Back
Defying New Efforts to Shut Us Down
LOOKING AHEAD IN A YEAR OF CHALLENGE
An Update From Mark Weber
Director, Institute for Historical Review
March 2021
We’ve always understood that our work promoting historical awareness and unmasking the enemies of peace and understanding enrages powerful groups that smear us, and keep trying to take us down.
We’re not discouraged by the hate campaign against us. We regard it as a badge of honor.
They target us because we’re effective.
Now we’re up against what may be the greatest threat we’ve ever faced.
The new president and his fervently pro-Zionist administration, supported by the mainstream media, have made clear their eagerness to crack down on what they call “extremism.” And given that major Zionist groups have for years targeted the IHR as a particularly prominent “extremist” organization, we’re bracing ourselves for new efforts to silence us.
The high-level administration posts to which President Biden has named Zionist Jews include Secretary of State, Treasury Secretary, Attorney General, Homeland Security Secretary, Director of National Intelligence, and White House Chief of Staff.
This hardly surprising given that Joe Biden has himself openly praised what he calls the “immense” and “outsized” Jewish role in shaping American public life. “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,” he told a gathering of Jewish leaders on May 21, 2013. “Think – 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,” Biden said. “The influence is immense, the influence is immense. And, I might add, it is all to the good.”
Over the years we’ve withstood many efforts to shut us down.
In July 1984 the Jewish Defense League, a group that the FBI identified as a terrorist organization, destroyed our offices in an arson attack. No one was ever charged for the crime, although the perpetrators were later arrested for other offenses.
YouTube, the dominant video platform, more recently banned many videos of IHR lectures and podcasts, and Google, the premier online search service, severely restricted access to hundreds of IHR articles, reviews and other postings.
Last September the company that had been handling our credit card payments and donations for two years suddenly and without explanation cancelled our account. That’s the fourth time a company that handles our credit card processing had abruptly cut its service with us. (Fortunately, we had already lined up an alternative, and were soon able to restore processing with another company.)
On November 27 Facebook removed the IHR from its popular social media platform. No reason was given for the abrupt measure, but it was hardly a surprise. It came right after the publication of three widely distributed media items complaining that Facebook had still not dropped the IHR. These articles were in line with a decade-old campaign by major Jewish-Zionist groups to pressure social media platforms to remove the IHR and other organizations they regard as harmful to their interests.
In spite of such difficulties, we continued throughout the past year to reach a large, global audience – through online outreach, our IHR News and Comment e-mail newsletter, social media, interviews, and distribution of books, discs and flyers. (Shortly after we were dropped by Facebook, we got the IHR on two new, but smaller, social media platforms.)
We’ve also kept up regular updating of our main website – www.ihr.org – with relevant news items, insightful commentary, and probing analysis.
The site is also a gateway to our immense library and archive, which serves as a great learning center. IHR articles, reviews and essays are often distributed by others, or re-posted on websites around the world, many in translation in a range of languages.
Also during the past year, I continued guest appearances with a range of broadcasters, both in the US and overseas, to talk about topical and historical issues. These include interviews with overseas television news broadcasters that reach many viewers. (Recordings of many of these appearances are posted on the “Audio” and “Video” sections of our main website.)
Now, during this time of rampant media bias, new assaults against free speech, routine historical distortion, stifling “political correctness,” and social and racial discord, the need for a vital and effective IHR has never been greater.
It’s more important than ever to raise awareness about the powerful forces that promote war, injustice and oppression, and which put self-serving, partisan interests ahead of what’s best for America and humanity.