The Rizoli Twins: The Mask Falls Away

The Rizoli twins have dropped the charade when it comes to their Holocaust denial.

The latest issue of the Intelligence Report, released Aug. 28, contains a story detailing allegations that Framingham, Mass., anti-immigration extremists Jim and Joe Rizoli have promoted Holocaust denial online using the handles of “jjrizo” and “JoRiz” since at least 2001.

The Rizolis, who spend most of their time these days attacking and demonizing Brazilian immigrants, in the past have vehemently denied these allegations. Contacted by the Intelligence Report for comment earlier this summer, Jim Rizoli, speaking for his brother and himself, claimed he was an innocent victim of online identity theft. “Let me set you straight. My identity was stolen. People were posting things using my name,” he said. Asked his opinion of Holocaust denial, Jim Rizoli said, “I have no interest in that. Nothing. I’m not going to get into that.”

But just two days after the Intelligence Report story was published, Jim Rizoli E-mailed the Report a response that seemed to abandon his earlier denials.

“Great article about my brother and I. You will bring much attention to the Holocaust and people will hopefully see that there are a lot of ‘loose ends’ that need fixin [sic].” Rizoli then suggested that the Intelligence Report should “check out” the website nazigassings.com.

We know the site all too well. Created by longtime Holocaust denier Friedrich Paul Berg, it refers to the Holocaust as a hoax and claims that “No one was ever killed in gas chambers, and there was NO program to physically exterminate all the Jews.” “Hitler had superb, cyanide gas chambers, but they were used ONLY to keep people alive,” Rizoli’s recommended reading continues. “Those gas chambers were used in many strategic locations throughout eastern Europe to fumigate entire railroad trains, for example, with cyanide gas from Zyklon-B.” Nazigassings.com also links to Hitler worship websites like AdolftheGreat.com, the subject of a previous Intelligence Report story.

Not long after we received Jim Rizoli’s response, his brother E-mailed us a somewhat calmer missive, in which he prompted us to read and consider a news story on Misha Defonseca, the writer who, it was recently revealed, faked her Holocaust memoir about escaping the Nazis during World War II. (Note to Joe Rizoli: It’s a logical non sequitur to assume that because an individual’s account of her experience in the Holocaust is false that the entire Holocaust is fabricated.) Joe Rizoli also included a helpful link to the Institute of Historical Review, the world’s leading Holocaust denial organization, founded by Willis Carto, a long-time anti-Semite, in 1978.

“Is this information true? Who knows, Joe Rizoli wrote. “But it is called FREEDOM of Speech, which is something you try to stop.”

Actually, here at Hatewatch we’re all about freedom of speech, especially when extremists like the Rizolis use it to reveal their true colors.

Thanks, guys.