ignoring United Nations Security Council resolutions.

"Since 1968, Israel has violated 32 resolutions that included condemnation or criticism of the governments' policies and action.

"The resolutions Israel violated were either about its annexation of East Jerusalem or settlements in the territories.

"Israel also ignored UN Security Council resolutions that called for Israel to cease using harsh measures against the Palestinian population and to cease expelling Palestinians."

Excerpted "Countering Benjamin Netanyahu's Orwellian Spin at the UN"

http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1441&Itemid=224

[JanP]

Bibi also noted that there was not one resolution against the palestinians for rocketing Sderot.

And that is why the UN is a corrupt, meaningless orgainization.

Bibi also told the Knesset that if israel is denied a right to self defense there will be no peace process.

In the meantime, Obama has given Iran 3 months and russian aid in enriching uranium in which to progress on making nukes.

[simplypeyton]

There is absolutely no evidence for an Iranian nuclear weapons program. However, I do find it ironic that Israel shrilly raises the alarm bell about Iran's nuclear program, while at the same time aiming nuclear weapons at Teheran.

[bergerkos]

Yes, I honor the prophets and worship the same God.
The Book, which tells me about this God is today available in about 2000 languages.
This Book is rather clear, as one would expect truth to be.

Now telling the truth about Holocaust is easy for Jews and Israel. But the Maker of the Jews required it from them to make "his name known to the nations". Here is how Moses is urging Israelites in Deuteronomy 4:6:

"And YOU must keep and do [the commandments], because this is wisdom on YOUR part and understanding on YOUR part before the eyes of the peoples who will hear of all these regulations, and they will certainly say, ‘This great nation is undoubtedly a wise and understanding people.’
For what great nation is there that has gods near to it the way Jehovah our God is in all our calling upon him?
And what great nation is there that has righteous regulations and judicial decisions like all this law that I am putting before YOU today?"

OK. "The peoples" have indeed heard of "these regulations" and even translated them into their languages to make use of that wisdom...
Why can't they "certainly say" the part about "the great nation" as being "wise and understanding people"?
What do you honestly think of this?

[mommamia526]

I believe you GOT it!

[demfriend]

I believe that lies are perpetrated againest those who threaten us and the bigger the lie and the more the ignorance of people the more the lies are believed. Lies and ignorance are the biggest threat to humanity. Those who refuse to believe in global warming, the oceans being filled with garbage, the whole of what humans have done to the planet all also fit in with the political lies. The political lies are what have caused the war in Iraq as well as many other wars. Breeding ignorance along with lies gives anyone with a voice allowed to speak to the masses gives them a stronghold in which to function so it is in our human interest to increase education with the calling out of lies which might eventually kill us.

[JanP]

Global warming is beleived in becuase it is not an accepted fact.

No one can even define a global average temperture or what it means in terms of human existance.

[SOSTED]

The Facts
Radical Islamic terrorists: driven by an evil ideology of hatred and loathing.


Their beliefs are based on misinterpretations of Islam.
Their ultimate goal is the destruction of liberal democracy across the world, whether it be in the West or the Middle East, and the establishment of a Muslim Caliphate.
Captured documents from al Qaeda indicate that the terrorist group is fighting in Iraq to establish the country as a base for exporting terrorism—not because the United States is there.
Exploiting frustration
A British government study shows al-Qaeda recruits from disillusioned and angry youth.
American foreign policy is an excuse for radical Islamic terrorism, not a cause.
Not foreign policy
Osama bin Laden has preached his hatred of the United States for more than a decade, regardless of American foreign policy.
Bin Laden attacked the United States for its weakness after it withdrew from Somalia in 1993—and again for its aggressiveness after September 11.
Declarations of war
Terrorist leaders have repeatedly declared war on the United States and its allies because of who they are.

In 1998, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri called on their followers “to kill all Americans and their allies--civilian and military” as “an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it.”
In 2002, radical Islamic leader Abu Bakar Bashir said the families of those slaughtered in the Bali terror bombing should “convert to Islam as soon as possible”

[SOSTED]

Liberal Myth
We are facing a 20-foot sea level rise because of global warming.

The Facts
This is highly unlikely and not part of any scientific consensus.

The recently released summary of the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report estimates a sea level rise of only 7 to 23 inches over the next century, and there are reasons to believe that even that may be overstating things.

Related Heritage research
Ben Lieberman, “Frequently Asked Questions About Global Warming,” March 21, 2007
Ben Lieberman, “Don’t Rush To Judgment on U.N.’s IPCC Global Warming Summary,” February 7, 2007

[Cosatjockomo]

Old facts! More recent studies that take into account the effect of the lightening of Antarctica and Greenland through loss of ice cover, and the subsequent lifting of those masses due to off-waiting, nearly double the sea level rise estimates of 2007. Sea level rise is really one of the least of our worries in global warming. Loss of fresh water sources globally as glaciers disappear and the famine and disease that will necessarily follow are far more critical.

[Fractal122635]

Interesting take. Since the one apparent qualification for the entire Obama foreign policy and security team is support of the Walt and Merscheimer modernization of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, strange to call a few right wing-nuts, the ones who lie.

Even more, the President at Buchenwald went further after condemning Holocaust denial (and those of us who understand his true motivation would say it was this next statement that even led him to condemn Holocaust denial).

He proceeded to buy into the Arab mythology that Israel was a product, or result of, the Holocaust, forgetting the previous 100 years of Colonial agreements and of course, the 3500 years of Middle East history.

"Forgetting" being a nice word for - LIED.

[unitron]

"...forgetting the previous 100 years of Colonial agreements..."

Does that include England's promise to give Palestine to the Palestinians in return for their help against the Ottoman Empire during WWI?

[unitron]

How did that get there? I was replying to Sharmine Narwani !

[unitron]

Ooooops! I shouldn't be doing this and watching TV and thinking about how to cook supper all at the same time. Ignore my other reply to my reply.