You want an "insightful" post from Richnorth? Well, the post below gives insights into Ahmadinejad's recent pronouncements and behaviour. (I could have posted this earlier had I not been called away. I have just returned and haven't had a chance yet to read all the posts.)
Tehran Gives World Leaders A History Lesson
By Greg Felton
Columnist - Canadian Arab News
2-1-6
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. |
