Article published on Iranian site claims massacre of Jewish people "scientifically impossible."
By JONNY PAUL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT IN LONDONholocaust disabled 224(photo credit: )
The massacre of Jewish people during the Holocaust was "scientifically impossible," according to an article published by an Iranian satellite channel on its Web site.
The article was written by Nicholas Kollerstrom, an academic specializing in astrology and crop circles, who had his fellowship terminated by University College London last month after he said there were never any gas chambers at Auschwitz.
"The views expressed by Dr. Kollerstrom are diametrically opposed to the aims, objectives and ethos of UCL, such that we wish to have absolutely no association with them or with their originator," the University College said in a statement. "We therefore have no choice but to terminate Dr. Kollerstrom's honorary research fellowship with immediate effect."
Press TV, an Iranian English-language 24-hour news channel, was set up last year, by the Iranian government, to offer "unbiased" reporting and "in-depth and complete analyses of current affairs," according to its Web site. It posted Kollerstrom's article on Sunday, and despite protest from a Jewish community organization, the article is still on the site.
In the article, titled "The Walls of Auschwitz‚" Kollerstrom argues that "the alleged massacre of Jewish people by gassing during World War II was scientifically impossible."
Kollerstrom's work is also hosted on the Web site of the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust‚ which also promotes the works of Holocaust deniers David Irving of England and Ernst Zundel of Germany.
In an article on the site, titled "The Auschwitz 'Gas Chamber' Illusion," Kollerstrom writes that only a million Jews died in the war and that "the only intentional mass extermination program in the concentration camps of World War Two was targeted at Germans."
The article concludes by saying: "The UN has now established its annual Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January, as of 2006. On this anniversary, we all need to mull over the faking of history and the Greatest Lie Ever Told. As Perseus gazed at the Medusa only via a mirror, to avoid being petrified, so, too, we need calm reflection and the power of Truth to avoid our collective destruction."
Gavin Gross, public affairs director at the UK's Zionist Federation, who has appeared in debates on the Iranian channel, wrote to Yvonne Ridley at Press TV, saying: "I can understand that Press TV takes a strong line against Israel, but Holocaust denial is another thing entirely. Nicholas Kollerstrom had his research fellowship terminated by University College, yet Press TV has called him a 'distinguished academic' and published his work."
"Iran sponsors both Holocaust denial and Press TV, so this filth should come as no surprise," said Mark Gardner, director of communications at the Community Security Trust, which provides security for British Jews and represents the community to police, government and media on anti-Semitism and security issues.
"Press TV has the façade of a respectable media outlet, but this shows them for what they really are," Gardner added.
According to its Web site, Press TV's vision is "embracing and building bridges of cultural understanding; encouraging human beings of different nationalities, races and creeds to identify with one another."
Despite repeated requests, Press TV declined to comment.
