David Irving - The Search For Truth In History (1993)

In 1992, the Australian Labour Government, under pressure from their principal financier, the billionaire Isi Leibler, refused permission for David Irving to make a third tour of the continent. On May 30, 1993, the Australian Federal Court rejected Mr Irving’s latest appeal against the government’s refusal of a visa. The appeal cost him $15,000, but he appealed again to the full Federal Court.

While waiting in South Africa, he had filmed The Search for Truth in History, ready for this very eventuality, and his friends booked halls in seven Australian cities for public showings only days after the court ruling.

The Australian press reported that the Jewish community was furious. Its wealthy leaders pleaded with Prime Minister Paul Keating’s government to ban the video’s release on the pretext that it had not cleared government censorship.

Mr Irving’s organizers immediately arranged for clearance. After two viewings, the censorship board awarded it a certificate for general release just twelve hours before its nationwide showing (four members had voted for only limited release, and one, not identified, for its banning “in the national interest”).

Ten thousand copies were manufactured. Appalled by the media’s interest in the video, the enemies of the truth resorted to familiar methods.

Violent demonstrations were organized. Just hours before the nationwide premiere, six of the seven halls simultaneously cancelled the contracts. The show was shown on nationwide TV.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Parliament had been told that a microphone, planted by the Israeli intelligence service The Mossad, had been discovered hidden in the video censorship authority’s viewing room.