In reporting on what it describes as a "pro-Holocaust" documentary being shown on Turkish television, Press TV gave us a trademark example of the gymnastics the Iranian government takes with regards to the existence of the Holocaust since Ahmadinejad made his now infamous remarks six years ago.
In a retrospectively amusing interview with journalist Mike Wallace back in 1976, the last Shah of Iran expressed some qualms over the Jewish lobby in the United States. He stated among other things it was too powerful for the interests of Israel as it pushed around and directly influenced too many people's decisions regarding certain issues. He was clearly referring to American Israeli lobby groups such as AIPAC when he pronounced these qualms.
Some 30 years later, the president of Iran would cause international controversy, condemnation, a media storm and widespread distress when he referred to the Holocaust as a mere myth; a fabricated legend created by the Zionists. Ahmadinejad's provocative pronouncements were downright hurtful to the Jewish people, as they directly undermined and cheapened an incident in history that is a major part of the collective Jewish psyche by denying it ever even happened and that the pain and suffering several of the survivors endured; the horror and memories of watching their families and friends perish or be brutally, systemically and callously murdered, as ocurred in the death camps in Poland, was simply a myth they bought into and that it didn't really happen to them. This is how they inflame and hurt people, by flat out telling them that the horrors which they had experienced and endured first hand had never even happened.
Personally I don't feel the need, nor do I have any desire, to have to silence Holocaust deniers, or deny them a right to voice their opinions, misunderstandings or skepticism with minor details they may not understand. To do so gives these fanatics their own free speech “martyrs” and further convinces them that their outlandish claims have therefore been given credence. While their pronouncements are certainly hurtful to the Jewish people, and are usually leavened with anti-Semitic innuendos, they are for the most part self-discrediting; those who preach them shouldn't be jailed for voicing such opinions, but should instead be shunned and shamed from all normal realms of society. Those who may be genuinely skeptical about the transpiration of the Final Solution and the widespread systemic destruction of European Jewry should be allowed to voice such skepticism and to have it addressed. Is that what Ahmadinejad is doing, as he has hinted towards on more than one occasion?
Article comments
1 - Glenn Contrarian
Just to tick everyone off, here's something to think about:
Ahmedinejad claims the Holocaust is a myth. He's also a creationist. He also believes that religion belongs in schools. He thinks that abortion is murder.
He is in many ways very conservative...and has zero liberal leanings as far as I can tell. BC conservatives take note - he's a lot like the evangelicals who wield so much power in the GOP.
Just something for all of you to think about. Yes, it is OFF subject and is not meant in any way to detract from the article and from what Ahmedinejad has done stupidly wrong - all I'm doing in showing the BC conservatives the mirror-image between Ahmedinejad and all too many of the powerful within the GOP.
2 - John Lake
One must take Ahmadinejad with a grain of salt. He say’s odd things which make us wonder. I think he enjoys doing that. We might wonder when a major republican candidate for the American presidency, a highly accredited historian, denies the existence of Palestine. He lowers himself to Ahmadinejad’s level.
Generally I have come to believe that in denying the Holocaust, Ahmadinejad was simply deriving this attitude from the fact that Iranian students aren’t informed about it, and it doesn’t appear in Iranian accounts of history. He has clearly achieved his goal of inciting our ire. We know that the Holocaust was one of the darkest periods in world history; such as which should never again happen.
We can’t take a high regard for human life for granted.
Hamas’ charter has more than an anti-Semitic core. In fact the destruction of Israel is Hamas’ raison d'être, its primary thrust.
3 - Igor
Seems to me that the Hamas charter is even more extreme, and calls for the elimination of every single jew.
Yesterday I listened to the "Intelligence Squared" debate on NPR, debating whether to admit Palestine to the UN. I'm sure there's a podcast. It was quite revealing since it confirmed the intransigence of the Hamas contingent. It was actually shocking to me since I harbored hopes that the Hamas were 'mellowing'.