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I would defend the right to freedom of speech of people who believe the earth is flat, that does not mean “I support the flat-earth movement”
Chomsky had long publicly criticized Nazism, and totalitarianism more generally, but his commitment to freedom of speech led him to defend the right of French historian Robert Faurisson to advocate a position widely characterized as Holocaust denial.
Without Chomsky's knowledge, his plea for Faurisson's freedom of speech was published as the preface to the latter's 1980 book Mémoire en défense contre ceux qui m'accusent de falsifier l'histoire.
Chomsky was widely condemned for defending Faurisson, and France's mainstream press accused Chomsky of being a Holocaust denier himself, refusing to publish his rebuttals to their accusations.
In theory this sounds like "intellectual courage", in practice it's just apology and bootlicking
Camps and war and tanks were all too real. But of course you can waste time and space in your cushy western university seat
if someone has him discuss the paradox of (in)tolerance I'd appreciate links or pointers
ps: I come from a country with limits ob the freedom of speech and I defend those limits. I'm just saying Chomsky in contrast held freedom of speech as an absolute, even for anger and hate inciting lies.