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Friday August 17, 2007

Will ‘sorry’ cut it for alleged Wiesel attacker?

by joe eskenazi

Charged with kidnapping, stalking, elder abuse and hate crimes after allegedly dragging 78-year-old Elie Wiesel out of a San Francisco hotel elevator, Eric Hunt has this to say for himself: He’s very sorry.

The onetime Holocaust denier, accused of following Wiesel all the way from New Jersey and accosting him in the Argent Hotel during a San Francisco peace conference, rose and spoke out of turn during an S.F. Superior Court hearing to determine if he is mentally competent to stand trial.

“Mr. Wiesel, I’m sorry for scaring you and I’m sorry you experienced the Holocaust,” said Hunt after Wiesel had just concluded describing his Shoah experiences Monday, Aug. 13. “My grandfather fought the Nazis and I’m sorry about what happened.”

That’s a far cry from the diatribe Hunt (or someone posing as him) posted on an anti-Semitic Web site following the Feb. 1 confrontation with Wiesel.

“I told him, ‘Why, you don’t want people to know the truth?’ His expression changed, and he began screaming again. HELP! HELP! So, after pulling him about fifteen feet out of the elevator, alerting a few floors, I decided that it was time for me to go. He was no use to our worldwide struggle for freedom if he had a heart attack,” reads the posting.

“I had planned on either: getting Wiesel into my custody, with a cornered Wiesel finally forced to state the truth on videotape, getting arrested, or fleeing, and either way, exposing the ‘Pope of the Holocaust religion’ for being nothing but a genocidal liar.”

Following the hearing, Hunt’s weeping mother, Naomi McCloskey, approached Wiesel, asking for his forgiveness and referring to Hunt as a “kind boy, a sensitive boy.”

“I was touched by his mother,” Wiesel told j. “I told her I understood her pain. But what can I do? It is sad, because she is also his victim.”

Hunt has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity; if convicted of all charges he could be imprisoned for up to seven years. His attorney, San Francisco’s John Runfola, claimed his client had been “overcharged.” Runfola further claimed that Hunt was in the midst of a “manic episode” brought about by the death of his grandfather when he accosted Wiesel.

Wiesel said the case is “in the hands of justice” and added that he would like to “give a lesson to all the Holocaust deniers.”

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harold Kahn will make his ruling on Hunt’s mental competency after hearing attorneys’ final statements Monday, Aug. 20. In the event of a trial, Wiesel said he has taped his testimony.

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