The Jewish Chronicle article “Emails reveal row within Labour Against The Witchhunt over member’s support for Holocaust denier” is both inaccurate and slanderous. It features me, Pete Gregson, and claims I support a Holocaust denier. Since the Chronicle is regulated by IPSO, I have lodged a complaint against them.
I pointed out their story is utterly untrue. I have never supported a Holocaust denier. The article was based on this posting “Tony Greenstein and John Porter – the Spat“on my website which came about as result of my posting on the Change.org website mentioning Ian Fantom’s work. I pointed out to IPSO the following:
Firstly, Kollerstrom does not deny the Holocaust. He is a sceptic.
According to the dictionary: a sceptic is one who is “not easily convinced; having doubts or reservations.”
A denier is “a person who denies something, especially someone who refuses to admit the truth of a concept or proposition that is supported by the majority of scientific or historical evidence.”
If one goes to this Youtube video at https://youtu.be/a9ky5Xzmyzg one can see Kollerstrom’s statement. A sceptic is quite different from a denier. It is an extremely serious matter to accuse someone of Holocaust denial when they are not.
Also I do not support him. I state in my website posting that his view was “not something I agree with” and I referred to his article in my Change.org posting as “quite toxic”.
I defend his right to free speech, solely.
The article also states that Ian Fantom writes approvingly of Dr Nick Kollerstrom – author of The Auschwitz ‘Gas Chamber’ Illusion. This is also untrue. He does not. He says “I myself had no knowledge of the topic, and so no views on it.”
Although at the end the article mentions I support free speech, the claims it makes at the beginning are slanderous.
IPSO are presently assessing my complaint. In addition, I am exploring litigation against the Chronicle for defamation.
I leave readers with two tales about the Jewish Chronicle on the subject of “bogus anti-Semitism”.
The first, is from August 9, 2018 “Labour member wins IPSO complaint against Jewish Chronicle after telling newspaper he is not a Holocaust denier” and is about campaigner Mike Sivier’s experience.
https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/labour-member-wins-ipso-complaint-against-jewish-chronicle-after-telling-newspaper-he-is-not-a-holocaust-denier/
The second is the Mondoweiss article published on the 22nd April 2019 and is about what campaigner Tom Suarez suffered: “Challenging smears by the ‘Jewish Chronicle’“