Benjamin Netanyahu invokes Pastor Martin Niemoller, at least subtly, in his otherwise explicit condemnation of the United Nations for giving Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a spot on the agenda at Turtle Bay this week. The Israeli Prime Minister hails the nations that had the “moral clarity” to walk out of the room when Ahmadinejad spoke, which thankfully included the United States as well as Canada. After that, though, Netanyahu spoke as directly as one will ever hear in diplomatic circles:
He’s completely correct, of course. The UN was created with dictators like Ahmadinejad and the regime using him as a mouthpiece in mind — but not to have as an honored guest. The UN was meant to stop regimes like the one in Tehran from talking genocide openly, not to host luminaries of lunacy like the dimunitive Iranian.
It’s a disgrace, especially since it’s clear that the UN has no shame at all.
Update: Sammy Benoit has more approving thoughts on the speech.
Here’s most of the rest of the speech, which is powerful indeed (Update: The entire speech is below now):
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