AJC Urges World Leaders to Condemn Iran's Holocaust Denial Conference
December 11, 2006 - New York - The American Jewish Committee is urging world leaders to denounce the Holocaust-denial conference in Tehran. The conference, a shameful creation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, seeks to embolden efforts to delegitimize Israel's existence and dehumanize Jews by supporting the vicious claim that Jews created the Holocaust for financial and territorial gain. AJC thanked, in a letter, outgoing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for his statement condemning the conference and for his "effort to sensitize the United Nations, and the international community as a whole, to the painful memory and enduring lessons of the Holocaust." While the Iran event is sadly not the first conference hosting those who support the destruction of the State of Israel, including David Duke, one-time leader of the Ku Klux Klan and a longtime neo-Nazi, it is the first convened at the behest of a head of state who has repeatedly advocated such a goal and is eager to acquire the ability to do so. The Iranian regime's defiant efforts to reach full nuclear capability, destabilize the region by sponsoring terrorism, spread hate and actively oppose peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors cannot be tolerated by the international community.
Ari M. Gordon Department of Interreligious Affairs American Jewish Committee 165 E56th St. New York, NY 10022 (212) 751-4000 x266 www.ajc.org www.engagingamerica.org