Posted on 12/17/2005 4:25:53 AM PST by Flavius
TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Iranian cleric on Friday backed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent comment that the Holocaust was a myth, the official IRNA news agency reported. ADVERTISEMENT
"The recent comments made by the president ... are completely logical and are what all Iranians say," Ayatollah Ali Meshkini told worshippers at Friday prayers in the city of Qom.
Ahmadinejad on Wednesday said the Holocaust was a myth and suggested Israel be moved to North America or Europe, comments that drew swift international condemnation.
"After the Second World War, the Zionists have spread lies that Hitler, Austria and Germany killed more than six million Jews in the furnaces in order to create a favorable situation for themselves in the world," said Meshkini.
Meshkini is chairman of Iran's Assembly of Experts, a clerical body that elects and supervises the performance of Iran's Supreme Leader, currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Ahmadinejad, a former Revolutionary Guardsman who was elected president, said in October that Israel was a "tumor" that must be "wiped off the map."
A statement drafted by European Union leaders described his Holocaust comment as "wholly unacceptable."
"The European countries always react because they cannot tolerate logical comments made by the president," Meshkini said.
While Meshkini devoted much of his Friday Prayers sermon to the issue, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani made no mention of Ahmadinejad's comments when he led prayers in Tehran.
Rafsanjani competed with conservative Ahmadinejad in June elections on a platform of improving relations with the West and has criticized the president for sacking dozens of moderate officials.
Analysts say Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel rhetoric may be part of a strategy aimed at increasing his own legitimacy at home and Iran's role in the region.
whats wrong with this picture
What do you expect from people who belong to a cult who believe in a jerk that is a pedophile and a murderer?
A whole country full of idiots.
There is no denying the Holocaust. It did concern more than Jews. Catholics, Midgets, the mentally ill ,homosexuals and many others besides the Jews were killed and disposed of by the Germans.
To deny it happened is stupid, Not ignorant ,Stupid.
You can fix ignorance, but stupid cant be helped.
"The recent comments made by the president ... are completely logical and are what all Iranians say," Ayatollah Ali Meshkini told worshippers
Wonder why?
A tour of the Holocaust Museum would have absolutely no impact on such a boob with this mindset. My analogy to the position of Israel is as follows: several of your family members have been scarred by creeps throwing sulfuric acid. One of your neighbors, who has repeatedly threatened you and your family over the years, tells you he has a vat of acid in his backyard and intends to throw it in your face once the vat is completed. Can anyone possibly blame you for invading his backyard and destroying his vat of acid?
These thugs are crusin' for a bruisin' and my guess is that they're going to get it, sooner rather than later.
Liberals need to understand you cannot convince people like this to be reasonable; "negotiations" are futile.
Um, the politically correct answer that there is nothing wrong with the picture. I have heard the more rabid leftists insist that women have more rights under Islam than they do in in racistsexisthomophobicchristocratic America!
More useful. Nuke 'em.
This is the ringleader of the gang that took hostages under Jimma Carter.
More like a whole country full of the oppressed.
Not all Iranians believe their political/religious leaders.
I would bet that at street level most of them would prefer to eliminate the extremists at the top. Of course the penalty for saying so is rather stiff.
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