A rant on Ahmadinejad's comments
No doubt that Ahmadinejad's comments on Israel were naive, politically wrong and vulgar. Although there are a few points I thought were worth mentioning:
• I cannot extract denial of the Holocaust from the Persian text of his speech:
“...The Europeans say ‘because the Jewish community was wronged during the second world war we have to back the state of Israel’, but we don't accept this word...”
It's not clear to me whether he disagrees with the Europeans' reasoning for their support of the state of Israel, or disagrees with the Holocaust. The blame goes on him for his lack of clarity and his Hey'ati style of speaking.
• Perhaps Ahmadinejad wanted to make a reference to the exaggeration in the dimensions the Holocaust, something that I have heard and read about several times in Iran. If this is the case, he's not the only person who thinks the story of holocaust has been misused for power and politics (although his knowledge of the issue seems to be shallow and incomplete). For example, Norman Finkelstein, Professor of Political Science at DePaul University, who's the son of two Holocaust survivors and a prominent sympathiser with the Palestinians, claims that the memory of the Holocaust has been abused by political cliques in Washington to justify widespread atrocities in American and Israeli foreign policies. In his book "Beyond Chutzpah", he investigates how pro-Zionist materials such as "The Case For Israel" (by A. Dershowitz) and earlier publications such as "From Time Immemorial" include a lot of forged information and misuse the Holocaust and the problems of the Jewish people. He refers to them as the most notorious fraud in the history of Middle East Studies.
• I agree that Ahmadinejad's remarks (and many remarks of other Iranian politicians) could fall into the "racist" category, but so are many remarks and policies of the Israeli government.
I don't see a point to this post. As much as you would like to disect what Ahmadinejad said and proove him innocent. You and I both know that he was not questioning the use/misuse of holocaust. I don't know why does it always seem justifyable for iranians to find a counterexample for whatever Iran is doing to explain the wrongdoing? "Oh we agree that we are doing wrong but so does N. Korea, US or any other country for that matter". I agree that in some cases it is not just the way we are threated, but right now that is how it is. We have to accept it and try to find our way to change the perception that iran is dangerous, terrorist supporting country. Instead, we have someone who just barks without thinking. Everyday when you think it can't get worse than yesterday, you read a new "daste gol". As far as I am concerned there is no explanation for stupid comments other than ignorance.
(at December 12, 2005 05:45 AM)
I think he should just shut his mouth and look after his shiney halo before it disappears.
(at December 12, 2005 01:45 PM)
hello. I'm new to bloggspot.com &I just discovered your blog and i must say, i found it pretty interesting. I shall never understand this creature so called Ahmadinejad, i really think this bloke doesn't understand what he says sometimes coz what he says affects the whole nation .Keep on blogging
(at December 13, 2005 12:04 AM)
Read Ahmadinejad's latest comments on Israel here.
Web address:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4527142.stm
(at December 14, 2005 09:19 AM)
I would appreciate a link to a translation into English or Spanish of Ahmadinejad's actual words.
Thank you in advance to anyone who can help.
(at December 14, 2005 12:06 PM)
NPR on Ahmadinejad's comments:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5052891
(at December 14, 2005 04:24 PM)
you are a racist idiot ... just like YOUR President ... and quite unlike the decent silent majority of Iranians who are not racist or jew haters.
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