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Syria compares Israel to Nazis; denies Holocaust

NICOSIA [MENL] -- Syria launched a bitter media attack against Israel on Monday comparing the Jewish state to Nazi Germany.

The Syrian government daily Tishrin said Israel has committed crimes against the Arabs that were no less grave than that of the killing of six million Jews by the Nazis during World War II. Tishrin, however, questioned whether the Holocaust actually took place and said Israel has tried to stop those who doubted the Nazi extermination.

"Zionism is erasing from human memory 50 million Nazi victims and concentrating on the suffering of Jews, although historical facts prove that Zionist leaders then collaborated with the Nazis for the Jewish problem to get worse," Tishreen editor Mohamed Kheir Wadi said. "Zionism hides these dark pages of its history, blackens them completely, and invents stories about the Holocaust and exaggerates it to astronomical levels."

"Israel, which is presenting itself as heir to the victims of the Holocaust, committed and keeps on committing against the Arabs crimes that are uglier that the ones committed by the old Nazis," the newspaper continued. "The Nazis, for example, did not drive out a whole nation from their homeland and did not bury people alive, which is what the Zionists did."

The attack by the Syrian newspaper was the harshest against Israel since the two countries resumed peace negotiations in December. Over the past few weeks, however, Syrian media attacks have grown harsher as the suspension of the negotiations continued.

"Why does Israel insist on bringing up this alleged Holocaust policy?" the newspaper said. "I believe Israel and the Zionist organizations have two aims. The first is to receive more money from Germany and other Western establishments on the pretext of compensation for the Holocaust. The second aim is to invest the myth of the Holocaust and accuse anyone opposed to her Jewish lies about the Holocaust in the face of credible voices questioning it, including that of the controversial British historian David Irving."

Holocaust denial, however, has been a familiar theme in the Syrian media. It is also repeated in the Arab and Iranian press.

Israel quickly responded to the report. Social and Diaspora Affairs Minister Michael Melchior expressed his revulsion over the article.

"It is not possible to show restraint over these unbridled statements which deny the Holocaust and compare Israel to the Nazis," he said. "The Syrians know no bounds in anti-Israel incitement, both morally and diplomatically. This makes continued dialogue with them more difficult."

Melchior called on Syria's leaders to disavow the article in the government newspaper "and to change their style, which only makes peace and normalization between Israel and Syria more difficult."

Likud parliamentarian has called for Israel to end peace talks with Syria.

Earlier, the weekly of the Syrian Arab Writers Association said Damascus will obtain the Golan Heights by force and must reject U.S. or Western aid, which will be meant to prevent Syria from restoring its military. Ali Orsan, the chairman, wrote in the association's weekly, Al-Usbu Al Adabi that Syria would face a disaster if it recognizes the Jewish state.

The writer asked whether the agreement with Israel would prevent Syria from joining the next war against the Jewish state.