Tehran Jewish leader publicly denounces Ahmadinejad's 'smug' remarks on Shoah

The head of Tehran's Jewish Community has openly criticized outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for saying that questioning the extent of the Nazi Holocaust had been one of his major successes as president. In rare public outrage by an Iranian Jewish leader, Haroun Yashaei was quoted by the pro-reform 'Shragh' newspaper as calling Ahmadinejad's recent comments "smug" and highly political.

Ahmadinejad had boasted that he rattled Western taboos by calling for more historical research into the Nazi atrocities. Yashaei described the Iranian president's comments as offensive and said Jews were not sent to concentration camps for a "stroll."

There are about 30,000 Jews in Iran, which sets aside one parliament seat for a Jewish lawmaker. Ahmadinejad, who leaves office in August, has often denounced Israel and says more non-Western research is needed into the Holocaust. He will be replaced by Hassan Rohani, who is less outspoken.

The Holocaust "was a taboo topic that no one in the West allowed to be heard,” Ahmadinejad said in a speech on Sunday, according to the 'Fars' news agency.  “We put it forward at the global level. That broke the spine of the Western capitalist regime.”