In a defiant speech, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad argued before a United Nations anti-racism conference Monday that Israel is a "paragon of racism," founded on what he called "the pretext of Jewish sufferings" during World War II.
The comments, a hard-edged version of Ahmadinejad's often-repeated anti-Zionist views, prompted several dozen European diplomats to walk out of the opening session of the week-long Geneva meeting, which the Obama administration and eight other Western nations already were boycotting. In addition, a handful of pro-Israel protesters shouting "shame, shame" and "racist, racist" threw things at the podium and prevented Ahmadinejad from entering a room where he was to hold a news conference.
The uproar, which overshadowed the opening of the gathering, seemed to douse any hopes that the Geneva conference could prove any more successful than the first U.N. anti-racism conference, in Durban, South Africa, in 2001. That meeting also was a forum for vitriolic confrontation, mainly over a contention from Arab and other governments that Zionism is a form of racism because, by setting up a Jewish state in the former Palestine, it discriminates between Palestinians and Jewish immigrants.
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GulfWar1Vet: I saw them walked out. They got balls!...Do Obambi have balls?
They don't need balls, they have earsl
And on a more serious note, kudus to Canada who opted out weeks ago. Shame on the US who waited till the last minute. Might as well have gone, we could have walked out on the heels of the French.
Morally, not our finest hour. But we couldn't waste the chance to talk to them. Here's hoping America pays no greater price for appeasement.
Obama’s outreach to Iran and Islam backfires at U.N. anti-racism conference
Ahmadinejad calls Israel ‘repressive, racist’ regime, and some storm out, others applaud
April 21, 2009
BY STEVE HUNTLEY
President Obama’s outreach to Islam in general and Iran in particular isn’t bearing anything but poisoned fruit so far.
A so-called U.N. anti-racism conference in Geneva opened Monday with an agenda, shaped by Islamic nations, of warped Israel-bashing and censorship of any criticism of Islam. Iran has locked up an Iranian-American journalist for eight years on bogus spying charges, revved up hate-the-West rhetoric and forges ahead with its nuclear weapons program.
Yes, it’s early in Obama’s bid to transform Uncle Sam from George W. Bush’s shoot-from-the-hip cowboy into a striped-pants diplomat who can ease global tensions. But the initial response is far from encouraging and shows his good intentions crashing into the hard realities of the world.
After an unsuccessful stab at refocusing the racism meeting away from extremism, Obama decided America would join eight other nations in boycotting it. Evidence of the wisdom of that came in an opening-day address by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He called Israel a “most cruel, repressive and racist regime” established on the “pretext of Jewish suffering” from World War II — the latest manifestation of his Holocaust denial. Two dozen European delegates stormed out, but others in the audience applauded.
It was the latest slapping away of Obama’s outstretched hand by Ahmadinejad. In another speech a few days ago in Iran, Ahmadinejad declared the West knows “you are today in a position of weakness. Your hands are empty.” So much for Obama’s position that outreach would not be interpreted as a sign of weakness. Actually, Americans choosing Obama to replace the more strident Bush was itself seen in Iran and radical Islamic circles as a sign of weakness, says professor Raphael Israeli of Hebrew University, an authority on Islam, who was in Chicago on Monday.
Besides spewing toxic rhetoric, Iran sentenced Roxana Saberi, 31, to prison on a trumped-up espionage “confession.” Don’t be surprised to see this unfortunate woman used as a pawn in Iran’s machinations with the West. Perhaps she’ll be freed as a “good will” gesture to further Iran’s goal of stretching out the talks aimed at halting Tehran’s nuclear program.
Israeli says Ahmadinejad revived the late Ayatollah Khomeini’s idea of exporting Iran’s Shiite Islamic revolution to gain hegemony over the Middle East. One goal: gather up Egypt and Jordan — deemed turncoats for signing peace pacts with Israel — to complete an encirclement of Israel and drive America out of the region.
The Shiite population of Egypt, at one million in a nation whose Muslim population once was almost all Sunni, is growing as is the influence of the radical Muslim Brotherhood. “If there were free elections, my guess is the Brotherhood would take over” Egypt’s parliament, Israeli says. Egypt also recently broke up a plot by the Iranian-backed terrorists Hezbollah to attack vacationing Israelis in the Sinai.
Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah “are seen as heroes in the Arab world because they are perceived as the ones standing up to Israel and the United States,” he says.
All this is occurring as Egypt, the largest Arab state, is on the cusp of transition. President Hosni Mubarak is 80 and hopes to hand off his reign to his son. Keeping Egypt in the moderate camp must be a U.S. priority.
Already Hezbollah, aided by Iran and Syria, is undermining government in Lebanon. Washington wants to woo Syria away from Iran’s orbit, but don’t bet on it, Israeli says. The U.S. aim of separating Syria from Iran only legitimizes and strengthens the bond.
Other signs of Tehran’s ambitions for wider influence include a rapprochement with Turkey and the courting of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez and other leftist leaders in Latin America.
Iran’s far-reaching tentacles and the perverse U.N. hatefest show that the world is still a dangerous place, however much Obama may want America to play a kinder and gentler role in it.
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