Haaretz
Sivan 21, 5766
Iran's president on
Friday questioned evidence of the Holocaust, calling it an unproven fact
that needed to be verified.
"I think we have sufficiently talked
about this matter and these Holocaust events need to be further
investigated by independent and impartial parties," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
said at a news conference following a meeting with China's president.
"An event that has influenced so many diplomatic and political
equations of the world needs to investigated and researched by impartial
and independent groups," he said.
Ahmadinejad, who is accused by
Israel and some in the West of attempting to develop the nuclear
capabilities, has previously dismissed the Holocaust as a "myth" and said
Israel should be "wiped off the map."
At the news conference,
Ahmadinejad indicated that he would continue to view Israel as
illegitimate, regardless of a verdict on the Holocaust.
"If it is
true, then the response to this question should not be solved in
Palestine. The Palestinian question should be settled as soon as
possible," Ahmadinejad said.
"If it is false, why should such
measures be taken against the people of Palestine?" he added.
Ahmadinejad's earlier comments prompted a group of Israeli
lawmakers and former diplomats to announce plans to sue him in the
International Court of Justice on charges of conspiring to commit
genocide.
Iran is currently home to about 25,000 Jews who are
represented by a Jewish lawmaker in parliament. About 75,000 left the
country after the 1979 Islamic revolution.