By Greg Felton
Over the past two months or so, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the newly elected
president of Iran, has made his mark on the world stage to overwhelmingly
bad reviews.
Observations like: Israel should be wiped off the map; Israel should be
moved to Europe; Europe supported the founding of Israel because of
Holocaust guilt; and the Holocaust is a myth - have been vehemently
condemned.
Here's Prime Minister Paul Martin's diatribe:
"These statements are irresponsible, contrary to Canadian values. To cast
doubt on the Holocaust and to suggest that Israel be 'moved' to Europe,
the United States or Canada is completely unacceptable to the Canadian
people."
This is the same Paul Martin, by the way, who last month asserted:
"Israel's values are Canada's values." Good Gawd! What better proof is
there that Canada's Foreign Ministry is under Zionist occupation?
Anyway, while world leaders like Martin sputter away and pro-Israel
typists like the Globe and Mail's Mark MacKinnon do their best to
stigmatize Ahmadinejad as a threat to world peace, let's subject his
"outrageous" statements to historical scrutiny:
1. "Israel should be wiped off the map"
First of all, we should ask: "Should Israel be on the map in the first
place?" Loyal readers of this space know the answer, but for the rest of
you, here's the Reader's Digest version.
First, the Nov. 29, 1947, "Partition Plan (UN General Assembly Resolution
181) was never ratified by the Security Council, and thus any division of
Palestine into Jewish and non-Jewish areas was never legal. Moreover, a
UNGA Resolution is only binding if all parties to it agree to be bound by
its terms, which in this case did not happen.
Second, the General Assembly had no right under the UN Charter to
take land from one people (Arabs) and give it to another people (European
Jews).
Three, David ben Gurion declared Israeli statehood on May 15, 1948, even
though the term of UNGA Res. 181 had not expired. Therefore, the creation
of Israel was a land grab contrary to the UN and international law.
Four, Israel was admitted to the UN on May 11, 1949, only after it agreed
to sign UNGA Res. 273, by which it recognized the right of all
Palestinians to return to their homes and receive compensation.
Israel is a criminal entity that has never had a moral, legal or political
right to exist. Score one for Ahmadinejad.
2. "Israel should be moved to Europe."
He's got a point. In fact, ben Gurion said much the same thing to
Nahum Goldmann, future head of the World Jewish Congress:
"If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It
is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us,
but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been
anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault?
They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why
would they accept that?"
Why indeed? Since the EuroJews who created "Israel" were mostly Slavs, it
does seem logical to move the "Jewish State" to Ukraine, Poland, Russia or
Byelorus. After all, Slavs are not a Middle Eastern people.
That's two for the plucky president!
3. In Mecca, Ahmadinejad implied that European countries had backed the
founding of Israel in the Middle East in 1948 out of guilt over the Nazi
genocide. (AP reporting)
In fact, Western European governments were largely against the creation of
Israel, but pro-Israel U.S. senators threatened to withhold Marshall Plan
reconstruction aid if they didn't support UNGA Res. 181. Guilt was
doubtless rife throughout Europe, but blackmail was a bigger reason.
The Holocaust had nothing whatever to do with "Israel" which had been in
the works since the 1870s. As professor Ilan Pappé of Haifa University
wrote in 1997:
"Generally speaking, the Zionists succeeded in persuading large segments
of world public opinion to link the Zionist cause with the Holocaust.
Against such a claim, even able Palestinian diplomats-and there were not
many in those days-could hardly win the diplomatic game."
Since guilt did play some role, I'll give Ahmadinejad credit for this one.
4. "If someone were to deny the existence of God ... and deny the
existence of prophets and religion, they would not bother him. However, if
someone were to deny the myth of the Jews' massacre, all the Zionist
mouthpieces and the governments subservient to the Zionists tear their
larynxes and scream against the person as much as they can."
The Holocaust has been so polluted by propaganda that it's virtually
impossible to separate fact from disinformation, so I cannot say for
certain if Ahmadinejad is right. For its part the International Committee
of the Red Cross published a three-volume report in 1948 in which it found
no evidence of systematic genocide. On the other hand, estimates of Jewish
deaths range from 470,000 to 9 million!
I believe Ahmadinejad is wrong to deny the Holocaust outright, but he
is right to call into question the dogmatic acceptance of Zionist
verities, such as Auschwitz's Crematorium I, which exists today. As
reporter Eric Conan wrote in a lengthy 1995 exposé for France's
L'Express:
"In 1948, when the Museum was created, Crematorium I was reconstructed in
a supposed original state. Everything about it is false (Tout y est
faux): the dimensions of the gas chamber, the locations of the doors,
the openings for pouring in Zyklon B, the ovens (rebuilt according to the
recollections of some survivors), the height of the chimney."
Also, the new plaque at the entrance to Auschwitz reflects the Polish
government's revision of the number of dead from 4 million to 1.5 million.
The 4 million figure came from Capt. Rudolph Höss, the camp commandant,
whose testimony has been discredited.
Despite the reduction of 2.5 million dead, the Zionist figure of 6 million
is still maintained. Clearly, this number is pure myth, and Ahmadinejad is
at least partly right.
Final score: 3.5 out of 4. Excellent!
It seems honesty and courage are Iranian values. Too bad they aren't
Canadian, eh Mr. Martin?
Send comments to: gregf@gregfelton.com
Greg Felton is an award-winning investigative reporter and columnist
on Middle East affairs from British Columbia, Canada.
He writes a political column for the bi-weekly Arabic/English newspaper
Canadian Arab News, contributes to mediamonitors.net, and is the author
of an upcoming book on U.S. Middle East policy. Mr. Felton holds a
Bachelor's degree in Russian Studies and a Master's in Political Science
from the University of British Columbia.
He is married with one child.
