The European Parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a report on Iran that condemned the Islamic Republic’s Holocaust denial, violent rhetoric towards Israel, and support for terrorism.
One amendment to the report, which stated that the legislative body “strongly condemns the Iranian regime’s repeated calls for the destruction of Israel and the regime’s policy of denying the Holocaust,” passed by a vote of 590-67 with 36 abstentions.
An earlier version of the report, entitled “EU Strategy towards Iran after the nuclear agreement,” was criticized for failing to call out Iran’s human rights violations, its abetting of the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and its support for terrorism. After negotiations between different parties, new amendments to the report were passed that addressed those issues.
Jonathan Arkush, the president of the British Board of Deputies, noted in a statement that“Iran is a serial human rights abuser on a scale that is glaring and brazen. The strengthening of the European Parliament’s resolution was both necessary and welcome. What is also needed is a strengthening of sanctions to bring home to the pariah state of Iran that its abhorrent behavior will come at a heavy price.”
Source: The Tower, 27 Oct. 2016