California public transportation company allows adverts from Holocaust denial group
'BART does not endorse the ads placed in our system by the Institute for Historical Review,' says the transit company.
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
California public transit company, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), has decided to allow advertisements from a group that promotes Holocaust denial and anti-Semitic rhetoric.
The Institute for Historical Review (IHR), an independent publisher, features various conspiracies aimed at denying historical facts on the genocide of 6m Jewish people.
BART has decided to allow advertisements from IHR, citing the group’s compliance with free speech laws.
Anna Duckworth, a spokeswoman for the transit company, released the following statement to The Independent: “BART does not endorse the ads placed in our system by the Institute for Historical Review. As a government transit agency, we are bound by law to carry the ads as written since they comply with free speech laws that allow advertisers to express a point of view without regard to the viewpoint. Past court rulings reinforce the fact that we cannot deny the ads.”
IHR’s website features titles to posts and videos, such as: “What Did Israel Know in Advance of the 9/11 Attacks” and “The Faking of Adolf Hitler for History.”
The website frequently promotes the work of David Irving, a well-known Holocaust denier who had served time in prison in Austria for speeches denying the Holocaust.
Mark Weber, IHR’s director, told the Guardian that he personally accepts “millions of Jews were killed during the second world war” but that whether the number is “10m or 6m or 2m is an argument among historians”.
He also claimed that IHR is not a denial group but that his website has “published articles and items that reasonably could be called Holocaust denial”.
The electronic ads are running in two BART stations for most of September. They reportedly say “History Matters!” with the name of the institute displayed.
The Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC) has identified IHR, founded in 1978, as a hate group and a “pseudo-academic organisation” whose purpose is to “promote Holocaust denial and defend Nazism”.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments