Equating Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad with Adolf Hitler, top Israeli leaders have said they will not allow Holocaust deniers to repeat a genocide against Jews.
Equating Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad with Adolf Hitler, top Israeli leaders
have said they will not allow Holocaust deniers to repeat a genocide against Jews.
"It is hard to fathom why despots such as Hitler - the Nazi, Stalin - the Bolshevik, and Ahmadinejad - the Persian, chose the Jews as the main target for their hatred, their
madness and their violence," president Shimon Peres said in a speech at a ceremony to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Peres, who was speaking at Holocaust Museum 'Yad Vashem', vowed to prevent genocide against the Jews and denounced Ahmedinejad for his strong rhetoric against Israel.
"Perhaps they targeted the Jewish people because of its spiritual power, a nation poor in material possessions but rich in values, for he who is infected with megalomania fears
the power of the spirit," he noted.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Holocaust deniers would not be allowed to repeat a genocide against Jews.
"We will not allow the Holocaust deniers to carry out another Holocaust against the Jewish people. This is the supreme duty of the state of Israel. This is my supreme duty
as prime minister of Israel," he said referring to Ahmadinejad.
The Israeli premier dubbed the Durban conference, at which Ahmadinejad spoke yesterday, as "a demonstration of hatred for Israel."
The Iranian president created a stir yesterday during his appearance before a UN-sponsored anti-racism conference in Geneva denouncing Israel as a "criminal and racist" entity, prompting dozens of Western diplomats to leave the hall.
Netanyahu also criticised the president of Switzerland for meeting Ahmadinejad on Sunday.
"The Jews did not worship idols or authority, and their God gave mankind its conscience," Peres said.
"We were the first to believe that every person is created in God's image, and we were commanded to sanctify life and prevent murder and discrimination," he added.
The annual ceremony is organised to mark six million Jews killed by Nazis and their collaborators during World War II.
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