Holocaust Deniers Neda Bit of Help in Iran

Updated to reflect a change blogged on 24 January

Hold your nose: with news that Iran is planning to hold a Holocaust “debate”, this blog dives deeper than usual into the sewer with a trip to the site of the far-right Adelaide Institute, where we fish out Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson’s praise for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

On December 8, 2005, – a date that will be remembered – the President of your country, Mr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, – a name that will go down in history – dared to voice doubts on the historical reality of the alleged “Holocaust”. (1)

This appears in an open letter from Faurisson to Jawad Sharbaf, managing director of Neda Institute of Scientific-Political Research and Studies in Iran. Sharbaf had written to Faurisson a few days before, in order to commiserate over the UN “Holocaust Day” resolution, and to encourage him to organize a denialist conference. Faurisson’s response, as ever, rants on at length at how “the Jews” disallow any discussion about the Holocaust – but while is keen on the idea of Islamist theocrats sponsoring his quest to show that he’s a serious scholar rather than a neo-Nazi, he’s doubtful on the practicalities:

…However, in view of the circumstances, such a project seems, sad to say, unrealisable at this moment. Allow me to explain why.

The reason, of course, is that all his comrades are in prison or suffering other forms of supposed persecution. Faurisson presents a long list of martyrs; they’re all pretty distasteful characters, although one name sticks out even there: Manfred Roeder, whom Faurisson calls a “barrister”. In fact, Roeder is a convicted terrorist, responsible for killing Vietnamese asylum seekers with bombs in 1982.

However, Faurisson has a “Plan B”:

…In conclusion, I think that, until things have changed somewhat, an international conference is, unfortunately, impossible. But, in accord with an idea put forth by professor Arthur Robert Butz, I shall say that we hope to see President Ahmadinejad create in Iran an international centre for revisionist studies whose first task would be to propagate historical revisionism’s attainments in the Arabo-Moslem world via the Internet or any other medium. Meanwhile, we request that Iran make repeated appeals to the Western world for the freeing of our prisoners of conscience.

Faurisson has praised Iran’s promotion of Holocaust denial before:

In November 2000, I spent a week in Iran at the invitation of the Centre of Strategic Studies, a body directly attached to the office of the President of the Islamic Republic, Mr Mohammed Khatami. I had no contact with the country’s press, radio or television but only with a few personalities who were well-informed about revisionism. I held no public conference but enjoyed an interview of several hours with the head of the Institute for Scientific Political Research, Professor Soroush-Nejad and a few of his colleagues. There again, I was struck by the knowledge of revisionism that certain Iranians could have. At about that time, the Swiss revisionist Jürgen Graf made his appearance in Iran and I am indeed pleased that, some months later, thanks to his intense activity and to the contacts which I, at my end, had maintained with the Iranian authorities after returning to France, the Teheran Times undertook the publication of a series of revisionist articles, the first of which was to bear the signature of Professor Soroush-Nejad. (2)

Sharbaf and Nejad show up on various sites reporting on Holocaust denial conferences; the Neda Institute itself, however, is (in English, at least) thankfully obscure online. However, UNISPAL, a website on Palestine affiliated to the UN, used to give the following information, until I contacted them:

Neda Institute for Scientific-Political Research

No. 20 Forsat Shirazi St.

Kargar Shomali St.

Tehran Iran

Focus: Assistance; Human rights; Peace promotion; Publication; Refugees; Research/Analysis; Solidarity

The site told us that “no endorsement by the United Nations is implied”, but it described Neda thus:

It conducts research projects on the Middle East with a particular focus on the question of Palestine.

Hardly an accurate account of its agenda, and of course completely counter-productive as far as the Palestinian cause is concerned. I’m glad I was able to bring it to UNISPAL’s attention, and that they removed the reference so promptly.

(NB: There is also a Neda Rayaneh Institute in Tehran, but seems to be completely unrelated)

UPDATE: David Bloom has some more background, over at World War 4 Report.

UPDATE 2: The MSM notices.

***

Far-right sites quoted, but not linked:

(1)www.adelaideinstitute.org/Dissenters1/Mahler/Mahler_Faurisson.htm

(2)www.ety.com/HRP/rev/beirut.htm

Name variation: Javad Sharbaf

30 Responses

  1. Old Ike said this day would come. He made sure it was recorded.

    Revisonist anti-Semitic history is as useful as-and valid as- Calvinism in a canoe. Sounds a bit like some other folks who try to denigrate a persons service in a nations armed forces to advance their own agendas. ” It never happened!” People who are tired of this sort of crap need to be disgusted enough to show their contempt. But then:

    “The masses have never thirsted after truth- – – Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master;whoever attempts to destroy their illutions is always their victim.” Guastov La Bon on the dynamics of crowds-1895

  2. […] list of pro-Palestinian NGOs included the Neda Institute in Tehran – an institution which, as I noted a few days ago, seems to be more active in promoting Holocaust denial. I received a very polite […]

  3. […] I actually blogged this back in mid-January; I have some more details there. […]

  4. […] had called for such a conference in January (bizarrely inviting Tony Blair), and I noted then that an academic at Teheran’s Neda Institute had been in contact with French Holocaust-denier […]

  5. […] an obscure “Dr Ramshet”, had spoken of the need to suppress and intimidate. Before that I covered the links between western Holocaust deniers and the Neda Institute in Tehran; a subject later […]

  6. […] persecution of homosexuals; I’ve done a few entries on the country’s sponsorship of Holocaust denial and assaults on independent higher education. The situation for religious minorities remains […]

  7. […] and Robert Faurisson (whose gushing praise of Ahmadinejad I blogged on ahead of the media curve here). But there are numerous other characters – including some ultra-orthodox anti-Zionist Jews, who […]

  8. […] by Dr Javad Sharbaf of the NEDA Institute for Scientific Research in Iran.’ Religious blogger Richard Bartholomew notes Sharbaf and NEDA’s links with Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson, and indeed Faurisson’s […]

  9. […] to follow the Islamist attacks on the polio vaccine in Nigeria in 2004? How come I wrote about Iranian support for Holocaust denial before the story was picked up by the mainstream media? How come I wrote […]

  10. […] blogged on Iranian Holocaust denial here, and on the regime’s attacks on academia […]

  11. […] Now, readers of Seismic Shock and Harry’s Place will know all about the good vicar’s escapades at Tehran airport, but let’s see what happened next. Who was there to meet Rev Sizer at the airport? None other than Dr Javad Sharbaf, infamous for inviting Robert Faurisson to help him deny the Holocaust! […]

  12. […] you will see that Voice of Palestine is sponsored by the NEDA Institute of Iran, also famed for its courting of Holocaust deniers. Rev Stephen Sizer was a guest of NEDA in Iran back in 2007, as I have already blogged […]

  13. […] you will see that Voice of Palestine is sponsored by the NEDA Institute of Iran, also famed for its courting of Holocaust deniers. Rev Stephen Sizer was a guest of NEDA in Iran back in 2007, as I have already blogged […]

  14. […] Jawad Sharbaf – head of the NEDA Institute in Iran who has previously asked Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson for […]

  15. […] January four days after White’s article was published). Days later, Iran’s NEDA Institute approached Robert Faurisson for asssistance with Holocaust denial […]

  16. […] an unfortunate article, especially as any doubt was removed a few months later when Iran held a Holocaust denial conference; and of course Seismic Shock is within his rights to quote it with some relish. But the […]

  17. […] January 2006, Dr Jawad Shabarf wrote to Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson on behalf of the NEDA Institute. You can read Shabarf’s corresponse with Faurisson on a Google Cache of the neo-Nazi […]

  18. […] January 2006, Dr Jawad Shabarf wrote to Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson on behalf of the NEDA Institute. You can read Shabarf’s corresponse with Faurisson on a Google Cache of the neo-Nazi […]

  19. […] by Mostafavi. His tour was organised by Dr. Jawad Shabarf, who heads up the NEDA institute. TheNEDA institute has previously called on the services, of Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson, to help organise the […]

  20. […] Tobin in Indonesia. Stephen Sizer also attended this conference in Indonesia, as did Iranian Holocaust denier and Faurisson admirer Jawad […]

  21. […] the conference was organised by the Iranian promoters of Holocaust denial Jawad Sharbaf and Zahra Mostafavi – it appears that Alex Awad is without […]

  22. […] a long-time ally of the Iranian government, and has admired their policy on Holocaust denial since2000. Faurisson appeared at the outrageous 2006 Iranian conference questioning the Holocaust, where […]

  23. […] ally of the Iranian government, and has admired their policy on Holocaust denial since 2000. Faurisson appeared at the outrageous 2006 Iranian conference questioning the Holocaust, where […]

  24. […] ally of the Iranian government, and has admired their policy on Holocaust denial since 2000. Faurisson appeared at the outrageous 2006 Iranian conference questioning the Holocaust, where […]

  25. […] government, yet three members of the Neda Institute in Iran are attending the conference. The Neda Institute creates links between Iran and Holocaust […]

  26. […] government, yet three members of the Neda Institute in Iran are attending the conference. The Neda Institute creates links between Iran and Holocaust […]

  27. […] government, yet three members of the Neda Institute in Iran are attending the conference. The Neda Institute creates links between Iran and Holocaust deniers.} Share […]

  28. […] visit to Iran, when he was invited by the Holocaust-denying NEDA Institute. There he exchanged gifts with terror-supporting Zahra Mostafavi. During the Iran trip, he was […]

  29. […] members of the Neda Institute in Iran also attended the conference. The Neda Institute creates links between Iran and Holocaust deniers. The Neda Institute had itself previously invited […]

  30. […] members of the Neda Institute in Iran also attended the conference. The Neda Institute creates links between Iran and Holocaust deniers. The Neda Institute had itself previously invited […]

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