““A nation that is not strong will be oppressed,” Khamenei, 74, speaking from his hometown of Mashhad on the Nowruz holiday, said Friday. Iran should not count on “when the enemy will lift the sanctions,” he warned. In the most controversial of his remarks Friday, Khamenei said the West accuses Iran of restricting free expression, but in many parts of Europe and the West, Holocaust denial is against the law. “Expressing opinion about the Holocaust, or casting doubt on it, is one of the greatest sins in the West,” Khamenei said. “They prevent this, arrest the doubters, try them while claiming to be a free country.” “They passionately defend their red lines,” Khamenei said. “How do they expect us to overlook our red lines………………….”
Ali Khamenei was absolutely right about the West loving its own “red lines’ while denying them to others. But he sure picked the wrong issue to make his case.
Inserting the Holocaust into his Nowruz (Persian New Year) message, as the foreign media report, was not a smart thing nor an appropriate thing to do, and I am being painfully polite here. Former Iranian president Ahmadinejad became known for his Holocaust-baiting as for anything else, especially in the United States. He practically was seen to ‘own’ that issue. Of course he is not stupid: he knew exactly what had happened in Europe.
This has been a no-win issue for Iran and it is not clear why Ahmadinejad harped on it. I know he was available for American media appearances every September, and they hoped to make headlines by goading him: but that was fair, it is the media business. He was a leader, and should have known what was going on. That, as much as anything else, helped sell the Israeli mantra of an “existential threat”. That, as much as the nuclear issue, explains why every congressional bill and resolution that tightened the blockade on Iran passed almost unanimously in the U.S. Senate and Congress.
With Ahmadinejad gone, Supreme Leader Khamenei seems eager to pick up the slack in Holocaust-baiting:
“Khamenei.ir @khamenei_ir Mar 21: #Holocaust is an event whose reality is uncertain and if it has happened, it’s uncertain how it has happened “
Maybe the Ayatollah, an educated man who speaks several languages, is not a man of the world after all. Maybe he is not aware of the damage this absurd position does to his country. It is a silly, nay stupid issue to raise with nothing to gain for it, and it is the wrong position on principle. And it does not reflect how most Iranians feel.
When it comes to this issue, it is best for every Iranian leader, every politician, and every diplomat to just shut up. They just can’t seem to help putting their dumb feet deeper into it.Cheers
mhg
