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In years of hard work, we’ve established the IHR on the front line in the struggle for freedom and historical truth – reaching activists, students, educators and opinion makers across the US and around the world with solid information and sound perspective.
To everyone who’s helped make 2024 another productive year, Thank You!
Mark Weber
And the IHR Team
IHR News & Views
Historian Mark Weber and host Fróði Midjord provide informed “big picture” perspective on current events, highlighting the broader trends and crucial factors behind the headlines.
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The Spanish Inquisition and the Jewish Question
Brian Chalmers
It is nearly impossible to dig into any chapter of Jewish history without uncovering lessons for our own age. Spain during the 15th and 16th centuries is a particularly striking example. Even today, our view of this period, and particularly of the Spanish Inquisition, colors our attitudes regarding relations between Jews and non-Jews. The Inquisition is considered one of Jewish history’s darkest chapters — and one of Christian history’s most shameful.
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On the Importance of Revisionism For Our Time
Murray Rothbard
Revisionism as applied to World War II and its origins (as also for previous wars) has the general function of bringing historical truth to an American and a world public that had been drugged by wartime lies and propaganda … Revisionism brings to the artificial frenzy of daily events and day-to-day propaganda, the cool but in the last analysis glorious light of historical truth. Such truth is almost desperately needed in today’s world.
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Why Germany Attacked the Soviet Union
Institute for Historical Review
As dawn was breaking on Sunday morning, June 22, 1941, military forces of Germany, Finland and Romania suddenly struck against the Soviet Union. The stunning news of this attack was announced to the world by German radio at 5:30 that Sunday morning, when Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels broadcast the text of a proclamation by Adolf Hitler to the German people that laid out his reasons for the historic offensive. Following that was the broadcast of Germany’s declaration of war against the Soviet Union. This was in the form of a diplomatic note to the Soviet government. Because Hitler’s proclamation and the German Foreign Office declaration explain at some length the reasons and motives for the fateful decision to strike against the USSR, these are documents of historic importance. With a foreword by Mark Weber.
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In a remarkable but under-reported address, one of America’s most prominent and influential political figures has acknowledged the “immense” and “outsized” Jewish role in the US mass media and cultural life. Joe Biden – now President of the U.S. – said that this has been the single most important factor in shaping American attitudes over the past century, and in driving major cultural-political changes. “Jewish heritage has shaped who we are – all of us – as much or more than any other factor in the last 223 years. And that’s a fact,” Joe Biden told a gathering of Jewish leaders in Washington, DC … “Behind of all that, I bet you 85 percent of those [major social-political] changes, whether it’s in Hollywood or social media, are a consequence of Jewish leaders in the industry. The influence is immense … And, I might add, it is all to the good,” he went on.
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Over the centuries, rage and hostility against Jews has repeatedly erupted in terrible violence. Again and again, Jews have been driven out of countries where they’d been living. Why does anti-Semitism exist? And why has furious hostility toward Jews broken out, again and again, in the most varied nations, eras and cultures? … Anti-Semitism is not a mysterious “disease.” As Herzl and Weizmann suggested, and as history shows, what is often called anti-Semitism is the natural and understandable attitude of people toward a minority with particularist loyalties that wields greatly disproportionate power for its own interests, rather than for the common good.
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How accurate is this hallowed portrayal of America’s role in World War II? As we shall see, it does not hold up under close examination … The three Allied leaders accomplished what they accused the Axis leaders of Germany, Italy and Japan of conspiring to achieve: world domination … Presidential deception to justify war did not start with George W. Bush. Americans who express admiration for the US role in World War II, and for Franklin Roosevelt’s presidential leadership, have little moral right to complain when presidents follow his example and lead the country into war by breaking the law, subverting the Constitution, and lying to the people.
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Stalin's War Against His Own Troops
Yuri Teplyakov
… In August 1941 Hitler permitted a Red Cross delegation to visit the camp for Soviet POWs in Hammerstadt. It is these contacts that resulted in an appeal to the Soviet government, requesting that it should send food parcels for our officers and men. We are prepared to fulfill and comply with the norms of the Geneva convention, Moscow said in its reply, but sending food in the given situation and under fascist control is the same as making presents to the enemy … How great was Stalin’s hatred for those who had found themselves behind enemy lines. It made no difference: who, where, how and why? Even the dead were considered to be criminals.
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Zionism and the Third Reich
Mark Weber
A little-known chapter of history is the wide-ranging collaboration between Zionism and Hitler’s Third Reich. During the 1930s, Jewish Zionists and German National Socialists shared similar views on how to deal with the “Jewish Question.” They agreed that Jews and Germans were distinctly different nationalities, and that Jews did not belong in Germany. During the 1930s no nation did more to substantively further Jewish-Zionist goals than Hitler’s Germany.
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Our Job in a Time of Crisis
Institute for Historical Review
Mark Weber explains why the work of the IHR in countering the forces of historical deceit, bigotry and cultural distortion is vitally important. An awareness of factual history is essential to an understanding of ourselves and the great issues of our age, says the IHR director in this five-minute video presentation. Unless and until the interests that have gripped our nation are clearly identified and discredited, he says, there will be no change in basic policies or direction.
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What Christians Don’t Know About Israel
Grace Halsell
American Jews sympathetic to Israel dominate key positions in all areas of our government where decisions are made regarding the Middle East. This being the case, is there any hope of ever changing U.S. policy? … The answer to achieving an even-handed Middle East policy might lie elsewhere — among those who support Israel but don’t really know why. This group is the vast majority of Americans. They are well-meaning, fair-minded Christians who feel bonded to Israel – and Zionism – often from atavistic feelings, in some cases dating from childhood.
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The Boer War Remembered
Mark Weber
The Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 was more than the first major military clash of the 20th century. Pitting as it did the might of the globe-girdling British Empire, backed by international finance, against a small pioneering nation of independent-minded farmers, ranchers and merchants in southern Africa who lived by the Bible and the rifle, its legacy continues to resonate today. The Boers’ recourse to irregular warfare, and Britain’s response in herding a hundred thousand women and children into concentration camps foreshadowed the horrors of guerilla warfare and mass detention of innocents that have become emblematic of the 20th century.
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… With the aid of the civilian population, mass graves had been discovered, in which thousands of corpses had been buried. These graves were to be opened and the commission was to establish whom the [Soviet] NKVD had murdered … The exhumations in Vinnytsia began on May 25, 1943, and were carried on in three places. The [local] population was of the opinion that there were around 20,000 victims in the war years … I had been a soldier in the Ukrainian army during the First World War and had seen many men killed in battle, but what I had then seen can in no way be compared with what I witnessed in that park … The horror of Vinnytsia I shall never forget, and it is doubtful whether ever a Dante would be able to portray the agony that had taken place.
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A Straight Look at the Jewish Lobby
Mark Weber
… Jews wield immense power and influence in the United States. The “Jewish lobby” is a decisive factor in US support for Israel. Jewish-Zionist interests are not identical to American interests. In fact, they often conflict. As long as the “very powerful” Jewish lobby remains entrenched, there will be no end to the Jewish-Zionist grip on the US political system and the American media, the Zionist oppression of Palestinians, and the Israeli threat to peace.
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Liberating America From Israel
Paul Findley
Nine-Eleven would not have occurred if the U.S. government had refused to help Israel humiliate and destroy Palestinian society. Few express this conclusion publicly, but many believe it is the truth. I believe the 9/11 catastrophe could have been prevented if any U.S. president in recent decades had had the courage and wisdom to suspend all U.S. aid until Israel withdrew from the Arab land seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The U.S. lobby for Israel is powerful and intimidating, but any determined president could prevail and win overwhelming public support for the suspension of aid by laying these facts before the American people.
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Suggested Reading: A Study Guide
Mark Weber
In an age when vast amounts of information from a wide range of sources are instantly available online, it can be difficult to sort out what’s reliable, useful, and trustworthy. In response to many inquiries over the years, here are recommended books on five important historical topics: The Second World War, American History, International Relations, Communism, Marxism and the Soviet Union, and, Zionism, US-Israel Relations, and the ‘Jewish Question.’ This listing is neither exhaustive nor final. Additional subject categories and titles are planned, and descriptions may be revised or updated.
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YouTube Censors 'Restrict' IHR Videos
Institute for Historical Review
In line with a recent crackdown policy, YouTube has “restricted” a number of independently produced videos of IHR talks and presentations. To watch a “restricted” video, the viewer must first click through a warning screen. Also, comments on the video are not allowed, and the number of views is not given. Even worse, YouTube will never “suggest” a “restricted” video to viewers, which is how many people find our videos. While YouTube claims that its “restriction” policy is aimed at videos with “inflammatory religious or supremacist content,” applying it to IHR videos is absurd. YouTube restricts our voice not because we have violated any objective standards, or because we have done anything wrong or illegal — but because it doesn’t like what we say.
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Straight Talk About Zionism
Mark Weber
… A Zionist Jew, by definition, owes his primary loyalty to the Jewish community and to Israel. Zionism is not compatible with patriotism to any country or entity other than Israel and the world Jewish community … Zionist Jews and their non-Jewish supporters embrace a blatant double standard. Jewish-Zionist organizations, along with their non-Jewish allies, support one social-political ideology for Israel and the world Jewish community, and a completely different one for the United States and other non-Jewish countries. They insist that ethnic nationalism is evil and bad for non-Jews, while at the same time they vigorously support ethnic nationalism — that is, Zionism — for Jews.
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The Civil War Concentration Camps
Mark Weber
No aspect of the American Civil War left behind a greater legacy of bitterness and acrimony than the treatment of prisoners of war. “Andersonville” still conjures up images of horror unmatched in American History. And although Northern partisans still invoke the infamous Southern camp to defame the Confederacy, the Union had its share of equally horrific camps. Prison camps on both sides produced scenes of wretched, disease-ridden and emaciated prisoners as repulsive as any to come out of the Second World War … In addition to camps for captured soldiers, the North also established concentration camps for civilian populations considered hostile to the Federal government.
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… Judaism is not just “another religion.” It’s unique among the world’s major religions. The core values and ethos of Judaism are markedly unlike those of Christianity, Islam, and the other great faiths … A core message of the Hebrew scriptures is that Jews are a divinely “chosen” people — a unique community distinct from the rest of humanity … The seemingly intractable Middle East conflict is more than just a problem of Zionism or politics, or a dispute over land. Israel’s often arrogant policies, and especially its inhumane treatment of non-Jews, have roots in centuries-old attitudes that are laid out in ancient Jewish religious writings.
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Abraham Lincoln and the Issue of Race
Robert Morgan
Many Americans think of Abraham Lincoln, above all, as the president who freed the slaves. Immortalized as the “Great Emancipator,” he is widely regarded as a champion of black freedom who supported social equality of the races, and who fought the American Civil War to free the slaves. While it is true that Lincoln regarded slavery as an evil and harmful institution, it also true, as this paper will show, that he shared the conviction of most Americans of his time, and of many prominent statesmen before and after him, that blacks could not be assimilated into white society. He rejected the notion of social equality of the races, and held to the view that blacks should be resettled abroad.
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The Past Marches On
George Morgenstern (1953)
… Add to these the operations of an organized propaganda capable, apparently, of doping Americans into belief in any myth, and there is formidable reason why public opinion should be so stupefied and stultified that the nation can be led from war to war in pursuit of ever retreating goals. Yet, despite the general numbness, Americans, surveying the results of half a century of intermeddling, dimly perceive that all is not well.
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Why I Survived the A-Bomb
Akira Kohchi
Hiroshima native Kohchi was a 16-year-old schoolboy when his city was devastated by the first nuclear attack in history. He tells the dramatic, personal story of how he experienced and survived the bombing, and provides a moving account of his search for his family through the burning rubble of the doomed city. Then Kohchi recalls how, years later, he forced himself to come to grips with his past and uncover the facts about the bombing and the history the led up to it. The author’s frankness and humane spirit make this a first-hand Japanese account of a war crime that dwarfs almost all others. A unique revisionist classic. Praised by the Japan Times newspaper as a “noteworthy” and “authentic” personal account, and by Bookwatch newsletter as a “moving, gripping account.” With full color dust jacket, photos and notes
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Machinations of the Anti-Defamation League
Paul N. (Pete) McCloskey, Jr.
I was in politics for fifteen years, and I think you should start with the assumption: never trust a politician … When people finally learn the truth, they turn against those who have been lying to them. And I think that if the movement of which you people are the cutting edge can retain dispassion in the face of outrages, setbacks and humiliations, the truth can ultimately prevail. You are doing something worse than criticizing the government of the United States; you’re threatening the security of the state of Israel. And the Jewish community is dedicated to preserve that state, and to destroy those who speak against it. Good luck!
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No figure of modern French history is as honored as Charles de Gaulle … In 1940 he refused to accept his country’s defeat by Germany, and from London he founded and led the pro-Allied “Free French” force during World War II. From 1944 to 1946 he headed the provisional government of France. In 1958 he was called from retirement by popular acclaim to resolve the seemingly unsolvable crisis over Algeria … During the years that he dominated his country’s political life – 1958-1969 – he charted an independent foreign policy, tied neither to the US nor the USSR, and strove to make France the preeminent nation in Europe … It’s impossible to read any lengthy biography of this man without admiration for his audacious self-confidence, courage, determination, and cunning.
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The Origins of the Second World War: A Review
Murray N. Rothbard
It is not often that one is privileged to review a book of monumental import, a truly significant “breakthrough” from obscurantism to historical knowledge and insight. But such a book is the magnificent work by A.J .P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War … The central theme of Taylor is simply this: Germany and Hitler were not uniquely guilty of launching World War II (indeed they were scarcely guilty at all) … Basically, Hitler has no “master plan”; he was a German intent, like all Germans, on revising the intolerable and stupid Versailles-diktat, and on doing so by peaceful means, and in collaboration with the British and French … Not only did Hitler do this with insight, he did it with patience, as Taylor excellently shows …
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Zionism’s Violent Legacy
Donald Neff
… The Irgun was not the only Jewish terrorist group but it was the most active in causing indiscriminate terror in pre-Israel Palestine. Up to the time of the Jaffa attack, its most spectacular feat had been the July 22, 1946, blowing up of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, with the killing of 91 people – 41 Arabs, 28 Britons and 17 Jews. The other major Jewish terrorist group operating in Palestine in the 1940s was the Lohamei Herut Israel – “Fighters for the Freedom of Israel,” Lehi in the Hebrew acronym – also known as the Stern Gang after its fanatical founder Avraham Stern.
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Collusion: Franklin Roosevelt, British Intelligence, and the Secret Campaign to Push the US Into War
Mark Weber
Secretive and unlawful collusion by an American leader with a foreign power that subverts the US political process is not new. The most far-reaching and flagrant case was by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1940-41. In the months before the US formally entered the war in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt did everything he could to get America into the global conflict without actually declaring war. The cooperation with British intelligence by the President and other high-ranking US officials during that period was quite illegal. Such collusion by the nominally neutral US to further the war aims of a foreign government was contrary to both US law and universally accepted international norms.
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More than once I have come across the view that if British lads of the 1940s could have foreseen the state of their country today, they would never have bothered to fight the Second World War. Few of those who have heard that view may realize that there is empirical evidence to support it … The prevailing tone of their letters is one of bitterness over what had become of the county they once cherished. Of the four or five most often voiced complaints, the most common is over mass migration from other countries and continents, and how that has drastically changed British life, culture and society … “The men who offered their lives have been betrayed and gave their lives in vain. Most of the older people say thank goodness we are ending our lives. It is no longer the Britain that we fought for.”
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Tactics of Organized Jewry in Suppressing Free Speech
Prof. Tony Martin – Institute for Historical Review
… I’m going to try to extract from my experience certain basic sort of tactics that I think the Jewish lobby has used over the years pertaining to my particular situation … The first and major tactic that I discovered in their attack on me was their reliance on lies — just straight-up lies. There’s no other way to describe it, just telling lies. Many of the categories that I will enumerate overlap, and many of them could also come under this general rubric of telling lies. But I think that if one had to isolate a single tactic, it was a tactic of telling lies. I think they’ve elevated telling lies to a very high artistic form.
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The Ethics of War: Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Gregory P. Pavlik
Since the last “good war,” a debate has ensued over the moral legitimacy of the use of nuclear weapons, particularly against civilians. The critics hold that it is a crime to incinerate civilians en masse; defenders commonly claim that the bombing was necessary to bring the war to a close, thereby saving countless American lives. Most of those who make this claim do so in earnest. The problem is that this defense is both historically false, and taken to its logical conclusion, extremely dangerous … The U.S. War Department and related agencies that specialized in producing hate propaganda and lies developed specifically racialist attacks on the Japanese.
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How Hitler Tackled Unemployment
Mark Weber
To deal with the massive unemployment and economic paralysis of the Great Depression, both the US and German governments launched innovative and ambitious programs. Although President Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” measures helped only marginally, the Third Reich’s much more focused and comprehensive policies proved remarkably effective. Within three years unemployment was banished and Germany’s economy was flourishing. And while Roosevelt’s record in dealing with the Depression is pretty well known, the remarkable story of how Hitler tackled the crisis is not widely understood or appreciated.
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… While it’s an artistic achievement and grand entertainment, “Darkest Hour” is badly flawed history … “Darkest Hour” reinforces the widespread belief that Churchill’s speeches played a crucial role in sustaining British morale. A scholar who has carefully looked into the matter has found that this view is largely a myth … “Darkest Hour” reinforces the widely held impression, which Churchill himself encouraged, that an honorable or lasting peace with Hitler was simply not possible. But as he himself later acknowledged, that’s simply not true … The British leader’s famous “We shall never surrender” speech was little more than “sublime nonsense,” says British historian John Charmley.
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The Forced War: When Peaceful Revision Failed
David L. Hoggan
Completely reset, expanded and reformatted new IHR edition! In this important, detailed study of the origins of the Second World War, Dr. Hoggan explains why Hitler decided to attack Poland in 1939, and examines the short-sighted policies that made war all but inevitable. The author dismantles the often-repeated charge of sole German responsibility for the war, which for many years has been a centerpiece of the prevailing narrative of twentieth century history. The eminent American historian Harry E. Barnes called this “the first thorough study of the responsibility for the causes of the Second World War in any language … likely to remain the definitive revisionist work on this subject for many years.” With an introduction by Mark Weber, dust jacket, detailed index, source notes, extensive bibliography, map, and 30 photographs. Also available in softcover edition.
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Was Hiroshima Necessary?
Mark Weber
America’s leaders understood Japan’s desperate position: the Japanese were willing to end the war on any terms, as long as the Emperor was not molested. If the US leadership had not insisted on unconditional surrender — that is, if they had made clear a willingness to permit the Emperor to remain in place — the Japanese very likely would have surrendered immediately, thus saving many thousands of lives … General Curtis LeMay, who had pioneered precision bombing of Germany and Japan (and who later headed the Strategic Air Command and served as Air Force chief of staff), put it most succinctly: “The atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war.”
News & Comment
No Bad Peace, No Good Wars
Eric Margolis
… I consider World War I as the greatest tragedy to befall civilization… At least 17 million died in World War I, not counting China or India. This conflict was the direct result of Serbia’s efforts to draw Russia into war with Austria- Hungary, as well as Great Britain’s efforts to crush growing strategic rival Germany and France’s lust to reconquer Alsace Lorraine. Germany struck first in fear of being surrounded and crushed by Europe’s two leading military powers, France and Russia. 19h century Europe was the highwater mark of world civilization. Germany was the most socially progressive nation in Europe … The horrors we are seeing today in Gaza and Lebanon resemble the fate of German and Japanese cities in WWII brought on by massive l American and British firebombing of half of their cities.
On Christmas, Pope Doubles Down, Slamming Israel `Cruelty’
K. B. Vlahos - Responsible Statecraft
Roman Catholic Pope Francis drew the ire of the Israeli government on the eve of Christmas week by calling the bombing and killing of children “cruelty.” … The airstrikes, particularly on Gaza’s remaining hospitals and tent encampments housing displaced people, have been a daily occurrence. “Yesterday children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war,” the pope told members of the government of the Holy See … The pope doubled down, remarking Sunday: “And with pain, I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children being machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals. What cruelty,” the pope said after his weekly Angelus prayer. He also called for a “ceasefire on all fronts, in Ukraine, in the Holy Land, throughout the Middle East and throughout the world.”
Mass Immigration is Killing Europe – and the Political Class Just Don’t Care
Douglas Murray - The Telegraph
… If 100,000 white British people moved to Pakistan every year, adding to an already extensive community of white British people in Pakistan, these people would be accused of “colonisation” and more. But when people from countries like Pakistan move in such large numbers to the UK we are told it is “diversity” … Terrorist outrages, criminal gangs, knife crime and much more are the mere tip of the problem. And even that is something much of the media and political class will not mention. The bigger problem is that if you keep immigration at such levels, fail to even deter illegal boat arrivals and stop considering the remigration of people who should not be here, it is not just that you betray your voters. You don’t really have a country any more.
German Nationalists Protest in Magdeburg After Christmas Market Attack
Video - The Independent
Hundreds of nationalists gathered in the German city of Magdeburg to protest the attack on a Christmas market by an Arab immigrant in which five were killed – including a child – and more than 200 were injured, some seriously. The protest rally on Saturday night, Dec. 21, was organized by the nationalist group “Heimat” (“Homeland”) and its youth branch “Junge Nationalisten” (“Young Nationalists”). Protesters chanted “We are the people,” and “Those who do not love Germany should leave Germany.” They carried a large banner emblazoned with the word “Remigration.” A Saudi Arabian who had been living in Germany for years carried out the attack. Runtime: 1 min.
State Department’s `Global Engagement Center,’ Accused of Censoring Americans, Shuts Down
Fox News
The State Department’s foreign disinformation center, accused by conservatives of censoring U.S. citizens, shut its doors due to lack of funding this week. Elon Musk had deemed the Global Engagement Center (GEC), established in 2016, the “worst offender in U.S. government censorship & media manipulation,” and its funding was stripped as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the Pentagon’s yearly policy bill. “The Global Engagement Center will terminate by operation of law [by the end of the day] on December 23, 2024,” a State Department spokesperson said … The agency had a budget of around $61 million and 120 people on staff.
Palestinian Christians Struggle to Find Hope at Christmas
BBC News
The little town of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank has good reason to consider itself the capital of Christmas, but this year it does not feel like it. There are very few visitors at what is typically a peak time. There are not the usual cheerful street decorations nor the giant Christmas tree in front of the Nativity Church … Public celebrations of Christmas have been cancelled for a second year because of the war in Gaza … “This should be a time of joy and celebration,” comments Rev. Dr Munther Isaac, a local Lutheran pastor … “It’s hard to believe that another Christmas has come upon us and the genocide has not stopped,” Isaac said … Many Bethlehemite Christians I meet feel despair and question what they see as the failure of other Christian communities around the world to speak out.
Christmas Night in Tehran – What You Didn’t Expect!
Video - Reza and Mahsa Travellers
Iranians mark Christmas in Tehran. The holiday spirit is alive in Iran’s capital city, as people experience the vibrant holiday mood, with Christmas trees, dazzling lights and decorations, festive music, and delicious food. One street in Tehran is particularly well known for its Christmas displays and offerings. There are about 600 Christian churches in Iran. Runtime: 18:50 mins.
Oldest Known Alphabet Unearthed in Ancient Syrian City
Johns Hopkins University
What appears to be evidence of the oldest alphabetic writing in human history is etched onto finger-length, clay cylinders excavated from a tomb in Syria by a team of Johns Hopkins University researchers. The writing, which is dated to around 2400 BCE, precedes other known alphabetic scripts by roughly 500 years, upending what archaeologists know about where alphabets came from, how they are shared across societies, and what that could mean for early urban civilizations … “Previously, scholars thought the alphabet was invented in or around Egypt sometime after 1900 BCE,” Schwartz said. “But our artifacts are older and from a different area on the map, suggesting the alphabet may have an entirely different origin story than we thought.”
In Israel-Occupied Bethlehem, Christmas Joy is Hard to Find
AFP
On Bethlehem’s Manger Square, Christmas decorations and pilgrims are notably absent for a second wartime festive season in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city. The Church of the Nativity that dominates the square is as empty as the plaza outside. Only the chants of Armenian monks echo from the crypt where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born … Violence across the Israeli-occupied West Bank has surged since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7 last year, but Bethlehem has remained largely quiet … Foreign tourists, on whom Bethlehem’s economy almost entirely relies, stopped coming due to the war. An increase in restrictions on movement, in the form of Israeli checkpoints, is also keeping many Palestinians from visiting.
How the Neocons Won the Transition
James W. Carden - American Conservative
… It is hardly a stretch to observe that the Trump transition, co-chaired by Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon, seems to have set for itself the goal of ensuring that the incoming president will receive the narrowest range of policy alternatives possible. What is emerging is a far cry from either the conservative “America First” nationalism many on the right hoped for, or the Eurasian-style crypto-autocracy many on the Left feared. With the honorable exception of Tulsi Gabbard, who was nominated to serve her country this time as director of national intelligence, the Trump transition has been a triumph for the neoconservative wing off the Republican Party … Thanks to Lutnick, Trump’s foreign policy has been hijacked by those who have never seen a war in which they didn’t want to embroil us.
Syria’s Fragile Hope Is Being Battered by Israel’s Predatory Campaign of Destruction
Gideon Levy - Haaretz (Israel)
… While Syria is groping its way in the dark, Israel has come in aggressively and forcefully, as is its wont, bombing and taking territory, a real hero against the weak and bleeding. It may benefit from its actions, but it’s possible that Syria will recover and not forget who attacked it in its difficult hour, without pretext, without legitimacy … The Syrian people will not forget who exploited its weakness and destroyed its country … Israel is not only destroying the Syrian army; it is also taking pieces of Syrian land at an unknown depth and scope. Let’s leave aside the unbelievable arrogance and insolence of trampling the sovereignty of another country without any pretext while mocking international law. The damage to Israel resulting from seizing this territory is certain to come. These territorial swipes will be the pretext for another war.
Hitler’s War
David Irving – Book available from IHR
Latest edition! / Deluxe hardcover edition of an outstanding historian’s masterful, in-depth look at Adolf Hitler, Third Reich Germany and World War II. With full color dust jacket, photos, source notes, and index. A product of 25 years of dedicated research and unmatched scholarship, written in gripping, page-turning prose, this monumental work traces Hitler’s entire epoch-making career. In this meticulously referenced work – the crowning achievement in the career of a fiercely independent, best-selling historian – Irving demolishes the familiar propaganda image of Hitler and the Third Reich, tearing apart one historical fable after another. Sumptuously illustrated with more than a hundred photographs, including 40 in color.
Vladimir Putin Accuses ‘Ethnic Jews’ of Tearing Apart the Russian Orthodox Church
JTA
Vladimir Putin accused Jews of attacking the Russian Orthodox Church and suggested that they lacked family and “roots,” the latest antisemitic statement from the Russian leader since his 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Putin made the allegation during his lengthy annual press conference … Putin addressed punitive actions against the Russian Orthodox Church elsewhere in Europe. The church is considered to be closely tied to Putin’s regime … Putin said the church was “being tortured” — and blamed Jews. “They’re tearing the church apart but they’re not even atheists,” Putin said. “These are people without any beliefs, godless people, they’re ethnic Jews, but has anyone seen them in a synagogue? I don’t think so.” … He added, “These are people without kin or memory, with no roots. They don’t cherish what we cherish …”
Israeli Soldiers Kill Civilians and Count Them as Terrorists
Dave DeCamp – Antiwar. com
Israeli soldiers stationed in the Netzarim Corridor in the Gaza Strip regularly shoot and kill Palestinian civilians but count them as “terrorists,” [the prominent Israeli daily] Haaretz reported on Wednesday, citing testimony from Israeli commanders and other soldiers. The Netzarim Corridor is a strip of land that separates northern Gaza from central and southern Gaza, where Israeli troops have demolished virtually every building and established military outposts. The Haaretz report says the IDF has designated the area a “kill zone,” meaning any Palestinians who try to cross a certain line are shot and killed even if they’re unarmed. “The forces in the field call it ‘the line of dead bodies,’” a commander in the IDF’s Division 252 told Haaretz.
Israel’s Netanyahu Reportedly Won’t Attend Auschwitz Liberation Anniversary, Fearing Arrest by Poland
The Times of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will avoid traveling to Poland for next month’s events marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp, fearing he may be arrested, according to a Polish report on Friday. The major event is planned for International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27 and is expected to be attended by dozens of leaders and heads of state, including Britain’s King Charles. Polish outlet Rzeczpospolita reported that Israeli authorities have not contacted their Polish counterparts about attending the event, and officials in Warsaw believe the reason is related to Poland’s pledge that it will adhere to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu over possible war crimes in the ongoing conflict with Hamas.
Leave Syria Alone
Daniel Larison
The collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s rule is an opportunity for the US to overhaul its bankrupt Syria policy. The US should have abandoned this policy years earlier, but now there are no longer any pretexts for continuing the collective punishment of the Syrian people and the illegal American military presence on Syrian soil … Congress never authorized any use of force or deployments in Syria, and there is no international mandate for US forces to operate in Syria. The US has been flagrantly violating international law and trampling on Syrian sovereignty for almost a decade. That needs to end at once … Trump has signaled that he has no interest in US involvement in Syrian affairs in the future. That is welcome news if it holds true.
Rand Paul Is Absolutely Right About Getting US Troops Out of Syria
John Nichols – The Nation
Rand Paul has a long history of mounting lonely efforts to reassert the constitutionally defined responsibility of Congress to serve as a check and balance on US military adventurism — a duty that Congress has mostly abdicated for decades. And he did so again last week [Dec. 2023], with a War Powers Resolution proposal to end the American military presence in Syria. This time, however, he wasn’t quite so lonely. A dozen senators from both parties voted for Paul resolution, including some of the chamber’s leading Democrats … The unlikely coalition didn’t prevail … But that didn’t change the fact that Paul and the senators who voted with him were making an important point regarding the ill-defined and seemingly endless US mission in Syria.
How Facebook Restricted News in Palestinian Territories
BBC News
Facebook has severely restricted the ability of Palestinian news outlets to reach an audience during the Israel-Gaza war, according to BBC research. In a comprehensive analysis of Facebook data, we found that newsrooms in the Palestinian territories – in Gaza and the West Bank – had suffered a steep drop in audience engagement since October 2023. The BBC has also seen leaked documents showing that Instagram – another Meta-owned platform – increased its moderation of Palestinian user comments after October 2023 … Since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war, just a few outside reporters have been allowed to enter the Palestinian coastal territory of Gaza from the outside, and they were only able to do so escorted by the Israeli army.
Meta’s Broken Promises: Systemic Censorship of Palestine Content on Instagram and Facebook
Human Rights Watch
Meta’s policies and practices have been silencing voices in support of Palestine and Palestinian human rights on Instagram and Facebook in a wave of heightened censorship of social media amid the hostilities between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups that began on October 7, 2023. This systemic online censorship has risen against the backdrop of unprecedented violence … Between October and November 2023, Human Rights Watch documented over 1,050 takedowns and other suppression of content Instagram and Facebook that had been posted by Palestinians and their supporters, including about human rights abuses … Hundreds of people continued to report censorship after Human Rights Watch completed its analysis for this report …
An Overdue Look at Hitler’s Social and Economic Thinking
F. Roger Devlin – Institute for Historical Review
Rainer Zitelmann’s book Hitler’s National Socialism is a surprising and important contribution to our understanding of the Third Reich, and deserves to be better known. For many years after the war, most historians either misrepresented Adolf Hitler’s views on social and economic questions or dismissed them as unimportant and incoherent … The often-repeated claim that Hitler was a “far right” leader, and that National Socialism was a “right-wing” ideology is just one of the many widely-accepted historical myths that Rainer Zitelmann diligently identifies and deftly debunks … No one who is seriously interested in understanding just why Hitler and NS Germany won such broad and fervent support can afford to ignore this bold, eye-opening and admirably researched work.
No Bad Peace, No Good Wars
Eric Margolis
… I consider World War I as the greatest tragedy to befall civilization… At least 17 million died in World War I, not counting China or India. This conflict was the direct result of Serbia’s efforts to draw Russia into war with Austria- Hungary, as well as Great Britain’s efforts to crush growing strategic rival Germany and France’s lust to reconquer Alsace Lorraine. Germany struck first in fear of being surrounded and crushed by Europe’s two leading military powers, France and Russia. 19h century Europe was the highwater mark of world civilization. Germany was the most socially progressive nation in Europe … The horrors we are seeing today in Gaza and Lebanon resemble the fate of German and Japanese cities in WWII brought on by massive l American and British firebombing of half of their cities.
On Christmas, Pope Doubles Down, Slamming Israel `Cruelty’
K. B. Vlahos - Responsible Statecraft
Roman Catholic Pope Francis drew the ire of the Israeli government on the eve of Christmas week by calling the bombing and killing of children “cruelty.” … The airstrikes, particularly on Gaza’s remaining hospitals and tent encampments housing displaced people, have been a daily occurrence. “Yesterday children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war,” the pope told members of the government of the Holy See … The pope doubled down, remarking Sunday: “And with pain, I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children being machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals. What cruelty,” the pope said after his weekly Angelus prayer. He also called for a “ceasefire on all fronts, in Ukraine, in the Holy Land, throughout the Middle East and throughout the world.”
Mass Immigration is Killing Europe – and the Political Class Just Don’t Care
Douglas Murray - The Telegraph
… If 100,000 white British people moved to Pakistan every year, adding to an already extensive community of white British people in Pakistan, these people would be accused of “colonisation” and more. But when people from countries like Pakistan move in such large numbers to the UK we are told it is “diversity” … Terrorist outrages, criminal gangs, knife crime and much more are the mere tip of the problem. And even that is something much of the media and political class will not mention. The bigger problem is that if you keep immigration at such levels, fail to even deter illegal boat arrivals and stop considering the remigration of people who should not be here, it is not just that you betray your voters. You don’t really have a country any more.
German Nationalists Protest in Magdeburg After Christmas Market Attack
Video - The Independent
Hundreds of nationalists gathered in the German city of Magdeburg to protest the attack on a Christmas market by an Arab immigrant in which five were killed – including a child – and more than 200 were injured, some seriously. The protest rally on Saturday night, Dec. 21, was organized by the nationalist group “Heimat” (“Homeland”) and its youth branch “Junge Nationalisten” (“Young Nationalists”). Protesters chanted “We are the people,” and “Those who do not love Germany should leave Germany.” They carried a large banner emblazoned with the word “Remigration.” A Saudi Arabian who had been living in Germany for years carried out the attack. Runtime: 1 min.