Holocaust denial
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi predictably refused to confirm on Sunday that the Holocaust happened. In a 60 Minutes interview, the president – also known as the “Butcher of Tehran” – was asked if he believes that six million Jews were slaughtered.
“Historical events should be investigated by researchers and historians. There are some signs that it happened. If so, they should allow it to be investigated and researched,” the Iranian leader said.
As expected, Israeli politicians reacted with a furor. Prime Minister Yair Lapid tweeted examples of “some signs” in response to the comments, with pictures of Jews in concentration and death camps.
The question came as CBS’s Lesley Stahl asked Raisi about accusations that he was responsible for some 3,000 deaths by hanging in the 1980s under orders of then-supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Raisi was the youngest member of the Tehran death committee in 1988 when it agreed to “eliminate” jailed members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) group for acts of treachery.
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to disinvite Raisi to the General Assembly that begins in the coming days.
“The UN will reach a new low if they give the Butcher of Tehran a platform,” Erdan said.
President Isaac Herzog responded to Raisi’s comments with a picture he presented during a speech on Holocaust Remembrance Day of two arms, with the hands touching, over an Israeli flag. The one on the right shows number 55374, belonging to the late Dora Dreibelt-Eisenberg, who was a prisoner in Auschwitz Birkenau. The arm on the left belongs to her great-granddaughter.
“Mr. Raisi, on my desk in Jerusalem there is one photograph. The numbers speak for themselves,” Herzog wrote.
Denying the Holocaust is not new in Iran. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2016, for example, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei released a video titled “Holocaust: Are the Dark Ages Over?” on his website, which included his comments from 2014 that questioned the Nazi mass slaughter of more than six million Jews during World War II.
“No one in European countries dares to speak about the Holocaust, while it is not clear whether the core of this matter is clear or not,” Khamenei said. “Even if it is a reality, it is not clear how it happened. Speaking about the Holocaust and expressing doubts about it is considered to be a great sin. If someone does this, they stop, arrest, imprison and sue him. This is while they claim to be the supporters of freedom. This is the ignorance that exists in today’s world.”
A few years later, Khamenei posted on Twitter, “The next question to ask is: Why is it a crime to raise doubts about the Holocaust?” He compared Holocaust denial to insulting the prophet Muhammad, noting that Holocaust denial is forbidden while cartoons of Muhammad are acceptable.
And in January of this year, Iran opposed a UN resolution calling on member states and social media companies to take active measures to combat antisemitism and Holocaust denial [through] information and communication technologies,” and to facilitate the “reporting of such content.”
And while Holocaust denial should never be tolerated, it is all the more atrocious when it comes from the leader of a country that is actively seeking a nuclear weapon to help it try to perpetrate another genocide against the Jewish people. Denying the Holocaust and actively pursuing an ability that will allow it to try again is exactly why Iran poses the grave threat that it does to the State of Israel.
This leads to one simple conclusion: The world and the UN need to keep the pressure on Iran and continue to isolate it without hesitation. Raisi is a mass murderer and is pursuing weapons that will enable his regime to continue to spread terror and wreak havoc across the Middle East. There can be no compromises with these types of dictators.
This is a regime that cannot be reasoned with since even the basic facts of history mean nothing in the ayatollahs’ pursuit of power, influence and regional supremacy. The world has an opportunity to take a clear stand against Iran. We urge it to not miss the chance.