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Holocaustian Leader Seeks Jail for Holocaust Deniers

Where is the communal Jewish outrage?

The JTA reports that Elie Wiesel spoke last week,

 

 … at a "Jewish Hungarian Solidarity Symposium" of Hungarian political and Jewish leaders held at Parliament. […] He added, "I ask you, why don’t you follow the example of France and Germany and declare Holocaust denial not only indecent but illegal? In those countries, Holocaust deniers go to jail.

 

While I do not seek to jail Wiesel for what he said, I would note that this policy is (or at least, should be considered) contrary to the American Jewish community’s position. There are many reasons why jailing Holocaust deniers is a very bad idea. For instance, it breeds conspiracy theory, inviting less unreasonable people to question why there is such a peculiar and specific law.

But it is also morally wrong to do so, if you happen to believe in free speech.

Novelists should anyway not be elevated to the status of political leaders. They usually are not. This was a form of affirmative action. Wiesel is not a political leader because of what he did, but rather, because of his flair for detailing what was done to him.

But his ways are not our ways. And still he is allowed to speak for us.

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