NEWS.COM.AU
MEGAN PALIN
A LEADING civil rights organisation has called on Amazon Australia to pull “anti-Semitic and Holocaust denial books” from its site.
Books including Did Six Million Really Die?’, The Hoax of the Twentieth Century, The Jew as Criminal and The Myth of the Extermination of the Jews are available for purchase on the site. They vary in cost from $1 to more than $20.
In the book The Six Million: Fact or Fiction author, Peter Winter, accuses Holocaust survivors of “outright lies and forgery”.
Amazon Australia — an arm of the world’s biggest online book seller — could not be contacted for comment by news.com.au.
Dr Dvir Abramovich, the chairman of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission, a Jewish civil rights organisation, told news.com.au that Amazon Australia “should not be a hothouse and a cesspool of racism and xenophobia”.
“(It’s) a gateway for young people to enter a world of hatred,” he said.
“It is inexcusable for Amazon Australia to serve as platform for bigots to disseminate and propagate their toxic and harmful invective.”
Six million Jews were killed by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany in German occupied territories during World War II. An estimated five million non-Jewish people were also murdered.
Dr Abramovich said the sale and consumption of the books promoted continued hatred against Jewish people.
“By demonising and defaming them, that denies and trivialises the Holocaust, and which foments racial violence and should not be normalised and mainstreamed,” he said.
“It’s revolting to think that Amazon Australia is profiting from its selling of this noxious material to a potential audience of billions.”
The site also promotes recommended reading of anti-semitic books including The Jews and Their Lies and The Synagogue of Satan to readers through ‘others also bought’ alerts.
Dr Abramovich said the “despicable writings” contained “blood-curling excerpts and … testimonials from readers who usually laud the lies and conspiracy theories that the books try to spread”.
“Companies have a moral responsibility and should review and evaluate their practises and guidelines,” he said.
“We urge Amazon Australia to do the right thing, and to withdraw these titles from its virtual shelves immediately.”
INCREASED CONCERNS ABOUT ANTI-SEMITISM
While many Amazon reviewers have left scathing comments on the website others have applauded the authors for their work.
One review said that The Six Million: Fact or Fiction paperback was an “excellent source of information” while another claimed The Six Million: Fact or Fiction was a “must read in these times of long accepted facts”.
“I am sure that Neo-Nazis, racists and radical groups, who cannot offer their heinous materials to traditional publishers, are delighted that this vile content — which glorifies Nazis and white supremacists and which dehumanises Jews and other minorities — is available in hard copy and e-book format for mass consumption,” Dr Abromovich said.
On Monday, bomb threats were phoned to 11 Jewish community centres across the US.
No bombs were found and no arrests have been made, but the threats — along with similar threats over recent months at other centres — created fear and uncertainty among Jewish people.
Also on Monday, roughly 200 headstones were found knocked over or broken at a Jewish cemetery in suburban St. Louis.
Jewish groups and others were upset in January when a White House statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day failed to mention Jews. Aides to the President defended the statement as “inclusive” of all who were killed by the Nazis.
US President Donald Trump denounced threats against Jewish community centres as “horrible” and “painful,” saying more needed to be done “to root out hate and prejudice and evil.” Speaking after a tour of the newly opened National Museum of African-American History and Culture, Trump said: “This tour was a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms.”