25 September 2007
During a speech at New York’s Columbia University, Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has again defended Holocaust revisionists and raised questions about who carried out the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The hard-line leader was introduced by the president of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, as a "petty and cruel dictator". Ahmadinejad tried to portray himself as an intellectual and claimed that his country respected reason and science. He provoked derisive laughter by responding to a question about Iran's execution of homosexuals by saying: "In Iran, we do not have homosexuals like in your country.”
"There were insults and claims that were incorrect, regretfully," Ahmadinejad said in response to Bollinger’s introduction. The Iranian president drew audience applause at times, such as when he bemoaned the plight of the Palestinians. However he often declined to offer simple answers the audience sought, responding instead with his own questions or long statements about history and justice. Asked by an audience member if Iran sought the destruction of Israel, Ahmadinejad did not answer directly. "We are friends of all the nations," he said. "We are friends with the Jewish people. There are many Jews in Iran living peacefully with security."
In his opening remarks, Bollinger also attacked Ahmadinejad over his repeated denials of the Shoah. "In a December 2005 state television broadcast, you described the Holocaust as the fabricated legend. One year later, you held a two-day conference of Holocaust deniers," the Columbia president said, adding that whilst this might fool the illiterate and ignorant. "When you come to a place like this, it makes you simply ridiculous. The truth is that the Holocaust is the most documented event in human history," Bollinger said.
Ahmadinejad denied he had questioned whether the Holocaust occurred: "Granted this happened, what does it have to do with the Palestinian people?" he said. But the Iranian leader went on to say that he was defending the rights of European ‘academics’ imprisoned for "questioning certain aspects" of the Holocaust. "There is nothing known as absolute," Ahmadinejad said. He said the Holocaust has been abused as a justification for Israeli mistreatment of the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, thousands gathered at the United Nations headquarters at a demonstration against Ahmadinejad organized by leading American Jewish organizations. The rally was attended by Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni and prominent members of New York's congressional delegation.
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