Max Blumenthal, scourge of conservative conferences, turns his camera toward Holocaust denier David Irving, who recently swung by New York City for a stop on his American speaking tour. Blumenthal doesn’t have to work too hard to make his subject look ridiculous:

Irving spoke in a room at an Upper East Side church basement, but the church’s pastor told Blumenthal that event organizers were less than above-board. “Someone made a reservation to have a discussion of a book. The name was not David Irving. We knew nothing about it. We thought it would be just something nice for the community,” he explained. “And it turns out that it was David Irving. We were completely deceived. And really we’re outraged, because we do not cater to that kind of bigotry, and I’m really sorry that this happened.”

My favorite Irving quote from the video: “Adolf Hitler was being kept out of the loop and was probably not at all antisemitic by the time the war began.” Or maybe this one, on the origins of World War II: “Hitler wanted a little war, but it got out of hand.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Blumenthal also scored some hits on professional contrarian (and Blumenthal family foe) Christopher Hitchens over his seemingly odd relationship with Irving (also discussed in passing here).

For another report on the Irving event, see this article from The New York Sun (for which Blumenthal is the main source).

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount