David Irving and Nick Griffin must be allowed to speak

There is no question that David Irving, the convicted Holocaust denier, and Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, espouse views that are abhorrent and even dangerous.

There is also no question of my distancing myself unequivocally from their views.

Notwithstanding, they have been invited to address a debate on free speech at Oxford University.

This has occasioned outrage and a call for widespread demonstrations to protest their inclusion, on the basis that their views are just too disgusting to be given a forum.

Considering they cover just about every form of hatred and bigotry going, this is not surprising, but in my very humble opinion, wrong.

The time has come to grow up — to accept that people are adult enough to be able to distinguish right from wrong, and more importantly, make up their own minds on what must be rejected and what must be incorporated into society.

If we believe that mankind has not evolved enough to reject racists and fascists and deny them the right to speak, then we are in danger of becoming the very fascists that we would reject.

As a Jew, I find Irving particularly offensive, but I would imagine that given the opportunity again my forefathers may well have wanted the Nazis to have been given the opportunity to speak in public.

One of the greatest dangers to Jews leading up to and during World War II was that people did not believe how evil these Nazis really were.

They consoled themselves with the thought that if their views were not heard, perhaps the cancer would not spread as far.

How many more Jews would have been saved and how much sooner would the parties have reacted if they knew what these people were really saying?

If we continue to suppress the views of people like this, it does not mean they will go away — they will simply be heard by those who wish to hear them and pose a threat to an unsuspecting group of ostriches.