What's really wrong with Irving

Joshua

Max Hastings has written a number of ugly things about Israel and the Jewish people in recent years. Here's one example (described by Melanie Phillips as "grotesque" and "wicked" in her Diary of March 11, 2004): "The Israeli government's behaviour to the Palestinians breeds a despair that finds its only outlet in terrorism. No one can ever criticise the Jewish diaspora for asserting Israel's right to exist. But the most important service the world's Jews can render to Israel today is to persuade its people that the only plausible result of their government's behaviour is a terrible loneliness in the world." Mr. Hastings doesn't really like the idea of a Jewish state. The irony of this of course is that men like Max Hastings are the best evidence that not only do Jews no longer belong in Britain (I'm not sure they ever really did), but also that Israel's existence and prosperity are a sine qua non for the Jewish people. Hastings and Irving may not be cut from exactly the same piece of cloth, but at times you'd be hard-pressed to notice the difference.

Joshua

Obviously they've got a mutual admiration society going on. That very same notorious piece in which Hastings blames Jews for anti-Semitism was posted in full by David Irving himself. Irving also makes a number of laudatory comments about Hastings. You can find it all here: http://tinyurl.com/3b526a

Chavera

A propos the two comments above, here's what Hastings went on to say in his piece today: 'Muslim extremists say worse and more dangerous things about Jews than Irving ever has. We excuse and even indulge them, because of our guilt about the role of Europe and the US in creating and sustaining the state of Israel.'

Gordon Ross

I've written to Hastings on a number of occasions over the past few years in response to his biased and offensive material. Initially, he would reply to my comments, but he has given up on that now! In his article 'Too Close For Comfort ?' in 'The Sunday Times Review Magazine' of September 2, 2007, he clearly endorses the anti-Jewish conspiracy theories of the learned American professors Mearsheimer and Walt, and smugly anticipates being placed in "the same stable" as these two anti-Israel/anti-Jewish propagandists. That would hardly be surprising in view of his other comment that "Washington gives Jerusalem a blank cheque and all of us in some degree pay a price for Israel's abuses of it.". As for his remarks on: "...our guilt about the role of Europe and the US in creating and sustaining the state of Israel.", he need not feel any guilt on behalf of his own country, since rather than play a role in the creation of the Jewish state, Britain contributed towards the attempted sabotage of such creation.

Scipio

Gordon Ross you made an excellent point. The idea that Britain ever gave any aid (outside of the Balfour Declaration) to the Jews in Europe or in Israel (or pre 1948 Israel) is utterly laughable. Anti-Semitism alas is respectable in Britain.

Ann

It is almost funny to see Hastings excoriating Irving, since the distance between them is wafer-thin.