Iranian president: If the Holocaust happened, why must Palestinians pay? - Haaretz

Subscribe to Print Edition

Wed., September 26, 2007 ,

Israel Time: 03:12 (EST+7)

web haaretz.com

Back to Homepage

Print Edition

Diplomacy

Defense

Arts & Leisure

Real Estate

Jewish World

National

Advertising

Magazine

Week's End

Business

Opinion

Rosner's Domain

Anglo File

Books

Travel

del.icio.us

Digg It! new

Iranian president: If the Holocaust happened, why must Palestinians pay?

By Haaretz Correspondent and AP , By Shlomo Shamir

NEW YORK - Even if the Holocaust really happened, the Palestinian people must not be forced to pay the price, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told students and faculty at Columbia University in New York yesterday.

The Iranian leader defended his calls for more research into the Holocaust, saying it has been abused as a justification for Israeli mistreatment of the Palestinians. "Why is it that the Palestinian people are paying the price for an event they had nothing to do with?" he asked.

	Advertisement

"You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated," Columbia President Lee Bollinger said in response to Ahmadinejad's questioning of the Holocaust. "Will you cease this outrage?"

The Iranian leader ducked a question about his repeated calls for Israel's destruction, declining to either reiterate or deny them. "We love all nations," he said instead. "We are friends with the Jewish people; there are many Jews in Iran living peacefully with security."

He said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be resolved by allowing "the people of Palestine" - Jews, Muslims and Christians - to decide their own fate, without international intervention.

Introducing Ahmadinejad, whose address at the campus sparked widespread protests, Bollinger called him a "petty and cruel dictator." He took aim at Ahmadinejad's calls for Israel's destruction, asking: "We have ties with Israel, do you plan to wipe us off the map too?" He also demanded that the Iranian leader explain his country's recent execution of human rights activists and even children, its support of violence in Iraq and its oppression of women, homosexuals and Bahais.

Bollinger was strongly criticized for inviting Ahmadinejad to Columbia, and had promised tough questions. But the strident and personal nature of his attack was startling.

"Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger said, to loud applause. He said Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust might fool the illiterate and ignorant, but "when you come to a place like this it makes you simply ridiculous. The truth is that the Holocaust is the most documented event in human history."

Ahmadinejad, when he finally took the stage, called the introduction an "insult" designed to prejudice the audience. "There were insults and claims that were incorrect, regretfully," he said.

He did not address Bollinger's accusations directly, instead launching into a long religious discourse laced with quotes from the Koran before turning to criticism of the Bush administration and past American governments, for everything from warrantless wiretapping to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

'No war plans'

Earlier yesterday, Ahmadinejad said that Iran would not attack Israel or any other country, and he does not believe the U.S. is preparing for war against Iran.

"Iran will not attack any country," Ahmadinejad told The Associated Press. "Iran has always maintained a defensive policy, not an offensive one, and has never sought to expand its territory."

Asked whether he believed the U.S. is preparing for war against Iran, he responded: "That is not how I see it ... I believe that some of the talk in this regard arises first of all from anger. Secondly, it serves the electoral purposes domestically in this country. Third, it serves as a cover for policy failures over Iraq."

"We don't think you can compensate for one mistake by committing more mistakes," he added, explaining why he thought a U.S. war with Iran unlikely.

In what is believed to be his first comment on a reported attack by Israeli bombers inside Syria on September 6, the Iranian president said the attack stemmed from Israeli expansionism and had nothing to with Iran. In all his replies, he referred to Israel as the Zionist regime, and not by its name.

In a different interview, Ahmadinejad also accused Israel of occupation and racism. "We do not recognize that regime [Israel] because it is based on occupation and racism. It constantly attacks its neighbors," he said in a video news conference from New York with the National Press Club in Washington. "It kills people. It drives people from their homes."

He also took a swipe at the United States, saying: "We oppose the way the U.S. government tries to manage the world."

In the AP interview, Ahmadinejad dismissed U.S. claims that Iran secretly provides weapons to insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Why would we want to do that?" he asked. "This would really be inappropriate for us. We are friends with both Iraq and Afghanistan. Insecurity in Iraq and Afghanistan undermines our own national security."

"It saddens us that people lose their lives in Iraq. We also regret that American troops are losing their lives there," he added.

Bookmark to del.icio.us


	Dead or alive
	How can a person be deemed dead by modern medicine if his heart continues to beat?


	Betting against Grant
	After one match as manager of Chelsea, the English press is already listing replacements.

Today Online


	Shmuel Rosner: Israel is clear loser from Ahmadinejad's visit
	Responses: 587


	Carlo Strenger: Israel on path to becoming a pariah state
	Responses: 195


	Amira Hass: Showing Palestinians that there are other Israelis
	Responses: 67


	Ben-Eliezer: Barghouti is best chance for breakthrough with PA
	Responses: 113

More Headlines
00:13 Ahmadinejad: The Iran nuclear issue is closed


02:25 Texas governor announces establishment of Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce


23:52 Ben-Eliezer: Continued neglect of Israeli Arabs may spark 'internal Intifada'


01:11 Documents show Israel lobbying to import nuclear material


01:02 PM: Jewish Agency still has key role in bringing Jews to Israel


19:08 Bank Hapoalim to sever ties with Palestinian banks in Gaza


21:31 Hamas urges Saudis not to go to U.S.-led Mideast conference


21:22 FM Livni meets Arab leaders in N.Y. in bid to normalize ties


21:06 Court won't let children visit father in Sderot due to security concerns