‘Israel uses Holocaust to justify its crimes’

Iran accused Israel of exploiting the death of six million Jews during World War II to justify its crimes against the Palestinian people, the Islamic Republic said after the UNGA passed a resolution to combat Holocaust denial.

“The fake Zionist regime has constantly tried to use the victims of World War II and the Jews as a justification for its shameless and aggressive actions,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

“The regime and its leaders have committed all kinds of crimes, especially crimes against humanity, against the Palestinian people and the regional people, in violation of international law,” it stated.

“Genocide, assassination, ethnic cleansing, destruction of homes and human siege are among the crimes that the Zionist regime is constantly committing,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.

The resolution on Holocaust denial was approved by consensus. Iran was the only country to speak out against the text, but it has limited powers to act in the UNGA because of its unpaid dues. It has attempted to argue that its opposition has meant that the text was not approved by consensus, even though the UN has publicized the passage of the resolution.

Israel Foreign Ministry Director-General Alon Ushpiz tweeted in response:

“Only one country rejected the UN resolution condemning Holocaust denial. The same country bent on destroying the Jewish state. The same country now aspiring to develop nuclear weapons.”

Separately, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett posted on his Facebook page on Friday that “the State of Israel is not ours ‘thanks’ to the Holocaust, but because the Land of Israel has always been the home of the Jewish people.

“Only a State of Israel that is strong, secure, independent, vibrant, diverse, free and united, will ensure the existence of the Jewish people,” Bennett stated. He did not mention Iran in his post.