SA Silent on Ahmadinejad’s Call for Israel’s Destruction

Once again there is an eerie silence in the hall of the South African Department of Foreign Affairs in response to the Iranian president’s latest call for the eminent destruction of the Jewish state. In a speech over the weekend Ahmadinejad declared that

With God's help, the countdown button for the destruction of the Zionist regime has been pushed by the hands of the children of Lebanon and Palestine…By God's will, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future.

Once again Iran’s genocidal leader has expressed his desire for the annihilation of Israeli Jews. This comment serves to re-enforce the fact that Iran cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. It would be like giving fire to a pyromaniac. But South Africa continues to defend Iran’s right to develop nuclear technology.

To what lengths does the regime have to go before the South African government will criticise them? When they called for ‘Israel to be wiped off the map’ we remained silent; when they hosted a conference to deny the holocaust we remained silent and when the United Nations tabled a resolution to condemn this blatantly anti-Semitic action South Africa did not even bother to show up.

What has become of South African foreign policy? How can a government that was forged out of a struggle against racism remain silent in the face of Iran’s murderous anti-Semitism? Our refusal to speak out renders us complicit in Ahmadinejad’s incitement to genocide.

Update
South Africa were also silent on a UN Security Council vote establishing an international criminal tribunal to investigate the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Comments

[AshkeLiberal]

Typical...he calls for a change from regime in Israel and you support on Western translations for your 'the barbarians are at the gate' story.

Listen, why can Israel have nuclear weapon and not Iran? Israel has also recently threatened Iran...so what is the differences?

[rh]

Anyone who is unable to see the difference between Israel having nuclear weapons and Iran having nuclear weapons, is unable to distinguish between good and evil.

People have become obsessed with the notions of equality and fairness and put these values above the notions of reason.

The Reason Vs Fairness test.
----------------------------
Please respond yes or no to these questions.

Should policeman and psychopathic criminals have equal rights in carrying firearms ?

Are one man's freedom fighters another man's terrorists ?

Should men and woman have the same number of Ministerial posts in government ?

Should the number of black CEO's in the top 100 companies reflect their proportion of the population ?

Are you against profiling at airports ?

If you answered yes to any one of the questions, you lack reason. If you answered yes to all of them - welcome to supernatural blog Ronnie

[Steve Hayes]

Methinks you are mistaking prejudice for reason.

[Hillel]

Ashkeliberal:

Pick the translation that fits in with your world view, then blame us for doing the same. Nice stroke of logic. Why don't you post the actual words Mr A said, with the exact word for word translation you propose and then let's talk?

In the interim, let's assume that the official Islamic Republic News Agency, who I assume were checked by their own censors, got it right when they quoted it as:
"hegemony of the occupier regime (Israel) had collapsed, and the Lebanese nation pushed the button to begin counting the days until the destruction of the Zionist regime,"
see
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/03/africa/ME-GEN-Iran-Israel.php

Maybe you should do your homework and come with facts instead of half-witted assertions.

As to your dubious moral position on the difference between Israels threats and Iran's threats, what indeed is the difference!?

AshkeLiberal, if you see no difference, then it beggars belief why you care who is pointing at who, and why. Unless of course it's not about morality to you but rather about waiting for that 12th Imam ...

Back to the point. In other words, not only should Police not be allowed to carry weapons lest they hurt criminals, (a point well made above and elaborated upon) but since it makes no difference who is threatening who, then either by your logic both parties need to be "wiped off the map", or neither.

"Israel threatened Iran", that's a clever translated way of saying that Israel intends defending itself against attack. How come the Palestinians have the right to attack Israel to prevent the attacks they cause by attacking Israel, but Israel isn't allowed to "threaten" Iran?

[Hillel]

Prejudice is a nice word, like racism, thrown out to discredit a logical argument in the absence of something rational. Like name calling, it really is sinking low.

Come Steve Hayes, tell us why you believe policemen and criminals have the same right to guns?
Then tell us why it really does a service to mankind to question 90 year old Christian grannies boarding planes (who have a long history of terrorism) and not chaps who identify (at least say in dress) with terrorists?
Now explain why it's fair to give people jobs on the basis of skin colour/gender etc and not merit? (Setting aside for a moment the argument that maybe in limited circumstances to correct something it might be a good idea) Note that suggesting people be given jobs on the basis of irrelevant physical or other attributes is pretty much the problem you're probably suggesting needs to be corrected.

[Brett]

To get back to the actual article - Sa's silence on the matter.
There are only two possibilities.
First: Sa's attitude towards Israel and recently Sa Jews, might be serious but it is nothing more the a passing phase. Perhaps it might get a little worse but it will never get to the point where Jews in SA are actually in danger.
Or
The current trend suggests are pervasive opinion within a large portion of the SA population and an even larger part of its government. Heading in the current direction it will not be long before Jew are targeted, physically, economically and religiously, in SA.
In short, either this will pass or SA is 1930's Germany. I really hope that the the first mis true, but show evidence that it is.

[Hillel]

Brett makes an interesting point. In particular, I would hazard a guess that while the SA Jewish Community is in touch with "word on the street", the streets they're living on are not the same as the majority of the population.

Brett may well be right that the ANC's policy is a harbinger of worse to come. I would however posit (cynically) that their position reflects lazyness and cynical politics rather than a strong political will and drive. I would suggest that the ANC is more focused on retaining power, increasing wealth, their own really, with little concern for anyone elses, and of course maximising their prestige.

The question is, in 10 or 20 years time, IF SA is heading toward a Zimbabwe like situation, will the ANC find it convenient to blame the Jews? There seems little evidence to suggest they won't, on the other hand, SA may never go that way.

Perhaps the Jews who should really concern themselves about 1930's Germany are those sitting comfy in Britain. The British may not be the German's but they don't exactly have a long history of Judeo-philia either.

[Mike]

This crap that Iran only wants regime change and not the destruction of Israel makes me mad. Israel is a democracy and such it has regime change regularly. President A is not interested in say Yossie Beilin as opposed Ehud Olmert being Prime Minister. At best he wants to get rid of the sovereign Jewish government altogether and install an totalitarian Islamist one in its place. At worse a nuclear holocaust.

[Hillel]

Further to Mike's point, Iran has made it clear that they believe the world needs to accept the Hamas government as the popular choice of the people of a democracy.

But Israel doesn't get to choose? Iran know's who is best as Israel's leadership? This is more than a little ironic given their ability to choose the right leadership.

[The Blacklistedictator]

Ronno Einstein has, of course, failed to remind us that Ahmadinejad last year held a holocaust denial conference in Tehran.

This omission should be compared to the recent European Union response. European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pottering said this week that The European Union will stand with Israel against any threat from Iran.

As a German and a European, Pottering said he was "appalled" by speeches out of Iran which have denied the Holocaust. "Anyone who denies the Holocaust, denies humanity," said Pottering.

[Gary]

I have a strong feeling, that at Saturday's hate rally, Kasrils is going to outdo even himself and spew out the most venomous, hateful, inflamatory and shocking statements about Israel, he had done so far!
Brace yourselves!

[THE BLACKLISTEDICTATOR]

I refer to the following extract from http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1180527968249&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull:

"It took an American supporter of Israel, Nobel prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg from the University of Texas, to finally stand up last week and say there were consequences for actions, and business couldn't continue as usual in the face of these boycotts.

Weinberg declined an invitation last week to give a guest lecture at London's Imperial College in July, explaining in a letter to the college that the reason for his decision was the agreement by the National Union of Journalists at its national conference in April to boycott Israeli products.

"I know that some will say that these boycotts are directed only against Israel, rather than generally against Jews," he wrote. "But given the history of the attacks on Israel and the oppressiveness and aggressiveness of other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere, boycotting Israel indicated a moral blindness for which it is hard to find any explanation other than anti-Semitism." "

When one also bears in mind the virulently anti-semitic content of much of the anti-zionist propaganda, perhaps Steven Weinberg has a point?

I include some recent evidence of anti-semitsm from none other than the head of The Palestinian Islamic Council:

Palestinian Islamic Council in Lebanon Head:
"The Prophet of Allah has promised us that the Jews will gather in Palestine, and that the Muslims will fight them, and totally kill them. Even the stone and the tree will say: 'Oh Muslims, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' You might tell me that I am relying on supernatural hadiths. I believe this is not supernatural but is the core of our belief."

http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD160107

[Gary]

Any one willing to hedge bets that Ronno won't use his favourite new phrase ' Insha'Allah ' on Saturday?

[Hillel]

Well Gary, Im Yirtza H'shem he won't, but I'm not about to, chas v'shalom put money on it. Tukka.

[Gary]

Hillel, if ronno is reading this, you are obviously confusing him with words and phrases he has never heard in his life.
And this may get him mixed up in his Arabic lessons.
Kol Hakovod.

The man probabely does not know what the inside of a synagogue looks like.
Maybe the Neturei Karta will arrange for him to visit one of theirs soon.
We have very little to be thankful for in the good old New SA, but the fact that we don't have a Neturei Karta here is something to be happy about!

[Hillel]

Adarabba! (there's some arramaic for Ronnie)There is much to be greatful for in the good old New SA. One must just take the time to notice all the truly wonderful and good things.

At the same time, one needn't however be oblivious to the problems, and one certainly shouldn't fence sit when there are real issues at stake.

Behatzlocha Rabba
H

[Gary]

what ever can be said about the old National Party government, they would never have alligned themselves with murderous terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbullah etc and with evil totalitarian regimes like Syria, Libya, Iran, sudan, Zimbabwe, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and Red China.
The foreign policy of the ANC/SACP does indeeed make me think they are a truly evil bunch.
Their is no other way to describe it.

[Brett]

Isn't it ironic. The ANC and its allies spend so many years fighting the evil of Apartheid and then when they succeed, align themselves with almost every (generally accepted) evil regime in the world today. Thid, in my opinion offers evidence that just because one is fighting an evil, doesn't mean you are automatically good. Perhaps the freedom fighters of the ANC/SACP/PAC were no less evil than the apartheid supporters they were fighting against. Their current behaviour suggests this as a possibility.

[Gary]

Brett wrote:
"Perhaps the freedom fighters of the ANC/SACP/PAC were no less evil than the apartheid supporters they were fighting against".

After 13 years of ANC/SACP rule, I have now come to the conclusion that they are far more evil!

[Immanuel]

Minsta K
is uneasy about his past
the "tainted" Jew inside him
so he tries to make sure
that those who might remind him of it
won't have a future

We have grown used to the libels and insults of Islamists
but the libels and insults of apostates had not been experienced for a while
not since Jews were herded into churches to be force fed sermons by
Jews-turned-Catholic Friar-as their ticket to priviledge and acceptance
today there are no churches
just city halls, government controlled media,
and Ministers using the Freedom of Expression Institute
to force feed us
their inscrutable
and indigestible agendas
no wonder we choke ...

[Gary]

Immanuel, sadly it is not ture that 'but the libels and insults of apostates had not been experienced for a while'.
What Red Ronnie is doing is nothing new, he is simply vomiting up what he learned in the old Soviet Union.
Remember the Yevsektsia.
The greatest tyranny in history-the old Soviet Union- often used Jewish apostates, to persecute their own people and spit venom against Israel.
They were the ones who tried to pressure Soviet Jews to renounce their brethren in Israel, while Ronnie was another cog in the Stalinist machine.
Ronnie is simply a relic of this system, and will land up buried with the remmants of the Satanic Bolshevik ideology.
There is NOTHING more revolting than a Jewish anti-zionist Communist apostate.
Give me a skinhead Neo-Nazi or Islamic suicide bomber over a Jew-Bolshevik anyday.