The timing of the visit in France of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani - he was due to arrive in Paris Wednesday which coincides with commemorations of International Holocaust Remembrance Day – has angered the Jewish community of France.

Rouhani is on a four-day visit first to Italy and then France to bolster its international role following the implementation of the nuclear agreement and the lifting of the economic sanctions against Tehran.

In Rome, the Jewish community sharply criticized the Iranian president’s visit.

In a statement, the community leadership underscored Rouhani’s positions of a clear “Holocaust denial and revisionist nature.”

It cited the “constant calls for the destruction of Israel” and manifestations such as Tehran’s “contest for anti-Semitic and Holocaust revisionist cartoons.”

These, it said, as well as his government’s “lack of respect for civil rights, constant increase of the death penalty, restrictions on freedom of the press” made Rouhani’s official visit to Rome “unwelcome.”

In Paris, CRIF, the umbrella representative group of French Jewish organisations, recalls the repeated calls by Iranian leaders for the destruction of Israel and called on the French authorities to denounce the organisation by Tehran of a cartoon contest on the Holocaust which, it said, ‘’are in line wqith the negationnist statements of the Iranian leaders.’’

CRIF, which called for démonstrations against Rouhani's visit, also mentioned a poll showing that 83% of French people wants French President Francois Hollande to evoke human rights in his talks with Rouhani.

The American Jewish Committee's (AJC) in Paris decided to invite Rouhani to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day with the Jewish community in the city, posting an open invitation on Facebook.

AJC France Director-General Simone Rodan Benzaquen said: "Last year, French President Francoise Hollande participated in a ceremony marking 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz. This year, he will stay in Paris to meet with the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, the head of a regime that denies the Holocaust. What is the logic in that?"

The World Jewish Congress (WJC) praised UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova for issuing a clear condemnation the third edition of a Holocaust cartoon contest held in Iran which features many entries that openly deny the Holocaust.

WJC CEO Robert Singer, wo met Bukova in Paris, declared: “I thank Director General Bokova for making it very clear that this sort of competition is not acceptable, and I am glad she will take this up with Iran’s President Rouhani when the two meet in Paris on Wednesday. It’s symbolic that this meeting takes place on the very day the world remembers the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on 27 January 2016 and the mass murder of six million Jews, which is still being questioned by so many Iranian leaders.”

In Jerusalem, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein decried the "hypocrisy" of France and Italy hosting the Iranian president, ‘’president of a Holocaust-denying regime.’’

"I have no words for the hypocrisy of the presidents of countries, like France, that on International Holocaust Remembrance Day host the President of Iran," Edelstein said. "We will have to continue our struggle to make sure the Holocaust is remembered and so that others' consciences will speak to them."

Edelstein mentioned the Holocaust cartoon contest sponsored by the Tehran municipality this week, carrying a $50,000 prize, saying: "We all thought the president of Iran was a cruel and insensitive person who hosts a Holocaust denial exhibition.

"It turns out that he is a very sensitive man, and all the [nude] statues in Rome had to be covered up in order not to offend him. And if you thought he's not cultured and doesn't respect science and culture, well, it turns out that on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, he is going to give a speech at UNESCO," Edelstein remarked sarcastically.