Iranian leader denies Holocaust

[BiscLimpkit]

Iranian leader denies Holocaust

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has courted further controversy by explicitly calling the Nazi Holocaust of European Jewry a "myth".
"They have created a myth today that they call the massacre of Jews and they consider it a principle above God, religions and the prophets," he said.

On live TV, he called for Europe or North America - even Alaska - to host a Jewish state, not the Middle East.

Israel swiftly denounced the president's comments.

"We hope these extremist comments... will make the international community open its eyes and abandon any illusions about this regime," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev told AFP news agency.

Mr Ahmadinejad's latest declaration echoes comments he made last week in which he said territory should be "provided" in Germany or Austria to establish Israel "if European countries claim that they have killed Jews in World War II".

The president sparked international outrage in October when he said Israel should be "wiped off the map".

'Europe's fault'

Speaking to thousands of people in south-eastern city of Zahedan, Mr Ahmadinejad brushed aside criticism of his views, saying it was orchestrated by supporters of Israel.

"If someone were to deny the existence of God... or prophets and religion, they would not bother him. However, if someone were to deny the myth of the Jews' massacre, all the Zionist mouthpieces and the governments subservient to the Zionists tear their larynxes and scream against the person as much as they can," he said.

He returned to his earlier theme that Europe should shoulder the responsibility for a Jewish state.

"If you [Europeans] committed this big crime, then why should the oppressed Palestinian nation pay the price?

"This is our proposal: give a part of your own land in Europe, the US, Canada or Alaska to them so that the Jews can establish their country," he said.

Since his election in June 2005, Mr Ahmadinejad has taken a more hardline towards Israel in public than his predecessors and recently stepped up his anti-Israel rhetoric.

His call in October for Israel to be annihilated was rebuked by the UN Security Council.

Israel's spokesman said the Iranian president's latest remarks reflected a "perverse vision of the world held by this regime".

BBC Tehran correspondent Frances Harrison says the Iranian press has wholeheartedly endorsed the president's views, calling them logical and less passive than the approach of previous Iranian governments.

The European Union renewed its condemnation of Mr Ahmadinejad's position, saying it had no place in civilised political debate.

"The comments are wholly unacceptable and we condemn them unreservedly," said UK Minister for Europe Douglas Alexander, whose country currently holds the EU presidency.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4527142.stm

[thelostdragon]

Henryk M. Broder, a Jewish journalist in Germany wrote a great article. Unfortunately, there is no English translation, but to summarise it in English, here is a quote from Khabar, an Persian newspaper in English:

An article written by Henryk M. Broder in Der Spiegel weekly has supported President Ahmadinejad’s comments about the Zionist regime.
The article stated that President Ahmadinejad had expressed a historical fact and no one can object to it, because tensions in the Middle East have not resulted from the massacre of Jews but because of Europeans’
anti-Semitism. The weekly added that a Jewish state should have been established in, for instance, the Schleswig-Holstein Province in northern Germany.

[Mordib]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is just a politician who wants to gain respect in the area of the world he rules in and headlines in the world in general to raise his own status on the world stage.

The suggestion that a jewish state should be set up in europe conveniently side steps the reason the significant Jewish population are in the middle east in the first place. Like most of the major religeons the most holy locations within the religeon are all in the middle east.

apart from the fact humans using religeon as their excuse have committed many atrocities (and still are) in the conflict areas, the most popular arguement put foreward from both sides is historical right. Which is dumb because who owns what changes regularly throughout history, neither religeon even existed going back just over a thousand years so perhaps noone should have the historical right to the land. the amount of different groups that have actually ruled over the areas of land in question is immense. The chinese have as much claim as anyone going on historical ownership.

The more I study the various religeons the more similar they all become. they have different rules, different histories but have many similarities too, the biggest of which is that the majority of acts committed in their name actuallyhave nothing to do with religeon at all rather the views and opinions of the people and society who happen to practice the religeon.

The isreali government has commited many atrocities in the past 50 years. Just like every other nation has commited atrocities throughout history. this doesnt make them any more right, in my view the entire hierachy should be made to answer for their crimes, but declaring that all isreali's are evil and should all leave land that isn't theirs is pretending everyone elses history doesnt exist. The is no population on the planet that has maintained their heritage throughout even written history, everywhere has been invaded/conquered/liberated at least a few times. The english for example are a right mix of other cultures that have invaded them from time to time.

[Markgway]

I don't buy the argument that an Israeli state should've been shoehorned into Palestine simply because they wanted to be there. Imagine if the powers that be (America, Europe) came to the UK and said "Right we're establishing a new Israeli state, so everyone in the south east of England can fuck off elsewhere". The settlement was a western attempt to placate guilt over the horrendous wrongs that Jews suffered during WW2, but without a thought for the people they were displacing. So in a sense I see where some of the Muslim resentment comes from. However to claim that the Holocaust never happened is bullshit and this new Iranian leader is clearly a dangerous fanatic.

[gojensen]

Erm, just to sidetrack... why do the Jews need their own country? Should the Sikh's have their own aswell? And the buddhists? Should we then gather all Catholics and stuff them in South America, and the protestants in North-America?

This is just wrong IMO - why can't people get along?! My neighbour may be Jewish... hell he may be a devil worshipper... do I care? Not really...