Iran doesn’t deny the Holocaust, Iranian foreign minister tweets -
By Haaretz and Barak Ravid
Haaretz | Sep. 6, 2013
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-and-defense/1.545546
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif took to Twitter on Thursday to say that his country does not deny the Holocaust.
The message came on the heels of Jewish holiday greetings released both from his Twitter account and an account believed to be operated by Iranian President Hassan Rohani.
“As the sun is about to set here in #Tehran I wish all Jews, especially Iranian Jews, a blessed Rosh Hashanah,” wrote Rohani, attaching a photo of an Iranian Jew praying at a synagogue in Tehran.
A few hours later, the president was joined in his well-wishing by Zarif. “Happy Rosh Hashanah,” he tweeted.
The new foreign minister’s tweet drew a flurry of responses, including that of Christine Pelosi, an author, activist and the daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who wrote: “The New Year would be even sweeter if you would end Iran’s Holocaust denial, sir.”
Zarif soon replied: “Iran never denied it. The man who was perceived to be denying it is now gone. Happy New Year.” He was presumably referring to former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called the Holocaust a “fairy tale.”
Zarif’s account was confirmed by CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour in yet another tweet.
Rohani’s twitter account is semi-official; it was set up during his election campaign and was operated by his campaign staff, which consisted mainly of young people. Since he took office, the account remained open, but it’s not clear who is actually running it.
Raz Zimmt, a research fellow at the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University, has said that the Iranian officials’ Rosh Hashanah greetings are extraordinary.
“Iran has always maintained it differentiates between Judaism and Zionism, and that its policy is anti-Zionist and not anti-Semitic. However, this is a definite expression of a change in terminology and atmosphere that defines the new Rohani era, after years of an Ahmadinejad-led discourse that was dominated by Holocaust denial," Zimmt said.