Tehran – Iran, whose president has described the Holocaust as a “myth,” said Tuesday that it will hold a conference to discuss the evidence of the World War II genocide.
The two-day conference scheduled for next week was initiated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Deputy Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mohammadi said.
“The president simply asked whether an event called the Holocaust has actually taken place. … No rational response was ever given to Ahmadinejad’s questions,” Mohammadi said.
The conference is yet another step in Ahmadinejad’s public campaign against Israel. He has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.”
Mohammadi rejected any suggestion the conference would support anti-Semitism, saying that was a “Western phenomenon.” The proof, he said, was Iran’s community of 25,000 Jews.
Mohammadi said the conference seeks to “provide an opportunity for scholars to offer their opinions in freedom.”
The session will be attended by 67 foreign researchers from 30 countries, Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
