‘Hate’ label is unfair and misleading

Mark Weber

The front-page article (“New report identifies Costa Mesa hate

groups,” July 25) is misleading and unfair because it gives

undeserved credibility to groundless claims by the Simon Wiesenthal

Center.

The center “identifies” the Institute for Historical Review as a

“hate” group that promotes “intolerant viewpoints.” Few groups are

less qualified to lecture others about “hate” and “intolerance” than

the Wiesenthal Center. Although the Pilot calls it a “Jewish human

rights organization,” in fact the center has a well-documented record

of support for Israel’s oppressive and “intolerant” policies, and

even of terrorism.

For example, the center has welcomed to its opulent Los Angeles

headquarters Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who was a

commander of the “Stern Gang,” the underground Zionist group that

carried out the 1948 assassination of Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte,

a United Nations peace mediator.

At the time, the British government issued a “wanted poster,”

complete with a photo of Shamir, offering a reward for information

leading to the criminal’s arrest.

In its staunch backing for the Zionist state, the Wiesenthal

Center supports policies that most of the world regards as outrageous

and criminal.

If the center is sincere about combating “hate,” perhaps it should

move its “Museum of Tolerance” to Tel Aviv. To call the Institute for

Historical Review a “hate group” is an outrageous smear. We are

recognized by the federal government as a 501(c)(3) public interest

educational enterprise. Far from being a source of “hate,” the

institute is actually a victim of hate and intolerance.

In 1984, for example, our offices were destroyed in an arson

attack, which the Jewish Defense League praised and for which no one

was ever arrested.

The institute is proud of the backing it has earned from people of

the most diverse political views and racial and ethnic backgrounds.

* MARK WEBER is the director of the Costa Mesa-based Institute

for Historical Review.