US Condemns Raisi’s “Antisemitic” Holocaust Denial Remarks
Two high-ranking officials in the US government on Monday, September 28, condemned recent statements by Ibrahim Raisi denying the Holocaust tragedy, calling them “antisemitic.”
Ibrahim Raisi, in an interview with American CBS network, when asked about the Holocaust, did not confirm the occurrence of this tragedy and said: “If these events have happened, they should be investigated.”
Deborah Lipstadt, special envoy of the US government for combating antisemitism, called Raisi’s remarks “absurd and dangerous.”
In a tweet, she wrote: “His [Raisi’s] statements are a form of Holocaust denial and a form of antisemitism.”
Jake Sullivan, the White House National Security Advisor, while retweeting Ms. Lipstadt’s tweet, wrote that Raisi’s remarks were “outrageous and should be condemned globally.”
Israeli officials have also reacted to Raisi’s remarks, and Yair Lapid, Prime Minister of Israel, whose father was a Holocaust survivor in childhood, posted tragic images of genocide and wrote: “Here are just a few reminders.”
General Aviv Kohavi, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, also said: “Those who are Holocaust deniers can also have weapons of mass murder and deny them.”
Mr. Kohavi on Monday, September 28, during a visit by a senior delegation of Israeli military officials to Auschwitz in Poland, emphasized: “You don’t need to be a historian to understand the horrors of the Holocaust; you need to be human.”
On January 27, 1945, the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, the largest Nazi forced labor camp, was liberated by the Soviet Army, and several thousand prisoners of this camp, most of whom were ill and dying, were freed.
The Islamic Republic from the beginning of its formation has questioned the existence of Israel, and the statements of Tehran officials about “wiping Israel off the map” have been repeatedly repeated.
Also, the government of the Islamic Republic, particularly during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, officially denied the Holocaust.
However, after Ahmadinejad’s presidency, the government of Hassan Rouhani attempted to adjust the positions of the Islamic Republic in this regard.
In early August, the publication of statements by Ali Khamenei about Jews on his Twitter account once again sparked global reactions.
Deborah Lipstadt on the official Twitter account of the office of the US Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism wrote: “We condemn this blatant and persistent antisemitism.”
Last December, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution prohibiting any form of Holocaust denial, but the Islamic Republic did not vote for this resolution.
The government of Ibrahim Raisi at that time accused Israel of exploiting the victims of World War II and Jews as justification for its actions against the Palestinian people and neighboring countries.
However, it is likely that Raisi’s recent remarks about the Holocaust will affect his first trip to New York.
Source: Radio Farda
