The European Jewish Congress welcomes the strong statement taken by the European Council on December 12th against the ugly Holocaust denial conference that took place in Tehran.
A few days earlier, the EJC had written the Finnish Presidency of the European Council, the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union Javier Solana and the 27 heads of state and government who were to attend the European Council meeting on 14 and 15 December, demanding that EU Member states jointly condemn the Iranian regime’s state sponsored Holocaust denial, and the recent shameful conference held in Tehran.
The full text of the letter:
Dear Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, Dear Secretary General Javier Solana,
At the initiative of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, an ugly revisionist conference was held this week in Tehran.
This state-sponsored conference took place only a few months after the Iranian government opened a repulsive and openly anti-Semitic “Holocaust Cartoon Exhibition” in Tehran, and follows over a year of incessant declarations by the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling for the eradication of the state of Israel, and denying the existence of the Holocaust.
In order to give credit to their anti-Semitism and revisionism, the Iranian regime has invited to their “scientific conference” a large number of Holocaust deniers, many of them Europeans that have been prosecuted and sentenced in their home countries.
We therefore call upon the European Council to jointly condemn in the harshest terms this shameful conference.
Many members states have already issued strong condemnations, and we greatly appreciate this, but we feel that the European Council must also make a joint statement during its Brussels meeting the 14 and 15 December, as this Tehran conference goes against the common values that the European Union is based upon.
We are looking forward to hearing from you.
Respectfully yours,
Pierre Besnainou
President
