Iran leader: Holocaust a 'myth'

[CFLarsen]

Iran leader: Holocaust a 'myth'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday the Holocaust is a "myth" that Europeans have used to create a Jewish state in the heart of the Islamic world.

"Today, they have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets," Ahmadinejad told a crowd of thousands in the southeastern city of Zahedan.

Six million Jews were killed in Europe during the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.

Ahmadinejad said it was the Europeans who committed crimes against the Jews and they, the United States or Canada should give part of their land to the Jews to establish a state.

Ahmadinejad provoked an international outcry in October when he called Israel a "disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map."

Last week, he suggested that Israel should be transferred to Europe, drawing further condemnation.
Source

Dangerous.

 

[a_unique_person]

I think he actually said that Israel is a 'myth', not the holocaust. "a myth in the name of holocaust" is not saying the holocaust itself is the myth.

A similar concept is the mythology of the west in the USA, the outback in Australia, etc. That is, a concept of a life.

 

[geni]

I think he actually said that Israel is a 'myth', not the holocaust. "a myth in the name of holocaust" is not saying the holocaust itself is the myth.

A similar concept is the mythology of the west in the USA, the outback in Australia, etc. That is, a concept of a life.

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.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4527142.stm

 

[Euromutt]

Forty-five years too late. UN General Assembly resolution 273(III) is in effect Israel's birth certificate, signed by the international community. You can argue that the child is illegitimate, but disposing of it half a decade after it's been born would be murder.

By the same token, I don't recall Khomeini asking permission from his predominantly Sunni neighbors before creating a Shi'ite state in their midst.

 

[a_unique_person]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4527142.stm

The two translations contradict each other. If he is guilty of saying it, so be it, but which translation is correct?

 

[Zep]

I'm suspecting the meaning is lost a bit in translation, Geni. But even as reported, I still don't see it as saying that he said the Holocaust is a myth. Just that he contends they are making a myth out of a historical situation as justification for the ongoing existence of Israel. Perhaps, by way of example, like calling a stunning football loss a "huge tragedy".

 

[a_unique_person]

Forty-five years too late. UN General Assembly resolution 273(III) is in effect Israel's birth certificate, signed by the international community. You can argue that the child is illegitimate, but disposing of it half a decade after it's been born would be murder.

I agree.

 

[Skeptic]

I think he actually said that Israel is a 'myth', not the holocaust.

Oh, that's OK then.

It's only the living six million jews in israel he wants killed and expelled; he didn't actually insult the memory of the dead six millions jews Hitler killed and expelled.

Somehow I'm not reassured.

 

[Chaos]

Oh, that's OK then.

It's only the living six million jews in israel he wants killed and expelled; he didn't actually insult the memory of the dead six millions jews Hitler killed and expelled.

Somehow I'm not reassured.

Who said anything about "OK"?

May I ask you to restrict your reaction to what people actually post, not to what your fantasy attributes to these statements?

 

[Flo]

The two translations contradict each other. If he is guilty of saying it, so be it, but which translation is correct?

From the translations and the (generally horrified) reactions by Arab and Iranian speakers I've read and heard in the French media (here, for example) it looks like he actually said he denied the reality of the holocaust.

The sickness bequeathed by the west to the Muslim world, indeed.

 

[Darat]

Do we need anymore evidence before we conclude he is a mad man?

 

[Marc L]

From the article

Ahmadinejad said it was the Europeans who committed crimes against the Jews and they, the United States or Canada should give part of their land to the Jews to establish a state.

While I disagree with his goal, he does have a point here. It was the Germans (the Nazis) who committed the holocaust, not the Middle East. Granted, it's too late now to do anything about.

Before I get jumped on for being Anti-Semitic, let me say that I'm not arguing for or against there being a State of Israel, or where it should be made.

Marc

 

[Marc L]

Double post, sorry.

 

[CFLarsen]

Do we need anymore evidence before we conclude he is a mad man?

How long before they have nukes?

 

[zenith-nadir]

Do we need anymore evidence before we conclude he is a mad man?

And sadly, there are millions who think just like him.

Gosh...if only Israel would finally be destroyed and then all would be right in the world.

Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003 5 p.m. EST

In a recent unpublished European Commission poll of 7,515 Europeans conducted by Taylor Nelson Sofres/EOS Gallup Europe, a majority of Europeans (74 percent in the tolerant Netherlands) named Israel as the biggest threat to world peace.

Israel is just ruining it for everyone.

 

[a_unique_person]

Do we need anymore evidence before we conclude he is a mad man?

I have no problem with him being found guilty of what the evidence convicts him of. The evidence for this particular claim appears to suffer from conflicting translations. I am sure that a few more days will remove the ambiguity.

 

[Darat]

I have no problem with him being found guilty of what the evidence convicts him of. The evidence for this particular claim appears to suffer from conflicting translations. I am sure that a few more days will remove the ambiguity.

What about all his previous statements?

 

[Euromutt]

Are you nuts, Marc L? If Israel wasn't where it is now, where would western Europe get its avocadoes and grapefruit from?

And frankly, there's never been any love lost between the Arabs and the Persians, even before the Sunni/Shi'a schism. The existence of Israel (or lack thereof) simply does not affect Iran's interests in any material fashion. And hey, remember those TOW missiles Ollie North sold the Iranians back in the 1980s? Those came from Israeli stocks, which the US subsequently replenished. So you had the rather incongruous result that the Iranians were using anti-tank missiles with Hebrew markings against Iraqi (Arab) tanks. Still, the Hebrew didn't seem to bother the Iranians at the time.

 

[a_unique_person]

What about all his previous statements?

I was only commenting on this one. His call for "israel to be pushed into the sea" I disagreed with. You still have to find him guilty of the things he is guilty of. As to whether or not he is a nut, there are plenty of them around ruling other countries. He doesn't seem the full two bobs worth to me.

 

[Skeptic]

I'm suspecting the meaning is lost a bit in translation, Geni. But even as reported, I still don't see it as saying that he said the Holocaust is a myth. Just that he contends they are making a myth out of a historical situation as justification for the ongoing existence of Israel.

Which, curiously enough, is exactly the position of the liberal European intelligentia about israel.

Without going into details into why this view is, shall we say, not exactly accurate, doesn't the fact that European elite public opinion about israel agrees with that of the president of the world's largest Islamic theocracy, who had openly and repeatedly called for israel's destruction, tell us something about what elite European public opinion's worth?

(Of course, the selfsame european elites would be shocked and embarrased if they agreed substantially about some important issue with a really bad person, such as G. W. Bush...)