Without a doubt a true statement.

President Ahmadinejad is proving too radical even for some Iranian conservatives.

Another news story about how Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is shaking up the Iranian government. Seems like he really is a populist outsider instead of a stealth puppet candidate of the ayatollas. Trouble is, he’s more radical than they are.

This was an idea that had been kicking around since the 1890s, to forcibly remove all Jews from Europe and resettle them in Madagascar. That way, they could be controlled better and not allowed to contaminate the rest of the world.

In May 1940, Heinrich Himmler advocated sending the Jews to Madagascar. About this plan, Himmler stated:

However cruel and tragic each individual case may be, this method is still the mildest and best, if one rejects the Bolshevik method of physical extermination of a people out of inner conviction as un-German and impossible.” (Heinrich Himmler as quoted in Christopher Browning, “Madagascar Plan” Encyclopedia of the Holocaust Ed. Israel Gutman (New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1990) 936.)

The Nazis had been expecting a quick end to the war so that they could transfer European Jews to Madagascar. But as the Battle of Britain lasted much longer than planned and with Hitler’s decision in the fall of 1940 to invade the Soviet Union, the Madagascar Plan became unfeasible. Alternate, more drastic, more horrific solutions were being proposed to eliminate the Jews of Europe. Within a year, the killing process had begun.

I have read accounts of some Germans who blame the resulting extermination of Jews in Europe on the British and Russians.

On the Arabic version, on the other hand, Al-Jazeera gives a detailed account of Ahmadinejad’s rejection of the happening of the Holocaust, but there is no explicit statement making clear that he was wrong. The Arabic version doesn’t deny that it happened, but it just references the Holocaust on then moves on. I think they were trying to avoid offending some of their viewers.

I’ve tried to parse the Arabic version and try and figure out how an Arabic speaker who already doubted the Holocaust would interpret the report. My post is here. I think they were ambigious enough that one who believed in the Holocaust wouldn’t think they were denying it, but one who didn’t believe it wouldn’t be challenged, either. Maybe the BBC is better.

In light of the fact that the BBC now plans an Arabic-language TV channel to compete with Al-Jazeera, I was wondering how Arab viewers will react. Maybe they will decided that the BBC is too anti-Israel, and that they need to watch Al-Jazeera to get a Fair & Balanced perspective.

“Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces and they insist on it to the extent that if anyone proves something contrary to that they condemn that person and throw them in jail.”

“Although we don’t accept this claim, if we suppose it is true, our question for the Europeans is: is the killing of innocent Jewish people by Hitler the reason for their support to the occupiers of Jerusalem?” he said.

“If the Europeans are honest they should give some of their provinces in Europe—like in Germany, Austria or other countries—to the Zionists and the Zionists can establish their state in Europe. You offer part of Europe and we will support it.”

So, in a way, I suppose he’s saying the Holocaust is a ruse to give justification for Western support of Israel. And, were he to be honest, then I suppose that would mean Israel shouldn’t be moved.

One of the few ways he could have made this worse is by saying that Israel should be moved to Madagascar.