CUKIERMAN:

In his opening remarks, CRIF's President Roger Cukierman said, "I was 4 years old in 1940. I was a hidden child. After more than 60 years, I still wonder

why I had to hide,

why I had to change my name,

why they wanted kill me and my parents.

I still wonder why I never knew my grandparents, my uncles, my aunts, my cousins.

Why they disappeared in the gas chambers and the ovens of Treblinka.

And after more than 60 years, I still wonder if their fate could have been different. And the answer is terrible. Because it is “yes!”. Their fate could have been different.

Yes, if our leaders had not been so naïve.

Yes, if Daladier and Chamberlain had believed what Hitler had announced in Mein Kampf.

Yes, if they had understood that there are moments in history when one needs to stand up and say no.

Today, a new Hitler is born: his name is Ahmadinejad. At the Holocaust Memorial, you can see and hear Goebbels, Ribbentrop and Hitler give vent to the same hatred, the same delusions, and the same slander as Ahmadinejad today in Teheran.

Yesterday, it was the Jews. Today, it’s Israel they want to annihilate.

In the name of the God who is common to the monotheistic religions, here is a country, Iran, which has no common border with the State of Israel, and which proclaims its determination to eliminate another State recognized by the United Nations.

In the name of the same common God, here is a country, which, despising the wounded memory of the Jewish people, and historical truth, is organizing a worldwide negationist symposium in Teheran! I have met former deportees who wept on hearing about this conference.

When I say that Ahmadinejad is the new Hitler, people say to me: “you’re exaggerating, he was democratically elected”. But Hitler was too. They say to me that Ahmadinejad is a clown, a farcical puppet who won’t last long. But the same was said about Hitler in the 1930s.

However, there is a significant difference between the two: Ahmadinejad is 18 months to two years away from getting the atom bomb.

That is why the State of Israel has every reason to be worried. But Europe too.

--The poll ordered by CRIF from the Sofres polling agency shows that 80% of French people take the Iranian threat seriously.

--And 66% of those polled fear an Iranian nuclear threat on French soil. And they have every reason to.

Because Iran is equipped with long-range missiles.

Because the Iranian leadership is accusing Westerners of being infidels and “crusaders”.

And beyond Israel and Europe, the Arab world also has reason to be worried.

The fact is that the Persian Empire has been the rival of the Arab world for centuries. And, unlike the Western nations, the Arab states do not have a nuclear shield. The Mullahs of Persia dream of imposing Shiism on an Arab world that is very largely Sunni.

Naturally, certain Arab countries, such as Egypt or Saudi Arabia, and still others, will now also begin to consider entering the nuclear arms race.

Is there a greater danger for the future of our planet than nuclear proliferation?

Yet, we are not powerless. No doubt extremely severe sanctions could bring Iran to reason. Diplomatic sanctions first of all. From summoning the ambassador right to breaking off relations and exclusion from the UN.

Economic, trade and financial sanctions. Banning the country’s leaders from using Western aircraft.

Sports sanctions, such as were applied to South Africa during the days of apartheid, which would be a way of alerting the Iranian people.

These sanctions must go well beyond the symbolic, watered-down, ineffective sanctions adopted by the UN Security Council at the end of 2006 with the backing of China and Russia, Iran’s largest clients and suppliers.

In addition to severe sanctions adopted by the Western nations alone, governments should pursue the idea of refusing Iranians access to civilian nuclear applications.

Russia is delivering equipment intended for civilian nuclear applications to Iran. This is thoroughly legal, in compliance with the non-proliferation treaty signed by Iran. This treaty authorizes civil nuclear development if a country renounces any military nuclear ambitions.

But Iran has not respected this treaty. It refuses the controls required by the treaty. It has built 3,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment, needed for military nuclear applications. In so doing it is violating the non-proliferation treaty. They cannot claim the benefits of a treaty that they do not respect. So there may therefore be a way of using international law to get Russia to stop its deliveries.

Our democracies are at a crossroads, similar to the one Churchill described in 1938 when writing to Chamberlain: “You had to choose between war and dishonor. You have chosen dishonor, you shall have war.”

It is because we do not want war that I make a solemn, firm and serious appeal to the candidates for the presidency of the French Republic.

Absolute firmness with regard to Iran is the only way to preserve peace.

I dare to hope that the firmness of the answer given this evening by the candidates or their representatives will be heard and understood by the Iranian people and their leaders.

And if this is the case, our symbolic march two hours ago – from the Holocaust Memorial to the Palais de la Mutualité – will be the beginning of a long march to peace and security for all the inhabitants of our planet."

Jean-Louis Bianco, Member of Parliament and Co-campaign manager for Ségolène Royal, the Socialist presidential candidate, insisted on the unacceptable nature of the insult to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and their families and on the unacceptable nature of Iran’s threat to Israel. He reminded those present that Ségolène Royal’s position has been one of “utmost firmness”. “Iran must respect the nuclear non-proliferation treaty that it has signed. But this treaty must not be read with innocent eyes,” because, he went on to add, “It isn’t difficult to enrich civilian nuclear fuel for military applications.” “It is therefore necessary and right to stop Teheran developing its civilian nuclear program as long as the Iranian regime continues to refuse the monitoring of its installations.” “I tell you this evening on behalf of Ségolène Royal, France must remain vigilant, it cannot compromise, it must not compromise, it will not compromise when it comes to Israel’s security, which is the condition for stability in the Middle East. France is and will continue to stand alongside Israel in its fight against fanaticism and terrorism.”

Pierre Lellouche, Member of Parliament and City Councilor for Paris read a message from UMP party president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is a candidate for the presidency. “Like you all, I have been deeply shocked by the disgraceful and worrying statements made by President Ahmadinejad since his accession to power. I have not forgotten that addressing the UN in September 2005, surrounded, or so he believed, by a “halo of light”, the Iranian head of State had spoken of, and I quote: “the intolerable nature of the presence in the midst of the Muslim world of its historic enemy,” which, he added, “must be eliminated”. This is an echo of the Nazis who wanted to eradicate the Jews, seen as an extraneous body in society.” “If there is one lesson to be retained from the 20^th century, it is surely that we should never underestimate the man who wants to wipe a people or a country off the map. He who, today under the cover of anti-Zionism, makes anti-Semitism a State doctrine, to the extent of organizing in the capital of the Islamic republic of Iran a global conference on negationism, reminds us of similar sinister conferences organized in Nazi Germany and occupied France.” “France will never compromise with the security of the State of Israel, no more than it will compromise on anti-Semitism, and for this reason I want today to commemorate the first anniversary of the death, in atrocious conditions, of a young French Jew, Ilan Halimi.” “I am conscious that since Iran emerged on front lines of the Arab-Israeli conflict during the war in Lebanon last summer, by means of Hezbollah, the question of its nuclearization will be one of the most burning and difficult issues that the next French President will find on his or her desk next May 7.”

“It is up to each of us to remember and draw on the lessons of history,” said Christian Poncelet, President of the Senate. “In 1933, Hitler announced what he would do. In 1939, we declared war. What did we do between 1933 and 1939?” asked Poncelet. “We cannot accept without reaction that the past be misrepresented by the Iranian president.” “Let us hope that the Iranian people will react against this dictatorship, this fascism,” said Christian Poncelet. “It is time to react, it is time to act.”

The Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, called Ahmadinejad’s Iran “a danger for humanity”. “We must mobilize against this power which believes that one human being is superior to another because of his religion. Such a government is dangerous, because it carries the worst aspect of humanity today: negationism.” “Whoever on this planet denies historical truth and in particular the most cruel, the most barbaric genocide, the Holocaust, is already a danger and a criminal against humanity”. “I regretted feeling somewhat alone when in the name of the city of Paris I chose to express my indignation and fight this foul, unworthy, barbaric exhibition taking place in Teheran. We should have mobilized much more strongly at the time.” The Iranian government is a danger for the life of the people of Israel, but also for the Palestinian people, because by manipulating Palestine it is stopping its people from advancing to their legitimate aspiration for democracy and freedom.”