Israel decries Iran's international Holocaust denial conference Print E-mail
Written by Israeli Foreign Ministry   
Monday, 11 December 2006
The Government of Israel strongly condemns the shameless initiative taken by the Iranian Government to convene an international conference for the denial of the Holocaust, the so-called "International Conference Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision."

The Holocaust has been ridiculed in Iran by a "Holocaust Caricatures Contest" and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who continuously calls for the destruction of Israel, has compared Auschwitz to Israel, thus falsifying past and present.
 
The statements and acts by the Iranian president are clearly counter-factual and stand in stark contradiction to history, as endorsed unanimously by the international community. By denying or questioning the Holocaust, the most extreme form of genocide to date, he is challenging the essence of the notion of universal human rights, which was developed by the international community after - and because of - the Holocaust, the Shoah.

His further statements regarding his wish for the destruction of the State of Israel, a member-state of the UN, should be seen as threatening another genocide. Such positions, which contravene the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted by the General Assembly on December 9th 1948, endanger civilization and demand universal rejection.
 
As Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni stated: "The memory of the Holocaust is essential to the entire international community, and not only to Israel and the Jewish people. By denying the Holocaust, the president of Iran seeks to create legitimacy for his declared intention to destroy Israel and to spread his extremist doctrine, which contravene the values of the free world. The world must unite in clear word and deed in order to give true meaning to the words "never again."

Source: Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs