Supreme leader of Iran marks Holocaust Memorial Day by publishing Holocaust denying video

[Little Tich]

Source: The Telegraph

Ayotollah Ali Khamenei questions whether the Holocaust 'is a reality or not' as President Rouhani tours Italy and France

Ayotollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, has marked Holocaust Memorial Day by publishing a Holocaust denying video on his official website.

While nations around the world remembered the millions of people who were killed in Auschwitz and other concentration camps, Iran’s hardline leader questioned whether the Holocaust “is a reality or not”.

Khamenei's website promotes the video with a banner across its homepage, featuring a montage of images, including one of Adolf Hitler.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/12126576/Supreme-leader-of-Iran-marks-Holocaust-Memorial-Day-by-publishing-Holocaust-denying-video.html

[retrowire]

1. Oh boy... nt

[Archae]

2. Supreme Leader? No. Supreme ASSHOLE.

[jonno99]

5. +1

[7962]

3. Nothing new here. They do this all the time; and at an official level.

Yet we're supposed to believe that Iran really wants to be taken seriously on the world stage.

[840high]

4. What a jerk.

[geek tragedy]

6. TBT: Ayatollah Assahola. nt

[Midnight Writer]

7. In other news, conservatives in the USA claim blacks were better off under slavery

than under Barrack Hussein Obama.

Conservatives in the USA claim women were happier and more fulfilled as housewives than when they entered the workforce.

Donald Trump declares his plan to bomb "every square inch" of Syria in retaliation for ISIS attacks against Christians, and says the problem with our nuclear arsenal is that "we are too afraid to use them".

Ted Cruz declares his plan to "carpet bomb Syria back to the Stone Age" and wonders if the sand in Syria "will glow at night".

Every single Republican running for the President of the United States wants to escalate the wars in the Middle East, regardless of the carnage.

And there is a Christian fundamentalist movement that is spending millions of dollars in Israel today trying to breed a pure red hair cow, because that in their belief is a precursor to worldwide Armageddon, which they want to hasten.

Not to mention all Muslims are potential terrorists, there is no evidence for global climate change, judges in the US are ordered to observe Sharia law, Obama plans to use the military to go door to door confiscating guns, and so on and so forth endlessly.

Do we really want to have a "who is the nuttiest" contest with other cultures?

We are all insane, every single one of us around the world. We every single one hold irrational beliefs and untenable positions. We every single one of us see ourselves as the "good guy". Is it really productive to condemn others as irrational nut jobs, or should we instead try to find common ground when we can and engage and negotiate when we can't?

[trillion]

10. And their embarassing followers will believe it and belive they are not racist.

All this conservative minority-hate is adding up to something. It's being pushed from the Koches - it's the main ingredient of the tea party - racism. I believe the Koches and the NRA are trying to get a race war by instilling hatred and making their "patriots" believe they're taking back the constitution in some deranged way. They're all chanting it and there is mass vitriol to them. I do not trust those those people with guns. It's going somewhere.

[trillion]

11. We are not all insane. I suggest you try watching democracynow.org's daily show. There are a lot of

sane people out there. Every problem you are describing is from some very bad people literally using propaganda and convincing people to be racist and violent. There are tons of politicians who will stand up and say bombing isn't the answer. The people who say it is are just who the bad billionaires want people to hear. The whole republican problem is a few handfuls of bad billionaires running them. I bet the worst people on the planet are over 65 years old and most in their 70's and 80's. These are the people behind all this hate and spending so much convincing others to join them.

[leftynyc]

22. And you just HAD to deflect

from a story about this for what fucking reason? Why didn't you just start your own thread in GD? Always the deflections from bullshit from Iran. Always. Predictably pathetic.

[still_one]

28. I noticed that also. and yes, that deflection is a round about way to protect Iran from criticism.

That puzzles me more than anything, why some find the need to protect Iran from criticism

[leftynyc]

30. I would think the answer is obvious

but we don't like to deal with that around here for some reason. They're all perfectly ok with this cretin denying the deaths of 11 million people - they still think he's just a misunderstood person who is our natural ally - VOMIT.

[still_one]

31. I know it is obvious. I was intentionally playing naive

[leftynyc]

33. Understandable

but pointless as they know no shame.

[trillion]

64. Acutally, it has nothing to do with Iran. I wasn't even thinking of Iran.

What is your thing about Iran? This holocaust denial is all over the arab world now. It's an extreme arab thing.
But anyway, welcome to my ignore list. I see your posts and perhaps I shouldn't have even answered that level. I mean, wow.

[smirkymonkey]

37. I'm not surprised anymore, but it still annoys the shit out of me.

[leftynyc]

39. They're not worth banging your

head against the wall but I no longer just shake my head and walk away. I confront this bullshit head on and make them explain themselves. It's really the only way to make it stop - make the those making the deflection look like imbeciles.

[Fast Walker 52]

44. what is your solution to dealing with Iran then?

[leftynyc]

46. Why do we have to

"deal" with Iran? What do they have to offer us for "dealing" with them? Have they promised to stop financing hezbollah, hamas, islamic jihad?

[Fast Walker 52]

49. you don't think that will be negotiated in the future?

I assume you know what we got out of the nuclear deal. Opening relations with Iran is a good thing.

I think a huge problem is Saudi Arabia, who pays a lot of people in the US to hate Iran.

[leftynyc]

52. If you think I hold

the saudis in any more esteem than iran, you'd be badly mistaken. I don't believe in negotiating with terrorists which is what you are when you finance terrorism.

[Fast Walker 52]

54. the Saudis finance terrorism, and they are our allies

[leftynyc]

55. Not my ally

I detest them just as much as I do iran. I don't control who our President wants to deal with.

[Fast Walker 52]

56. Neither do I control that

Saudi Arabia is just as bad as Iran, if not worse. Saudi Arabia doesn't even allow Jews in the country, and has little history of liberalism, in contrast to Iran.

In any case, I still think it is a good thing to try to normalize relations with Iran. It seems like a good first step to try to work out peace in the middle east, including with Israel-Palestine.

[leftynyc]

58. Oh - I don't know about that

saudi arabia wont let Jews in and iran wont let them out. I truly have no desire of normal relations with those who finance killing people.

[Chef Eric]

27. Nobody said anything about a "who is the nuttiest" contest.

And nobody said that condemning a people's vile behavior precludes us from finding common ground with them. We can do both. It is healthy to do both.

If you're truly concerned about these other offensive behaviors, then starting an original post of your own might be a good idea.

[Uponthegears]

29. Thank you for what

clearly is not "deflection" of any sort. There is a group of DUers who stumble over each other to put (ONLY)incidents of any Muslim extremism (but particularly relative to Iran) onto LBC. The same body is equally obsessed with denigrating the thousands of incidents where Muslims contribute to the betterment of our world.

I understand that some may wish to foment hostility toward Iran for reasons unrelated to religion. Iran has powerful enemies in the Middle East, including some who hold great political power here in the US. We saw this just recently when the House GOP came perilously close to committing treason by inviting a foreign leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, to attack US foreign policy while standing at the head of the chambers of the United States House of Representatives. We saw it in the calls to re-impose sanctions against Iran just lifted by our President (sanctions over and above the sanctions against those who trade in the business of spreading intercontinental ballistic missile technology -- which our President himself did impose) to protect our deservedly-crumbling domestic fossil fuel industry.

Those arguments, however, should be presented on their own merits, NOT in the form of these almost cartoonish attacks on one of the world's major religions.

There is a party that thrives on religious bigotry.

Its name does not appear in the url of this website.

[ProfessorGAC]

40. A Post In Palinese

Went round and round without saying anything.

That post was a deflection that is off point and apropos of nothing. As is your attempt to rationalize it.

[Uponthegears]

41. A little early, don't you think.

&feature=player_detailpage

[Behind the Aegis]

8. Much to the delight of some.

This will simply get worse as time goes on.

[leftynyc]

23. It only took 7 posts

before someone just HAD to try and change the subject from Iran's leader being a fucking asshole and trash the US. Same old pathetic bullshit on DU when this kind of subject comes up.

[Behind the Aegis]

25. Like the cleaning of a house...

...it never ends!

Some delight in their "QUICK! Everyone look over there!", seems to be prevalent in threads about anti-Semitism, but a thread about the Holocaust, not surprised.

[leftynyc]

26. Could you even imagine

anyone getting away with that crap when it comes to any other discrimination? The yearning to try and protect fucking Iran from any bad press is nothing but an embarrassment for DU. And then we have blaming holocaust denial on the Jews themselves. This place makes me sick sometimes.

[smirkymonkey]

38. It's disgusting, but pretty predictable around here.

Some people just can't give it a rest on these threads.

[trillion]

9. Does anyone remember where all this holocaust denial started?

It started when Israel was bombing Palestine really badly over a decade ago. The Arab countries started repeating it. And it took off and caught fire. It's been politicized in the muslim circles.

This is what is happening with Republicans and the many crazy lies they all repeat and believe. The propaganda campaigns work if you keep them up long enough.

[Behind the Aegis]

12. Holocaust denial started DURING World War 2.

It is not logical, accurate, nor correct to lay Holocaust Denial at the feet of Israel (or Jews in general). Holocaust denial has been happening prior to ten years ago! It is "more" prevalent now because of things like the internet and easier access to dissemination of information. Holocaust denial has no more to do with Israel, than Zionism has to do with the death camps, except both are used for historical revisionism.

[trillion]

14. I remeber it back in the early 80's. But it was very fringe and many arab leaders spoke against it

and chastised people for saying it. It didn't get to be massive thought until the last 10 years. That's when it really started. It has become prevalent. It was NEVER like this before.

I am old and I have been watching a long time.

If I remember correctly Nethanyahu (sp.) did his own propaganda by repeating wrong racist info as fact a few months ago against the Muslims. I can't remember what he said but many people tried to correct him on it and tell him it was wrong but he wouldn't have it. I'm to bed now but will try to remember exactly which fringe racist theory he was repeating. I need to remember it because like this holocaust denial it is probably also becoming prevalent thought. It was right before he came to the US in December.

[trillion]

15. Here, He's blaming the final solution on Palestine.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-a-love/netanyahus-holocaust-revi_b_8475848.html

" The prime minister said the Palestinian leader "had a central role in fomenting the final solution. He flew to Berlin. Hitler didn't want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews." Netanyahu added: "And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler and said, "If you expel them, they'll all come here.' 'So what should I do with them?" he asked. He said, 'Burn them.'""

Nethanyahu's speech wasn't the first time I had heard this theory. I started hearing it only about 3 years ago. I think it's spreading.

[Behind the Aegis]

17. That has nothing to do with Holocaust denial, despite those trying to spin it that way.

He said the Palestinians had a "central role"; they didn't, but he doesn't claim it was "their idea" either. What he said was ignorant and bigoted and was for political reasons. His bigoted remarks are as stupid and counterproductive as claiming Holocaust denial is because of Israel.

[trillion]

18. Agreed.

[leftynyc]

36. Then why are you trying

to say holocaust denial was caused by Israel's behavior and further to that, you claim holocaust denial is only 10 years old - all in post #9? I'm sure we're all looking forward to you connecting the dots for us.

[Behind the Aegis]

16. The early 80's is certainly more than 10 years ago.

It was, and still is, fringe. As for your personal anecdote, I can't agree or disagree because my own experiences are quite different. I have no idea how you are defining "massive", or "more prevalent", but of course, it wasn't like this before because the internet and dissemination of information has greatly changed.

As I said, it began during WWII, it has always been around, and the only real difference is the number of people those type of theories can now reach, among them, is that Holocaust Denial (or its increase) is because of Israel. Bullshit! The "increase" is and has always been about one thing: anti-Semitism! I have seen a variety of "theories" and have seen them since I was in Hebrew school in early 80s. They aren't new. It is also important to observe most, in not the vast majority, is in denying what happened to the Jews.

[trillion]

19. I have now ran into co-workers touting this anti-holocaust theory.

For me at least, it wasn't like this before. Actually I can tell that this shows up way more now. I hang on a few political sites and we used to hear it less than once a year. Even Democracy Now reports it far more often.

[Behind the Aegis]

20. I heard it as a child.

I even heard it when I was in college (late 80s, early 90s). The Holocaust was just one more "Jewish conspiracy." Were people wildly open about it? No. But it was there and it wasn't limited to neo-Nazis, the Klan, and other malcontents. The survivors and the witnesses are dying off; if you think you have seen an "uptick" in Holocaust denial and revisionism, you ain't seen nothing yet.

[trillion]

21. I've probably heard it since the 70's. But it was years apart hearing twice back then.

From what I remember this started up again massively when Israel was bombing Palestine. It was certainly around before that, but that last bombing changed a lot of things, right down to America backing away from supporting Israel and world leaders recognizing Palestine as a country.

Just out of curiosity, do you know how long the knife attacks have been happening? I don't mean the random ones 60 years ago, I mean the current spat? It was well after the Palestine bombings.

[bananas]

13. You're in denial about Holocaust Denial

As someone just mentioned, it started during WWII.
Wikipedia has a decent chronology:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_denial

[leftynyc]

24. Complete bullshit

Holocaust denial has been around since DURING WWII. Blaming it on Israel is pathetic bullshit and it's meaningless that this has only been YOUR experience with it.

Edited for spelling.

[Bradical79]

34. What? No.

Not sure where you get that. It started immediately after WWE (not counting the obvious holocaust denying propaganda prior to the end of WW2).

[happyslug]

32. Here is the actual Statement, it is an attack against Zionism..

Iran’s enmity against the U.S. and Zionism is based on logical and Islamic principles and there is no racial and religious fanaticism ruling over the Iranian nation’s anti-US and anti-Zionist struggle. That is to say if the U.S. were not arrogant and the Zionists didn’t commit such shameful crimes, we would not have taken such stances against them. We hold no prejudice and negativity against the Jews and the Jews are living in Iran in peace and comfort.

The Zionists and the Nazis have a lot in common. Today there is a major contradiction in the way the U.S. and Europe behave. They decry Nazi’s racism against the Jews, but support the Zionists who are similar to the Nazis in many ways. The despicability of supporting the Zionists is no less than that of supporting Nazi Germany and Hitler, however, the materialistic civilization of America and Europe has no explanation for this major contradiction.

There is no doubt that the American, European, Canadian and some other nations are utterly dissatisfied with the current situation and the dominant role the Zionists play in their lives. Today, the Zionists are truly considered as a predicament and a plight for nations and anyone who values Truth, Human principles and spirituality must stand against this wicked phenomenon.

http://english.khamenei.ir/news/3258/The-Zionists-and-the-Nazis-have-a-lot-in-common

Yes comparing Israel to the Nazi is considered being denying the Holocaust but that is NOT done the above statement. People should be careful when using the British paper the Telegraph as a source of news/

Now, on the same web site is a video that starts out attacking Zionism and the US, then go into a section that in Europe it is crime to question to the holocaust, while at the same time saying they believe in freedom of speech. Personally I would have avoided that language but I believe the point was Europe does NOT believe in Freedom of Speech, if the Speech is something they do not want to hear (or be heard). Thus it can be viewed as a denial of the Holocaust, but it appears more an attack on people refusing to hear what they do not want to hear.

Here is the Video:

http://english.khamenei.ir/news/3256/Are-the-Dark-Ages-over

[leftynyc]

35. What a bunch of colossal bullshit

Blaming Israel for their denying the deaths of 11 million. More "the Jews control the world" nonsense from the people we were told wanted peace with the west. Anyone who supports this is no liberal.

[happyslug]

42. Did you read the Statement?

The actual STATEMENT does NOT deny the Holocaust, but compares the Nazis with what Israel is doing to the Palestinians today. That is a different argument then Iran denying the Holocaust.

[leftynyc]

43. They just had a holocaust denial

contest. A FUCKING CONTEST. And then this unbelievably unhistorical, hysterical statement calling the Israelis nazis. Honestly, fuck Iran who are nothing but the terrorists (hezbollah, hamas, islamic jihad) piggybank. The way people want to ignore their long and sullied history of supporting terrorism is sickening.

[happyslug]

45. We are discussing this statement, NOT what they did in the past.

Iran has done some things that can be seen as Holocaust Denial, but the topic of this thread was this statement by the Supreme Leader of Iran. My point was simply this statement was NOT a denial, to make it a denial is to decide any attack on Israel is a holocaust denial and that is simply NOT true. You may disagree with Iran's attitude to Israel, you can disagree on the comparison of Israel with the Nazis, but that is NOT Holocaust denial.

The Video I made a reference to after your initial comment to my statement does contain some Holocaust Denial aspects, but more that it is illegal in Europe to even attack the concept of the Holocaust, then a denial of the Holocaust itself (i.e. how can you say you have "Freedom" when it is illegal to even mention something people do not want heard? Freedom includes protecting messages you do NOT want to hear and that is clearly the message of the Video, through they use the freedom to deny the holocaust as the example of lack of Freedom in Europe).

As to the contest, the winners tended to use the Holocaust to make a point about modern Israel, thus was it a Holocaust Denial contest, or an effort to use the Holocaust to attack Israel? By who won the contest, it appears to be the later.

Look at the Cartoons form 2014 and you see use of the Holocaust was extensive, but the theme was attack on modern Israel:

http://irancartoon.com/120/holocaust/index.htm

[leftynyc]

47. How lovely of you

to say they that a holocaust denial CONTEST "can be seen" as holocaust denial. Did it hurt to admit that? That you don't realize that comparing Israel to a regime that threw millions of people into ovens is holocaust denial is entirely your problem.

[Behind the Aegis]

50. Just a functional note...

...the quote happyslug is using is from 1998 and is not what the article is about. The article is about the video below his excerpt under "RELATED" and it is titles "Are the Dark Ages over?".

From the article:

In the video, titled Are The Dark Ages Over?, Khamenei says: “No one in European countries dares to speak about Holocaust.

“While it is not clear whether the core of this matter is a reality or not. Even if it is a reality, it is not clear how it happened.”

The video, which features images of Holocaust deniers Roger Garaudy, Robert Faurisson, and David Irving, is just under three minutes long.

[leftynyc]

53. Understood

but I don't see the difference. They're defending a regime that holds holocaust denial contests. That's the sad, repulsive truth.

[Behind the Aegis]

57. I don't know that I was clear.

The "quote" 'happyslug' used is not from the video. They are two different things; it was a bait-n-switch. I do agree it appears to be a "defense" and it is, indeed, sad and repulsive. Khamenei actually did post a video questioning the Holocaust. His statements about Zionism being equal to Nazism, while a repulsive lie, was made in 1997 and has no bearing on the video, so it makes one wonder why it was even brought to this thread as if it were the actual statement under discussion in the article.

[leftynyc]

59. I'm thinking

you're much too bright to really be wondering why.

[Fast Walker 52]

51. those cartoons are pretty wild and tend to make the claim that the holocaust was a lie

I assume the Iranians admit the Nazis persecuted Jews, but they doubt the extent of the deaths in the holocaust?

[happyslug]

61. That is my assumption, but Iran is more concerned about Palestine then Jews in WWII.

You can see that is the use of the word "Zionists" instead of "Israel", Iran sees the holocaust as something Europeans did to the Jews and thus WHY should Palestinians lose their homeland to correct the killing of Jews by Europeans? Why should Z lose land to compensate Y for what X did to Y? The Iranians would be better off concentrating on that argument then on attacking the Holocaust itself.

We may dislike that position but it is a position that can be defended. From what I have read Iran had indicated it is willing to back any deal the Palestinians themselves agree to but no such deal has been reached.

A lot of this is also ego, i.e. they want to show they support for the Palestinians but that is about all. On the other hand Iran is allied with Assad in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon and thus have looked to the Palestinians as potential allies (along with the Christians of Lebanon) against the de facto alliance between Turkey, Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia (Through the exact nature of Egypt's position in the alliance is a little unclear for the Moslem Brotherhood was overthrown in Egypt by the present government, but the Moslem Brotherhood is part of the Alliance with Turkey, through this may be the Moslem Brotherhood on Syria as opposed to the Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt).

These "De Facto" Alliances (De Facto is Latin for "In Fact" as oppose to "De Jure" which means "In Law" for no formal alliance exists between these countries, but it understood each will work with each other against the other alliance) tend to be stronger and last longer then written alliances for the later is often a temporary deal, while a De Facto Alliance is often based on economic self interest. i.e Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt see helping each other for that is the best way to help themselves.

[Fast Walker 52]

63. thanks-- all good points

and while I do not support terrorism, I think the Palestinians need some allies-- they have a just cause and have been abandoned by much of the Arab world.

[name not needed]

48. What's the big deal? They only want to kill half the Jews on earth, not all of them!

[EX500rider]

60. On top of: The Iranian Foreign Legion

In Iran the commander of the IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) recently made public the fact that the IRGC was responsible for training (and often recruiting, arming and paying) 200,000 pro-Iran fighters in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan. This, in general, is no secret. It was long believed that as many as 50,000 Iranian created militiamen are fighting in Syria. There are somewhat smaller forces in Lebanon (about 25,000), Iraq (over 20,000) and Yemen (more than 15,000). Pakistan and Afghanistan were not happy with the IRGC publicly admitting that Iran has sponsored local (and often illegal) Shia militias.

http://strategypage.com/htmw/htpara/articles/20160126.aspx

[JesterCS]

62. How I wish I had a way to

Send a message to this moron.

[trillion]

65. Don't bother, you can't change him. What this really means is the crazy extreme right got to him.

It's sort of like the Tea Party and all their racist vitriol. He's subscribing to the worst of the Arab worlds racism. You can talk to him anymore than you can the extreme RW Candidates.