Ayatollah Meshkini in Friday Sermon at Qom: The Holocaust Is a Lie

Following are excerpts from a Friday sermon at Qom, delivered by Ayatollah Ali Meshkini, head of the Iranian Assembly of Experts. The sermon was aired on Iranian TV Channel 2 on December 17, 2005.

Ayatollah Ali Meshkini: Following World War II, the Jews... The Zionists tried to present themselves as oppressed, and to have opportunities in the world. They invented a false claim. They said that Hitler, the Germans, and the Austrians burned six million Jews in crematoria - six million Jews. They tried very hard to convince the world that this issue, this lie, was true, and they succeeded.

The UN and several countries officially validated the claim that six million Jews were burnt by the Germans and Austrians. The purpose was to show the world how oppressed the Jews were. They officially validated this claim.

I heard them making these claims in the Shah's time as well. They called it Holo... Holocaust. I'm not sure if the word "Holocaust" comes from Hebrew or French, but it means to burn human beings in crematoria. That's what it means.

They proved that the Holocaust occurred, and that people... the Jews were oppressed. That's what they claimed.

What did our president say? He said something reasonable to the Europeans: "If you accept this claim, and say that the Germans and Austrians indeed killed six million Jews, and that this was perpetrated by the Germans and Austrians... If you accept this claim, give the Israelis a place to establish their state in your countries. Why are you making the Palestinians pay the price for this? If this is true, the Palestinians are the oppressed ones. On the other hand, if you don't accept this claim, why do you arrest anyone who claims in Germany, England, who claims the Holocaust was a lie? Why do you try them and put them in jail?"

What the president said makes sense, and I hope that, Allah willing, you accept this...

Crowd: Death to Israel.

Death to Israel.

Death to Israel.

Death to Israel.