Reuters: Iran's president says Holocaust now up for debate

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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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