Elie Wiesel attacked by Holocaust Denier

[Nutmegger]

SAN FRANCISCO - In a bizarre attack, a well-known author and Holocaust scholar was dragged out of a San Francisco hotel elevator by an apparent Holocaust denier who reportedly had been trailing him for weeks.

Police escorted Elie Wiesel to San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 1 after a man accosted Wiesel in the elevator at the Argent Hotel, at 50 Third St., after Wiesel participated in a panel discussion at a peace conference and before Wiesel was scheduled to catch a flight back to New York.

Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and author of more than 40 books, including the memoir “Night,” about his experiences at Auschwitz, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. Last fall, the Boston University professor was suggested as a possible replacement for Israeli President Moshe Katsav, who faces sexual assault charges.

Police confirmed this week that the attack took place and that officers escorted Wiesel to the airport following the attack. According to police, the suspect accosted Wiesel in the hotel elevator at around 6:30 p.m., saying he wanted to interview him. Wiesel said he would do the interview in the lobby. That’s when the attacker pulled him out of the elevator, police reported.

Full article: http://www.examiner.com/a-556256~Author_attacked_in_S_F__hotel.html

[BayCityProgressive]

1. wow

that is really fucking sick.

[rockymountaindem]

2. Well, at least anti-Semitism isn't a problem anymore

:sarcasm:

What a bastard to attack an old man like that. He's so proud of himself too.

[Henny Penny]

55. Did they get the guy ?

[manic expression]

3. Disgusting

I f*cking hate these people. This just goes to show that we can't tolerate intolerance. I wish we would clamp down on these lunatics like Europe and Canada has.

[ama]

51. we can't tolerate intolerance

nice one:wtf:

[pampango]

63. That is a classic statement. Some others:

"Violence is justified when done to those who justify violence."
"I hate people who hate people."
"I only flame people who flame people."

Mirrors would be very useful for speakers of similar statements.

[BrokenBeyondRepair]

66. we have already clamped down..

beating the shit out of ppl is already illegal; this is enough..

[Hobarticus]

4. "After ensuring no women would be traumatized by what I had to do..."

How noble and gallant, to make sure no one would catch you assaulting an old man.

[Casablanca]

5. Speak out for peace, get targeted and stalked by believers in violence.

Nice how that works out. :(

Makes you wonder what the violent people think they're defending.

[Orangeone]

24. He was for the Iraq War

Elie is not exactly a dove.

[eridani]

35. You can't just go beat the living shit out of people for that n/t

[Casablanca]

36. If true, Elie should know better.

If his statements against all violence are only expressions of support for the Zionist cause, that's too bad for him.

That's just the same old game that is getting America into trouble now - "We love peace ... except with _these_ people."

Still, people who do speak out against all violence find instant enemies in people in power structures who have a lot invested in violence, the covert and overt type.

[Psephos]

40. WTF does that have to do with anything?

We can be vociferously anti-war without justifying violent psychos when they pick on people who have different politics from us.

Ughhh.

"Elie is not exactly a dove."

Yeah, but he has a Nobel Peace Prize. He spent years in a death camp looking at murder for breakfast every day. His writings, drawn from his own nightmares, have reached millions, with a message anyone who's against war can admire. His life since then has been spent trying to make sure that what happened to him and his people doesn't happen to others.

And you judge him?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

49. That's bad. But the neanderthal who beat him is exactly as mush a POS as if he wasn't. -nt

[Henny Penny]

56. If you're gonna besmirch this old guy's character,

you'd better have good reason. Where's your link??? and your context????

Either way he should be able to expect to go about his business without being subjected to a cowardly attack like this.

[wordpix]

65. would you be a dove if the Nazis came for you and your family?

My peace loving ways end when the jack-booted thugs are at the door and my family's life is on the line.

[AX10]

6. And think of all the right wingers who defended Mel Gibson.

[mike_c]

7. eric hunt sounds like a deranged idiot....

eom

[coffeenap]

8. That is about as horrifying as it can get for a survivor. I hope he

survives the shock and PTSD it will likely trigger. Unbelievable. Yet, sadly, not.

[tom_paine]

9. I fucking guarantee you that guy is a Bushevik or a Nazi

And possibly BOTH, considering the immense overlap between the mindsets of the two groups.

Words cannot describe how pissed I am at the craven assault, no matter WHO perpetrated it!

These cowards ALWAYS attack the old and weak. Always have and always will.

[Lurking Dem]

11. I'm guessing he hates Bush.

Probably waaaay too left wing for him.

[tom_paine]

12. Yep.

[jonnyblitz]

14. exactly. a holocaust denier/anti semite isn't going to like

Bush, who is supportive of Israel and has conservative jewish folk in his administration or as friends/advisors. Bush presides over ZOG in their minds just like Clinton did.

[BayCityProgressive]

18. You never know

there are a lot of people on the FAR FAR FAR left..not really at DU for the most part that seem to be very anti-semitic lately. I am not tlaking about anti-israel or anything like that. Some on the left just blame everything on jews lately though...the far left and right meet on some issues.

[barb162]

30. prescient comment: the far left and right meet on some issues

[Casablanca]

19. That makes _all_ Bush-hating lefties Nazis, doesn't it?

:sarcasm:

Calling all lurking Bush-hugging rightwingers - here's your talking point for tomorrow at the bar-and-grill.

[Lurking Dem]

26. It would be hard to convince

anyone that Bush hating lefties hate him because they think he's too left. Of course, there's that whole Reality Thing that Bush huggers seem to have a problem with.

[sutz12]

10. I wonder.

“bring Wiesel to my hotel room where he would truthfully answer my questions regarding the fact that his non-fiction Holocaust memoir, Night, is almost entirely fictitious.”

I wonder how he would know the "true" answers before he asked the questions. No pre-disposition there. :sarcasm:

And then he blogs it like he's proud of it. Talks like he would have used some 'intensive interrogation techniques,' too.

I hope they catch him ans squelch him.

[Critters2]

13. This is both sad and infuriating

I studied with Wiesel in grad school. A truly great man, and at the same time a gentle spirit who had this profound understanding of the evil in the world. If anyone could deal with an attack like this, it's Elie Wiesel.

But he shouldn't have to.

[StarTurtle]

25. I studied with him too.

He is a great soul. The time I spent in that class has illuminated my life.

That frail elderly body hides the most amazing strength. He is more of a man than his assailant and all his assailant's little Nazi circle-jerk buddies put together.

[Critters2]

29. Indeed. nt

[barb162]

32. I bet that was a great experience.

I envy you

[Caoimhe]

15. I read "Night" in grade school

and it still haunts me. His words were so moving. It was the first book I ever read about the Holocaust, from a survivor's standpoint, and it is truly a great book. This f*cktard attacker needs to be branded with a swastika on his forehead so everyone will know how sick he is before he even opens his mouth. Ugh.

[gorbal]

38. Me too..

Night and "The Oath" two of my favorite books of all time. It really shook me up, I remeber now and then that party of death in the village...feels more than a hundred years old.

[NativeNewyorker]

16. Elie Weisel Attacked by Holocaust Denier

This does not surprise me. My father was part of the American forces that liberated the concentration camps of Dachau and Bergen Belsen. What he saw has haunted him for his entire life. He has only spoken on a few occasions about the things he saw, but what he had to say was extraordinary. He was assigned to counter-intelligence and learned fluent German. He gathered evidence for the Nuremberg trials and interrogated the Nazi prisoners. He saw it all up close and personal. The only time I have ever seen him truly angry is when people try to deny the Holocaust. Reading this article about the disgraceful attack on Elie Weisel makes me wish that I could persuade him to write down the things he witnessed. He despises the German people because he knows that many knew what was happening. This saddens me. My father is old now and I want him to enjoy his final years. If he will not write down the things that he saw, then I have already promised him that I will speak for him.

I guess some things never change.

[Lurking Dem]

17. Your father

is held daily, nameless and faceless, in the hearts of survivors and their descendants the world over.

Thought you should know that. Though, likely, you already do.

[newscott]

22. Please thank him for his good and important work

Have you ever thought of videotaping? This would be at the very least a great piece of family history for his descendants if nothing else.

[tnlefty]

27. Welcome to DU, NativeNewyorker!

:hi:

[rockymountaindem]

34. Thanks for posting

Although you need to do what's best for your dad, I would suggest that you get his recollection down on paper or film somehow. It's important that as the people who witnessed the Holocaust firsthand pass away we record what they saw for posterity.

I hope he knows how thankful a lot of people are for his service, though.

[Nutmegger]

41. Thank you for your post.

And welcome to DU.

[Vidar]

42. Welcome to DU.

[Henny Penny]

58. If you can, please write it down.

Your father's experiences represent an important part of all our collective history.

There was a survey in the Uk two years ago I think, where they asked teenagers what they knew about the holcaust and a frightenly large percentage had never heard of it.

It is only by keeping these memories alive that we can try to stop these things not just happening, but even getting off the ground in the first place.

What happened and why it happened.

We need to guard this memory.

[harpboy_ak]

61. My uncle was a law clerk at the Nuremberg trials

When he was in high school he wanted to be a lawyer, but after working as a clerk at Nuremberg and seeing all the records and photos in appalling detail, he became an engineer.

He and some other GIs he knew who liberated the camps all agreed that the horror should never be forgotten.

[slowry]

20. Lock him up.

Throw away the key.

"I had been trailing Wiesel for weeks" and had hoped to get "Wiesel into my custody, with a cornered Wiesel finally forced to state the truth on videotape."

Forced to state the truth? Someone get this guy a job in the CIA asap.

[BlueIris]

21. This is terrible.

I was just thinking about him the other day, too. Has the entire world lots its collective mind??

[xchrom]

23. whatever dungeon is deep enough and dark enough so that

this nazi never sees the light of day again.

[GOPNotForMe]

28. Excuse me?

Just when you think humanity can't sink any lower....

[barb162]

31. So what the hell was wrong with an interview in the damned LOBBY

as Wiesel suggested. Unless of course the guy just wanted to beat him up or kill him

[slowry]

39. To get the truth, duh.

:sarcasm:

"I had been trailing Wiesel for weeks" and had hoped to get "Wiesel into my custody, with a cornered Wiesel finally forced to state the truth on videotape."

And yeah, you're right; one shudders to think how far this may have gone.

[unkachuck]

33. this is a shame....

....what's picking on an old man going to prove?

[IndianaGreen]

37. This thuggery is more typical of Hitler's Storm Troopers

This is an outrage!

[Irreverend IX]

43. Well, this guy's actions certainly reflect well on the Holocaust denial worldview...

This crazy Nazi bastard only proved Wiesel was right. Let him hang out with his Aryan Nation buddies in prison.

[Bonobo]

44. Somebody will get this guy good. Probably JDL.

[Behind the Aegis]

45. I hope not.

They hate us already, right and left. We sure don't need a group like the JDL "whacking" some Holocaust-denying POS! The 'far right' will say "see, I told you so." The 'far left' will say "see, question the Holocaust and the pro-Israelis will respond, probably financed by AIPAC."

I hope he is captured and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

[Solly Mack]

46. I have no patience for Holocaust denial

and no mercy. None.

[NuttyFluffers]

47. this is horrible! absolutely disgraceful! i'm glad he's now safe.

no place is immune to the presence of hateful people. i know where i live, Easy Bay of greater SF area, that it is the location of a very large chapter of Neo Nazis. i think it was the southern poverty law center or the anti-defamation league where i saw the map pointing it out. very sad to think how hate hides among your neighbors. reminds me of a Boy George song, "Evil is so Civilized," basically noting how easily it blends in into regular society, seemingly innocuous.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

48. Beating up and dragging a 78 year old man. Leaving a toddler to freeze to death.

And in Brazil, some car thieves dragged a 6 yo boy 4 miles, stuck by his safety belt. His body was torn in pieces.

I want out. :cry:

[IronScorpio5]

50. What a pos.

he should be prosectuted to the fullest extent of the law.

[Blue_Tires]

52. hopefully the police will see this as it truly is:

attempted murder

[treestar]

53. I hope this action of one person is not used to cast asparagus

on the entire race he belongs to.

By his name, it sounds like he is not a Muslim, but a white supremacist type.

[SweetGrass]

62. Am I missing something?

Why would we assume the pig used his real name? :shrug:

Maybe I missed part of the story somewhere.

[Lurking Dem]

64. What, in G-d's name, does this have to do with Muslims?

[oberliner]

54. Wonder which anti-semitic website the attacker posted on

Articles mention the posting but not the site.

[Scurrilous]

57. "In a posting Tuesday on the anti-Zionist Web site ZioPedia...

...a writer using the name Eric Hunt takes credit for the attack.."


http://www.ziopedia.org/content/view/3217/1/

[oberliner]

59. Thanks for the info nt

[Hekate]

60. A cowardly attack on a 78 year old man. I hope the cops find the thug swiftly.

Elie Wiesel has done much for the world by being a tireless witness. It's chilling that Holocaust-deniers would try to violently silence that voice even today.

Hekate

[Scurrilous]

67. Police name suspect in roughing up of Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel

<snip>

"A half-million dollar arrest warrant was issued for the man accused of roughing up Nobel Peace laureate and Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel.

The warrant issued for Eric Hunt, 22, of Sussex County, New Jersey, is for charges including attempted kidnapping, false imprisonment, elder abuse, stalking, battery, and committing a hate crime, according to San Francisco police.

Wiesel was a featured speaker at a Feb. 1 peace forum at the Argent Hotel. He was approached in the lobby by a white man in his 20s who asked for an interview, police said.

Wiesel agreed to talk in the lobby, but the man insisted the interview be conducted in a hotel room, and got into the elevator with Wiesel. Once on the sixth floor, the suspect dragged the 78-year-old off the elevator. Wiesel began yelling, and the suspect ran away down the elevator, police said. Wiesel then reported the incident to the police.

Wiesel survived the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald during World War II. He has worked for human rights around the world and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986."

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/16717184.htm