On Saturday December 18, 2004 French Holocaust denier Professor Robert Faurisson former lecturer of Lyon University, gave an interview to Iran's Mehr News Agency about France's decision to ban Al-Manar TV. The following is the interview:
Mehr News Agency: "France's highest administrative court, the Council of State, last week moved decisively to ban Al Manar television, alleging that the network had repeatedly violated the country's anti-hate laws and ignored its own pledge to avoid making anti-Semitic statements. What is your view of the decision?"
Faurisson: "Unfortunately, it is totally normal. In France, Jewish organizations get whatever they demand. And especially the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France (CRIF), headed by former banker Roger Cukierman, who was very instrumental in the campaign against Al Manar."
MNA: "Do you think the Zionist lobby in the U.S. influenced France's decision to ban Al Manar?"
Faurisson: "In France Jewish power is even stronger than in the USA. In France it is our lobby number 1. Nobody dares to speak out against those people because of their alleged 'Holocaust'."
MNA: "France claims it is a pioneer in freedom of expression, so how do you evaluate this claim? Isn't the recent decision against freedom of expression and human dignity?"
Faurisson: "Please, don't be naive! In 1789, France said: 'Liberté, égalité, fraternité.' Three years afterwards, France began massive killings of French citizens in the name of 'Liberté, égalité, fraternité.' It is an old tradition to say something and to do the contrary. In the Book of Laws, we have one sentence to say that freedom of opinion, of press, of research is a principle and then we have pages and pages for explaining that that freedom is so important that it needs to be protected by dozens of prohibitions, exceptions, bans, etc."
MNA: "Actually, France doesn't respect the rights of its citizens, as it has banned the hijab (Islamic headscarf) in public schools. How do you assess that?"
Faurisson: "Because Jews, in a certain way, are used to treating the French as they treat Palestinians. The difference is that Palestinians refuse to obey the Jews, whereas the French obey the Jews, once more because of the Big Lie of the alleged 'Holocaust,' in which unfortunately they seem to believe.
"The alleged 'Holocaust' of the Jews is the sword and the shield of the Jewish tyranny all over the world. Destroy it"