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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: JEWISH COUNCIL FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS APPLAUDS RULING
Decision Called "Victory for Truth" April 11, 2000 – New York – A closely monitored libel case in London ended this morning with a ruling in favor of historian Deborah Lipstadt, who called the decision a "victory for all those who speak out against hate and prejudice." High Court Judge Charles Gray described plaintiff David Irving as a "racist, an anti-Semite, an active Holocaust denier," adding that, "Irving has… persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence." Irving sued Professor Lipstadt and her publisher after she included him in her book, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs welcomed the verdict, calling it a "triumph for truth in scholarship."
JCPA Chair Leonard Cole applauded the ruling. "We are gratified that the court has found in favor of Professor Lipstadt, and applaud her courage and perseverance in this case. While it is true that the veracity of the Holocaust was not an issue in this case, Professor Lipstadt has performed an invaluable service in exposing efforts to deny and trivialize the Shoah. This ruling stands in the face of all those who use the mantle of scholarship as a platform for hate." In February the JCPA unanimously adopted a resolution supporting Professor Lipstadt and her work. ### The Jewish Council for Public Affairs is the public affairs arm of the organized Jewish community and serves as the national coordinating and advisory body for the 13 national and 122 local agencies comprising the field of Jewish community relations. |
