"British delegates joined a dramatic diplomatic walkout today when President Ahmadinejad of Iran told a major UN conference against racism that the state of Israel had been founded 'on the pretext of Jewish suffering' during the Second World War."
So reported Britain's Financial Times moments ago leading one to wonder how American media will cover this event.
The Times continued (video of incident embedded right):
Around 20 delegates, including envoys from the UK, France, and Finland stood up and left the room at what was considered an anti-Semitic remark by the Iranian leader, who has repeatedly called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
Nine Western countries including Israel and the United States had already decided to boycott the conference entirely because its draft declaration endorsed the conclusions of an anti-racism conference in South Africa eight years ago in which Islamic nations pushed through a text equating Zionism with racism.
Given the Obama administration's hopes of renewed diplomatic relations with Ahmadinejad, and the media's desire for the same, it will be very interesting to see how this event gets covered here in the next 48 hours.




















Editor at Large
Comments Policy
The media is not part of the problem...
April 20, 2009 - 11:11 ET by AgentAmericanThe media is the problem.
2010: A GOP Hill
The neocon interpreters
April 20, 2009 - 11:23 ET by eaglewingz08The neocon interpreters deliberately misinterpred amamadjihadi's speech in order to manufacture a rift between the peace loving rulers of Iran and the Obama Administration. Amamadjihadi spoke of rainbows and unicorns and one world living in peace, but those dastardly neocons falsely stated that the esteemed President of Iran had denied the Holocaust and called Israel racist in order to exacerbate tensions between the two nations.
Hey, you forgot your /sarc
April 20, 2009 - 11:30 ET by d1carterHey, you forgot your /sarc button....
→ Time to fire Hillary
April 20, 2009 - 11:21 ET by Cool ArrowObama needs to realize Hillary isn't out of the closet yet on this Muslim thing.
Bill Ayers wouldn't have boycotted Obama's hate sessions for Ahmadinajad.
LYDSEXICS UNTIE!
The 'pretext' of Jewish suffering?
April 20, 2009 - 11:21 ET by moderncommentaries83Let's look at the word "pretext" here...
Main Entry:pre·text Pronunciation:
\ˈprē-ˌtekst\
Function:noun Etymology:Latin praetextus, from praetexere to assign as a pretext, screen, extend in front, from prae- + texere to weave
— more at technicalDate:1513
: a purpose or motive alleged or an appearance assumed in order to cloak the real intention or state of affairs
So Ahmadinejad claims that the suffering of Jews (and countless others) during WWII was alleged. Never mind that 6 million or so were systematically stripped of their rights, their livelihoods, their homes, and eventually their lives in concentration camps. Those who survived did so in the face of great odds and by living through deplorable conditions.
Last night, I caught the very tail end of "The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler", a Polish woman who saved some 2,500 Jewish children from certain death - at the end of the film, she was arrested by the Nazis, beaten repeatedly (they were looking for the man who would eventually become her husband; Irena had been hiding him and refused to divulge this information), and only saved from execution after a German guard was bribed by the "Zegota" underground network. Irena Sendler died in 2008 at the age of 98.
Was this woman crazy? Did she risk her life all for a "pretext"? Did the hundreds of other Europeans who fought against the Nazis, hid and saved Jews do so under a "pretext"?
Give me a break.
Aut viam inveniam aut faciam
Next stop on the Crap On USA Tour
April 20, 2009 - 12:24 ET by SeftonNext on Obama's agenda: Tea and crumpets with Ahmawhackjob before attending the "Roast USA and Israel" party.
Ah yes...
April 20, 2009 - 12:47 ET by dborschjr68What? You mean Iran hates Israel? Iran wants Israel destroyed?
Well then,...what are you waiting for Muslim dogs? If you're feeling froggy, then go ahead and leap. Or is there a shortage of women and children you can strap bombs onto?
Rattle your sabers, gnash your teeth, beat your chests and wail in the streets under your AK-47 weapons fire. In the end, it always turns out the same.
Attack Israel at your own peril.
Long Live the Republic.
De Oppresso Liber.
The UN Needs To Go
April 20, 2009 - 12:47 ET by JustAlIt is my hope that the conservative/Libertarian backlash which will follow His "O"lliness's oversteps will be big enough to finally get us out of this rabidly anti US organization.
The media likes to point to those with my "crazy ideas" as isolationists which is rediculous. Not all nations were isolationist before the UN, and membership in the UN has not furthered our national interests any more (and probably less) than being a non-member.
Tossing clown noses??
April 20, 2009 - 13:48 ET by Andante"AP - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the West of using the Holocaust as a "pretext" for aggression against Palestinians, prompting European diplomats to walk out Monday from a speech disrupted by jeering protesters in rainbow wigs tossing red clown noses at the hardline leader..."
That one cracked me up. Ok, I've collected myself...Let's see if the MSM makes as big a deal out of clown noses as they did with the shoe tossing.
Maybe Obama will apologize for the nose tossing.
-------------------------------------
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
Thomas Jefferson
Why Doesn't This Get More Coverage?
April 20, 2009 - 22:05 ET by The7SticksThe president meeting with Chavez is one thing, but Ahmadinejad poses a threat to all of us, American and Jewish because he wants to orchestrate another Holocaust. And he has the technology to do so. He wants all of us Jews dead, whether in Israel or America or anywhere else for that matter. He doesn't just want the orthodox Jews dead, he also wants to kill the agnostic and secular Jews like me. Wake up, people! The biggest threat to us all comes from Teheran and this anti-semitic Hitler-wannabe. And it's rather ironic in a bleak way, because today is Hitler's blight of a birthday.
Happy Hitler's birthday, indeed. The only happy one is when there is no Hitler to celebrate.
Well put yourself
April 20, 2009 - 22:13 ET by general companyin the oppressed Venizualian shoes.
They see their biggest hope at liberty laughing it up with their dictator. As a Jew I would think you could relate compleatly
My Gov. thinks I am dangerous, so be careful
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
..er..., don't you mean Krimpets?
April 21, 2009 - 10:39 ET by ex buff e-dubhttp://www.citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2009/04/02/the-queen-eats-krimpetsi-mean-crumpets/