Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s vile anti-Semitic speech did nothing except get a few editorial writers to shake their heads or wag their fingers. Soccer Dad has a roundup of analysis of Mad Mahmoud’s appearance. But aside from the headlines, what did Ahmadinejad’s appearance achieve?
Exactly what he wanted. The continuing demonization of Israel. The mainstreaming of anti-Semitism. His calling Israel a “racist state” went around the world in thousands of newspaper and magazine articles, almost none of which saw fit to include the worst of what he said:
Worse than this is that some Western governments and America are committed to support genocidal racists while others condemn the bombardment of innocent human beings, the occupation of their land and the disasters that took place in Gaza.
[…] today the human society is facing a kind of racism which has an ugliness that has completely distorted the honour of mankind at the verge of the third millennium and it has made the global society shameful. The global Zionism is the complete symbol of racism, which with unreal reliance on religion has tried to misuse the religious beliefs of some unaware people and hide its ugly face. […] And by respecting nations’ demands, we should motivate the united governments to eliminate this clear racism and step on the path of reforming international relations and mechanisms with courage.
[…] Was attacking Iraq not orchestrated by the Zionists and their allies in the previous ruling government of America which was on the one hand in power and on the other the owner of arms manufacturing companies?
All the major anti-Semitic tropes in one speech: Control of other nations, manipulating wars (and profiting from them), all the evils of the world can be traced to—Zionists.
The fact that Ahmadinejad dropped a Holocaust-denial reference is no victory at all, as he launched right into the same-old, same-old immediately after, and used euphemisms during the speech. And there was also the despicable sight of Mahmoud’s entourage calling Elie Wiesel a “zionazi.”
The conference adopted the Durban II statement, which ratified once more the declaration carried over from 2001’s anti-Semitic conference that names only Israel as an offender, out of all the world’s nations. If you actually read the document, you’d see that every member of the OIC is violating its principles, as well as most of the other nations that voted for both documents.
I don’t see an Emperor’s New Clothes moment from Durban II. I see even more mainstreaming of anti-Semitism, and even more arguments for talking with those who advocate genocide. Human Rights Watch has no problem with the world reaffirming Durban I. In fact, they advocate its adoption by proxy, by stating that the governments who walked out of Monday’s abominable speech should still endorse the message of the conference that allowed the speech.
When the U.K. allows a Hamas terrorist to address British members of Parliament—when our nation’s president says that even though Iran’s president gave a virulently anti-Semitic speech, and advocates the end of a U.S. ally, he’ll still talk to him—when European nations are falling all over themselves to get in line with anti-Israel dictators and terrorists—well, there’s nothing good to find in any of that news.
But there is good in this:
Just hours after the widely denounced speech given by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the UN racism conference in Geneva, Ashkenazi said the IDF was “capable of striking the farthest enemy.”
Having said this, the chief of staff added that “we insist on preserving the morals unique to the Jewish people since its inception through the way we fight and conduct ourselves. Those who spoke of the ‘supreme race,’ and sought to rob us of our humanity, should know that the Israeli people is alive, determined to face any challenge, ready to face even the most complex threats and defeat them,” said Ashkenazi.
Amen to that.