Dubai paper's holocaust denial

I know that the Dubai-based daily Gulf News has not been regarded as one of the world's greatest truth-telling newspapers, but a column by Mohammad Abdullah Al Mutawa in Sunday's issue sets a new low point in myth-making.

Here are the opening two paragraphs:

"Today, the whole world stands as a witness to the fact that the Nazi holocaust was a mere lie, which was devised by the Zionists to blackmail humanity. The same Zionist entity swindled the world out of billions of dollars over the years to compensate the wrong and unjust which they claim to have been inflicted on their people.

"It is evident that the holocaust was a conspiracy hatched by the Zionists and Nazis, and many innocent people gave their lives as a result of this inhuman plot."

This goes way beyond the paper's normal acceptance of censorship (and the resulting self-censorship). No wonder, according to a source, British journalists on the Gulf News payroll are reported to be "working on their CVs with vigour."

But what about the paper's readers in the United Arab Emirates? Do they really believe this stuff?