January 29, 2007

UN Condemns Holocaust Denial - AWE and WUPJ Appeal to UN to Put Ahmadinajed on Trial

Last Friday the UN officially condemned Holocaust denial without reservation:

UN Assembly condemns Holocaust denial by consensus; Iran disassociates itself

26 January 2007 - The United Nations General Assembly today condemned without reservation any denial of the Holocaust, with only Iran publicly disassociating itself from the consensus resolution which was immediately hailed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The Assembly, noting that the resolution was adopted on the eve of the UN-designated annual International Day of Commemoration for Holocaust victims, who also included not only Jews but also Roma, Sinti, homosexuals and other groups, called on all its 192 Member States "unreservedly to reject any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event, either in full or in part, or any activities to this end."

Welcoming the measure, which was introduced by the United States on behalf of 103 co-sponsors, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement voicing "his strong desire to see this fundamental principle respected both in rhetoric and in practice."

"By this action today, the General Assembly reaffirms its condemnation of the Holocaust as a crime against humanity," said the body's president, Sheikha Haya Al Khalifa of Bahrain.

Today the Association for World Education and the World Union for Progressive Judaism called on the UN to condemn Iranian President Ahmadinajed for actions contrary to this resolution - and also called on the UN to bring Ahmadinajed to trial for continued "direct and public incitement to commit genocide," which is "punishable" under the UN Charter and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The text of the appeal to the UN has been forwarded to this site by one of its authors, Mr. David Littman (emphasis in original):

ASSOCIATION FOR WORLD EDUCATION

WORLD UNION FOR PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM

United Nations-Geneva / Monday, 29 January 2007 (9:00am)

Call for Firm Action Today to Condemn President Mahmoud Ahmadinajed

Urgent Appeal to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon / High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour / President of the Human Rights Council Ambassador Luis Alfonso De Alba

We welcome the GA's Resolution by consensus - co-sponsored by 103 States - which condemned, without reservation, any denial of the Holocaust, and the Secretary-General's "strong desire to see this fundamental principle respected both in rhetoric and in practice." Speaking before the vote, Iran's representative "fully dissociated himself from today's entire hypocritical exercise," alleging: "Its main sponsors had sought to present the text under 'mischievous' intent to pursue narrow political interests and misuse the Assembly."

On the 2^nd International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, we call on Member States of the United Nations to act decisively now by invoking the UN Charter and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide - in order to bring President Mahmoud Ahmadinajed to trial before the International Criminal Court, and Iran before the UN Security Council. The reiterated call by Iran's president for Israel's elimination is "inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations" (UN Charter, Chapter I, Article 2:4). And Article III (c) of the Genocide Convention is clear: "Direct and public incitement to commit genocide" ( … ) "shall be punishable." Its Article IV states that: "Persons committing Genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals." At a Teheran Conference on 26^th October 2005 Iranian President Ahmadinajed called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." He also announced that: "very soon the stain of this disgrace will be purged from the centre of the Islamic world." And he ominously warned all peacemakers: "Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury." In his 5^th December 2005 speech to the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Mecca, he proclaimed that the major problem in the Islamic world was "the presence of the Zionist occupation in the heart of the Islamic region," even predicting that its "judicious removal will pave the way to the appearance of Islam's power in the successful management of global matters." Last week he repeated his threatening scenario for the rapid demise of the State of Israel.

In a TV speech on 14^th December 2005, he had referred to the Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews as a fabrication: "They have created a myth in the name of the Holocaust and consider it above God, religion and the prophets." On 5^th January 2006, Iran's state-controlled TV screened a discussion on "the myth of the gas chambers" and "the truth of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." Before the 2006 1^st International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, Ahmadinajed announced a special "Holocaust 'Myth' Conference" in Teheran, which took place last month in defiance of world public opinion. In his 8^th January 2007 letter to Human Rights Council President Luis Alfonso De Alba, Iran's Ambassador Alireza Moayeri stressed that: "The international conference on the Holocaust, held in Teheran, has been an academic event, to examine and investigate the facts about a historical claim without any prejudice or judgment (...) This is a legitimate question that: while there are serious opposing ideas over the issue, in particular on the number of perished, among scholars around the world, why an artificial red line has to taboo[sic] the entire issue of the Holocaust, preventing to bridge this gap, in total contradiction of article 19 of the UDHR and article 19 of the ICCPR."

We strongly urge the Secretary-General, the Human Rights High Commissioner and Council President, and all UN Member States, to take heed of the Iranian president's 'thinking' - in particular that ideological parallel between the clear reference in his 26^th October 2005 speech to a 'Jihad ideology': "the struggle [Jihad] between the Islamic world and the front of the infidels", and to Hitler's words in Mein Kampf (My Struggle), describing the 'true Aryans' pitted against non-Aryans! Are the horrors of the 20^th century's Nazi "final solution" to be repeated in the 21^st - while the international community merely notes 'with concern' this gathering storm?

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran's "direct and public incitement to commit genocide" ( by the elimination of a Member State, i.e. "politicide" ) requires FIRM ACTION TODAY. As was stressed over the years: any "Contracting Party" may invoke article 8 of the post-Holocaust Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (approved on 9^th December 1948, the day before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and "call upon the competent organs of the United Nations to take such actions…for the prevention and suppression of…any of the acts enumerated in article III." Iran's defiance of the 1945 UN Charter is another reason for all persons and UN bodies to ACT NOW.

René Wadlow (Main Representative of AWE) / David G. Littman (Representative of AWE & WUPJ)

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Categories: Counter-Terrorism, Counter - Jihad, Iran, The U.N.

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