Fury at Iranian president’s Holocaust denial

Iran’s president questioned whether the Holocaust took place and said that Israel should be moved to Europe, leading to a barrage of international criticism.

Update: While this and other comments he’s made show him to be anti-Semitic, his full comments were a bit more nuanced than Henry Ford foaming-at-the-mouth bigotry.

He told journalists at an international Islamic conference in Mecca: "Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces and they insist on it to the extent that if anyone proves something contrary to that they condemn that person and throw them in jail. Although we don’t accept this claim, if we suppose it is true, our question for the Europeans is: ‘Is the killing of innocent Jewish people by Hitler the reason for their support to the occupiers of Jerusalem?’

One can criticize the state of Israel without being anti-Semitic. Denying the Holocaust just plays into the hands of Zionists who say if you criticize Israel, you hate Jews. Which is as absurd as saying, if you oppose the policies of the neocons that you hate Christians. The peace movement in Israel, which often opposes Zionism, has lots of Jews in it and they quite obviously don’t hate Jews. One can (and must) oppose Zionism while also opposing anti-Semitism.

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