Walk-out At Iran Leader's Speech
"Diplomats have walked out of a speech by the Iranian president at a UN anti-racism conference after he described Israel as a "racist government". Two protesters, wearing coloured wigs, briefly disrupted the beginning of the speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but he continued speaking. Shortly afterwards a stream of Western delegates walked out when he attacked the creation of the state of Israel. The US, Israel, Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and New Zealand had all boycotted the conference being held in Geneva, in protest at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's appearance, and Israel recalled its ambassador to Switzerland. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner had warned that French delegates would walk out if the forum is used as a platform to attack Israel. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed dismay at the boycotts."
Now I'm not Ahmadinejad's number one fan but the message sent out at this conference is quite troubling. For years it has been taboo to discuss the holocaust because, for obvious reasons, it is a very sensitive issue but now it seems discussing the State of Israel in general is now taboo. Why does the world have no problem complaining openly about Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and North Korea but clams up all of a sudden when the topic of Israel is raised? Ahmadinejad has made comments about Israel in the past, that much is true, but his more controversial comments were always directed towards the regime, not the Jewish race. In my opinion it is difficult to deny that Israel operate a two stream society that identifies Jewish Israeli citizens distinct from non-Jewish Israeli citizens but the kind of attitude shown here reinforces the idea that it is taboo to even discuss the issue. What would have happened if such an attitude had prevailed during South African apartheid?
This is supposed to be a forum on racism and apparently it's not okay to discuss a State that makes people of a certain race drive with specially coloured number plates.
"Diplomats have walked out of a speech by the Iranian president at a UN anti-racism conference after he described Israel as a "racist government". Two protesters, wearing coloured wigs, briefly disrupted the beginning of the speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but he continued speaking. Shortly afterwards a stream of Western delegates walked out when he attacked the creation of the state of Israel. The US, Israel, Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and New Zealand had all boycotted the conference being held in Geneva, in protest at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's appearance, and Israel recalled its ambassador to Switzerland. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner had warned that French delegates would walk out if the forum is used as a platform to attack Israel. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed dismay at the boycotts."
Now I'm not Ahmadinejad's number one fan but the message sent out at this conference is quite troubling. For years it has been taboo to discuss the holocaust because, for obvious reasons, it is a very sensitive issue but now it seems discussing the State of Israel in general is now taboo. Why does the world have no problem complaining openly about Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and North Korea but clams up all of a sudden when the topic of Israel is raised? Ahmadinejad has made comments about Israel in the past, that much is true, but his more controversial comments were always directed towards the regime, not the Jewish race. In my opinion it is difficult to deny that Israel operate a two stream society that identifies Jewish Israeli citizens distinct from non-Jewish Israeli citizens but the kind of attitude shown here reinforces the idea that it is taboo to even discuss the issue. What would have happened if such an attitude had prevailed during South African apartheid?
This is supposed to be a forum on racism and apparently it's not okay to discuss a State that makes people of a certain race drive with specially coloured number plates.
