Straight from the Horse’s Mouth, here is a part of the transcript of Ahmadinejad remarks, held at Columbia University, on the Holocaust, the legitimation of the state of Israel and the Iranian nuclear issue. .
..”Last year — I would say two years ago — I raised two questions. You know that my main job is a university instructor. AHMADINEJAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR):
…..You know quite well that Palestine is an old wound, as old as 60 years. For 60 years, these people are displaced.
For 60 years, these people are being killed. For 60 years, on a daily basis, there’s conflict and terror. For 60 years, innocent women and children are destroyed and killed by helicopters and airplanes that break the house over their heads. For 60 years, children and kindergartens, in schools, in high schools, are in prison being tortured. For 60 years, security in the Middle East has been endangered. For 60 years, the slogan of expansionism from the Nile to the Euphrates is being chanted by certain groups in that part of the world.
And as an academic, I asked two questions; AHMADINEJAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): . My first question was if — given that the Holocaust is a present reality of our time, a history that occurred, why is there not sufficient research that can approach the topic from different perspectives?
Our friend referred to 1930 as the point of departure for this development. However, I believe the Holocaust from what we’ve read happened during World War II, after 1930, in the 1940s. So, you know, we have to really be able to trace the event. My question was simple: There are researchers who want to approach the topic from a different perspective. Why are they put into prison? Right now, there are a number of European academics who have been sent to prison because they attempted to write about the Holocaust or research it from a different perspective, questioning certain aspects of it.
My question is: Why isn’t it open to all forms of research? I have been told that there’s been enough research on the topic. And I ask, well, when it comes to topics such as freedom, topics such as democracy, concepts and norms such as God, religion, physics even, or chemistry, there’s been a lot of research, but we still continue more research on those topics. We encourage it. But, then, why don’t we encourage more research on a historical event that has become the root, the cause of many heavy catastrophes in the region in this time and age?
AHMADINEJAD: Why shouldn’t there be more research about the root causes? That was my first question.
And my second question, well, given this historical event, if it is a reality, we need to still question whether the Palestinian people should be paying for it or not. After all, it happened in Europe. The Palestinian people had no role to play in it. So why is it that the Palestinian people are paying the price of an event they had nothing to do with?
The Palestinian people didn’t commit any crime. They had no role to play in World War II. They were living with the Jewish communities and the Christian communities in peace at the time. They didn’t have any problems. And today, too, Jews, Christians and Muslims live in brotherhood all over the world in many parts of the world. They don’t have any serious problems.
But why is it that the Palestinians should pay a price, innocent Palestinians, for 5 million people to remain displaced or refugees abroad for 60 years. Is this not a crime? Is asking about these crimes a crime by itself? Why should an academic myself face insults when asking questions like this? Is this what you call freedom and upholding the freedom of thought?
…And as for the second topic, Iran’s nuclear issue, We are a country, we are a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency. For over 33 years we are a member state of the agency. The bylaw of the agency explicitly states that all member states have the right to the peaceful nuclear fuel technology. This is an explicit statement made in the bylaw, and the bylaw says that there is no pretext or excuse, even the inspections carried by the IAEA itself that can prevent member states’ right to have that right.
Of course, the IAEA is responsible to carry out inspections. We are one of the countries that’s carried out the most amount of level of cooperation with the IAEA. They have had hours and weeks and days of inspections in our country, and over and over again the agency’s reports indicate that Iran’s activities are peaceful, that they have not detected a deviation, and that Iran — they have received positive cooperation from Iran. But regretfully, two or three monopolistic powers, selfish powers want to force their word on the Iranian people and deny them their right”….
(The moderator ask his firs question)
…”MODERATOR: The first question is: Do you or your government seek the destruction of the state of Israel as a Jewish state?
AHMADINEJAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We love all nations. We are friends with the Jewish people. There are many Jews in Iran, leaving peacefully, with security…..”This is compatible with the spirit of the Charter of the United Nations and the fundamental principles enshrined in it. We must allow Jewish Palestinians, Muslim Palestinians and Christian Palestinians to determine their own fate themselves through a free referendum.”… Whatever they choose as a nation, everybody should accept and respect. Nobody should interfere in the affairs of the Palestinian nation. Nobody should sow the seeds of discord. Nobody should spend tens of billions of dollars equipping and arming one group there. “…
…”Moderator again :The second question is: Do you or your government seek the destruction of the state of Israel as a Jewish state? And I think you could answer that question with a single word, either yes or no.”…
..”AHMADINEJAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): …We recognize there’s a problem there that’s been going on for 60 years. Everybody provides a solution. And our solution is a free referendum . Let this referendum happen, and then you’ll see what the results are..”.
..” Mr. President, a final question… Is Iran prepared to open broad discussions with the government of the United States?
AHMADINEJAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Since 28 years ago, when our revolution succeeded and we established, we took freedom and democracy that was held at bay by a pro-Western dictatorship. We announced our readiness that besides two countries, we are ready to have friendly relations and talks with all countries of the world. One of those two was the apartheid regime of South Africa, which has been eliminated. And the second was the Zionist regime. For everybody else around the world, we announced that we want to have friendly, brotherly ties. The Iranian nation is a cultured nation. It is a civilized nation. It seeks — it wants talks and negotiations. It’s for it.”… The full transcript is here .
Now what about President Ahmadinejad being an Oracle of our modern time.
AS for Ahmadinejad predictions Jewish state’s demise; Meanwhile, Revolutionary Guards threaten to ‘punch’ United States (see here). And here are the oracular explanations of what where his ‘real’ intentions: ” Ahmadinejad has in the past called for Israel’s elimination. But his exact remarks have been disputed. Some translators say he called for Israel to be “wiped off the map,” but others say that would be better translated as “vanish from the pages of time” — implying Israel would disappear on its own rather than be destroyed”. see the details here
As for “punching the US” … Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said (see here) they would not bow to pressure and threatened to “punch” the United States, in a first response to Washington’s plan to list them as a terrorist organization, in full opposition (September 2006) to Ahmadinejad proposing to President Bush peace and mutual understanding (see here) as opposing the punching position. What has the Oracle in his mind?
As for the Israel state, there is no direct statement but an oracular stance: there are Jewish Palestinians, Muslims Palestinians and Christian Palestinians. Are they all Palestinians? Is the Israeli defence minister Barak a Palestinian?
As for the holocaust the Oracle state that it is only a question of scientific research to discover new points of vue…but for what?
And so on and so on, a new Iranian Oracle is born in the prestigious Columbia University.
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korzacsol 