Senior Iranian Ayatollah: England Invented Story Of Holocaust

We live under a perpetual barrage of propaganda about the middle east - the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Muslim world also lives with a constant flood of propaganda on the same subject... but not at all the same content. If you want to get a sample more regularly than the roughly annual dose I give you, subscribe to MEMRI .

There are links in the seed.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

On International Qods Day , marked by the Iranian regime this year on March 28, 2025, [1] Ayatollah Ahmad Alam Al-Hoda, Friday prayer imam for the city of Mashhad and representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Khorasan Razavi province, and a member of the Assembly of Experts that is tasked with selecting Iran's supreme leader, gave a speech at the Imam Reza mosque in Mashhad. In his speech, he denied the Holocaust against the Jews of Europe, saying that "all the stories about the Holocaust are a complete lie" and that "a Western researcher even proved this." Alam Al-Hoda explained also that "England invented the [idea of the] Holocaust in order to compensate the Jews for the injustice done them in World War [II]" - meaning that since the British had circulated this fake Holocaust story, they then had to make it up to the Jews for the alleged atrocities against them by giving them Palestine.

It should be noted that denying the Holocaust, or attempting to downplay its atrocities or minimize the number of victims in it, are a recurring theme in Iranian regime officials' speeches and declarations, and are a consistent part of the regime's official discourse (see Appendix of MEMRI reports).

In his speech, Alam Al-Hoda continued to advance the discourse about eliminating the Jewish state, Israel, in accordance with Iranian regime policy, and reviewed the regime's activity to accomplish this. He praised the establishment of International Qods Day by the founder of Iran's revolutionary regime, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which, he said, had created "a global Islamic movement to tackle the cancerous growth Israel." He went on to stress that the "resistance front" - the Iranian regime's term for the network of its proxy terror organizations across the region, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Shi'ite militias in Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen, that carried out Operation "Al-Aqsa Flood," Iran's term for the Hamas October 7 attack on southern Israel - is a result of International Qods Day and even credited the spread of Islam in the West to the idea of the Iranian resistance.

To view the MEMRI TV clip of excerpts of Alam Al-Hoda's speech, click here.

The following are the main points of Ayatollah Alam Al-Hoda's International Qods Day speech:

"The Imam [Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of Iran's Islamic revolution] knew that after a full month of fasting [Ramadan], the people deserved to be close to God and to plan for the revelation of the Hidden Imam [the Mahdi, the Shi'ite messiah]. According to tradition, Issa [the Islamic name for Jesus] will descend from the heavens and pray in Jerusalem behind the Hidden I Zaman. Jerusalem is the place where the Imam will appear, to spread justice in the world, and the cry of liberating Jerusalem on the last Friday of the month of Ramadan constitutes preparation for his appearance.

"During World War II, when the Allies defeated Hitler and Germany, they [the Allies] tried to create an ideology by means of which they could formulate military and political plans in the Middle East region. This was with the understanding that the era of Queen Victoria's reign some 250 [sic] years ago, with England's control of India, began the process of exploitation of the East, and the West sought to gain control of the entire world by dominating the Middle East.

"England found a solution for dominating the Middle East by expelling Islam from this region. Therefore, it invented the idea of the Holocaust, [and] in order to compensate the Jews for the [alleged] injustice done them in this matter, allocated to them the land of Palestine, which it considered the land promised to the Jews. There it established the first Jewish state, in order to compensate the Jews for the suffering and damage that they had experienced in the Holocaust in Germany. This is despite the fact that all the stories about the Holocaust are a complete lie, and a Western researcher even proved this.

Alam Al-Hoda, Friday Prayer Imam for Mashhad and Khamenei's representative,
in his International Qods Day speech
IRNA, March 28, 2025

"It was through this plan that British colonialism stole the homes, gardens, and property of the Palestinians, began to build inside the land of Palestine, and gradually established the illegitimate State of Israel. In fact, they [the British] saw the establishment of Israel as compensation for the injustices done to the Jewish people [during World War II]. Had there been at that time calls of protest from the Islamic countries, Israel would never have been able to control Palestine.

"Imam Khomeini was, thanks to his keen thinking, the first to recognize this [British] ideology [to dominate the Islamic region], and with his launch of [International] Qods Day, he sought to start in the Islamic world a movement to confront the cancerous tumor of Israel in the region. However, in those days, no one saw the Palestinian people as an oppressed people, and some in the circles of [Iranian] politicians infected with Western influence even argued, 'If we call 'Death to Israel' in the streets, will Israel [actually] be destroyed?'

"Forty-seven years have passed since then, and today, the situation has gotten to the point where the call of 'death to Israel' echoes across the world, even in the streets of New York, and it is no longer limited to the streets of Iran alone.

"Those who wanted the war to not take place inside Israel but outside it see today with their own eyes how, in [Operations] True Promise 1 and 2 [Iran's missile and drone attacks on Israel in 2024], Israel was shelled with missiles within its own territory.

"Forty-seven years ago, the issue of Palestine and Jerusalem was a domestic matter inside Palestine. But today, Palestine is a global issue, and the whole world recognizes the injustice done to this [Palestinian] country. The voices of the peoples of the world are raised against the oppression of this [Palestinian] people, and their emotions are aimed toward the distress of Palestine and their loathing for Israel. Today, no entity in the entire world is more hated and more defiled than Israel. America too could not have failed more drastically than it has [in this matter], because today the whole world sees America as an oppressive, dictatorial, and criminal [entity], and not one nation with a positive view of it can be found.

"Operation 'Al-Aqsa Flood' destroyed America's honor in the world. The resistance front is the fruit of Qods Day! America thinks that by threatening Iran and bombing Yemen it will be able to eradicate the resistance front - while resistance is an indestructible idea that has united all the Islamic countries, even those whose leaders are mercenaries of the 'arrogance' [the Iranian regime's term for the U.S.].

"Today, the Holy Quran has gained supporters in the West, and Islam - which is rooted in the idea of resistance - is now taking over the Western world. This resistance will not be extinguished by bombing Yemen or by mindless threats from a madman ([President Donald] Trump) on paper [referring to a recent letter from President Trump to Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei]. Only the Imam [Khomeini] himself could have predicted, on the day he set Qods Day [as the fourth Friday of Ramadan], what the results of this day in the world would be..." [2]

Appendix: Holocaust Denial By The Iranian Regime

The following are some MEMRI reports and clips of Holocaust denial over the years by the Iranian regime [There are links to all of these articles in the original article] :

MEMRI Reports

Special Dispatch No. 7914, Antisemitism In Iran - Part I: Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif Denies That Iran Is Antisemitic, February 26, 2019

Special Dispatch No. 7758, At Antisemitic Conference In Tehran, Iranian Presidency Official Denies Holocaust: 'In Fact, We Do Show Antisemitic Behavior, And If We Are Not Doing Something Against The Jews, We Feel Bad - It Is Part Of Our Culture', November 12, 2018

Special Dispatch No. 6519, Antisemitism - A Rising Theme For Iran's 2016 Qods Day, July 11, 2016

Special Dispatch No. 6454, Tehran Presents The Winners Of Iran's 2016 Holocaust International Cartoon Contest, June 1, 2016

Special Dispatch No. 6412, Iranian Journalists: Foreign Minister Zarif Lied To U.S. Media When He Said Iranian Regime, Gov't Have No Connection To Iranian Holocaust Cartoon Contest, May 5, 2016

Special Dispatch No. 6281, For International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei Publishes Holocaust Denial Video, January 27, 2016

MEMRI Daily Brief No. 5948, IRGC-Affiliated News Agency: The Holocaust Lie Is Gradually Being Exposed; Those Who Claim It Happened Will Be Shamed, January 29, 2015

Special Dispatch No. 5948, IRGC-Affiliated News Agency: The Holocaust Lie Is Gradually Being Exposed; Those Who Claim It Happened Will Be Shamed, January 29, 2015

Special Dispatch No. 5621, Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei Denied Holocaust - MEMRI Disproves Iranian FM Zarif's Claim To ABC That Khamenei's Statements About Holocaust 'Myth' Were 'A Bad Translation'; Khamenei Also Praised French Holocaust Denier Roger Garaudy,| January 26, 2014

Special Dispatch No. 5571, Holocaust Denial In Iran: Iranian Website Claims Holocaust Photos Are Forgeries, December 20, 2013

Special Dispatch No. 5450, Criticism In Iran Of Foreign Minister Zarif Tweet Claiming Iran Never Denied The Holocaust, September 18, 2013

Special Dispatch No. 5389, Iran Jewish Community Official To Ahmadinejad: Stop Denying The Holocaust, August 1, 2013

Special Dispatch No. 2326, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: The Idol of Zionism Created by the West Must Be Shattered, April 27, 2009

Inquiry & Analysis No. 922, The Image Of The Jew In The Eyes Of Iran's Islamic Regime - Part I: Theological Roots, January 25, 2013

Inquiry & Analysis No. 745, Iranian E-Book: 'The Holocaust - The Jews' Greatest Lie' October 7, 2011

Special Dispatch No. 3538, In Advance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Iranian 'Adolf Hitler Research Society' Website Shows How Holocaust Photos Were 'Doctored' By the Jews, and Iranian Website Publishes Series by French Holocaust Denier , January 26, 2011

Special Dispatch No. 1443, Editor of Iranian Kayhan Daily Reacts to U.N. Resolution Against Holocaust Denial: 'The Resolution Prepares the U.N.'s Corpse for Burial in the Graveyard of History,' January 31, 2007

MEMRI TV Clips

MEMRI TV Clip No. 6826, Iranian Researcher Shams Al-Din Rahmani Denies The Holocaust, Says The Jews Control the Oil Industry, October 6, 2018

MEMRI TV Clip No. 5503, TV Report on Iran's Holocaust Cartoon Contest: Its Goal Is to Spotlight the "Holocaust" Perpetrated by Israel, May 31, 2016

MEMRI TV Clip No. 2903, Iranian Website Displays Antisemitic Cartoons about the Holocaust, August 1, 2010

MEMRI TV Clip No. 2247, Iranian President Ahmadinejad Denies the Holocaust and Warns Europeans of the Zionists: They Cling Like Ticks, September 18, 2009.

[1] As it does every year, the Iranian regime marks International Qods Day on the last Friday of the month of Ramadan. Established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Revolution, the day is dedicated to expressing the anti-Israel positions of the Iranian regime and calling for the destruction of the State of Israel. A main manifestation of this are the mass Qods Day marches across Iran, during which the marchers chant "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" and senior regime officials give speeches calling for the destruction of Israel.

[2] Irna.ir, March 28, 2025.