Yad Vashem Alarmed by Continued Iranian Holocaust Denial

Yad Vashem is following with increasing concern Iran’s continued Holocaust denial, and particularly its latest attempt to paint its extremist agenda with a scholarly brush. The Iranian government’s pseudo-academic conference, "Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision” is an effort to mainstream Holocaust denial and must be unequivocally rejected.

On Thursday, December 14, 2006, Yad Vashem will hold a symposium with the participation of the diplomatic corps: “Holocaust Denial: Paving the Way to Genocide” chaired by Prof. David Bankier, Head of the International Institute for Holocaust Studies. Yad Vashem Chairman of the Directorate Avner Shalev will open the session, and Prof. Yehuda Bauer, Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem, Yigal Carmon, President, MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute), and Holocaust survivor Rita Weiss, many of whose relatives were killed in the Holocaust, will speak. Chairman of the Council Joseph (Tommy) Lapid will offer concluding remarks.

The United Nations, and many countries in the world, will mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day next month, recognizing the importance of Holocaust remembrance as a safeguard against the breakdown of the basic human values that underpin our civilization. The dismissal of the veracity of the Holocaust and its legacy represents a clear rejection of those values. Memory of the Holocaust helps serve as a warning and a hindrance to those who might consider or advocate genocide. Those who threaten genocide therefore seek to deny the Holocaust in order to remove this obstacle from their path. The international community must act to prevent genocidal intentions from becoming genocidal capabilities.