Jewish organizations call for walkout on Ahmadinejad's U.N. nuclear speech

NEW YORK (Press Release) — World Jewish Congress on Friday called for the United Nations delegates to demonstrate their outrage against the presence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at next week’s UN Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, and urged its member communities to communicate this to their governments.

More than ironic, the participation of the Iranian dictator who is engaged in an unrelenting mad race to enrich uranium in order to acquire nuclear weapons flies in the face of any serious and sincere discussion of non-proliferation. It is dismaying that, once again, the UN is allowing the head of a regime, foremost in the sponsorship of terrorism and the abuse of human rights, who defies UN resolutions regarding its nuclear ambitions, to appear before the international body.

WJC president Ronald S. Lauder said, “The United Nations cannot continue to countenance the appearance and participation of an abusive regime bent on the acquisition of nuclear capability. The intentions of its use by Iran have been clearly enunciated time and again by its president, a denier of the Holocaust who repeatedly threatens the United States and Europe, and who continuously issues menacing threats to ‘wipe Israel off the map.’  A country that supports terrorist activity worldwide and intimidates its own people with egregious human rights violations should not be given a platform by the organization that is the repository of international human rights.”

“We urge all UN delegates to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference to once again demonstrate their outrage and protest the hypocrisy of Ahmadinejad’s presence by leaving the hall for his address. We call on all World Jewish Congress member communities to urgently contact their governments to instruct their UN representatives to walk out during Ahmadinejad’s speech,” said Lauder.

On Thursday, a similar call was issued by the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations.

Conference of Presidents Chairman Alan Solow and Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein said, “We call on all countries, particularly those that value democracy and freedom, to leave the United Nations hall when Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, rises to speak. We urge them to stand up for the principles of the UN charter, for justice and peace and to stand against the leading state sponsor of terror and violator of human rights who continues to act in violation of numerous Security Council resolutions.”

“Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability poses a threat to the region and the entire Western world. To have President Ahmadinejad address this review conference makes a mockery of the efforts of many countries to prevent nuclear weapons and nuclear terrorism from becoming the gravest global threats of this century. We hope the members of the UN recognize that President Ahmadinejad represents the antithesis of the goals of the nonproliferation treaty and by his threats and actions he rejects the obligations imposed by the UN charter on member states. In the cause of international peace and stability, every delegate who values life, justice and human rights should protest President Ahmadinejad’s presence by walking out of this international forum,” Solow and Hoenlein said. 

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress and Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations