Less than a month after Columbia University gave Holocaust denier, Iranian president Ahmadinejad, a platform in the name of freedom of expression, the Oxford University debating society has contacted Holocaust denier David Irving using the same argument and asked him to participate in one of the society’s forums in November. The club also wants to invite Belarus dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, and chairman of the British Nationalist Party (BNP), Nick Griffin.

Debating society president, Luke Tryl, told the British Guardian newspaper that the Oxford Union debating society “is famous for is commitment to free speech” and that the three had been invited despite their “awful and abhorrent views” He argued that the students at Oxford are intelligent enough to challenge and ridicule them.

Tryl’s weak rationale for the invitation has failed to convince various groups of students and anti-fascist campaigners in Britain. In a joint statement the co-presidents of the Oxford Jewish Students Union said it would be a disgrace if the three were allowed to address a forum on free speech, and that it would leave a black mark on the reputation of the Oxford Union. Students at the university said that their appearance would encourage right wing extremist groups which have become increasingly arrogant.

Irving, who until recently was serving a three year prison sentence in Austria after being convicted of Holocaust denial, told the Guardian that he had not received a formal approach but if he did he would like to speak to the students. He said that he had received many invitations to appear at Oxford but most had been withdrawn due to public pressure, threats, and intimidation even though he thinks “there are a lot of students who would like to hear what I have to say”.

Last month Irving told the Guardian that his views on the Holocaust have not changed at all and that his views have become stronger over the years. In several books he plans to publish soon, Irving maintains that “the Jews are the architects of what happened to them in the Second World War” and that the “Jewish problem” has been the cause of most wars in the past hundred years. Irving also claims that the gas chambers in Auschwitz never existed and that the camp was not an extermination camp and has only been publicized because it was well preserved.

Legitimization for the destruction of Israel

Besides offering further proof of growing activism (such as the call to boycott Israeli universities which went into the garbage bin of history) by the extreme left in Britain, Europe, and the United States, the problem with inviting loathsome Holocaust deniers like Irving and Ahmadinejad and asking them to address forums, is that it offers legitimacy to the very discussion of whether the Holocaust and the genocide of the Jewish people actually took place. If not prevented, discussions on this subject may pave the way for a future debate on Israel’s status as the home of the Jewish nation and the right of the Jewish People to exist.

Israel’s political leadership must face it that the world does not take for granted the right of the Jewish People to live as a free nation in the land of Israel, and that there are some who question this. Consequently, they must do everything possible to stem the growing phenomenon of hiding behind academic freedom of expression to lend legitimacy to the debate on the destruction of the Jewish People. Given the doctrine preached by Ahmadinejad and his like, the Israeli government must be more pro-active and not be indifferent in its policy on Iran, which seeks to destroy us.

“Never again”

Iran is more problematic for Israel than it is for the rest of the world, and Israel must act accordingly with regard to Iran and anyone else who challenges its existence. If Irving is invited to speak to students others will follow and it will become legitimate to discuss the right of the Jewish People to exist. The Israeli government together with the Jews of the Diaspora must specifically challenge Ahmadinejad and David Irving and all those who want to question the right of the Jewish People to live in Israel and ensure the Jewish People keeps its promise of ”Never again”.