Venezuela's Chavez accuses Israel of genocide

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused Israel of genocide in the Occupied Territories and said he was certain Iran is not producing a bomb in an outspoken interview with a French newspaper published on Wednesday.

Chavez, who just returned from a tour of the Middle East, asserted that Israel's offensive against the Gaza strip in January was an attempt to “exterminate” the population and not a response to Hamas rocket attacks as Israel claimed.

"It is not a question of whether the Israelis want to exterminate the Palestinians. They are doing it openly," Chavez told the conservative daily Le Figaro.

"What was it if not genocide?" Chavez referred to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's accounts of the suffering he witnessed in the West Bank to back up his views. Although Carter has not called Israel’s treatment of Palestinians ‘genocide,’ he did compare the Jewish state’s policies to Apartheid in his 2006 book titled “Peace not Apartheid.”

Chavez added that Israel's attacks should be condemned and sanctions should be imposed.

It is not a question of whether the Israelis want to exterminate the Palestinians. They are doing it openly

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

Iran

The Venezuelan president also discussed his ties with Iran, calling President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a friend and ally and dismissing accusations that the Islamic Republic has a nuclear weapon program.

"I am certain that Iran is not producing a bomb," he said, "they have the right to develop their nuclear energy just like France and other countries do.

Chavez added that Iran has accepted the International Atomic Energy Agency's visits, adding that "if Europe and the U.S. are worried, they should be coherent and propose a pact under the auspices of the U.N. that would lead to the complete elimination of all nuclear weapons."

Western powers and Israel accuse Iran of trying to develop a bomb under the cover of its civilian nuclear program. IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, however, has repeatedly said the perceived threat from Iran is “hyped” and that there is no evidence that the Islamic republic will soon have nuclear weapons.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran would present on Wednesday new proposals for its much debated nuclear plans..Chavez is an open critic of Israel and the United States and is known for his harsh accusations against Western powers.

In January of 2009 the socialist president called Israel's offensive in Gaza a "holocaust" and said the presidents of Israel and the U.S. should be tried in the International Criminal Court.

If Europe and the U.S. are worried, they should be coherent and propose a pact under the auspices of the U.N. that would lead to the complete elimination of all nuclear weapons

Chavez