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Outcry After Ahmadinjad's New Israel Jibe
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"Why
do they insist on imposing themselves on other powers and creating a
tumor so there is always tension and conflict?" said Ahmadinejad.
(Reuters)
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WORLD
CAPITALS, December 9, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) –
Statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad questioning the
Holocaust have triggered an international outcry and drawn a flurry of
angry reactions.
On
Thursday, December 8, Ahmadinejad said the "tumor" of the
state of Israel should be relocated to Europe.
"You
believe the Jews were oppressed, why should the Palestinian Muslims
have to pay the price?" he asked in an interview with Iranian
state television's Arabic-language satellite channel, Al-Alam.
"You
oppressed them, so give a part of Europe to the Zionist regime so they
can establish any government they want. We would support it," he
said, according to a transcript of his original Farsi-language
comments given to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Germany,
Austria, Israel and the United States were immediately harshly
critical of the statements, with the Jewish state taking the chance to
repeat calls for referring Iran's nuclear program to the Security
Council.
"Unfortunately
this is not the first time that the Iranian leader has expressed
outrageous and racist views towards Jews and Israel," said
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev.
"I
hope that these outrageous remarks will be a wake-up call to people
who have any illusions about the nature of the regime in Iran."
Ahmadinejad,
who in October said arch-enemy Israel must be "wiped off the
map", said that if Germany and Austria believed Jews were
massacred during World War II, a state of Israel should be established
on their soil.
"So,
Germany and Austria, come and give one, two or any number of your
provinces to the Zionist regime so they can create a country there...
and the problem will be solved at its root," he said.
"Why
do they insist on imposing themselves on other powers and creating a
tumor so there is always tension and conflict?"
Israel's
views were echoed by the United States, its closest ally.
"It
just further underscores our concerns about the regime in Iran. And
it's all the more reason why it's so important that the regime not
have the ability to develop nuclear weapons," said White House
spokesman Scott McClellan.
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel said Ahmadinejad's combative suggestion about
Israel was "totally unacceptable" and Austrian Chancellor
Wolfgang Schuessel, speaking after a meeting with US President George
W. Bush, called the remarks "an outrageous gaffe, which I want to
repudiate in the sharpest manner."
German
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the EU's nuclear
diplomacy is "not made easier by the fact that Mr. Ahmadinejad
comes up with new ideas, that the people of Israel could move to
Germany and Austria, to resolve the Middle East problem".
Italian
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi also condemned the remarks.
Annan
Shocked
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Merkel said Ahmadinejad's combative suggestion for Israel relocation was "totally unacceptable".
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UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan also expressed shock over Ahmadinejad's
remarks.
"The
Secretary General was shocked to see the remarks attributed to the
president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in which he reportedly cast
doubt on the truth of the Holocaust and suggested that the State of
Israel should be moved from the Middle East to Europe," a UN
statement said, according to AFP.
Annan
noted that only last month the UN General Assembly passed a resolution
which "rejects any denial of the Holocaust as an historical
event, either in full or in part".
The
UN chief called on all member states "to combat such denial, and
to educate their populations about the well established historical
facts of the Holocaust, in which one third of the Jewish people were
murdered, along with countless members of other minorities."
Annan
also recalled that last October he had reminded all member states that
Israel is a "long-standing UN member with the same rights and
obligations as every other member", and that, under the UN
Charter, "all members have pledged to refrain from the threat or
use of force against the territorial integrity or political
independence of any state."
The
British EU presidency has also denounced the Iranian President's
remarks.
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Annan was shocked.
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"The
comments attributed to President Ahmadinejad are wholly unacceptable,
and I condemn them unreservedly," said Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw in a statement.
"They
have no place in civilized political debate."
Straw
said: "Six weeks ago, president Ahmadinejad's call for Israel to
be 'wiped from the map' was condemned by countries across the world,
as well as by Kofi Annan and the UN Security Council."
"It
was rejected by the Palestinians themselves," he added.
"Iran
is unique in opposing a resolution to the Arab-Israel dispute based on
the principle of two states living side-by-side in peace and
security," according to Straw.
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