Iran: AntiSemitism: Loaded 'debate' regarding the Holocaust in Tehran full of antiSemites from West

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New York Times (click this blog-entry's headline above) and International Herald Tribune writer Christine Hauser "Conference in Iran to debate Holocaust sparks outrage" (Dec12,2k6) properly expose Iranian insult at just the moment Liberals and the US Iraq Study Group propose talks with Iran (and Syria). The response must be No! "Blair calls conference in Iran 'shocking'":

A gathering in Iran billed as a conference to "debate" the Holocaust continued to spark outrage Tuesday, drawing fierce criticism from Western leaders.

The conference in Tehran, which began Monday, has attracted Holocaust deniers from around the world who made presentations questioning the historical record of the Holocaust, including whether Nazi Germany used gas chambers to exterminate millions of Jews and other "undesirables."

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany condemned the conference Tuesday and said Germany would never accept it. Germany also summoned the Iranian chargé d'affaires in Berlin to express its anger over the conference.

In several European countries, including Germany, denial of the Holocaust is a crime.

While many Western countries have recently urged that Iran and Syria be included in negotiations to deal with conflicts in the region, including the violence in Iraq, some have pointed to the conference as indicative of the extremist nature of the current Iranian government.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has frequently voiced a view held by many in the Muslim world that the crimes of the Nazis were exaggerated to justify giving Palestinian land to Jews, ultimately leading to the creation of Israel.

Iran held a contest over the summer for cartoons about the Holocaust, in reaction to a controversy over cartoons published in Denmark that lampooned the Prophet Muhammad.

MidEast > Iran

The White House said that it recognized that not everyone in Iran agreed with the most extreme elements in the regime there, and that the United States would stand with those who sought "to overcome oppression, injustice and tyranny."

During his monthly news conference Tuesday, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain held out little hope of engaging Iran in constructive action in the Middle East and expressed revulsion at the Holocaust conference, calling it "shocking beyond belief."

"It's not that I'm against the concept of reaching out to people," Blair was quoted by Reuters as saying, in a reference to efforts to include Iran in peace efforts. "The trouble is, I look around the region at the moment, and everything that Iran is doing is negative."

Calling the Holocaust an "immense tragedy" for humanity, the Vatican issued a statement admitting of no doubt that the mass murder of Jews took place. The statement used the Hebrew word for the Holocaust, Shoah, and expressed "great compassion" for what happened to the Jews of Europe during World War II, according to Agence France-Presse.

The White House said in a statement that the gathering of Holocaust deniers in Tehran was an "affront to the entire civilized world, as well as to the traditional Iranian values of tolerance and mutual respect."

Franco Frattini, vice president of the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, expressed "shock" that the conference had been convened.

The French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, also condemned the gathering.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said that 67 people from 30 countries were participating in the two days of meetings.

On Monday, Rasoul Mousavi, head of the Foreign Ministry's Institute for Political and International Studies, said it would provide an opportunity to discuss the Holocaust "away from Western taboos and the restriction imposed on them in Europe."

Iran has become simultaneously a wicked cesspool of danger to the world, and a laffingstock that can only feed the juices of hyperbole and mockery from comedians and satirists the world over.

--Politicarp

Further Research:

Holocaust conference in Iran: Aljazeera offers more balance than National Public Radio (NPR) reporter, objective coverage from most other international media

Iranian Christians arrested 2 days before Holocaust-deniers conference [a weird by interesting viewpoint].