During the summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIK) in Mecca Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Europe of backing Israel’s occupation of Jerusalem. “Some European countries insist on saying that during World War II, Hitler burned millions of Jews and put them in concentration camps,” Ahmadinejad said. “Any historian, commentator or scientist who doubts that is taken to prison or gets condemned. Let’s give some land to the Zionists in Europe or in Germany or Austria, so they can have their government there,” he said. “They faced injustice in Europe, so why do the repercussions fall on the Palestinians? Offer a piece of land from Europe, and we will back this decision and will not attack this government. Those who are occupying and ruling Jerusalem, what is the origin of their fathers? … Most of them have no roots in Palestine, but they are holding the destiny of Palestine in their hands and allow themselves to kill the Palestinian people,” he said. Ahmadinejad questioned whether the Holocaust took place.
Israel condemned Ahmadinejad’s remarks as “outrageous and even racist.” The United States denounced them as “appalling and reprehensible.” U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has expressed “dismay” over the Iranian president’s comments urging the destruction of Israel. Annan, in a statement issued Thursday, reminded “all member states that Israel is a long-standing member of the United Nations with the same rights and obligations as every other member.” It added that “under the United Nations Charter, all members have undertaken to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday lambasted Israel and Zionism and quoted the late Ayatollah Khomeini calling for Israel to be “wiped out from the map.”
