Tehran, Sep 18 (DPA) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Friday called the mass murder of Jews by the Nazis a “fairy tale” and urged continued resistance against Israel’s “Zionist regime”.
“The Holocaust is a false claim, a fairy tale, used as a pretext for crimes against humanity,” the Iranian president told an anti-Israel rally in Tehran.
If the Holocaust was true, then it was committed by Europeans who should, therefore, also be responsible for compensation, he said.
“When you (Europe) confess having committed such a crime, so also provide the Jews with lands in Europe, America or Canada,” Ahmadinejad said. “Why should the Palestinians suffer from an incident in which they were not involved?”
Ahmadinejad made the comments on the occasion of “Quds Day”.
Grand ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late supreme leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution, declared the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramzan as Quds or Jerusalem Day and called for mass rallies against Israel and in support of Palestinians.
Iran does not recognise Israel and considers its government as the main root of all problems in the Middle East.
“Even the crises in Afghanistan, Iraq and even Sudan are a plot by the Zionists,” the president said.
The Western world should realise that Israel had no future and was on the verge of collapse, Ahmadinejad told a Quds Day gathering.
He said Iran would never stop opposing Israel and would urge other Muslim states to join Iran against Israel.
“It is our national, religious and Islamic duty to continue confronting the Zionist regime as this regime has threatened the national security of all regional states,” the president said.
According to state media, hundreds of thousands of people attended the state-run annual Quds Day rallies in Tehran and other parts of the country.
Thousands of opposition supporters availed themselves of the anti-Israeli rally to renew their protests against Ahmadinejad despite heavy deployment of police and security in downtown Tehran.
According to witnesses, the Green Movement supporting opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi – green being the colour symbolising protest and the need for political change – attended the rallies.
Criticising the government’s Middle East policies, they shouted, “Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, our lives only get sacrificed for Iran.”
They also shouted, “Death to the dictator,” “Freedom, freedom,” and “Don’t be afraid; we are all together.”
Opposition supporters said there had been clashes with police and posted pictures of injured protestors on the internet.
Reports of arrests could not be verified because reporters were not granted access to all demonstration venues.
Opposition websites also reported that former president Mohammad Khatami was physically assaulted by pro-Ahmadinejad supporters.
Mehdi Karroubi, the leader of the Etemad Melli opposition party, took part in the rallies. It remained unclear whether Moussavi was present.
Friday’s protests were the first since mid-July by the opposition, which accused the government of fraud in the June 12 election, which led to a second term for Ahmadinejad.
