May 15 (IANS): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu railed at Iran on Sunday for holding its annual Holocaust denial cartoon contest, charging that Tehran was “preparing another Holocaust” against the Jewish people.

Iran “denies the Holocaust, mocks the Holocaust, and is preparing another Holocaust”, he told ministers at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in his Jerusalem office, according to Times of Israel.

“I think all the countries of the world need to stand up and condemn this unequivocally,” he said.

Israel’s problem with Iran, he said, "isn’t just its subversive, aggressive policy in the region. It’s the values on which it’s based".

Iran’s annual international cartoon contest lampooning the Holocaust features around 150 works from 50 countries. It began Saturday and is running for the next two weeks.

The contest secretary said on Saturday it was not denying the Nazi genocide and was not “ridiculing its victims”, but then went on to equate Nazi crimes with Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.