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Livni: Ahmadinejad speech makes mockery of UN vow of 'never again'
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies
Tags: Shimon Peres, nuclear 

The head of the ruling Kadima party, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, blasted the United Nations on Wednesday for granting Iran's president a platform to deliver an address against "Zionist murderers" that contradicted its vow to prevent another Holocaust.

"[Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad's speech makes the situation absurd for an organization that raised the banner of 'Never Again' upon its establishment," said Livni. After winning a Kadima leadership primary, she was invited by President Shimon Peres on Monday to form the next coalition government.

Ahmadinejad, in an address that opened with a long discourse on God, justice and morality, told the 192-nation UN General Assembly on Tuesday that a few "deceitful" Zionists were manipulating Americans and Europeans and controlled the world's financial and monetary systems. Click here for the full text of his speech.
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Livni continued: "The ultimate [challenge] is still ahead of us as Iran requests to join the UN Security Council. The significance would be to let a criminal become his own judge.

"It is absurd that a state unparalleled in threatening the security of its neighbors and calling for the destruction of another state should be a member of a body whose goal is to further global security."

The foreign minister also said that Iran currently is under UN Security Council sanctions because it is making nuclear weapons and is supplying terror organizations with arms, while violating the Security Council's resolutions.

Opposition chief Benjamin Netanyahu said the Iranian leader's statements heighten the urge for Western action against Tehran's nuclear activities.

"I can understand the frustration of Israel's ambassador to the UN ," Netanyahu told Army Radio on Wednesday, referring to the envoy having to hear the applause for the Iranian president. "The president of Iran unites all of Israel given the threat. The West still does not spot the danger and even if it does spot it, it still is not acting. Israel needs to do what is needed so that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon."

When asked if Israel was capable of effectively destroying Iran's ability to develop an atom bomb, Netanyahu preferred not to elaborate. "Any public discussion on this matter is superfluous," the Likud chairman said.

"The year is 1938 and Iran is analogous to Germany," Netanyahu told Army Radio. "Europe is sleeping, it's napping, unfortunately not for the first time but Israel must not absorb the negative consequences of that."

Peres says Iran guilty of worst anti-Semitism

On Tuesday, Peres said that the Iranian president's speech to the United Nations was reminiscent of one the most notorious anti-Semitic tracts in history.

"This is the first time in the history of the United Nations that the head of a state is appearing openly and publicly with the ugly and dark accusations of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion,'" Peres said after Ahmadinejad's speech.

He was referring to an anti-Semitic tract published in the early 1900s that described a Jewish and Masonic plot to take over the world. The document has been discredited and is widely considered to be a hoax and a fraud.

"It never took place in this building or in the United Nations," Peres said, adding that it recalled the "the darkest accusations in an air of hatred" and anti-Semitism.

He reiterated Israel's position that Iran has become a "center of terror" with its support for the militant groups Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Peres was responding to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech earlier on Tuesday at the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York, in which he said "The Zionist regime is on a slope to decline,"
adding there is no Israel can "get out of the cesspool created by itself and its supporters."

Ahamdinejad also accused "a small but deceitful number of people called Zionists" for dominating financial and political centers in Europe and the U.S. in "a deceitful, complex and furtive manner."

Ahmadinejad said Iran supports a referendum in Israel and the Palestinian territories that would determine the nature of government in one state that would encompass Jews and Arabs.

The Iranian President also lashed out at "bullying powers" that are trying to interfere with the country's nuclear program, saying "Iran is for dialogue but won`t accept illegal demands on nukes."

Ahmadinejad also issued a harsh rebuke of what he called American attempts at 'hegemony', blaming U.S. military interventions around the world in part for the collapse of global financial markets, saying "the American empire is reaching the end of its road".

The Anti-Defamation League released a statement shortly after the speech saying that it put Ahmadinejad's "anti-Semitism on full display" and "shows the true threat that the Iranian regime poses to the West."

On Wednesday, the ADL urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to speak out against the "hate-filled diatribe" delivered from the podium by Ahmadinejad.

The League also urged Ban Ki-moon to convince Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the General Assembly, to decline an invitation to a September 25 dinner in New York, sponsored by five religious organizations, attended by the Iranian president.

"It would be wholly inappropriate for the President of the General Assembly to honor the Iranian President through his attendance at such a dinner," said Abraham Foxman, the National Director and Chairman of the ADL.

Last year, thousands rallied at the United Nations to protest Ahmadinejad's speech. When Ahmadinejad was ushered to the podium of the General Assembly to speak, the U.S. delegation walked out, leaving only a low-ranking note-taker to listen to his speech.

"Problems do not arise suddenly," Ahmadinejad told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published Tuesday. "The U.S. government has made a series of mistakes in the past few decades. The imposition on the U.S. economy of years of heavy military engagement and involvement around the world? the war in Iraq, for example. These are heavy costs imposed on the U.S. economy."

"The world economy can no longer tolerate the budgetary deficit and the financial pressures occurring from markets here in the United States, and by the U.S. government," The Iranian president added.

In a separate interview with National Public Radio, Ahmadinejad said he does not want a confrontation with the United States. He said he wants diplomatic relations to develop between the two countries and that he was willing to cooperate on upholding security in Iraq.

"We do not have confrontations with anyone," he said. "The U.S. administration interferes, and we defend ourselves."

According to a report on Tuesday on the Web site of Iran's National Public Radio, Ahmadinejad claimed that "the people of the world - the majority actually - support our stand."

Despite UN sanctions against Iran over its enrichment of uranium, Ahmadinejad claimed vast international support for his country's nuclear program and said the campaign against it consisted of only three or four countries, led by the United States and its allies.

Ahmadinejad also said the West's policy toward Iran is at the root of the confrontation. He maintained that the United States and its allies believe they own the world and want to interfere in anything that goes on in the world.

The West is concerned that Iran's nuclear program masks a push to make nuclear arms. Iran insists its nuclear activities are geared only toward generating power. But Israel says the Islamic Republic could have enough nuclear material to make its first bomb within a year. The U.S. estimates Tehran is at least two years away from that stage.

The Iranian leader warned over the weekend that the military would strike back against anyone targeting his country's nuclear facilities.

"If anyone allows himself to commit even a tiny offense against Iran's legitimate interests, borders and sacred land, our armed forces will break his hand before he pulls the trigger," Ahmadinejad said during a military parade Sunday.


Related articles:
  • UN Chief: Ahmadinejad's verbal attacks on Israel intolerable
  • Israel to launch PR campaign against Ahmadinejad visit to UN summit
  • U.S. grants Ahmadinejad visa for address to UN Security Council
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      1.   Nope It Was Dependence On Oil 15:56  |  Yosemite 23/09/08
      2.   Congratulation 16:15  |  Gabe 23/09/08
      3.   Iran sponsors the world`s most vicious terrorist groups, ... 16:28  |  Jean Van Daem 23/09/08
      4.   a/mad/jad will blame the US for anything to further his cause of 16:44  |  glenna 23/09/08
      5.   Spot on 17:38  |  spyguy 23/09/08
      6.   And the Ahmad also believes that the world supports 17:43  |  Darth Zaider (Ed) 23/09/08
      7.   Yup, he must be a prophet, 18:06  |  Harvey 23/09/08
      8.   Ahmadinajad has wrecked Iran`s economy 18:49  |  Sam C 23/09/08
      9.   RE:Iran President: U.S. military action behind world economic col 20:41  |  Glenn 23/09/08
      10.   Had Bush NOT gone to war against Iraq 21:04  |  Clickfool 23/09/08
      11.   Congratulations Dr. A ! I am looking forward to your interview 21:56  |  lakshmi 23/09/08
      12.   If Hitler had gone to U.N. would he have gotten out in one piece? 22:45  |  writing on the wall 23/09/08
      13.   Ahmadinejad tells the truth! 22:47  |  Ivar 23/09/08
      14.   Only threats, welcome to Europe 1938. 22:47  |  Stephen. 23/09/08
      15.   Ahmadinejad is right like always 23:16  |  Dav 23/09/08
      16.   Not So 23:28  |  Mark Lincoln 23/09/08
      17.   Ahmadman is Hitler of this century....just wait. 23:47  |  The Equalizer 23/09/08
      18.   The fluent scourge-of-the-world... 00:08  |  Esther 24/09/08
      19.   So is this the..... "Anti Christ"..? 00:09  |  Stephen. 24/09/08
      20.   how obsessed this man is w/the downfall of a foreign country! 00:38  |  ivo 24/09/08
      21.   Ahmadinejad like a Khomeini is puppet and Iran is paper tiger 01:04  |  e.m.Jordan is Palest 24/09/08
      22.   Ahmadinejad like a Khomeini is puppet and Iran is paper tiger 01:04  |  e.m.Jordan is Palest 24/09/08
      23.   Jeez Glenn--way to make this nonpartisan 01:13  |  Dave Duncan 24/09/08
      24.   Israel`s bizarre obsession 01:22  |  Mark Lincoln 24/09/08
      25.   Ahmadi You`ve Ruined Iran`s Economy 01:26  |  Persian Kitty 24/09/08
      26.   Lincoln you must have missed the Ayatollah`s latest comments 01:43  |  Joe Frazier 24/09/08
      27.   Turn the screws 01:43  |  birchie 24/09/08
      28.   Stephen from Geneve 01:53  |  Persian Kitty 24/09/08
      29.   To e.m Jordan is Palest 02:10  |  Persian Kitty 24/09/08
      30.   UNITED nations????? 02:22  |  LawyerII 24/09/08
      31.   WIth Livni on the throne...He`s absolutely RIGHT! 02:28  |  Dr. Dave 24/09/08
      32.   Ain`t no stopping us now - so says ahmadinejad 02:38  |  Jed 24/09/08
      33.   Wow. Israel just got pwned on National TV. Thanks CNN 02:38  |  POP 24/09/08
      34.   ISLAMIST needs forgeries to distract attention from home 02:42  |  PETER SM 24/09/08
      35.   Decline???!!! 03:35  |  FulghumInk 24/09/08
      36.   To Stephen from Geneve #19 03:40  |  Persian Kitty 24/09/08
      37.   Kafka like showdown in Gulf of Eden 03:47  |  allang 24/09/08
      38.   To#24I m proud of Persian Empire since 500 B.C till 7 A.D and Pah 03:49  |  e.m.Jordan is Palest 24/09/08
      39.   Clickfool and Chris Linthwaite 03:49  |  Ruth 24/09/08
      40.   I liked the other photo better. 03:50  |  Maureen Ann 24/09/08
      41.   He is right but it ain`t over just yet. 04:05  |  www.newzionism.com 24/09/08
      42.   Antisemites like Ahmedinejad only make us stronger 04:09  |  Conroy 24/09/08
      43.   Ignorace 04:33  |  Bob 24/09/08
      44.   what happened to FREE SPEECH? 04:40  |  VIPER 24/09/08
      45.   Persian Kitty _ Salam Khanoom Joon. Just To Tell You That When I 05:19  |  Eli 24/09/08
      46.   Ivar kurad 05:45  |  Mike 24/09/08
      47.   monkey`s preoccupation 05:48  |  Alex 24/09/08
      48.   To Bob in Manhattan #43 06:45  |  Persian Kitty 24/09/08
      49.   VIPER # 44 _ Re "You Can`t Have Your Cake And Eat It Too" 07:18  |  Eli 24/09/08
      50.   Okay Calm Down Everyone 07:50  |  Yosemite 24/09/08
      51.   JEWS CONTROL THE WORLD! 08:23  |  Shtarka 24/09/08
      52.   #24, Mark Lincoln, it is not Israel`s obsession 08:36  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 24/09/08
      53.   Yup, 5 million of us dominating 3 BILLION PEOPLE?? 09:01  |  B`Galil 24/09/08
      54.   We Jews are not doing good job of proving him wrong 09:07  |  Adam Astan 24/09/08
      55.   How can this clown be tolerated?? 09:21  |  ScotGuy 24/09/08
      56.   Ahmadinejad`s penis envy 09:28  |  Joe Sittizen 24/09/08
      57.   For Ruth # 39 09:29  |  Clickfool 24/09/08
      58.   How much more needs to be said? 09:39  |  Nadav 24/09/08
      59.   VIPER - I know it`s hard for you to wrap your brain 09:39