A Discussion on the TV Channel Al-Jazeera
continued...
Alloush also addressed the intellectuals who signed the manifest against the Beirut conference and stated they "betrayed their role as intellectuals because they asked an Arab government to prevent intellectual activity. They also betrayed their political role as Arab intellectuals, because instead of fighting Zionism, they joined it and adopted its rhetoric... Accepting the Holocaust is the heart of cultural normalization with the Zionist enemy..."
Al-Akhdhar said that although Dr. "Atiya's activities could be described as a media campaign, "it is a media campaign aimed at Arab public opinion, which is already in her pocket." He, on the other hand, is trying to win over the world's public opinion. Al-Akhdhar explained, "she has no chance of writing in any international newspaper, besides the revisionist newspapers which are distributed secretly. She cannot say it on CNN or on any Western TV station. Instead of dealing with the Nazi's garbage and the lies of the revisionists and the deniers, we should be translating the works of the Israeli new-historians. They have truly exploded the Zionist founding myths, according to which Palestine was a land without a people... They have proved that the Palestinian people was exiled and that Arab villages were turned into Jewish villages."
Enraged, "Atiya responded, "It is a shame that an intellectual should stand on the side of the strong and not on the side of the truth... President Bashar Assad said that Zionism is equal to Nazism. This is a courageous position that must be commended rather than be denounced in order to appease the West... Why does he (Al-Akhdhar) call for translating the writings of the Israeli new-historians? Because they are Jews? At the same time, however, he denounces the French, the American and the English historians."
At this point, the show's production team brought French Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson on the line. Faurisson said, "Historical revisionism is the most dangerous thing for Zionism. Historical revisionism that proves the hard and bitter facts about Zionism - this is the nuclear weapon of the poor. We have proved and are still proving that there was no massacre or Holocaust of the Jews, and that there were no gas chambers for the Jews and that the figure of six million victims is exaggerated... if you want to protect Palestine, you cannot do so with guns and shells, but by saying the truth about the biggest lie of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, the lie of the Holocaust.
Al-Akhdhar's response to Faurisson was that it is his right and the right of all American and European researchers to research what they want and to say whatever they feel. However, it is not constructive for the Arabs to use the following statements: "When 96% of the German people denounce Nazism, it is strange that we [Arabs] should come and say to the German people: You are wrong. Nazism was not a disaster, the Jews simply invented a massacre that never happened, and invented gas chambers that exist only in their imagination. This is a kind of stupidity and insanity. I am not opposed to Garaudi or Faurisson writing, I am against us adopting this rhetoric..."
At this point. Dr. "Atiya lost her cool again and yelled at Al-Akhdhar: "I do not allow you to speak in the name of the Arab intellectuals... Three days ago we held a conference at the Jordanian Writers" Association. 150 intellectuals attended, none of whom were willing to sign. What you say is shameful."
The show's host, Al-Qasem, joined "Atiya and said Al-Akhdhar's statements "are full of contradictions. At first he calls the revisionists garbage, and now he said that Faurisson has the freedom to write what he wants but that it would be a mistake for us to use it.
At this point, the host cited statements of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef against Arabs and his call for exterminating them. Al-Akhdhar explained that "Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is a criminal and insane person, and his is a case for mental doctors. He was even denounced in Israel. He is like the Taliban."
The host, Al-Qasem, lost his cool and defied his guest: "Mr. "Afif Al-Akhdhar, why is it that every time the Zionists expose their true character, you act just like the Western media, and begin to call them insane. When Goldstein killed the people at prayer, they said he was crazy. These people express Zionism's true belief. They are the true spokesmen of Zionism. He [Ovadia Yosef] is by no means insane. He is the official spokesman of the Jewish people who voted for Sharon." "Atiya joined in with Dr. Al-Qasem and explained that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef "is a religious man, and the Book of Joshua goes even further. This man expresses his religion."
Al-Qasem decided at this point to cite [a caller] Abd Al-Hamid Thakr's opinion from Al-Jazeera's web site: "Sons of Zion, whom our God described as the descendants of apes and pigs, will not be deterred unless there is a true Holocaust that will exterminate all of them at once, along with the traitors, the collaborators, the scum of the [Islamic] nation..."
At this point, Dr. "Atiya took out a large picture of the baby, Iman Hiju, who was recently killed in the territories from Israeli fire. On the picture, written in red, "The murderers of the prophets are the murders of the innocent." She cried out: "This is the Holocaust, this is the Holocaust. There is no Jewish Holocaust, there is only a Palestinian Holocaust." In addition, "Atiya claimed that "Afif Al-Akhdhar "is weaving conspiracies against the Palestinian Holocaust by repeating what the Western media says.
The two exchanged insults, Al-Akhdhar calling "Atiya a liar, and she referring to him as a "Nazi" and a "fascist." Al-Akhdhar then summed up his view of "Atiya's position: "Faurisson and Garaudi can write what they want, and they will always write garbage. Garaudi, for example, is garbage. As a person he is garbage."
Concluding the show, the host, Dr. Faisal Al-Qasem, read the results of the internet poll held on the Al-Jazeera web site comparing Zionism and Nazism. 12,374 people participated in the poll and the results were as follows: "84.6% of Arabs said that Zionism is worse than Nazism; 11.1% said that Zionism is equal to Nazism; 2.7% said that Nazism is worse than Zionism. All that is left for me to do is to congratulate the Zionists for this painful result; indeed, they have excelled in exceeding the Nazis."
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