Israelis were aghast, if not surprised, by the open advocacy of the destruction of Israel and the implied blame against the Jews for all the world's problems by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the United Nations General Assembly.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni blasted the UN for granting Iran's president a platform to deliver an address against "Zionist murderers" that contradicted its vow to prevent another Holocaust: "Ahmadinejad's speech makes the situation absurd for an organization that raised the banner of 'Never Again' upon its establishment," she said.
Ahmadinejad told the 192-nation General Assembly that a few "deceitful" Zionists were manipulating Americans and Europeans and controlled the world's financial and monetary systems. He accused "a small but deceitful number of people called Zionists" for dominating financial and political centers in Europe and the U.S. in "a deceitful, complex and furtive manner," and blamed these "domineering powers" for all the world's evils. He concluded: "The Zionist regime is on a slope to decline," adding there is no Israel can "get out of the cesspool created by itself and its supporters."
Opposition chief Benjamin Netanyahu said the Iranian leader's statements heighten the urge for Western action against Tehran's nuclear activities. "I can understand the frustration of Israel's ambassador to the UN ," Netanyahu told Army Radio on Wednesday, referring to the envoy having to hear the applause for the Iranian president. "The president of Iran unites all of Israel given the threat. The West still does not spot the danger and even if it does spot it, it still is not acting. Israel needs to do what is needed so that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon."
When asked if Israel was capable of effectively destroying Iran's ability to develop an atom bomb, Netanyahu preferred not to elaborate. "Any public discussion on this matter is superfluous," the Likud chairman said. "The year is 1938 and Iran is analogous to Germany," Netanyahu told Army Radio. "Europe is sleeping, it's napping, unfortunately not for the first time but Israel must not absorb the negative consequences of that."
On Tuesday, Peres said that the Iranian president's speech to the United Nations was reminiscent of one the most notorious anti-Semitic tracts in history. "This is the first time in the history of the United Nations that the head of a state is appearing openly and publicly with the ugly and dark accusations of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion,'" Peres said after Ahmadinejad's speech. He was referring to an anti-Semitic tract published in the early 1900s that described a Jewish and Masonic plot to take over the world. The document has been discredited and is widely considered to be a hoax and a fraud. The Anti-Defamation League released a statement shortly after the speech saying that it put Ahmadinejad's "anti-Semitism on full display" and "shows the true threat that the Iranian regime poses to the West."
When Ahmadinejad walked to the podium of the General Assembly to speak, the U.S. delegation walked out, leaving only a low-ranking note-taker to listen to his speech.
Israel says the Islamic Republic could have enough nuclear material to make its first bomb within a year. The Iranian leader warned over the weekend that the military would strike back against anyone targeting his country's nuclear facilities.
"If anyone allows himself to commit even a tiny offense against Iran's legitimate interests, borders and sacred land, our armed forces will break his hand before he pulls the trigger," Ahmadinejad said during a military parade Sunday.
