The IDF Chief of Staff has slammed remarks made by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in which he questioned the Holocaust.
During a trip to the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp on Monday, Aviv Kohavi said on Monday: “You don’t need to be a historian or a researcher to understand the horrors of the Holocaust – you need to be a human being”.
“We now toured the gas chambers, we saw the crematoria, even the building stones scream out the Jewish genocide.”
During an interview with US network CBS’ “60 Minutes,” programme ahead of his visit to the UN General Assembly in New York City, the Iranian leader was asked whether or not the Holocaust happened. He replied: “Historical events should be investigated by researchers and historians. There are some signs that it happened. If so, they should allow it to be investigated and researched.”
Kohavi told reporters on Monday that “anyone who lies and denies this painful and substantial historical truth is a liar and will surely be a liar in the future.”
“This is yet another reminder that we cannot allow people who express these sentiments to retain any kind of power to develop weapons of mass destruction,” he continued.
Kohavi was not the only Israeli public figure to hit back at Raisi’s remarks
The same day Israeli President Isaac Herzog quote tweeted a clip of the CBS interview with a photograph of a Holocaust survivor that displayed a prisoner number tattooed on her forearm.
The tweet also contained a message to the Iranian president in English: “Mr Raisi, on my desk in Jerusalem there is one photograph. The numbers speak for themselves.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan also described Raisi’s comments as “shocking”, urging UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to “deny that denier a world stage to spread antisemitism and hatred,” suggesting that: “The UN will reach a new low if they give the Butcher of Tehran a platform.”
Dani Dayan, chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Centre, said via Twitter: “there are signs that President Raisi is a despicable antisemite,” and described his words as “absurd, delusional, dangerous, and worthy of all condemnation.”
Kohavi touched down in Poland on Sunday, kicking off an official three-day trip as a guest of the Polish army.
He is set to hold talks with officials in France later this week.
These meetings come as Israel seeks to combat the prospect of a renewed Iran nuclear deal currently being pursued by the Biden administration.
