Durban II Conference: Ahmadinejad Anti-Israel Tirade Spurs Western Walk-Out (VIDEO)(UPDATED)

The United Nations Durban II anti-racism conference in Geneva this week hit snags early on due to an anti-Israel tirade by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the subsequent walk-out of Western envoys in protest, Haaretz reports.

[WATCH:]

And prior to Ahmadinejad's speech, Western envoys directed criticism towards Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz for holding a meeting with the Iranian president, according to the Jerusalem Post. During this meeting, ardent Israel-defender Alan Dershowitz had to be escorted away by federal agents when he allegedly tried to cause a scene and challenge Ahmadinejad to a debate on the Iranian president's past incendiary Holocaust statements. From Haaretz:

The diplomats rose from their chairs and walked out of the hall in Geneva as Ahmadinejad launched a tirade against the Israeli government. The Iranian leader also blasted the United States for its invasion of Iraq. Earlier Monday, federal agents in Geneva on Sunday escorted Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz away from the Geneva hotel where Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz were meeting, after he declared plans to challenge the Iranian leader about his views on the Holocaust and Israel.

...

Israel has sent a delegation to Geneva to publicly protest Durban II, a summit many Western countries fear will be used as a forum to criticize Israel.

As part of its publicity campaign, the Israelis will organize demonstrations during the speech, and will distribute materials on human rights violations in Iran - with particular emphasis on public executions and violence against women.

As expected, the conference is targeted by protesters of all stripes, many of whom are directing their obloquy specifically towards Ahmadinejad. The Jerusalem Post reports on Twitter that Ahmadinejad was also accosted Monday by a heckler wearing a clown wig during the same speech that drove Western envoys to walk out. The heckler accused Ahmadinejad of racism while Ahmadinejad simultaneously accused the Israeli government of racism, indicating that everyone in Geneva is at least sticking to the anti-racism conference's central topic.

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Nobel peace laureate Elie Wiesel (L) stands among Israel sympathizers and demonstrators at the entrance of the press room after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered his speech during the opening of a five day UN review conference on racism on April 20, 2009 at the UN Offices in Geneva.

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[WATCH:]

An excerpt from Ahmadinejad's speech, via Jerusalem Post:

"As was the case after World War II, armies occupied other territories and people were transferred from territories. In reality, under the pretext of compensating for the evil done in the name of xenophobia, they in fact set up the most violent xenophobes, in Palestine."

"The Security Council made it possible for that illegitimate government to be set up. For 60 years, this government was supported by the world. Many Western countries say they are fighting racism; but in fact support it with occupation, bombings and crimes committed in Gaza. These countries support the criminals."

Following the walk-out, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office issued a statement Monday condemning the speech as an "intolerable appeal for racist hatred" and calling for "an extremely firm reaction by the European Union", Earth Times reports.
The West's protests, walk-outs and boycott of the conference are drawing criticism from United Nations officials, most notably from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. According to Al-Jazeera:

Earlier, Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nation's secretary general, criticised Western nations for boycotting a racism conference in Switzerland, saying he was "profoundly disappointed".

The United States, Canada, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands, have said they will not attend the summit because of fears Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, may use it to propagate anti-Semitic views.

Washington has also said believes a draft text to be discussed at the conference is overly critical of Israel and its treatment of Palestinians.

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UPDATE, 2:20 pm EST 4/20:
Both Israel and the United States have issued statements condemning Ahmadinejad's Monday Durban II speech; however the two reactions split in their tone, with the US showing caution so as not to preclude future dealings with Iran, thus treating the speech as an isolate event rather a big-picture game-changer. From the AFP:

"We call on the Iranian leadership to show much more measured, moderate, honest and constructive rhetoric when dealing with issues in the region and not this type of vile, hateful, inciteful speech that we all saw in the Ahmadinejad spectacle of this morning," said US Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Alejandro Wolff.

And, via Huffington Post's Sam Stein, Obama administration spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Monday that Ahmadinejad's speech only reaffirms further the administration's decision to forgo participation in the conference.

Meanwhile Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu employed characteristically confrontational language, while speaking at a Holocaust memorial ceremony. From the AP:

Speaking at the ceremony marking Israel's annual memorial day for the 6 million Jews killed by Nazis and their collaborators during World War II, Netanyahu also described a U.N. anti-racism conference under way in Geneva as an anti-Israel event.

The hawkish prime minister, who took office about three weeks ago, criticized the president of Switzerland for meeting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the conference. Netanyahu called Ahmadinejad a Holocaust denier who wants to perpetrate another massacre of Jews.

"We will not allow the Holocaust deniers to carry out another Holocaust against the Jewish people. This is the supreme duty of the state of Israel. This is my supreme duty as prime minister of Israel," Netanyahu said.

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UPDATE, 2:15 pm EST 4/20:
The Jerusalem Post is reporting the identities of the clown-wigged hecklers who interrupted Ahmadinejad's speech with cries of "racism". The three men -- Rafael Haddad, Jonathan Hayoun and Jeremy Cohen -- are Jewish French students from. From the Jerusalem Post:

They positioned themselves at opposite ends of the hall when Ahmadinejad took the stage, and as he uttered his first words whipped out the clown wigs from their pockets and yelled 'racist' at the Iranian president.

The students said they wore clown outfits in order to "show that this speech and the entire conference is a circus." One of the students expressed satisfaction that EU delegates left the conference once Ahmadinejad's speech turned to focus on Israel.

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UPDATE, 2:08 pm EST 4/20:
The AP has a useful breakdown of which countries are boycotting the Durban II conference versus which are in attendance but walked out during Ahmadinejad's Monday speech.

Boycotted altogether: Germany, Australia, Canada, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland and the United States

Walked out: Austria, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic (has left the conference for good), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, , Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, St. Kitts and Nevis

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UPDATE, 11:50 am EST 4/20:
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is now condemning Ahmadinejad for his bombastic speech, the AP reports. Ban, speaking for the United Nations, described the speech as having no other apparent purpose but "to accuse, divide and even incite", thus detracting entirely from the entire purpose of the conference.

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Comments

[Fatimah]

How more racist can the Durban-conference get, If the two oppressive regimes: Libya & Iran are the "stars"?
Libya - whose Muamar Qaddafi, besides his own persecution of non-Arabs, especially millions of blacks in his country, who describe themselves as living like: slaves or animals, Qaddaf the one of the champions in today's racist Arabization, and Arabist racism push against Africa (whose "vision" has been compared to Hitler's "lebensraum"), in: Chad, Nigeria, etc., ultimately his crimes in the Sudan region helped in leading the current Al-Bashir's genocide on Millions of Africans (financed mainly by Libya and S. Arabia).
Iran, the regime of Islamic bigotry's oppression on its own population with an added special persecution on all on-Muslims: Christians, Baha'i, Jews, etc. or on non-"pure-Persians" like: Ahwazi - Arabs, Kurds, Azeris, Baluchis, etc. now under the leadership of: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [EichmannJihad - the Islamic Hitler] who plays as if he "denies" the holocaust only in order to prepare for (his wishful) the second, "wiping off Israel".


Thus, the shame of the UN, kidnapped by the epitome of intolerance today, the infamous twin fascism: Arab racism, as in Gadhafi, and Islamic bigotry as in Amadinejad, are going to be "preaching" (and determine) to the world on tolerance.

[futate01]

when did it become fashionable for Western "enlightened" leaders to deny another man his freedom of speech? Is freedom of speech a white right only?

[amg503]

I don't even get why anybody even bothers dealing with this guy. The Grand Ayatollah holds all the real power in Iran. Ahmadinejad knows this, and he knows the rest of the world knows this, so I think V just goes around, stirring up controversy, so people don't forget him.

If the U.S. ever holds high-level talks with Iran, they should just go over Ahmadinejad's head deal with the Grand Ayatollah himself. He's just a media-hungry obstructionist.

[QuasiEgalitarian]

Instead of engaging in debate the 'powers' that be walked out? Instead of challenging any of his falsehoods they walk out? Mr. Holder AG was right when he said that we're a nation of cowards. He was talking about his co-workers... Masquerade and silence becomes threating when a politician is deceiving the people. How much longer do they think they can keep everyone in mental darkness?

wars & rumors of war take I.

[petera63]

Ahmadinedjad's speech was for domestic purposes; after all, the guy is runnin for re-election in June.

[Ben Ramos]

So what you are saying is that re-elections authorize politicians to spout vile hatred toward an entire people and to spread that hatred to whoever will listen? If that's the case, you deserve the corrupt government that takes away your REAL freedoms, the ones listed in the Constitution and subsequent amendments, the ones detailed in the Declaration of Independence.

[izirbat]

They are already mistranslating him.
In Haaretz online they had an article quoting Prez. Ahmadinejad as saying “Holocaust was a pretext to the creation of Israel….” But what he in fact said was (I listened to it in farsi) “Holocaust was USED as a pretext for the creation of Israel”.
That one word “used” makes a huge difference in the meaning of the sentence.

[Paulo1]

All right I have just read both text versions of the speech. The one handed in and the translation of what was actually said. Basically I give him a B-

Historical theories that rely on mass conspiracy are by definition worthy of a fallen letter grade or two. As I tell my students ,There is just no historical evidence that mankind is capable of working at that level, we are way to lazy, fractious and unsophisticated a species for it.

He is certainly guilty of anti-Zionism though he is factually correct that guilt over the holocaust did play a factor in the UN partition resolution. Just read the New York Times online archives for a quick sampling. Whether anti-Zionism is or is not anti-Jewish is open for debate. I tend to think of the political movement as separate from the faith itself and would not so label him.

The rest of his speech was a mixed up mash of editorial opinions you can find in most publications around the world. It was a lazy attempt at synthesizing a speech and bordered on plagarism in many places.

I probably would not have walked out on the speech. I would certainly have advised him to get a different speech writer. Though the invocation to God was nicely puralistic.

PS. I raised the grade from a C because that whole clown routine protest was disgustingly childish and he handled it rather well

[ditchdigger]

this guy is a clown.most of his countrymen would love to see him go.leave it to the spineless swiss to invite this guy.this is the stage he loves.the only thing he knows is hate and paranoia.the closest thing to stalin,since stalin.under educated,paranoid thug.promises power to serial criminals,stifils peace loving educated people that would know how to use positive ties to the west.he better be looking over his shoulder.

[chaos4700]

For other examples of anti... well, apparently anti-anything except Israel rhetoric like the above, people should read an eyewitness account of the sort of thing that was /really/ going on at the conference:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/parvez-sharma/poor-israel-sure-and-i-am_b_189011.html
I think I'm starting to understand why the Arab and Persian nations have felt the need for this sort of conference. Even an effort spearheaded by them gets COMPLETELY subverted by Israel and its allies in the West and turned into an anti-Arab anti-Persian anti-Islam slander fest.

[chaos4700]

"As part of its publicity campaign, the Israelis will organize demonstrations during the speech, and will distribute materials on human rights violations in Iran - with particular emphasis on public executions and violence against women."

So basically Israel was planning all along to sabotage the Durban conference. Cute.

[Soori]

The only problem with Ahmadinejad's speech is that it is factual, only hypocrites make a scandal from that.

[chaos4700]

I don't think it was necessarily wise for Ahmedinejad to lead the conference with this speech. However, I don't see anyone quoting anything specific from his speech that constitutes anti-Semitism. Not surprising, considering how often we're lied to about what Ahmedinejad is /actually/ saying. I don't like the guy, I think Iran could do better but he's not Hitler incarnate.

[Hallucinocynic]

Stating that the western powers relocated the "most violent xenophobes" to Palestine after WWII is not, in the least, factual. This is hyperbole of the worst kind and anybody that believes this pap is sorely insulated from reality.

Have the Israelis been violent? Absolutely. Have they attacked innocent civilians? Absolutely. Should they be taken to task for their strategies? Yes. But THE SAME THING can be said about Palestinians, Jordanians, Lebanese, Syrians and virtually every other country in the region. Laying blame at the feet of any one party is without any merit whatsoever. You're ALL wrong.

The ridiculous schism that exists between the Israelis and her neighbors is indefensible. The religious arguments are specious at best and laughable. The fighting that has gone on over the past three millenia for that strip of land demonstrates a complete lack of civility and empathy. That is why religion is totally absurd. The Palestinia­ns/Israeli­s must quit blaming others and start taking responsibility for their own childish, illogical beliefs and actions.

[mivogo]

Yes, factual. Israel is the worst country in the world. The Holocaust never happened. There are no homosexuals in Iran. Uh-huh.
Another propogandist without a profile. Hmm...

[chaos4700]

Hypocrisy, thy name is megaphone.

[polaris12]

US Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Alejandro Wolff, said "We call on the Iranian leadership to show much more measured, moderate, honest and constructive rhetoric when dealing with issues in the region and not this type of vile, hateful, inciteful speech that we all saw in the Ahmadinejad spectacle of this morning." I wonder If the US will make the same appeal to Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, requesting that he stop making "vile, hateful, inciteful speech." So far I have not heard Ahmadinejad, however, looney he may be, call for the bombing of Israeli nuclear facilities. Israel is trying to drum up a war against Iran, which the US will have to fight, by stoking anger over Ahmadinejad's rhetoric. Let's not get sucked in by these tactics.

[chaos4700]

Good point!

[skialethia]

Hopefully someone will remember the misery Palestinians are being subjected to on a daily basis while the Israelis steal more and more of their land and live the good life on that stolen land while Palestinians are stripped of all their rights and harassed by settlers and beaten at checkpoints.

So much self-righteous boycotting and no righteous indignation against these abuses.

[petera63]

...and hopefully someone will figure out who brought this plight on their heads: Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the rest of the so called "militants" (I mean terrorists).

[IwasRight]

I read Ahmadinejad's speech which I downloaded from two different sources (one in the UK). I have to say I though it was a good speech, very accurate historically, very well done with a focus on the manipulative establishment of a fascist style state to drive out the indigenous people of Palestine and create a pretext for occupation to get to the oil in the Middle East. Predictably the reactionaries in the West once again boycotted, stomped out in a transparent temper tantrum, and labeled his speech as a “Tirade”. The truth is unbearable for the West and they have to attack the messenger with antics, because they cannot respond to Ahmadinejad's claim or Israel’s blatant racism, the very existence of the Veto council, and state sponsored terrorism and war. I do not always agree with Ahmadinejad but, he says what he thinks and he often gets into trouble with his own country of Iran.

[Soori]

IWhat you said is my sentiments as well. I couldn't have said it better.

[piul05]

I agree.

[RonFromNM]

Israel has a right to exist. Jews have a right to live. The Holocaust actually happened.

Your ilk twist facts into a pretzel. The Palestinians have had multiple opportunities to peaceably create a homeland, yet certain factions (Hamas) doesn't want peace. They shoot rockets into Israel and then don't expect Israelis to protect themselves? I feel sorry for peaceful Palestinians caught in the middle of this game where Iran uses Hamas like puppets.

[joxi]

The "CIVILIZED WESTERN NATIONS" walked out, very civilized move, after
- the civilized colonialism of 19th century when 90% of subsaharan africans were killed with a machine gun and Churchill said: The light of civilization is coming to the dark continent".
- after the civilized holocaust where the police of entire europe was colaborating volunteerly WITHOUT the effort on the german side, Hannah Arendt. (Yet the catholic church and the "state of Vatican" was never criticized for the ideological preparation of the holocaust since the middle ages)
- and we continue civilized ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Which one dare not criticize since it will be ANTISEMITIC.
Very inspirational civilization, of course I omitted many more genocides since it wouldnt be enough room for the expression of civilization.

[politicky]

Ahmadinejad is one to point the finger at another country that is guilty of religious discrimination, eh?

I don't see how he connected religious discrimination to racism, but both Iran and Israel are guilty of religious discrimination.