Please watch this video of an interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7398354
It is excellent context for the the next series of posts which will address both the content and an analysis of the recently concluded UN Conference on Racism in Geneva (or the Durban Review Conference - "Durban II")
Please keep in mind a few things as you watch this video:
1) DO NOT think this conference or this issue is not relevant to YOU. If you are either concerned or confused about the entire issue of Israel and the Middle east - this matters to you. I am consistently approached by friends and colleagues who simply DO NOT know what to make of this issue. Either they are fiercely supportive of Israel and don't know how to defend her - or they are fiercely biased against Israel and are sorely uninformed and misled. This conference and this issue can be used as an EXCELLENT CASE STUDY as to why Israel needs to be supported even as it can be criticized. For anyone who considers themselves a "progressive" or "liberal" or "human rights advocate" and is either supportive or not supportive of Israel, this CASE STUDY will show you how the game of Israel Demonization is played on the international stage and how it poisons any hope of civil dialogue in this country over the issue.
2) DO NOT think of the Iranian President as "crazy" or "insane". That was the same mistake people made when analyzing the Holocaust. The minute you think Hitler's views were "crazy" or not common to his people, you miss all the lessons the Holocaust has to offer. Ahmadinejad is simply the guy who says what everyone else is thinking but is afraid to say in public for the Western media. This analysis is in no way going "easy" on Iran or its President. What he says is abhorrent and destructive. But to dismiss him as a clown condemns us to ignore the widespread bias and bigotry toward Jews and Israel that is very real in most corners of the world.
3) DO NOT think that because this view is critical of the conference, the UN, and Iran that the point is to condemn the UN as a whole or the Palestinian cause. The opposite is the case and anyone who would wish to throw out the UN baby with the UN bathwater simply does not undersatand all the good the UN does and how important it is. The conference is simply an example of how the operations of the UN, when dominated by the popular vote of the member nations, are themselves responsible for deflecting the discussion of so many global human rights causes at the expense of a disproportionate focus on condemnation of Israel - even at the expense of real solutions and help for the Palestinian people.
4) DO NOT dismiss his criticism of the US or his denial of the Holocaust - it is at the heart of understanding the large majority of beliefs of people in the region. When you listen to Ahmadinejad discuss talks with the US and then discuss the Holocaust, notice the difference. In his comments about the US, he makes sense. Why would Iran immediately trust a country who has ostracized Iran for 30 years, simply because Obama tells the press he wishes to improve relations? If the Iranian president is right, and no official outreach has been made, he is still waiting for proof. That makes sense. It is reasonable and must be respected. Then when he starts talking about the Holocaust he does not use reason - but the comments are no less useful. He never says why he believes the Holocaust never happened. He just believes it. He never responds to the claim that the Holocaust has been one of the most studied topics in History. He just repeats twice that if it did happen, it was done by the West and should never have been used to displace Palestinians. He also states that it should not still be used to justify the right of Israel to exist. His view of the Holocaust is not about History. It is about Jews, his belief in their manipulation of the World, and the Western guilt that he believes created Israel. Now as much as I could say we need to hammer home the Jewish historical and spiritual claim to the land, the continued presence in the land over the past 3000 years, and the significant numbers who returned to cultivate the land well before WWII - IF WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE BELIEVE ALL OF WHAT HE BELIEVES AND THAT IT IS AT THE HEART OF GLOBAL ENMITY TOWARD ISRAEL, JEWS, AND THE WEST, WE WILL NEVER LEARN WHAT WE ARE DEALING WITH AND THE JUSTIFIED FEAR AND WORRY ISRAEL HAS WHEN ASKED TO "MAKE PEACE" IN THIS CONTEXT ... As I have said, we could talk 'til we are blue in the face about "dual narratives", about how we must respect "two Historical claims to the land", but it will NOT CHANGE THE DEEP SEEDED BELIEF OF MANY THAT JEWS DON'T BELONG THERE.
By the way - my counter to that is this:
Q: To any supporter of Palestinians who does not believe Israel should ever have been founded or was founded through genocide - ask this question - "If in 2000 years, this issue is not resolved, will the Palestinian claim on the land be any less just?" If they say of course not, then ask them why the Jewish/Israeli claim to the land is any less just. This is about two peoples having two valid claims to the same land, being at war over it, and now having to work out a solution that respects both claims.
If you listen to the last comments Ahmadinejad makes about respecting what the Palestinians would vote for, he is clearly stating that if Palestinians want all Jews out of the land, the world should respect that.
Now in future posts I will go into further detail and analysis about this issue and the conference itself. Here is a link to a portion of his actual speech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swEeQCG5AZk
Remember, don't think crazy. Think justifiably pissed off about the US and the West while harboring deep seeded cultural anti-Semitism and anti-Israel beliefs. I will focus on this so closely because for those who think anti-Semitism is not a factor in the Israel issue - here is the proof in the pudding. His views are a reflection of larger cultural trends that are at the heart of the modern UN's outlandish focus on Israel AND the backbone of what seeps into Liberal-Progressive American views about Israel. What many of your friends who are in that camp don't realize is that their well-meaning commitment to "Human-Rights" as it is contextualized by the UN and global media is largely an outgrowth of irrational anti-Semitism around the world and in the member nations of the UN. It creates the biased reports, conferences, and claims of atrocities that well meaning Americans latch onto and believe hook, line, and sinker. They have been fooled by extremists whose only goal is to discredit Israel in the hopes of someday eradicating it. These extremists are not interested in a political solution that includes an "Israel" and are not interested in helping the Palestinians and Israelis make peace any time soon.
More to come .... especially on the danger to the future of human rights if this trend is not understood.
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