[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 21]
[Senate]
[Page 28500]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            ANTI-SEMITIC STATEMENTS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRAN

  Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today to register my outrage against 
a series of vehemently anti-Semitic comments made by Iranian President 
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. These remarks, all of them vile and baseless, 
should be condemned by the Senate. Let me describe some of these 
remarks for the Record.
  At a conference in Tehran on October 26, President Ahmadinejad said, 
``Israel must be wiped off the map . . . The Islamic world will not let 
its historic enemy live in its heartland.''
  Then, on December 8, he continued his assault, saying ``Some European 
countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews 
in furnaces . . . Although we don't accept this claim . . . If the 
Europeans are honest they should give some of their provinces in 
Europe--like in Germany, Austria or other countries--to the Zionists 
and the Zionists can establish their state in Europe.''
  And, just yesterday, President Ahmadinejad claimed that ``They have 
fabricated a legend under the name `Massacre of the Jews', and they 
hold it higher than God himself, religion itself and the prophets 
themselves''
  Mr. President, I do not even know where to begin. Insidious rhetoric 
such as this is designed to do nothing other than stir hatred and 
incite hostility.
  I have walked the grounds at Auschwitz. I have seen the crematoria. 
To claim that one of the greatest tragedies in the history of humanity 
is merely a fabrication to advance a political agenda is simply beyond 
the pale. But what is worse is that these comments are not isolated. 
They are a part of persistent, state-sponsored anti-Semitism that is 
now commonplace in the administration of President Ahmadinejad.
  On the eve of the elections in Iraq, one of the greatest democratic 
milestones in the history of the modern Middle East, I hope that we can 
work to move past this gross intolerance on the part of the Iranian 
President.

                          ____________________