Iranian forum on Holocaust ‘beyond belief’
PETER KOHN, AJN, DECEMBER 14, 2006

A CONFERENCE ON HOLOCAUST DENIAL HOSTED BY IRAN EARLIER THIS WEEK IS AN “OUTRAGEOUS FRAUD”, CHARGED MPS AND JEWISH LEADERS, WITH ONE AUSCHWITZ SURVIVOR CALLING IT THE WORK OF “ANTISEMITES AND THE INSANE”.

EVA SLONIM, ONE OF DR JOSEF MENGELE’S “EXPERIMENTS”, SAID SHE WOULD LIKE TO TOUR AUSCHWITZ WITH THE 67 PARTICIPANTS OF THE TEHRAN CONFERENCE, WHICH HAD THE BACKING OF IRANIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD.

IN RESPONSE TO CLAIMS THAT THE NUMBER OF JEWS MURDERED HAD BEEN EXAGGERATED, SLONIM, WHO HAS IDENTIFIED HERSELF IN A PHOTO AT AUSCHWITZ, SAID: “I WOULD ASK THEM, ‘WHAT HAPPENED TO THESE PEOPLE WHO DISAPPEARED FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH WHOSE ASHES STILL FLOAT IN THE SKIES SOMEWHERE?’”

LEADERS AROUND THE WORLD AS WELL AS THE VATICAN, THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE EUROPEAN UNION CONDEMNED THE CONFERENCE, WITH BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR DESCRIBING IT AS “SHOCKING BEYOND BELIEF”.

AMONG THE SPEAKERS AT THE TWO-DAY EVENT, ENTITLED “REVIEW OF THE HOLOCAUST: GLOBAL VISION”, WAS ADELAIDE-BASED REVISIONIST DR FREDERICK TÖBEN, WHO TOLD THE CONFERENCE THAT THE HOLOCAUST “HAS NO REALITY IN TIME OR SPACE”.

IN ADDITION TO DR TÖBEN, WHO IS FACING CONTEMPT CHARGES FOR FLOUTING A 2002 FEDERAL COURT ORDER TO REMOVE HATE MATERIAL FROM HIS WEBSITE, ATTENDEES INCLUDED AUSTRALIAN SOCIALITE MICHELE RENOUF, A SUPPORTER OF JAILED REVISIONIST DR DAVID IRVING. CLAD IN TRADITIONAL MUSLIM GARB, RENOUF HAILED AHMADINEJAD “A HERO”.

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE WERE SEVERAL ULTRA-ORTHODOX, ANTI-ZIONIST NETUREI KARTA RABBIS FROM EUROPE, WHO DID NOT DENY THE HOLOCAUST – BUT BLAMED IT ON ZIONISM.

NOTABLY MISSING FROM THE CONFERENCE, HOWEVER, WAS ISRAELI ARAB KHALED MOHAMMED, WHO RUNS A HOLOCAUST EXHIBITION IN NAZERETH.

MOHAMMED, 44, HAD PLANNED TO TELL THE CONFERENCE THAT THE HOLOCAUST IS A HISTORICAL FACT – BUT WAS DENIED A VISA BY IRANIAN AUTHORITIES.

REFLECTING THE SENTIMENTS OF CONFERENCE ATTENDEES, AHMADINEJAD WAS WARMLY APPLAUDED WHEN HE SAID ISRAEL’S DAYS ARE NUMBERED. “JUST AS THE SOVIET UNION WAS WIPED OUT AND TODAY DOES NOT EXIST, SO WILL THE ZIONIST REGIME SOON BE WIPED OUT.”

NSW PREMIER MORRIS IEMMA SAID THE EVENT IS “OFFENDING ISRAEL AND CAUSING DISMAY AMONG THE WORLDWIDE JEWISH COMMUNITY”.

LIBERAL SENATOR MICHAEL RONALDSON DESCRIBED IT AS “A MALICIOUS ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE THE VERY HUMANITY UPON WHICH OUR CIVILISATION IS BASED”.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIAN JEWRY PRESIDENT GRAHAME LEONARD SAID IN A STATEMENT THAT THE CONFERENCE “HAS NO SERIOUS PURPOSE, BUT RATHER SEEKS TO OFFEND ISRAEL, JEWS WORLDWIDE, AND ALL CIVILISED, DECENT PEOPLE BY MOCKING A TRAGEDY THAT STILL LIVES IN THE MEMORIES OF MANY SURVIVORS”.

NSW JEWISH BOARD OF DEPUTIES CEO VIC ALHADEFF SAID THE CONFERENCE WAS AN “OUTRAGEOUS FRAUD”.

“THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE MOTIVE FOR HOLOCAUST DENIAL, AND THAT IS ANTISEMITISM, PURE AND SIMPLE,” HE SAID.

AUSTRALIA/ISRAEL & JEWISH AFFAIRS COUNCIL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DR COLIN RUBENSTEIN SAID: “IT WOULD BE MUCH BETTER FOR THE WORLD IF THOSE WHO HAVE VOLUNTEERED TO ASSIST AHMADINEJAD WERE TO NEVER RETURN FROM IRAN, WHICH, QUITE FRANKLY, DESERVES THEM.”

http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=2242