Israeli envoy to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan walked out of the General Assembly while criticizing Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi for denying the Holocaust events which led to the murder of millions of Jews.
This comes as Raisi in his first interview with a Western media outlet, which aired late Sunday cast doubts on whether the Holocaust happened and calling Israel a "false regime."
Erdan carried a picture of women who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp operated by Nazi Germany in then occupied Poland during World War II. Terming "Raisi" as a dictator, he urged the other members of the United Nations General Assembly to leave Raisi's speech.
In a tweet, Erdan wrote, "A murderer like #Raisi who denies the Holocaust, (amongst many human rights violations) has 0 place on the world stage. He asked for proof... here are my Auschwitz surviving grandmothers. To the ambassadors in the GA: leave his speech. A dictator deserves no voice."
Earlier, speaking with veteran US reporter Lesley Stahl on CBS's "60 Minutes," Raisi also said he couldn't trust the United States in the beleaguered nuclear talks and called Washington's sanctions "tyrannical," as he heads to New York to take part in the UN General Assembly, reported Times of Israel.
During the interview, interviewer Stahl asked Raisi: "Do you believe the Holocaust happened? That 6 million Jews were slaughtered?" Raisi said that "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."
Stahl then said: "So you're not sure, I'm getting that you're not sure." Raisi didn't challenge that conclusion, reported Times of Israel.
Asked whether he supports Israel's right to exist, Raisi said: "You see, the people of Palestine are the reality. This is the right of the people of Palestine who were forced to leave their houses and motherland. The Americans are supporting this false regime there to take root and to be established there."
( With inputs from ANI )
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