The widely publicized and condemned remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about Israel and the Holocaust reflect the range of anti-Jewish thinking in the post-Holocaust era.

It has often been said that after six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis, it was not respectable to be openly anti-Semitic. Often hatred of Jews manifested itself in hatred of the State of Israel, not merely legitimate critiques of Israeli policy, but denial of Israel's right to exist and seeing the Jewish state as the source of all evil in the Middle East, if not the world. In recent years, however, in some circles there has been more of a willingness to express hatred of the Jews directly, without the mark of anti-Zionism.

The statements by Ahmadinejad in recent weeks reflect the evolution of several of these approaches. Take his words on the Holocaust and its relationship to the State of Israel. They contain within them the mode of anti-Israeli thinking that has existed in the Arab and Islamic world for decades. In their struggle against Israel's very existence, Arabs and Muslims for a long time acknowledged that the Holocaust happened and was a terrible event, but, they asked, why should we Middle Easterners pay the price for what the Europeans did to the Jews? In other words, they saw Israel's existence as an illegitimate imposition on the Arab Middle East by Europeans who felt guilty over the annihilation of the Jews. Of course, this reasoning ignores the fact that the Jewish claim to Israel rests on thousands of years of connection to the land and to the concept of return and not on the Holocaust. Still, this anti-Israel speech did not deny the Holocaust. Ahmadinejad's comments that the Europeans ought to set territory in Europe as a homeland for the Jews follows that long-standing approach.

At the same time, he brings into play the more recent view of the Holocaust that has grown in Arab and Muslim circles. According to this view, the Holocaust never really happened; it is a myth perpetrated by the Jews in order to gain sympathy and support for a Jewish state. Here Ahmadinejad makes a mockery of the idea that it is only Israel, not Jews, that is the problem. After all, denial of the Holocaust has at its core two anti-Semitic elements. By denying the greatest tragedy of the Jewish people, it demonstrates profound hatred of the Jews even during their most difficult moments. And, it suggests the old and potent anti-Semitic concept - that Jews control the international media and sources of power - for how could this myth of the Holocaust be seen as fact by everyone around the world if not for the notion that Jews manipulate and control sources of communication throughout the world?

The fact that Ahmadinejad's two basic points - that Israel should be wiped out and the Europeans should give territory to the Jews on the one hand, and that the Holocaust never happened on the other hand - are contradictory does not bother him at all. For after all, if the Holocaust never happened, then why should the Europeans owe the Jews anything?

Of course, when dealing with hatred of this kind, looking for logic and consistency is a waste of time. What is apparent and critical is the willingness to elide the line between anti-Israel and anti-Jewish expressions. This trend in parts of the Arab world has been visible for a number of years, where the conflict has devolved from a political-national one to an anti-Semitic one. Ehud Ya'ari, the Israeli commentator, has pointed out that too often the problem is now seen not as Israel being the source of all problems, but Jews and Judaism itself. Both are insidious approaches, but the latter is particularly so. It has one virtue: illuminating the fact that to a large degree the claim of being anti-Zionist and not anti-Semitic has little weight.

The only positive note in all of this is the broad condemnation by the international community of the Iranian president's posture. It is a shame that it takes such extremism to wake up the world if indeed it has awakened, but better late than never. Now the test is whether words of condemnation will be translated into actions - sanctions and isolation - against the regime in Tehran.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.