Submitted by Marc Di Martino, Feb 28, 2007 05:06

Italian historian Sergio Luzzatto has been Toaff's only outspoken defender in the pages of Italy's "Corriere della Sera". He first praised the book (before publication) and then condemned its historical method, which "would offend anyone's intelligence"(after publication). Luzzatto then decries the nearly unanimous condemnation of Toaff and his book as a typically Jewish response to anyone who questions the "official" version of Jewish history, one in which Jews are not protagonists on the historical stage, but mere "victims, victims, victims." In Luzzatto's eyes, this is a question of free speech and debate, not historical accuracy. Does this remind anyone of Jimmy Carter's response to the critics of his "Palestine: Peace not Apartheid"--that by the inflammatory title he only meant to stimulate debate? And so, one might ask, did Ahmadinejad with his preposterous "conference" in December? Is this what me mean by "free speech"?

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