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[ Verbatim trial transcripts] [Radical's Diary February 16 | 17 | 20 | 24 ]

London, February 25, 2000

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Editorial

Solo Singer

ISRAEL SINGER, high-profile general secretary of the World Jewish Congress, certainly left his mark during a whirlwind visit to Britain. A barnstorming orator, he drew rapturous applause at Sunday's plenary session of the Board of Deputies, addressing issues ranging from Holocaust-education to policy towards the new government in Austria.

In similar vein, having paid a visit to the David Irving libel trial, he reportedly urged the powers-that-be in Israel to try to rebalance what he portrayed as a courtroom gallery virtually devoid of Jewish spectators and full of neo-Nazi sympathisers.

The rub, to judge from the account of the trio of JC reporters who have reported on the proceedings daily since they began, is that he was mistaken on both counts.

In any event, important though the trial and the issues it raises are, it should be remembered that it is a judicial proceeding &emdash; not a part of some education syllabus, or a political debate. Mr Singer's reported intervention with educational and political leaders in Jerusalem was inappropriate. One can only hope that Israeli bureaucracy, expert at losing all manner of matters in red tape, will be equally (in)efficient this time around.

[Website note: Mr Singer is evidenlty the victim of an obsession, and needs counselling. As the jewidsh Chronicle points out, the public gallery of the courtroom is filled with mostly Israeli and Jewish visitors and foreign students; there are also visiting lawyers, and publicity seeking or curiosity-quenching dignitaries. Despite a recent report in the Suddeutsche Zeitung, not one skinhead or neo-Nazi has been seen in the courtroom.]