And this belongs in the department of I spoke too soon. It seems that Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, wasn’t engaging in Holocaust-evasion when he pleaded to not being a historian. In fact he’s ready to condemn the Holocaust:
“I’ve said before that I am not a historian, and when it comes to speaking of the dimensions of the Holocaust, it is the historians that should reflect,” Rouhani told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“But, in general, I can tell you that any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime the Nazis created towards the Jews as well as non-Jews is reprehensible and condemnable. Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews, we condemn.”
All I can say is that, without the elaboration, his original statement looked mighty like an evasion. This one is clearer, albeit still hedged somewhat by the ‘whatever’.
Update: Or maybe not. See the report here. This one may still have some way to run. (Thanks: CT.)