If Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s fire-breathing buffoon of a president, had any doubts about the contempt and loathing he inspires in America and the West, his reception in New York this week should have cleared things up for him. Should have — but probably did not.
No, Ahmadinejad probably left New York more confirmed than ever in his warped image of an American society in the thrall of malign forces. He may even imagine that he proved himself in the eyes of the world as a fearless warrior for truth and justice, that he showed himself ready to march into the very belly of the beast and suffer humiliation and worse at the hands of Zionist bullies. Worse still, it’s possible that observers at the United Nations and in front of television screens around the world were left with that same image: Ahmadinejad in the lions’ den.
The pity is that the people of New York had an opportunity to show the world the true face of the man, but they — we — flubbed it. With the whole world watching, we could have put our democratic values on display. We could have demonstrated the difference between a society of tolerance and free inquiry on one hand, and ignorant fanaticism on the other. We could have handed Ahmadinejad the rope to hang himself. We could have held him up for the bullying thug that he is.
Instead, we put on a display of undisciplined rage, and the Iranian leader was given an opportunity to cloak himself in the mantle of victimhood. Head held high, he now proclaims far and wide how he came to the capital of the world to participate in the United Nations General Assembly, as is his right as a head of state, and he was greeted with all the civility of a street mob. Images are being played and replayed around the world of Iran’s president visiting a great university to participate in a world leaders’ forum, and being welcomed with a 10-minute litany of insults. Nations that have good reason to fear Iran’s terrorism and nuclear ambitions must now wonder if New York is the right city to house the U.N.
We could have confronted the Iranian leader with crowds of demonstrators representing a cross-section of Americans, Jewish and gentile, black, white and brown, standing together to protest his and Iran’s very real record of abuse at home and abroad. We could have linked hands with spokesmen and representatives of other nations that hate and fear Iran’s threat to peace and stability — with voices from France, Germany, the Arab world and even China, all of them nations that condemn Iran’s terrorism and nuclear ambitions.
Instead we chose to rise up as a Jewish community, insisting on proclaiming our identity and our special pain. We emphasized the specific and extreme danger that Ahmadinejad’s Iran presents to Israel. We placed the Iranian leader in the long line of tyrants who threatened the Jewish people through history. We called him a new Hitler.
And in so doing, we separated ourselves from the global community that fears Iran. Instead of reminding the rest of the world that its fears and ours are the same, we shouted that our fears are distinct. We all but invited our neighbors to stand back, to refrain from identifying with us.
Moreover, we misstated our case. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a bigot and bully. Iran is a threat to the safety and stability of the Middle East, and potentially a mortal threat to world peace. But Ahmadinejad is not Hitler, and Iran is not Nazi Germany.
Hitler ruled with an iron fist over the world’s greatest industrial power, and he mobilized a war machine that conquered most of Europe before he was stopped in a world war. He was fanatically dedicated to killing every Jew in the world, just for the sake of killing Jews, and he very nearly succeeded. Iran is a third-rate power that can hardly feed its own people and barely survived an eight-year war against Iraq, a country one-third its size. It is ruled, ineptly, by a clerical junta operating through a weak civilian government headed by a weaker president.
Ahmadinejad’s predecessor, Mohammad Khatami, was a relative moderate who tried to reach out to the West and to cool Iran’s rhetoric on Israel. Friends of Israel tended to deride his efforts as meaningless, reminding others that Iran’s presidency is virtually powerless. We have forgotten all that. It was two years ago.
Words matter, as we have insisted over and over. We have a strong case for the world’s sympathy and cooperation, and the world is not entirely indifferent. But we must speak truth, not sink to the behavior of those who despise truth.
Sixty years ago, Jews were alone and friendless, mistrusted by most Americans and hated nearly everywhere else. When Hitler came to kill us, nobody cared. Today our position is vastly different. We are full citizens of most countries we call home. We can and do hold positions of great influence in the world’s only superpower. There is a Jewish state with a powerful army and voting membership in the United Nations. Our deadliest enemy happens to be a pariah to most of the world.
We have gifts our ancestors could scarcely dream of. We dare not squander them.
This a an insightful and accurate description of what is,as well as what good be!Congratulations for your courage.All human beings,including Jews are in your debt;I know this human Jew is!
Salem, I bet in your life time you have met some good Nazis too. You know the ones that like classical music etc. The Palestinians have had numerous chances for peace. You do not convince people you are ready for peace by blowing up people at Passover Seders, disco, buses etc and waiting for your 70 virgins. You act responsible and take some accountabiity for the situation you are in. They are raised up in an atmosphere of hate where even Mickey Mouse is not safe anymore. Heaven forbid if you are gay or just a material girl that just wants to have fun. Oh I would not want to be a Christian either.
How is Iran "a mortal threat to world peace", comapred with, say, the USA? It has not attacked another country for at least 200 years. Its conventional forces are weak and the IAEA says it is in full compliance with the nuclear anti-proliferation treaty it signed in 1974. The evidence for Iran's having suppllied fellow-Shiites in neighboring Iraq with weapons to resist the illegal invasion of their land is non-existent-- all we have heard is assertions from Bush spokesmen. US commanders say most insurgent attacks are indigenous. Iran's "sponsorship of terrorism" likewise is trivial compared with Israel's MOssad operations or the CIA's endless interference with sovereign governments all over the planet for 60 years. Saudi Arabia, the US's ally, is giving Iraqi insurgents more aid than Iran. The Two Minutes Hate against Pres. Ahmadinejad, whom few had heard of two years ago, who was democratically elected against the wishes of the Iranian establishment as an anti-corruption campaigner, and who has no say over the country's foreign policy or military operations, did indeed fall flat... because what we could see of the man, and the words he spoke to the UNO, in no way matched the build-up of the Zionist dominated media and the NYC Jewish rentamob. They came across, as they usually do nowadays, as paranoid and hypocritical mouthfoamers-- desperate to find Hitler figures to keep America fighting their wars, a schtick too tired even for many Jews not to feel embarrassed by it. Ahmadinejad, by contrast, bore the discourtesies with patience and good humour and repeated conciliatory words towards Jews (as opposed to Zionists) which will have surprised and impressed many who had been primed for a Fuhrer figure. In what way was he "fire-breathing", a "bullying thug"? Like so many Zionist philippics, this has the air of something that was written before the event and would have been printed whatever the Iranian visitor had said or done. You have to realise that your "special pain", endlessly flourished and squealed about, is a bloody great bore as far as most of the world is concerned. And incidentally, the Khatami you commend has just been brought back into the inner circle of Iranian policy. So stop squealing and start talking.
Yeah right, you have gifts your ancestors could scarcely dream of unfortunately you've all but squandered them. .Israel as a state has simply become its own worst enemy. If the Holocaust were a lesson, the treatment of Palestinians is just as close as Holocaust can get. I've met good Jews, I respect them & I recognise the right of Israel to exist, as much as I've met good Palestinians, who truly want to see peace between Israel & Palestine. Israel is powerful today, it rejects all attempts to achieve peace and an independent Palestinian State, that power will never last forever. Someday, Israel will be forced to achieve peace and to accept Palestine. If that day comes, and it surely will come, Israel will be weak and vulnerable. The time is now and this is the moment for Israel to achieve peace while it is powerful. That will guarantee its existence for many years to come. Cheap publicity of invisibility like the recent attack on Syria amounts to ZERO on the scoreboard. Afterall, the Palestinian resistance has survived 50 years of a powerful military machine. The next 50 years may not be so favorable to Israel!!
Lee Bollinger, no doubt under immense pressure from jewish groups, simply made himself look like a big fool and Ahmadinajad, aside from his ridiculous remark about 'no-gays in iran' looked quite reasonable in contrast. Jewish groups don't miss a chance to make their side look like total hypocrites. You pester us to attack Iran and when you are told you are doing it you go into a rage (Moran incident, W&M paper/book among many others). You deny the Armenian Genocide, lobby against the resolution in congress, support Turkey's claim that more research is needed when the history has been settled long ago, but you throw a fit when Ahmadinajad makes the IDENTICAL outrageous demand for more research. Do you really think the rest of us are so stupid that we can't see through all the contradictions and your efforts to silence (and worse) anyone who dares to speak out? When will you understand that the spins are no longer working? Educated Americans no longer rely on biased american media to get their facts straight, many read the Jewish press in addition to other sources across the world and are catching up real fast. Respect and caring is earned and cannot be achieved through bullying.
The Forward comment is excellant. It is right on the mark. I am a Columbia alumni, and was turned off with my alma mata, back when Professor Edward Said was throwing rocks over the Lebonese border at Israelis; and when Jewish students at Columbia revolted against Arab Professors, in the Middle East Studies Department. As I recall, these students even made a video of the hate they experienced. I had hope when Bolinger joined Brandeis - and hundreds of other American universities - against the British universities boycott of all Israeli academics and their institutions. Now, that I saw Bolinger's behavior on TV, I am reminded of what a loose cannon this guy is! More important, is the quality of Jewish leadership in America. Many regional Jewish organizations do not even have members anymore. The same officers and their families and friends, have closed out participation by the Jewish "masses". They ask us for contributions like platinum, gold or silver donors, but they used to have platinum members, gold members, or silver members. No More! We cannot attend Board meetings or Trustee meetings. We are shut out. Many of the local, regional or state organizations are full of "generals" but there are no "soldiers". Thus, here in metro Boston, the ADL's Foxman had a revolt and he was clueless to local anger. This happens at Federation leadership level, as the revenues fall, and they have to rely on very wealthy people to meet payrolls, even though they fail to serve the community. As Israelis are furious over the poor leadership they now have in government, I believe American Jewry are not pleased at our own so-called "leaders". The Forward noted the embarrassing Jewish Congress leadership fight. It is a sad and hopeless feeling, when anti-Semitism is on the rise throughout the world, that we have no one to turn to for hope.
I meant, ahem, one fish head *a day* for the rest of the lives of the unfortunates ...
Ani: 'You pester us to attack Iran.' Who're calling 'you,' Paleface? I guess you think 'we' own the media and the banks too, am I right? Aw shucks, I don't have a bank, not the last time I looked. Do you post to African-American forums too, about what "they" supposedly think? But, I can see that you're driven by demons. 'Do you really think the rest of us are so stupid that we can't see through all the ...' etc. etc. Another unfortunate who has succumbed to the fear that Jews are smarter than him. Despair not, I have a remedy. Hoary Jewish tradition, propagated by the ancient sages, has a cure for your feelings of inferiority. And what is this recondite lore, this secret learning passed from father to son in the dark of night as the cruel Cossacks were closing in and the village was aflame? Fish heads. Fish heads! Who could have believed such a thing, but it seems that eating just one fish head a day soon overcomes feelings of inferiority, whether justified or not. The problem, however, is that it doesn't work with fish that are common here. Cod and mackerel simply don't carry the anti-inferiority protein and will leave the sufferer feeling just as inferior as before. No, it has to be fish from points East, riparian and lake fauna such as sturgeon. What's worse, the feelings of inferiority can be kept at bay only by consuming one such fish head for the rest of the patient's life. In other words, feelings of inferiority are a chronic condition. Ani (really, several?) Please let 'us' know how you fare in your anti-inferiority treatment. Good luck!
I applauded the invitation extended by Columbia, but I have to say, President Bollenger relied on generalities, fell into the trap of disrespect -Ahmadinejad so hungers for respect. Persian society could have been praised and contrasted with the present regime; and facts could have been more clearly enunciated. I agree with the overriding thrust of your editorial but understand that the pressure on Bollinger to show the Jewish community that he was no patsy, must have been enormous. Congratulations for your clear-headed stance.
I am shocked and dismayed by the behavior of the president of Columbia University, Bollinger. Ahmadinejad had been invited to speak, and tough questions could be expected from the students. But to be lambasted by the host is beyond the pale. Make no mistake, I consider Ahmadinejad an enemy. But the behavior of Bollinger casts a miserable light on Columbia University, an Ivy League school. It’s not as if Ahmadinejad crashed the party and demanded to speak; he was invited, a guest. Simple mannners dictate that the host refrain from vilifying his guest, even if others challenge him. Bollinger’s tirade made him look like a rube. “Free speech” does not imply a lack of manners. To any foreigner who may be shocked by the lack of common decency of Columbia University towards its invitees, I wish to apologize for Mr. Bollinger, a fellow who lacks the class and style one would expect from the chief executive of a premier university. Real class is when Winston Churchill signed the declaration of war on Japan with “Your obedient servant.” When he was criticized for this, he answered that you might as well be polite to someone before you kill him. Now that’s class, something that Mr. Bollinger lacks, and that is unfortunate for Columbia.
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