Iran’s Ahmadinejad questions Holocaust

Ahead of his scheduled speech at the UN General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has once again questioned the reality of the Holocaust.

“Where did the Holocaust take place? Who has created the Holocaust? Has the Holocaust been made up by Western powers or Palestinians? Why should the Palestinian people pay for it?” asked the Iranian president in an interview with France 2 television aired Tuesday.

“These are questions that have not been answered yet. We accept remarks by Europeans that [the Nazis] committed crimes during World War II, but who should pay for these crimes?” he added.

“Should the Palestinian people who played no role in the occurrence of the Holocaust pay for it?”

Ahmadinejad urged an investigation into the Holocaust ‘if it were a historical event’.

Speaking on the annual Qods Day, the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan, on September 18, Ahmadinejad renewed his comments about Israel and what he called the ‘myth’ of the Holocaust, causing outrage in the European Union, US, Russia and Britain.

While he did not deny the Holocaust, the Iranian president asked Western powers to give logical answers to unanswered questions about the issue.

Asked about the death of Neda Aqa-Soltan during the post-election unrest, Ahmadinejad said, “Her story was a suspicious case.”

“Those who provoked the unrest from inside and outside the country should be accountable for Aqa-Soltan’s death,” he added.

“A story just like that of Aqa-Soltan took place in Venezuela. This shows that there is a scenario, which victimized an Iranian citizen,” said the president.

Regarding the murder of a pregnant Egyptian woman in a German court, Ahmadinejad said, “A woman has been killed in a court, which should be the most secure place.”

“As a reporter, can you explain the stance of [French Foreign Minister Bernard] Kouchner on the issue which happened in a neighboring country to France?”

“The era of double standards is ended,” Ahmadinejad concluded.

Marwa el-Sherbini, who was about four months pregnant, was brutally murdered on July 1 in a courtroom in the German city of Dresden.

She was suing her neighbor for insulting her and calling her a terrorist for wearing an Islamic headscarf. During the trial, the defendant approached the witness stand and stabbed her 18 times in front of her 3-year-old son.

Her brutal murder and the German media’s belated and indifferent response sent shockwaves around the world with Muslim groups calling for legal action against the courtroom officials who failed to ensure el-Sherbini’s safety.