Some familiar figures are pushing the absurd and defamatory claim that Ken Loach supports Holocaust denial. The story of this bogus talking-point, which relies upon multiple layers of falsehood and guilt-by-association, makes for a revealing case-study. 1/

It dates back to the 2017 Labour conference. In a NYT op-ed, Howard Jacobson claimed that “a motion to question the truth of the Holocaust was proposed” from the conference floor—a crude fabrication, which the NYT sanctioned in its pages. 2/

If you follow the link supplied by Jacobson or his editors, you’ll see that he was wrong on 3 counts: it wasn’t a motion, it wasn’t at the conference, and it wasn’t in favour of Holocaust denial. Quite the hat-trick! 3/

At a fringe meeting, granted no official status by Labour, an Israeli-Jewish speaker, Miko Peled, had said that he didn’t think Holocaust denial should be a criminal offense (which it is in some European countries). 4/

This is a perfectly reasonable position to hold—that opinions, no matter how wrong-headed or morally objectionable, should not be a matter for the criminal law—and of course it does not mean that Peled himself questions the truth of the Holocaust. 5/

If there was any doubt about Peled’s position, he made it clear in the very article cited in support of Jacobson’s fictitious claim. 6/

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/26/new-antisemitism-row-for-labour-over-fringe-speakers-holocaust-remarks-miko-peled

This is where Ken Loach comes in. A BBC presenter demanded that he condemn a non-existent speech in favour of Holocaust denial. Loach declined to comment on a speech he had not heard and expressed scepticism about whether the reports of its content were accurate. 7/

Loach’s scepticism was entirely justified, of course. His position was then cynically misrepresented by Jonathan Freedland, a prolific fabulist. The Guardian published a truncated version of Loach’s reply to Freedland: this comes from the full text. 8/

@jsternweiner discusses the whole episode in detail here, along with several other fables from the 2017 Labour conference:

https://jamiesternweiner.wordpress.com/2017/10/12/labour-conference-or-nuremberg-rally-assessing-the-evidence/ 9/

“Ken Loach declined to condemn a Jewish man for saying he doesn’t think Holocaust deniers should be put in prison, however repugnant their views may be” doesn’t sound as good as “Ken Loach supports Holocaust denial”, but that’s what actually happened. 10/