In his weekly Canadian Jewish News media analysis column “According to Reports,†Paul Michaels, CIC Director of Communications, looks at coverage of Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s rant at Durban II.
The April 20 opening session of the UN-sponsored “Durban II” anti-racism conference in Geneva quickly became a farce, as Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the podium for an anti-Jewish and anti-Israel tirade.
While the April 20 CBC and CTV evening newscasts gave the story only brief mention, Global TV News’ Mideast correspondent Lauren McNabb had a full report, describing the scene during Ahmadinejad’s speech: “As a stream of European delegates walked out in defiance, and a group of journalists booed, the Iranian leader simply smiled and he kept on talking, at one point, calling Israel a country created on the ‘pretext’ of Jewish suffering from World War II, this on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day.”
The following day, newspapers across Canada gave the story front-page attention, and many also commented in editorials.
In “The farce of Durban II,” the National Post noted: “Canada was the very first nation – aside from Israel – to announce it would be boycotting the conference, a decision that likely influenced the decision of other nations to not attend. It is hard to remember the last time that Canada exercised leadership on the world stage in such a decisive manner.”
The Globe and Mail editorial, “Destined to degenerate,” also commended Canada for having been “ahead of the curve” in refusing to “lend legitimacy to an event that was destined to turn into a circus.”
In its editorial “Rebuffing Iran’s Hatred” (April 22), the Toronto Star took a different line. While condemning Ahmadinejad for his “vile diatribe against Israel,” it argued that Canada’s position would have been more effectively conveyed from Geneva.
In a news piece for the Globe and Mail (“Iranian leader’s ‘hateful’ tirade causes chaos at UN summit,” April 21) Patrick Martin quoted Israeli analyst Barry Rubin about the wider significance of Ahmadinejad’s aggressive stance. Rubin remarked: “There’s little doubt that [Ahmadinejad] expects his remarks to play well at home, and to stir things up [in Arab states].”
However, Rubin noted, “Egypt and most other Arab states will see right through this speech and recognize it as a ploy to claim leadership in the Arab world. With the exception of Syria, Sudan, Qatar and Yemen, Arab states oppose this guy.”
Martin added: “Just this past weekend [April 18], Egyptian media accused Iran of attempting to foster an uprising inside Egypt, by placing Hezbollah agents in the country” – a development that has gone largely unreported in Western media.
According to some experts, Ahmadinejad and other leaders in Tehran are convinced the Islamic Republic of Iran can reclaim Persia’s glory days and become a regional superpower, which is one reason it is so determined to pursue its nuclear program against all international opposition.
Iran’s leaders are also convinced that the West is in irreversible decline. Although overlooked in media reports, during his speech in Geneva, Ahmadinejad said, “I also want to lay emphasis on the fact that that Western liberalism and capitalism has reached its end.”
In an important New Yorker article that details the “Zionist” conspiracy theories which define the mentality of Ahmadinejad and those around him, Jon Lee Anderson (“Can Iran Change?” April 13), left no doubt that Iran’s leaders see the world very differently from liberal Westerners. For example, Mohammed Ali Ramin, who “advises” Ahmadinejad on the Holocaust (they are both deniers), told Anderson: “Israel has been created to destroy not only Muslims but the Jews themselves.” Ramin also insisted that the Jews had carried out the 9/11 attacks and then blamed it on the Muslims in order to “have an excuse to attack some Muslim nations.”
In his Geneva talk, Ahmadinejad insisted that “the Zionists” and their allies in the Bush administration planned the military assault on Iraq.
It is clear that the Iranian president and other top officials in the Islamic Republic say these things because they believe them profoundly. The lesson is that the West should take them at their word and plan accordingly.
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