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Raisi: ‘It should be investigated if the Holocaust happened’

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday refused to acknowledge that the Holocaust happened, telling CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview that it should “be investigated”.

  • Asked by anchor Lesley Stahl if he believes the Holocaust happened and that six million Jews were slaughtered, Raisi replied, “Look… Historical events should be investigated by researchers and historians. There are some signs that it happened. If so, they should allow it to be investigated and researched.”

Asked whether Israel has a right to exist, the Iranian President replied, “You see, the people of Palestine are the reality. This is the right of the people of Palestine who were forced to leave their houses and motherland. The Americans are supporting this false regime there to take root and to be established there.”

Stahl also asked Raisi about the Abraham Accords, in which Morocco, Bahrain, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates all recognized Israel, and sought his comment about the agreements as well as about the rumors that Saudi Arabia is also talking directly with Israel.

  • “If a state shakes hands with the Zionist regime, then they are also an accomplice to their crimes. And they are stabbing the very idea of Palestine in the back,” he replied.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, condemned Raisi’s remarks.

  • “Shocking to hear Iranian President Raisi’s remarks calling into question whether the Holocaust happened. I call on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to DENY THAT DENIER a world stage to spread antisemitism and hatred. The UN will reach a new low if they give the Butcher of Tehran a platform,” tweeted Erdan.

Holocaust denial is a regular occurrence in Iran. The country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, questioned the veracity of the Holocaust on International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2016.

  • Two years earlier, Khamenei suggested that the Holocaust “was not real”, and former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied the Holocaust on a regular basis as well.

Prior to leaving the presidency, Ahmadinejad said he prided himself most on his denial of the Holocaust.

Iran has repeatedly held Holocaust-denying cartoon exhibits, with one of them notably being announced days after the 2015 terrorist attack on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine which had been attacked in the past over its caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.

Source: Elad Benari – Arutz Sheva