It's Simple We Don't Wanna Kill

One arguments that opponents of the publishing of the Danish Cartoons, and all other such media, use in Egypt is the laws against Holocaust denial/revisionism that are in effect throughout Europe. The argument goes something like this: Westerners shout free speech when we object to and oppose the publication of Danish Cartoons and Fitna, but when it comes to the Holocaust, they jail anyone who dares to even revise the number of victims. They use that to argue a worldwide global pro-Jews, anti-Islam agenda.

It has always been bothering, this alleged double-standard: You are free to speak if you're challenging Muslim beliefs but you're not free to speak if you're challenging the Holocaust. It has been bothering me for a while but never got the chance to delve into it until recently. Through a discussion with a Canadian/Jewish blogger I got the chance to dig up some info and I made sense out of it.

Here is the deal: It is not illegal to challenge Holocaust data as long as you're doing it from a historical/scientific point of view. It becomes a crime if your arguments are associated with defending these acts or advocating violence. This makes perfect sense. It is not free speech anymore if you're trying to persuade people to kill.

This is from the ISRAELI legislation:

A person who, in writing or by word of mouth, publishes any statement denying or diminishing the proportions of acts committed in the period of the Nazi regime, which are crimes against the Jewish people or crimes against humanity, with intent to defend the perpetrators of those acts or to express sympathy or identification with them, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of five years.

AND

The publication of a correct and fair report of a publication prohibited by this Law shall not be regarded as an offence thereunder so long as it is not made with intent to express sympathy or identification with the perpetrators of crimes against the Jewish people or against humanity.

Very fair indeed!