9/30/2012

New York, 28th September, 2012


ECI mission to the UN accomplished
- Israeli warning to the world community must be taken seriously

After an intensive week of diplomatic meetings and outreach at the UN in New York, members of the European Coalition for Israel will be returning to Europe on Friday evening. Although the General Debate of the Opening Session of the 67th General Assembly continues until Monday, the high drama of the week came to a climax on Thursday lunchtime. This was when Israeli Prime Minister,Benyamin Netanyahu, addressed the General Assembly in one of his most important speeches ever. In his address to world leaders, he made it perfectly clear that time is running out for stopping Ahmadinejad from acquiring nuclear weapons. In a graphic presentation of how a nation can acquire nuclear capability, he illustrated just how close Iran really is to getting a nuclear bomb.
-’Allowing Iran to acquire nuclear capabilities would be the same as giving Al-Qaeda a nuclear bomb’, he said.
The speech was a clear rebuke aimed at the Iranian leader who earlier in the week had asked for a new Islamic world order and stated that ”the Jewish people have no history in the region.” In his opening remarks the Israeli Prime Minister reminded the audience that ”the Jews have a history of 3000 years in the land and  they intend to stay there forever.”

In New York, ECI Director Tomas Sandell, summarised the events of the week by saying that while the Iranian leader did not explicitly call for the destruction of the Jewish state, he did in fact call for world chaos and destruction in order to usher in the 12th Imam, an apocalyptic vision found in the Koran.
-’The good news is that the Iranian leader did not ”cross the red line” in calling for the annihilation of the Jewish state or denying the Holocaust. The alarming fact however, is that he did speak about the need to replace the current world order with a global caliphate under the 12th Imam’, Sandell said.
’Although this should not come as a surprise to anyone who has followed the Iranian leader over the years, the fact that the international media and the political classes at large have failed to understand and report the real meaning of his rhetoric, is a great disappointment and cause for concern.
 ’A man who is calling for world chaos and destruction is not the kind of person you can entrust with nuclear capabilities’, Sandell concluded.
’Although the Palestinian statehood bid did not receive as much attention this year as it did last, it is way too early to write it off. The Palestinian Authority has promised to bring back its unilateral declaration to the table after the US elections.
In their meetings at the UN, ECI stressed that peace can only come through negotiations and not through unilateral declarations.

9/28/2012

New York, 25th September, 2012 –

   
ECI in New York as world leaders prepare for General Debate
– Time to stop Ahmadinejad is now

The ECI call for a ban on Holocaust denial took a new turn on Monday as Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defied a warning from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for having made inflammatory remarks and for anti-Israeli rhetoric at the UN. In a speech on Monday at a UN conference on the rule of law, he lashed out against Israel, claiming that "Israel has no roots in the Middle East", thus denying   3,000 years of Jewish history in the region. He went on to state that "Israel is just a passing phase in history", confirming his previous remarks threatening to "wipe Israel off the map of the world."

The remarks come just two days before the Iranian leader is to address the 67th General Assembly of the United Nations. Many leaders have expressed their concerns about that the arch enemy of the Jewish people will be able to address world leaders on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

'The time to stop Iran is now', said ECI director Tomas Sandell in New York on Monday. 'Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly neglected every call from the international community to inspect his nuclear weapons program while at the same time threatening to use his nuclear weapons to attack Israel. In a CNN interview on Monday night, Ahmadinejad refused to answer the question on whether he believed in the existence of the Holocaust'.

'The reputation of the UN Secretary General is now at stake', said Sandell. 'The measures the UN leader takes on Wednesday will demonstrate whether there is any political will to stop Ahmadinejad from using the UN as a platform for Holocaust denial and anti-Israeli rhetoric.

In January, The European Parliament issued a ban on Holocaust denial at their sessions in both Strasbourg and Brussels. The UN leader recently warned Iran that such language could have "potentially harmful consequences" for Iran.

ECI, which has called for a ban on Holocaust denial at the UN, is following the developments at the UN on site in New York, where they are meeting with national delegations and UN officials. A meeting with a top UN official is scheduled for Thursday, one day after Ahmadinejad's speech, to discuss the ECI campaign for a permanent ban on Holocaust denial at the UN.