Reuters: Iran's president says Holocaust now up for debate
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zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org
Mon Dec 11 07:10:00 EST 2006
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World Updates
December 10, 2006
Iran's president says Holocaust now up for debate
TEHRAN (Reuters) - The Holocaust is now a subject of serious debate,
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday.
Iran has invited scholars from 30 countries to attend a conference
starting on Monday about the Holocaust, in which six million Jews
were killed by the Nazis.
"For 60 years talking about the Holocaust was a crime in the West but
now there is a serious debate about the Holocaust in the media and
also in political and popular meetings," state television quoted
Ahmadinejad as saying.
Ahmadinejad sparked an international outcry by referring to the
Holocaust as a "myth" and saying Israel should be relocated to Europe
or North America.
"Even some Western politicians have declared that the original
foundation of the Zionist regime (Israel) was a mistake," he said on
Saturday.
Ahmadinejad has said his questioning of the Holocaust is aimed at
encouraging scholarly debate and an examination of the reasons behind
the creation of the state of Israel.
Deputy Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mohammadi has said the Holocaust
conference will look at issues such as "whether the gas chambers were
actually used by the Nazis".
The conference has been condemned by various countries and
organisations. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack
described it as "disgraceful."
"It is just flabbergasting that ... the leadership of the regime
continues to deny that 6 million plus people were killed in the
Holocaust," he told reporters on Friday.
Karen Pollock, chief executive of the British Holocaust Educational
Trust, called the Iranian conference "ridiculous".
"Denial of the Holocaust is a virulent form of anti-semitism," she
said in a statement. "It is not only deeply offensive to Holocaust
survivors but to any right-minded human being."
Iran was also sharply criticised for hosting a cartoon competition on
the Holocaust this year.
Copyright © 2006 Reuters
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