September 29, 2013
By Imtiyaz Delawala
In an exclusive interview (click here) this morning on “This Week,” Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif condemned the Holocaust as a “heinous crime” and a “genocide,” dismissing as a poor translation the appearance of the word “myth” about the Holocaust on the Iranian Supreme Leader’s English website.
Iran has been criticized in recent years for the words of its former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who often denied the existence of the Holocaust, while the phrase “the myth of the massacre of Jews” appears in a translation of a speech from February 2006 by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamanei.
“The Holocaust is not a myth. Nobody’s talking about a myth,” Zarif told George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” Sunday when asked about the quote. “If it’s there … it’s a bad translation, and it’s translated out of context… This is the problem when you translate something from Persian to English, you may lose something, as the film goes, ‘Lost in Translation,’ you may lose some of the meaning.”
Zarif used his condemnation of the Holocaust to segue into a critique of Israel, which he characterized as the aggressor in the Middle East....
This taped interview took place with an established media outlet on November 20, 2012. Iran's people have put in place leadership that recognizes an incredible horror that moved the entire world to act to protect the Jewish race and carve out a land for them to call a homeland. This is not a minor change in standard in Iran. This is huge.
Israel has cited the rantings of the former Iranian President to justify it's demands for actions and sanctions and demands against Iran. This is not a minor issue. There are men in the leadership of Iran that seek to allay fears of their nation to prevent aggressions and war.
Iran is asking for reassessment by Israel of it's fears. This is not politics. It demands formal agreements between the nations as well as the international community.
By Imtiyaz Delawala
In an exclusive interview (click here) this morning on “This Week,” Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif condemned the Holocaust as a “heinous crime” and a “genocide,” dismissing as a poor translation the appearance of the word “myth” about the Holocaust on the Iranian Supreme Leader’s English website.
Iran has been criticized in recent years for the words of its former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who often denied the existence of the Holocaust, while the phrase “the myth of the massacre of Jews” appears in a translation of a speech from February 2006 by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamanei.
“The Holocaust is not a myth. Nobody’s talking about a myth,” Zarif told George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” Sunday when asked about the quote. “If it’s there … it’s a bad translation, and it’s translated out of context… This is the problem when you translate something from Persian to English, you may lose something, as the film goes, ‘Lost in Translation,’ you may lose some of the meaning.”
Zarif used his condemnation of the Holocaust to segue into a critique of Israel, which he characterized as the aggressor in the Middle East....
This taped interview took place with an established media outlet on November 20, 2012. Iran's people have put in place leadership that recognizes an incredible horror that moved the entire world to act to protect the Jewish race and carve out a land for them to call a homeland. This is not a minor change in standard in Iran. This is huge.
Israel has cited the rantings of the former Iranian President to justify it's demands for actions and sanctions and demands against Iran. This is not a minor issue. There are men in the leadership of Iran that seek to allay fears of their nation to prevent aggressions and war.
Iran is asking for reassessment by Israel of it's fears. This is not politics. It demands formal agreements between the nations as well as the international community.
