There are certain things in life that should never happen — but they do! In this category I put the nauseating conference that Iran has just staged, for two days in a northern superb of its capital, on the Holocaust.
The world’s historians agree, apart from a tiny minority that includes some with a political agenda, that 6 million Jews, and other disfavored groups such as Poles and gypsies, were murdered by the Nazi regime in Germany during the Second World War.
In Europe, in America and in Israel there are museums that go into this mass murder in very great detail. Individuals who so died have had their names and particulars carefully recorded. Individuals who survived the concentration camps have been interviewed at length. Countless books have been written, films made and television documentaries shown. What made this mass killing so repellent was that industrial and scientific methods were employed by the Nazis to achieve their gruesome strategic aims. Rounding up and killing such a number of fellow humans is not an easy task, and bodies and belongings have to be disposed of. To deny the Holocaust ever took place is like telling the Japanese that Hiroshima was not the first target of the atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945.
I don’t think we really know why President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wanted to stage such a despicable event, although numerous reasons have been stated officially. It was an affront to the suffering of mankind. It received mass condemnation from continent to continent.
My suspicion is that the president is anxious to rally further popular support for Iran’s nuclear policies as the United Nations debates sanctions on his country. He is also refusing to have any serious discussions with America over the plight of the Iraqis , which may attract criticism in Iran. Many professional Iranians are alarmed at the isolation of their country, which damages investment in the economy.
It was not unknown for his predecessors to refer in their Friday speeches to the destruction of Israel. He has taken this theme further. He has described Israel as a “tumor” that he thought should be “wiped off the map” or somehow moved to Alaska or Europe. Inevitably such wild remarks are seen in the context of the possibility of Iran having nuclear tips for its numerous long-range missiles. In December 2005 he said: “They have fabricated a legend under the name ‘Massacre of the Jews,’ and they hold it higher than God himself, religion itself and the prophets themselves.” A few weeks earlier he had told an audience: “Anyone who signs a treaty which recognizes the entity of Israel means he has signed the surrender of the Muslim world.”
I find the words of Mohammad Khatami, his reformist predecessor who recently received an honorary degree at St. Andrews University in Scotland, much more responsible. He said this year: “We should speak out if even a single Jew is killed.” He believed the Holocaust should be recognized: “even if this historic reality has been misused and there is enormous pressure on the Palestinian people.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, tried a different tack when he welcomed participants to the conference: “The aim of this conference is not to deny or confirm the Holocaust. Its main aim is to create an opportunity for thinkers who cannot express their views freely in Europe about the Holocaust.” However the Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammadi declared the conference would address issues such as: “Whether the gas chambers were actually used by the Nazis.” While I think it is a big mistake to have laws against Holocaust denial, such as in Austria, Belgium and France, most member states of the European Union, including the United Kingdom, do not.
It was interesting that Khaled Kasab Mahameed, who is an outspoken Palestinian lawyer living in Israel, was not given a visa to attend, although he had been invited to speak. He has established the Arab Institute for Holocaust Research and Education in Nazareth, the Arab world’s first such museum. He was hoping to challenge Holocaust deniers during the conference. He is convinced that the questioning of “such huge, monstrous horror” harmed the Palestinian cause, and that the “study, analysis and acknowledgement” of the Holocaust by Arabs is important for a durable peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
It was also interesting that dozens of Iranian students burnt pictures of President Ahmadinejad and described the conference as “shameful,” as he gave a speech on Dec. 11 at a university in Tehran. They chanted “death to the dictator.” They complained the conference “has brought to our country Nazis and racists from around the world” as, indeed, it did.
We should not doubt that many millions of Iranians will have been furious at the considerable damage done by this grotesque event to the image of Iran.
