http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6172807.stm

Outrage over Holocaust conference

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has met delegates at a conference in Iran questioning the Holocaust, drawing widespread international criticism.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned it and British PM Tony Blair called it "shocking beyond belief".

Iran says it wants to debate what it calls taboos surrounding the Holocaust. Conference participants include white supremacists and Holocaust deniers.

Some six million Jews were murdered by the Nazi regime during World War II.

According to the foreign ministry in Tehran, 67 researchers from 30 countries are attending the conference in Iran, which is home to 25,000 Jews.

Participants include a number of well-known "revisionist" Western academics. American David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, is to present a paper.

The BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran describes the conference as a roll call of the world's most infamous Holocaust deniers - all delighted that Iran has given them the oxygen of publicity.

'Unacceptable character'

In a number of European countries - including Germany, Austria and France - it is illegal to deny the Holocaust. An Austrian court jailed Briton David Irving for three years on charges of Holocaust denial.

At his monthly media briefing in London, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair called the Holocaust conference "shocking beyond belief".

He described Iran as a "major strategic threat" to the Middle East, saying: "Iran is deliberately causing maximum problems for moderate governments and for ourselves in the region - in Palestine, in Lebanon and in Iraq."

He added there was "little point" in including Iran and Syria in regional issues, such as Iraq, "unless they are prepared to be constructive" and that it would be a "major challenge" to deal with Iran.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, flanked by visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said: "We reject in the strongest terms conferences held in Iran on the supposed non-existence of the Holocaust.

"Germany will never accept this and will use all possibilities at its disposal to oppose it."

Mr Olmert said the conference showed the "unacceptable character" of the Iranian government and the "danger" it poses for the West.

'Freedom of expression'

Opening the conference on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the aim of the conference was "not to deny or confirm the Holocaust".

Barbed wire at the Birkenau extermination camp, Poland
Mr Ahmadinejad accuses Israel of trading off a "Holocaust myth"

"Its main aim is to create an opportunity for thinkers who cannot express their views freely in Europe about the Holocaust," he said.

In a recorded address broadcast to the nation, President Ahmadinejad questioned why the West would not allow "any investigation" into the Holocaust.

Mr Ahmadinejad has repeatedly downplayed the extent of the Holocaust, describing it as a myth used to justify the existence of Israel and oppression of the Palestinians. He has called for an end to the Israeli state.

Many Iranians must be wondering why they have the right to deny the Holocaust with impunity, but not to question their own leaders without risking jail, our correspondent says.

In recent months, newspapers have been closed, journalists jailed and students penalised for engaging in any sort of political activity in Iran.

yeah this was on NPR this morning, i forget where, but apparantly there's also a conference going on denying this conference

That's really funny.

Iran talking about the legitimacy of the Holocaust under the guise of "freedom of expression" has to be the double standard of the millenium.

i wasn't sure to laugh or to cry when i heard this.

i obviously wasn't listening right this morning, but here it is:


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=6610016

The other idea was funnier. Germans aren't teh funniest people.

So I guess it is left to me to start a confernece where we discuss the "facts" about whether this "conference" they are "holding" in Tehran right now is actually occurring. I think there are many lies being perpetrated by the anti-Zionist controlled media that are designed to make us think that there are actually enough people who deny the Holocaust to actually hold a conference for them. I mean, why Tehran? This is obviously just a ploy by the anti-Zionist media to inflame the emotions of Jews by making the "conference" appear to be held in a capital so hostile to the State of Israel. David Duke? Who would beleive that David Duke would actually travel to Tehran for anything?

Laughable. Laughable that the world actually beleives this "conference" is happeneing.

I know that Noam Chomsky defends the right of the reviosionists to their researchs.

Me too.

I also defend the rights of those who know what they're talking about to make them look like the bigoted asses that they are.

Iran's leader: 'Zionist regime will soon be wiped out'
POSTED: 5:26 p.m. EST, December 12, 2006

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday told delegates at an international conference questioning the Holocaust that Israel's days were numbered.

Ahmadinejad, who has sparked international outcry by referring to the killing of six million Jews in World War II as a "myth" and calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map," launched another verbal attack on the Jewish state.

"Thanks to people's wishes and God's will, the trend for the existence of the Zionist regime is downwards and this is what God has promised and what all nations want," he said.

"Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out," he added.

His words received warm applause from delegates at the Holocaust conference, who included ultra-Orthodox anti-Israel Jews and European and American writers who argue the Holocaust was either fabricated or exaggerated.

His remarks were condemned in Washington, where U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that the Iranian president's behavior was "despicable" and called his comment "absolutely outrageous."

The Vatican, Germany and the European Commission added their voices Tuesday to others -- such as the United States and Israel -- who have condemned the Tehran meeting.

Iran says it organized the conference to shed light on the reasons behind the formation of the state of Israel after World War Two and to allow researchers from countries where it is a crime to question the Holocaust to speak freely.

"Iran is your home and is the home of all freedom seekers of the world," Ahmadinejad said. "Here you can express your views and exchange opinions in a friendly, brotherly and free atmosphere."

He urged countries where Holocaust denial is a crime to respect freedom of speech and not to take action against any of the conference participants on their return.

Human rights groups frequently number Iran as one of the world's worst violators of free speech, where scores of newspapers have been closed, journalists jailed, access to Web sites blocked and government critics hounded out of the country.

Copyright 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

I have always said Israel will ask for help after half of Jerusalem is taking into captivity.They will get this help from Germany who will take out out Iran. Iran will push one to many times & Germany are going to bite back real hard BIG TIME.

this is disgusting, and will do nothing to help Iran's image on the world stage.

I knew this thread was missing something.

Davejeni came from the future to warn us.

Isreal should do a comedy cartoon festival whose main theme is the Prophet. Joke for a joke, lets see who can take the hardest hit.

aren't most iranians muslim? they believe in the whole 72 virgins thing, right (or is it 100, i keep losing track of those poor virgins)? why is it that people are shocked that these same people DON'T believe that the holocaust happened? seems to make perfect sense to me. they're reality-challenged.

i wonder if it isnt so much that they are denying that it happened, but more that they dont think it was a bad thing, so its not as horrible as everyone makes it out to be

No, they are denying it happened, or that it happened to the extent that people claim it happened. A lot of these holocaust deniers say that it was really only more like a few thousand Jews who were killed instead of 6 million.

Can we all agree that about 3 million Jews died with a margin of error of +/- 100%?

I think Amanadaneedajob could agree with that.