Week of denials

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad captured media headlines as he reiterated his verbal attacks against Israel at a controversial conference questioning the Holocaust

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert give a joint press conference on 12 December at the Chancellery in Berlin. During his European tour, Olmert hinted at the nuclear capability of Israel. His controversial revelations, publicised on German television, caused a stir in Israel itself. This is the first time that a top-level Israeli official openly makes such an admission

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that Israel's days were numbered and that it will disappear just like the USSR.

"Thanks to people's wishes and God's will, the trend for the existence of the Zionist regime is downwards and this is what God has promised and what all nations want," he said.

"Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out," he added.

Ahmadinejad was addressing delegates at a controversial two-day international conference held in Tehran questioning the Holocaust.

Ahmadinejad sparked an international outcry last year, shortly after being elected to Iran's presidency, when he referred to the killing of six million Jews in World War II as a "myth" and called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

Ahmadinejad's words received warm applause from delegates at the Holocaust conference, who included ultra-Orthodox anti-Israel Jews and European and American writers who argue the Holocaust was either fabricated or exaggerated.

Ahmadinejad's remarks were swiftly condemned in Washington, where State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that the Iranian president's behaviour was "despicable", dismissing his comments as "absolutely outrageous."

The Vatican, Germany and the European Commission added their voices Tuesday to those that have condemned the Tehran meeting.

Iran says it organised the conference to shed light on the reasons behind the formation of the State of Israel after World War II, and to allow researchers from countries where it is a crime to question the Holocaust to speak freely. Ahmadinejad urged countries where Holocaust denial is a crime, to respect freedom of speech and not take action against conference participants on their return.

Delegates at the meeting earlier Tuesday agreed to form a "fact-finding" committee to study the Holocaust. The head of the new committee, identified as Iranian academic Mohammad Ali Ramin, said its members were "not racist or opposed to any particular group". "Rather," the ISNA students' news agency quoted Ramin as saying, "they are just seeking the truth to set humanity truly free." Other committee members remain unnamed.

Robert Faurisson, a French scholar who has described the Holocaust as a "historical lie", said the committee included members from the United States, France, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, Iran, Bahrain and Syria, ISNA reported.

The Vatican called the Holocaust an "immense tragedy" which had to remain forever a warning for all people to respect the rights of others.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the Tehran meeting "shows the danger of the situation Israel is in, and in particular the threat that Israel lives under."

Merkel was speaking after meeting Ehud Olmert, who is on his first visit to Germany as Israeli prime minister.

Germany has made it a priority to support Israel since the Nazis were defeated in 1945.

EU Commissioner Franco Frattini expressed "shock and indignation," adding, "anti-Semitism has no place in Europe, nor should it have in any other part of the world."

However, while Olmert condemned the Tehran meeting and Iran's alleged nuclear intentions during his Germany trip, he sparked uproar after an apparent slip of the tongue in which he, for the first time, listed Israel as a nuclear power, though few expected the blunder to alter Israel's official "policy of nuclear ambiguity."

Israel, understood to be the Middle East's sole nuclear power, has for decades refused to admit or deny whether it has atomic weapons. On Monday, Olmert appeared to break the taboo in an interview on German television as he began a visit to Berlin.

"We never threatened any nation with annihilation," Olmert told the N24 Sat1 station, speaking in English. "Iran openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as France, America, Russia and Israel?" he asked.

Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, was quick to deny that Olmert had admitted to Israel having nuclear weapons, saying that "Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the region."

The Israeli premier stuck to the same line Tuesday, telling a news conference after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, "Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the region. That is our policy and it has not changed. There is no need to explain it any further."

But the blunder, which came less than a week after Israeli officials rounded on the incoming US Defense Secretary Robert Gates for the same slip during his Senate confirmation hearings, sparked controversy, with lawmakers from across the political spectrum calling on Olmert to resign.

"The staggering comments of Ehud Olmert only serve to reinforce doubts on his capacity to remain prime minister," said leftist MK Yossi Beilin.

Right-wing opposition Likud MK Yuval Steinitz called on Olmert to step down after having made "an irresponsible slip which puts into question a policy that dates back almost half a century."

Meanwhile, observers warned that Olmert's statement threatened to undercut efforts by Israel and the West to prevent Iran from pursuing its nuclear program, which Tehran says is for civilian purposes and the West fears is a cover for acquiring atomic weapons.

Mordechai Vanunu, who served 18 years in prison after blowing the whistle on Israel's nuclear program in 1986, welcomed Olmert's remarks.

"Olmert's remark is nothing new, but it is a good thing that Israel decided to make it public," he told AFP. "The world should now not only talk about Iran, but also about Israel as a nuclear threat that has to be dealt with in order to make a nuclear-free Middle East and bring peace."

"I support the policy of ambiguity and I don't see Olmert's statement as a declaration that Israel has nuclear weapons," Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told Israeli army radio. "I would suggest that all those who want to talk about the issue, for God's sake, and for the sake of Israel's security, stop it," he said.

Another senior government official opined: "This is a real slip of the tongue which was not planned. It is embarrassing for Israel, particularly when it is dealing with such a sensitive issue. But this does not change a thing. Our policy stays the same."

Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity dates back to the early 1960s, to an agreement struck with the United States and France. Under this policy, Israel would not carry out any nuclear tests and would remain discrete on the issue in order to prevent a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

The head of the Gulf Cooperation Council demanded the application of the Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which concerns threats to international peace and security, after Olmert's Monday statement. "We call for application against Israel of Chapter VII, that is to say, the imposition of sanctions," Secretary General Abderrahman Al-Attiya said in Kuwait.

Attiya urged the United States not to apply a policy of "double standards" and to "work for the application [against Israel] of the resolutions of international law and of Chapter VII."

The EU also expressed alarm following Olmert's statement. The Finnish presidency of the EU has called for Olmert to explain his apparent admission that Israel has nuclear weapons. "I think that Mr Olmert must explain more fully what this information means," Finnish Defence Minister Seppo Kaariainen told the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung.

Kaariainen said he hoped Olmert's words would not have a negative effect on the UN-led peacekeeping force deployed in Lebanon following the 34-day war between the Israeli army and Hizbullah earlier this year.

"I hope above all else that the international crisis management that began in Lebanon in the summer can be continued without interference. The EU will be watching very closely to see what reaction the Israeli explanation provokes."