Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Photo: AP
Ahmadinejad: Holocaust – Israel's pretext to oppress Palestinians
Iranian president says 'grouped deaths of Jews during World War II' is now being used as an excuse to 'wrong Palestinian people'
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that he believes that Israel is using the Holocaust as an excuse to oppress the Palestinian people.
Speaking with the Associated Press, Ahmadinejad muted his remarks on the Holocaust, an event he has frequently questioned as a matter of historical fact, choosing not to repeat those outright denials.
Using markedly less confrontational language than he has in the past, Ahmadinejad said he is not interested in debating historical details. Instead, he said he wants to focus on what he calls the wrong done to Palestinians who lost their land when the state of Israel was formed.
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Ahmadinejad said the Holocaust is used as a pretext for the repression of Palestinians. He grouped the deaths of Jews during World War II with those of millions of others who died.
During a speech in Tehran last Friday, Ahmadinejad questioned whether the Holocaust was "a real event" and called it a pretext used by Jews to trick the West into backing the creation of Israel. He said the Jewish state was created out of "a lie and a mythical claim." The United States branded the speech "hateful."
Turning his attention to Washington's recent concerns and effort to hold a dialogue with Tehran, the Iranian president said that his country is not a threat to the United States as President Barack Obama has said, but "an opportunity."
Ahmadinejad is currently in New York to attend the UN General Assembly session, but US officials are making sure he will not cross paths with Obama.
Ahmadinejad said Obama must make "big changes" in policy toward Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Mideast and that Obama will find a friend in Iran if he does so.
