Wiesenthal Center Praises New UN Chief For Responding Directly To Iranian Regime’s Holocaust Denial And Threats Against Israel

December 14, 2006

WIESENTHAL CENTER PRAISES NEW UN CHIEF FOR RESPONDING DIRECTLY TO IRANIAN REGIME’S HOLOCAUST DENIAL AND THREATS AGAINST ISRAEL

The Simon Wiesenthal Center commended the new United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, for directly and explicitly responding to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his denial of the Holocaust and for threats against Israel, including this week’s remark that Israel “will soon be wiped out” which was made at the closing of the Iran-sponsored Holocaust conference, attended by known Holocaust revisionists and deniers. At his swearing-in ceremony today, Secretary-General Ban said: “Denying historical facts especially on such an important subject as the Holocaust is just not acceptable...Nor is it acceptable to call for the elimination of states or people...”

In a letter to Secretary-General Ban, Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, founder and dean and associate dean, respectively, of the Wiesenthal Center, praised the new UN chief for “speaking out forthrightly today, the day of your swearing in.”

In response to the Iranian Holocaust conference, the Wiesenthal Center launched a petition campaign signed by over 30,000 Center members and other activists urging Ban to speak out against the Iranian regime.

“We commend Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for doing the right thing by putting Iran on notice that it is inappropriate to deny the Holocaust and to call for the obliteration of a member state,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.