IRAN INTRIGUE

Moral Outrage!

Ahmadinejad's vicious attacks worry Jewish leaders.

Uriel Heilman
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

New York

W

ith speeches, fiery rhetoric
and protestations of one sort
or another, Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his oppo-
nents in the United States faced off against
each other during his latest visit to New
York.
And, by the end of the visit — after
Iran's president used the the U.N. General
Assembly to tag Zionists as murderers
and suggest they are responsible for the
global economic turmoil, after a rally of
thousands opposite the United Nations
to protest Iran, after Ahmadinejad was
feted with multiple media interviews and
a Ramadan break-fast meal hosted by a
leading U.S. Quaker group — not much
appeared to have changed.
Iran continued to assert its intention
to maintain its nuclear pursuits, interna-
tional inspectors continued to be barred
from Iran's nuclear facilities, no new sanc-
tions legislation was moving forward in
the U.S. Congress or the United Nations,
and Iran's Jewish opponents continued to
issue a steady stream of warnings about
the Islamic Republic and condemnations
of the Iranian president.

Media Circus
What Ahmadinejad's visit did do was give
each side myriad platforms to showcase
their views in a week heavy with media
coverage, including rallies at the begin-
ning and end of his trip.
First came the gathering Sept. 22 of sev-
eral thousand at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
opposite the United Nations in a Jewish-
sponsored event marred somewhat by
the controversy that erupted the previous
week over the invitation and subsequent
disinvitation of Republican vice-presiden-
tial nominee Sarah Palin, as well as other
U.S. elected officials.
The week ended with a protest of a
couple of hundred activists on Sept. 25
outside Manhattan's Grand Hyatt Hotel,
where Ahmadinejad was being hosted
at a Ramadan iftar meal sponsored by
Mennonite, Quaker and other religious
groups, including the American Friends
Service Committee.

"No feast with the beast:' read one ban-
ner at the protest outside.
In the days between, Ahmadinejad
delivered his speech at the United Nations,
Israeli President Shimon Peres delivered
a rebuttal of sorts, news outlets from
National Public Radio to CNN's Larry
King sat down with the Iranian president,
and Jewish organizations issued a torrent
of news releases condemning the Iranian
president and, in some cases, the organiza-
tions and people meeting with him.
"The American Jewish Committee was
appalled to learn that the president of
the General Assembly, Miguel D'Escoto
Brockmann, has put the credibility of
the United Nations into question. He has
agreed to speak at a dinner in honor of
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,"AJC President
Richard Sideman and Executive Director
David A. Harris wrote in a letter of protest
to U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon.
"The presence of the president of the
General Assembly at an event in honor
of Mr. Ahmadinejad," the letter said,
"would make a mockery of you, the United
Nations, and the nations and leaders who
have made a point of rejecting Holocaust
denial whenever, wherever, and by whom-
ever it is made'
Brockmann, who hugged Ahmadinejad
after his speech at the General Assembly,
was not dissuaded from going.
The Anti-Defamation League sent out
an urgent letter of its own to Ban, calling
on him to condemn Ahmadinejad's U.N.
speech Sept. 23. "We ask you to speak out
against his vile words and denounce his
outrageous claims and abuse of the U.N.
platform:'ADL National Director Abraham
Foxman wrote to Ban.
In the address, Ahmadinejad's most
public stage of the week, the Iranian
president delivered a scathing attack on
Zionists and sounded some classic anti-
Semitic motifs. He said Zionists are crimi-
nals and murderers, are "acquisitive" and
"deceitful," and dominate global finance
despite their "minuscule" number.
"It is deeply disastrous to witness that
some presidential nominees have to visit
these people, take part in their gatherings
and swear their allegiance and commit-
ment to their interests in order to win
financial or media support:' Ahmadinejad
said.
Iran's president also said Israel was on

the path to collapse and
that its demise would be a
good thing for the world.
Ahmadinejad echoed
those sentiments in
interviews throughout
the week, explaining
patiently to a succession
of American interviewers
that his remarks consti-
tute predictions of Israel's
demise, not threats by
Iran to destroy it. He also
said that his hostility is
reserved for Zionists, not
Jews, and that Iran's nucle-
ar interests are peaceful,
not belligerent.
Journalists challenged
some of Ahmadinejad's
contentions and ques-
tioned him about his
denial of the scope of the
Holocaust, his regime's
human rights abuses, the
Islamic Republic's support
for terrorist groups like
Hamas and Hezbollah, and
Iran's refusal to cooperate
with U.N. weapons inspec-
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blames the
tors.
world's ills on 'Zionists' in his address to the United
But the smiling presi-
dent often seemed to out- Nations on Sept. 23.
maneuver his questioners
with his patient demeanor
with leaders of countries from around the
and the help of his shrill, female translator. globe who were in New York for the open-
The most strident attacks against
ing of the U.N. General Assembly.
Ahmadinejad came from Israel and its
Despite their efforts, many Jewish orga-
American friends — something some
nizational officials acknowledge that the
opponents of the Iranian regime found
Iranian problem is being viewed, first and
disheartening.
foremost, as a matter of Jewish concern.
This is evident in the widespread assump-
Global Threat
tion that no state other than Israel is likely
"To their shame, U.N. member states'
to take the action of last resort — i.e.,
pledges of 'Never Again were betrayed by
a military strike — to stop an Iranian
a singular lack of moral outcry," observed
nuclear weapons program.
Eve Epstein, vice president of the National
Still, with few outside the Jewish com-
Committee on American Foreign Policy,
munity picking up the torch, national
in a column in the National Review. "Have Jewish communal leaders based in New
they learned nothing from the multitude
York felt they needed to speak out.
of Holocaust education and genocide pre-
"There is a growing sense that we had
vention programs they sponsored?"
to abandon the earlier concern about it
Israeli and Jewish officials have taken
being a wedge issue simply because of the
pains to cast the threat from Iran as a
growing alarm about the Iran nuclear pro-
global issue, rather than a parochial issue.
gram and the shortness of time said the
They hammered home that message
AJC's Harris. ❑
throughout the week in private meetings

October 2 • 2008

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