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SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — A federal court has dismissed the appeal of Holocaust denier David Irving, blocking the London-based writer from entering Australia.

Irving, who was appealing two government decisions not to grant him a visa, also was ordered to pay court costs. In a statement from London, Irving said he would appeal the court ruling.

In making his decision, the federal judge stressed that Irving's views were not the cause for the ban, despite the claim by Irving and his Australian supporters that he had been the victim of censorship.

Rather, the judge said, Irving's record of contempt for the law in a number of jurisdictions was sound legal reason for him to be refused entry to Australia.

The judge was referring to actions that include a conviction in Germany for remarks denying the Holocaust, and deportation from Canada for lying under oath to immigration officials.

Irving was appealing the May 1994 decision of Nick Bolkus, a senator and federal minister for immigration, not to approve a visa for Irving.

Irving was refused entry in December 1992 on the grounds that he "did not meet the good character requirements" of Australia's migration regulations.

Germany may shut former death camp

BONN (JTA) — Unless needed funds reach the memorial site of Northern Germany's former Sachsenhausen concentration camp, it could close temporarily next year and workers may be laid off, said Jurgen Dietberner, the site's director.

Dan Tichon, an Israeli member of Knesset who chairs the parliamentary friendship committee between Israel and Germany, responded to the possible closure by sending the German government a sharp message of protest.

However, Berlin Jewish Community chair Jerzy Kanal said in an interview that the former camp would not close under any circumstances.

Rumors of a possible closure stem from financial difficulties, he said.

Several administrators overseeing memorial sites at Germany's former concentration camps have complained recently about budget cuts. The federal and regional governments usually provide about half the funds needed to run the sites.

British synagogue welcomes non-Jews

LONDON (JTA) — With British Jewry struggling to reach out to the growing number of intermarrieds, a synagogue here is introducing a new form of membership for non-Jews.

The Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St. John's Wood is establishing a Friends of LJS category aimed at non-Jewish spouses and partners of members as well as visitors sympathetic to the synagogue's philosophy.