President Shimon Peres visits the Anne Frank
President Shimon Peres visits the Anne FrankFlash 90

President Shimon Peres, on a visit to the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam, compared on Sunday the gassing of millions of Jews during the Holocaust to the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

"I doubt that [Syrian President Bashar] Assad read the Diary of Anne Frank, since he did not hesitate to use chemical weapons and kill innocent children and women,” said Peres, adding, “Same goes for Iran which develops nuclear weapons of mass destruction.”

He added, "I cannot refrain from addressing what is happening around us and say in a clear voice that Anne Frank's warning sign also stands before us today. Your voice, Anne, is the voice that rings in our ears and will forever remind the Jewish people and the entire world of the victory of the sons of light over the sons of darkness."

During the visit to the Anne Frank museum, Peres was shown photos collected by Frank while in hiding, as well as original pages from her diary and letters written by her father, Otto Frank, upon his release from Auschwitz.

Peres’s comments come in the wake of a chemical attack near Damascus on August 21, in which more than 1,400 people were killed.

A team of UN inspectors have submitted a report which confirmed the use of sarin nerve agent in the attack outside the Syrian capital.

President Bashar Al-Assad’s Western opponents said the inspectors’ report left little doubt that his forces were to blame for the attack.

Syrian authorities denied the accusation, saying it made no sense for them to wage an attack with chemical weapons when their forces were making advances and while the inspectors were staying just a few miles away in the center of the capital.

Russia has also said the inspectors’ report did not provide irrefutable proof that Assad’s forces were responsible, and that Damascus had provided information it said showed rebels were behind the attack.