The UN's Durban Review Conference on racism descended into farce on Monday when Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used his speech to attack Israel as the "most cruel and racist regime" in the world. Twenty-eight European, Jordanian and Moroccan diplomats walked out of the conference chamber after Ahmadinejad used said: "Following World War II, they resorted to military aggression to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering. They sent migrants from Europe, the United States and other parts of the world in order to establish a totally racist government in the occupied Palestine. In fact, in compensation for the dire consequences of racism in Europe, they helped bring to power the most cruel and repressive racist regime in Palestine."
Several European nations, including Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden, had joined Australia, Canada, Israel and the United States in boycotting the Durban Review Conference. The Czech Foreign Ministry, which currently holds the EU presidency, issued a statement Monday saying, "We cannot allow, through our presence, the legitimization of absolutely unacceptable anti-Israeli attacks ... The Czech delegation will not return to the conference at all, as a consequence to Ahmadinejad's speech."
WJC president Ronald Lauder said: "A boycott is a logical consequence for all countries really interested in combating racism. It is lamentable that the EU has not found a united position, but at least some governments have shown leadership on this important matter. It is really obscene that once again the
UN is a platform for those who preach intolerance and hatred, like the Iranian president."
Almost all Western countries as well as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned Ahmadinejad's statement. "I deplore the use of this platform by the Iranian president to accuse, divide and even incite. This is the opposite of what this Conference seeks to achieve. This makes it significantly more difficult to build constructive solutions to the very real problem of racism," Ban declared, adding: "It is deeply regrettable that my plea to look to the future of unity was not heeded by the Iranian president. At my earlier meeting with him, I stressed the importance of the Conference to galvanize the will of the international community toward the common cause of the fight against racism." The UN chief also noted that he had "reminded the [Iranian] president that the UN General Assembly had adopted the resolutions to revoke the equation of Zionism with racism and to reaffirm the historical facts of the Holocaust respectively. We must all turn away from such a message in both form and substance," he said.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said that "anti-Semitism is an old historical phenomenon, but if anyone thought that it would disappear after the atrocities of the Holocaust, today has proven them wrong." Speaking at the Yad Vashem service marking Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day, Netanyahu praised the nations which chose to shun the Geneva meeting and the diplomats who walked out of the forum while Ahmadinejad was speaking.
Although members of a Vatican delegation objected to the Iranian president's remarks about Israel, they did not think walking out was the right response, said a Vatican official. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the chief Vatican representative to UN agencies in Geneva, told the 'Catholic News Service' that it was important for people not to be distracted by the remarks of the Iranian president.
Three Jewish students from France acted as "clowns" and interrupted Ahmadinejad's speech. They positioned themselves at opposite ends of the hall when Ahmadinejad took the stage, and as he uttered his first words whipped out 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."
Quotes from Ahmadinejad's speech in Geneva [source: BBC News]
"The victorious powers [of the world wars] call themselves the conquerors of the world, while ignoring or down-treading the rights of other nations by the imposition of oppressive laws and international arrangements.
"Following World War II, they resorted to making an entire nation homeless on the pretext of Jewish suffering. They sent migrants from Europe, the United States and other parts of the world in order to establish a totally racist government in the occupied Palestine. In compensation for the dire consequences of racism in Europe, they helped bring to power the most cruel and repressive racist regime in Palestine.
"It is all the more regrettable that a number of Western governments and the United States have committed themselves to defending those racist perpetrators of genocide, whilst the awakened consciences and free-minded people of the world condemn aggression, brutality and the bombardment of civilians of Gaza.
"[Conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were] a clear example of egocentrism, racism, discrimination or infringement upon the dignity and independence of nations. Today, the human community is facing a kind of racism which has tarnished the image of humanity. In the beginning of the third millennium, the word Zionism personifies racism. [It] falsely resorts to religion and abuses religious sentiments to hide hatred.
"Efforts must be made to put an end to the abuse by Zionists and their supporters of political and international means... Governments must be encouraged and supported in the fight aimed at eradicating this barbaric racism and moving towards reforming the current international mechanisms.
"You are all aware of the conspiracy of some powers and Zionist circles against the goals and objectives of this conference... It should be recognized that boycotting such a session is a true indication of supporting the blatant example of racism."
