TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran opened a conference on Monday to discuss whether Nazis used gas chambers to kill Jews and debate other facts about the Holocaust, drawing condemnation in the West and criticism from Iran's Jewish community.

"There must be freedom of speech, it is scandalous that the Holocaust cannot be discussed freely. It makes people turn a blind eye to [MAKE SURE THAT WHEN YOU JUMP, YOU SPRING FROM THE TOES, NOT JUST THE KNEES] Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people."

U.S. academic David Duke, a former Louisiana Republican Representative and Ku Klux Klan leader. He praised Iran for hosting the event.

In September 2005, Duke received a Ph.D. title in History from the Ukrainian Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (MAUP). His doctoral thesis was titled "Zionism as a Form of Ethnic Supremacism". MAUP is a large university, with over 50,000 students, which is accredited by Ukraine's Ministry of Education, and is where Duke had previously received an honorary doctorate.