| Independent
Media Centre Tuesday, August 10, 2004 Irving's views
based on 'vomit-inducing theories', says Cullen
CONTROVERSIAL historian and
holocaust
denier David Irving
views are based on "vomit-inducing" paranoid
theories, Acting Prime Minister Michael
Cullen said today. Irving has offered a US$1000 ($1550) reward for
information leading to the arrest and conviction of
vandals behind the desecration of Jewish graves in
a Wellington cemetery last Friday. He has also claimed that "80 per cent, of all
such worldwide outrages investigated and solved by
the authorities over the last few years have turned
out to be perpetrated by disordered members of the
Jewish community themselves". Irving wants to come to New Zealand to speak
about his controversial views, but will need
ministerial permission to do so. Irving said as a citizen of Britain he
understood he was entitled to come to New Zealand
for six months without a visa. If the New Zealand Government tried to prevent
him from coming it would face "the mother of all
legal battles", he told National Radio. "That's what the courts are there for, to right
injustices."  Dr
Cullen (right) said he had listened to
Irving speaking in a radio interview and was not
impressed.
"I don't think he has made a strong case that he
has anything great to contribute... it would be
very hard to argue, I would have thought, that
there some overwhelming reason why the law should
be bent in his favour," Dr Cullen said. Dr Cullen, who is also a historian, labelled
Irving's views as "distasteful" and based on
"extrordinarily tenuous logic". Dr Cullen was angry that Irving had insinuated
the Government was being manipulated by a small
group of people "Underlying that is that long
historical paranoia about some notion there is
some Jewish conspiracy to run European
civilisation. It is just vomit inducing, that
was the background to what happened in the 1930s
and 1940s." Irving was wrong to believe he did not need
permission to visit New Zealand due to his previous
deportation from another country. If he did come, Dr Cullen was not too concerned
about the damage Irving would do. "The expression of his views would be
distasteful, but I am sure we could counter that,
some of us, by very powerful arguments in the
opposite direction." The local Jewish community has linked the most
recent attack on a Jewish cemetery to the recent
refusal of New Zealand authorities to grant Irving
a visa to speak in this country. Irving today told National Radio he did not know
why his name was being linked to the case, he felt
smeared, and he was keen for the perpetrators to be
caught. He said it was possible "right wing lunatics"
could have committed the crime, but it also could
have been the Israeli secret service Mossad trying
to create trouble in New Zealand after the
sentencing last month of suspected Israeli spies in
a passport fraud ring.
- NZPA 
Dossier:
attempts by New Zealand Jews to stop David
Irving's 2004 visit FAQ:
Answers to frequently asked questions about Mr
Irving's visit-
Steven
Sedley writes a letter on Mr Irving and free
speech |
The
name rings a bell
-
Jailed
gang leaders defer to Israelis jailed by NZ,
says paper. Mossad autopsy on bungled NZ
operation: graves desecration was
unplanned
-
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