by Leah Goldstein and Deborah Berman

Following the psuedo-academic conference held in Tehran in early December “to examine the scientific evidence supporting the Holocaust,” denunciations, condemnations and rebuttals were widely reported in the Western media, putting the Iranian leader and his racist sympathizers worldwide on the defense. At a symposium convened later that week at Yad Vashem by Chairman of the Directorate Avner Shalev entitled “Holocaust Denial: Paving the Way to Genocide,” the Tehran conference was exposed as nothing less than an insidious advance in Iran’s agenda of demonizing the Jewish people and advocating their ultimate goal: the destruction of the State of Israel.

“Holocaust denial in Muslim countries is embedded in radical Islam, and one has to understand that context if one wants to deal with denial and with the new genocidal threat posed by the Iranian regime,” explained Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem Prof. Yehuda Bauer to an audience of 40 ambassadors and representatives hailing from five continents. Following a gripping video presentation of the proliferation of antisemitic fabrications and Holocaust denial in Iran, President of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) Yigal Carmon described Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial campaign as a premeditated strategy to pave the way for a justification of a Jewish genocide. “Claiming the Holocaust was a myth is part of an attempt to deny the legitimacy of the State of Israel as a safe haven for the Jews after the Holocaust,” he warned. “As long as the world remembers the Holocaust, it will resist an attempt to perpetrate another genocide.”

But beyond understanding the threat, the goal of the symposium was to motivate the international community to act against this alarming campaign. Avner Shalev called for global opposition to the Iranian platform and conveyed Yad Vashem’s intentions to adopt a more proactive stance on the issue. “We must reach out to the Islamic population in Europe and America, and view them as bridges between worlds,” he stated. “Yad Vashem plans to promote education and outreach to moderate elements in the Islamic world, including the uploading of material in Arabic and Farsi to the Yad Vashem website.”

Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council Joseph (Tommy) Lapid reminded the audience that he was a Holocaust survivor, and addressed Europe’s responsibility for what happened sixty years ago, and what is happening now. “If Europe missed the opportunity to understand what Hitler was promising,” he cautioned, “then Europe should believe what the Iranian President is saying now. He means business.”

Perhaps the most touching remarks were offered by Rita Weiss, a Holocaust survivor who lost 48 members of her family in Auschwitz. Calling the Iranian President’s attempts to question the historical veracity of the Holocaust “a personal affront,” an emotional Ms. Weiss stated, “I am the only one who survived and managed to emerge alive—an orphan my whole life. I ask you, diplomatic representatives, did all my family just disappear? They have no graves, no one buried them; they became smoke and ashes.

“We didn’t believe Hitler when he said in Mein Kampf that he would destroy the Jews, but he did it, he put it into practice. President Ahmadinejad has threatened the same, and I believe him,” Weiss warned.

Speaking on behalf of the Diplomatic Corps, Ambassador of Cameroon H.E. Mr. Henri Etoundi Essomba voiced staunch support of Israel, explaining that the countries in attendance opposed and condemned the comments of Iranian despots regarding the Holocaust. “Our objective in being here today is to listen and leave here more strengthened than we have been in the past,” he told the group. “We will continue to stand by the State of Israel and support her in the battle against antisemitism and Holocaust denial.”


 

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