Iran President: Israel Completed Holocaust: "'Don't you think that continuation of genocide by expelling Jews from Europe was one of their aims in creating a regime of occupiers of Al-Quds (Jerusalem)?' the official Islamic Republic News agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying Sunday. 'Isn't that an important question?' Ahmadinejad said Europeans had decided to create a 'Jewish camp' as the best means for ridding the continent of Jews. He said the camp, Israel, now enjoyed support from the United States and Europe in the slaughter of Muslims."

More good questions from the Iranian President. Where does the idea of a 'Jewish State' come from? A belief that Jews cannot live with other people in a community? That is racism in itself - the apparent internalisation of a racist idea. And the concept of setting up a Jewish state in the third world at the expense of the natives - more or less pure European racism and colonialism. What about the essential Enlightenment values of equal rights and religious freedom and tolerance? They have been abandoned in favour of more backward ideas.

Update: Commenter Al argues that Ahmadinejad has been mistranslated. I agree that the Iranian President's enemies (ie, Israel and the US) will exploit his statements for their own purposes. As Chomksy has recently said, "[Ahmadinejad] appears to have limited experience beyond the local level, and appears not to comprehend how his statements will be exploited by hostile powers."

Still, in these days of the all-powerful blogosphere and its awesome research and analytic capabilities, I do find it remarkable that a proper translation and contextualisation of such controversial and significant remarks does not seem to have floated to the surface yet.

Iran President: Israel Completed Holocaust: "'Don't you think that continuation of genocide by expelling Jews from Europe was one of their aims in creating a regime of occupiers of Al-Quds (Jerusalem)?' the official Islamic Republic News agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying Sunday. 'Isn't that an important question?' Ahmadinejad said Europeans had decided to create a 'Jewish camp' as the best means for ridding the continent of Jews. He said the camp, Israel, now enjoyed support from the United States and Europe in the slaughter of Muslims."

More good questions from the Iranian President. Where does the idea of a 'Jewish State' come from? A belief that Jews cannot live with other people in a community? That is racism in itself - the apparent internalisation of a racist idea. And the concept of setting up a Jewish state in the third world at the expense of the natives - more or less pure European racism and colonialism. What about the essential Enlightenment values of equal rights and religious freedom and tolerance? They have been abandoned in favour of more backward ideas.

Update: Commenter Al argues that Ahmadinejad has been mistranslated. I agree that the Iranian President's enemies (ie, Israel and the US) will exploit his statements for their own purposes. As Chomksy has recently said, "[Ahmadinejad] appears to have limited experience beyond the local level, and appears not to comprehend how his statements will be exploited by hostile powers."

Still, in these days of the all-powerful blogosphere and its awesome research and analytic capabilities, I do find it remarkable that a proper translation and contextualisation of such controversial and significant remarks does not seem to have floated to the surface yet.