Just to Clear THAT Up

We [see] that Chomsky justified Faurisson's Holocaust-denial, we [find] Chomsky publishing his own books with neo-Nazi publishers, we [see] him writing for a neo-Nazi journal, we [see] that the neo-Nazis promote Chomsky's books and tapes together with the works of Joseph Goebbels.

- Werner Cohn, "Partners in Hate: Noam Chomsky and the Holocaust Deniers"

What? Noam Chomsky, the Zionist Jew, allied with Holocaust deniers and Neo-Nazis, or even a Holocaust denier himself? Say it ain’t so, Noam!

Well, it ain’t so. What Cohn is referring to is the notorious Faurisson Incident, in which literature professor Robert Faurisson wrote a book claiming the Holocaust didn’t happen. Not surprisingly, there was a substantial uproar. Faurisson was suspended from his post and sued for defamation.

This is where Chomsky comes in. He wrote an article entitled 'Some Elementary Comments on the Rights of Freedom of Expression', in which he says that we shouldn’t legally prosecute people for publishing historical fallacies, no matter how grave. So far as Chomsky is concerned, this is entirely a free-speech issue. Of course, this put him in the unfortunate position of being positively linked to a Holocaust denier. Things became even hairier when Faurisson used that same essay as the preface to his next book (WITHOUT Chomsky's permission). Guilt by association, and so, Cohn’s book.

Werner Cohn then went on to accuse Chomsky of both writing an article with ‘historical revisionist’ (read: another Holocaust denier) Paul Guillame and using revisionist publishing house Ville Taupe for the French edition of his works. In this letter, Chomsky crankily notes that he has never written anything with Paul Guillame, and that he takes no notice of who publishes his works in translation.

Chomsky ends the letter in characteristic style:

That Cohn is a pathological liar is demonstrated by the very examples that he selects. Knowing nothing about him, and caring less, I am in no position to comment further on what may lie behind this odd and pathetic behavior.

Sincerely yours,
Noam Chomsky