NEW YORK, Dec. 7 /U.S. Newswire/ --
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today urged European leaders to condemn an upcoming conference in Iran titled, "Review of the h0Ɩ0cαųst: Global Vision," in which the Iranian government will feature dozens of speakers questioning the historical fact of the h0Ɩ0cαųst.
"We believe this type of h0Ɩ0cαųst denial has no place in the family of nations, and that it is essential for European and world leaders to condemn this conference and everything it stands for at its core, which is anti-Semitism," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director and a h0Ɩ0cαųst survivor.
"h0Ɩ0cαųst denial is an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that posits that Jєωs, for their own selfish purposes, created a monstrous tale of their own destruction and deliberately inflicted the hoax on the entire world," added Foxman. "It presumes that Jєωs control the international media and all other forms of information, for how else could such a 'fantasy' flourish the way it has."
The conference, scheduled to take place next week in Tehran, follows on the heels of a cartoon contest sponsored by the Iranian government, in which cartoonists from around the world were given awards for drawings that mocked the h0Ɩ0cαųst and attacked Israel and Jєωs.
While Tehran has refused to release a list of participants, Bradley Smith, a U.S.-based h0Ɩ0cαųst denier, has boasted to supporters that at least 10 notorious h0Ɩ0cαųst deniers from around the world will present papers, including Robert Faurisson of France, Jurgen Graf of Switzerland, Michele Renouf of the U.K. and Ahmed Rami of Sweden. Mark Weber of the Institute for Historical Review, a major purveyor of h0Ɩ0cαųst denial materials based in California, has said that while he will not be attending, his organization is providing a video presentation to be shown to delegates.
In a letter to European leaders, ADL urged their governments and the European Union to publicly denounce the conference. "This conference seeks to question the record of the h0Ɩ0cαųst and is a disgrace to the memories of the six million Jєωs and others who died at the hands of the nαzιs," said the League's letter, whose recipients include Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Jacques Chirac of France and Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen of Finland, who also serves as President of the European Union.
ADL praised U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan for his strong statement, issued today, condemning the Iranian h0Ɩ0cαųst conference and "any effort to question or deny the h0Ɩ0cαųst." Annan said that, ". . . any attempt to cast doubt on the reality of this unique and undeniable horror must be firmly resisted by all people of goodwill and of whatever faith."
Go Iran :rahrah: