Gillerman: Iran preparing next Holocaust

Israel’s Ambassador to U.N. Dan Gillerman tell assembly commemorating International Holocaust Day that Iran is preparing next Holocaust; Secretary-General Kofi Annan says denying genocide against Jews amounts to “bigotry”

Ynet|Published: 01.27.06 , 19:15

The United Nations commemorated the first International Holocaust Day on Friday, holding a ceremony at its New York headquarters where diplomats and Holocaust survivors observed a minute silence in the memory of the six million Jews and other ethnic minorities killed during the Second World War.

Three months ago, the United Nations unanimously approved January 27 as International Holocaust Day, a date coinciding with the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest Nazi death camp where 1 million Jews were exterminated.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman addressed the U.N. assembly saying, “I was born in Israel. I stand before you today as an Israeli Jew and a citizen of the world. I am glad the world is taking an initiative that goes beyond remembering. I am a representative of the Jewish State which was established on the ashes of the Holocaust.”

Gillerman warned that “Iran is preparing the next Holocaust,” referring to the Islamic theocracy’s controversial nuclear research that could yield technology necessary for making nuclear bombs.

Annan: Holocaust must serve to warn against racism

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the fate of the victims of the Holocaust should remind the world to be vigilant against racism and keep in check the "bigots" denying the extermination of the Jews during World War II.

“The fate of the victims of the Holocaust should be a warning for all of us that we live in a world where ... You have modernism mixed with barbarism and we should be vigilant in trying to ensure in that what happened is never repeated," Annan told reporters after meeting with

Holocaust survivors in Zurich.

Annan called on individuals and governments to counter the “bigots” denying the Holocaust. “There are bigots today that deny ... That the unique experience of the Holocaust occurred and that should be countered. You start with humiliations, you start with racism, you demean the other and before you know it has moved on to incredible levels,” he said.

Gillerman also said: “The world should act today to secure the future. Today I wish to express my deepest regrets to the world. I regret that the State of Israel was not established in 1939, because it would have existed the event would have never happened.”

“Today from this platform I assure you that as long as Israel exists no Jew no Jew will wear a yellow ribbon. The State of Israel will always exist so that these horrors will never be repeated,” Gillerman said.

In a message released by the White House on Friday, President George W. Bush said: “The international community respects the memory of Holocaust survivors, and we appreciate those who fought this evil and we will always remember them.”

Germany's parliamentary president Norbert Lammert urged that the lessons of the Holocaust continue to influence national policy, referring to recent remarks by Ahmadinejad in warning of the danger of anti-Semitism.

Lammert stressed that the need to commemorate the millions of Jews and other victims murdered by the Nazis will not diminish with time.

"We want to - and we must - continue to be prepared to learn from our history," Lammert said at a special session of parliament.

"The past weeks have shown us how much not only we Germans need this remembrance day," he said. "With dismay we have had to note that today, even presidents insist on describing the Holocaust as a fairy tale and go so far as to make anti-Semitic remarks.

Germany has joined other nations in expressing concern about Ahmadinejad's calling the Holocaust a "myth" and saying the Jewish state should be wiped off the map or moved to Germany or the United States.