Kerry Assails Iranian President’s Unacceptable Comments on Israel

John Kerry was in New York today delivering a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. While in New York Kerry issued the following statement in response to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments on the Holocaust:

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hateful assault on Israel continued today. For the leader of any country to question whether the Holocaust happened and suggest Israel be moved to Europe is beyond unacceptable. If President Ahmadinejad has any doubts about the Holocaust, he should have the guts to visit Auschwitz or talk to holocaust survivors about the horrors they can never forget.

The holocaust happened in part because too many people failed to speak out about what was right and what was wrong. Not this time. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an extreme ideologue whose hateful attacks against our ally Israel must be condemned in the strongest possible terms all over the world. This is worse than just reprehensible rhetoric from the head of the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. Just this week, another suicide bomber from Islamic Jihad, an organization reportedly supported by Iran, killed five Israelis in Netanya. Beyond underscoring the urgent need to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, it is a stark reminder that it's long overdue for the community of nations to take strong and decisive steps to make Iran cease its support for terrorism."