LA Rabbi: Obama Should Boycott Ahmadinejad Speech At UN
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Southern California rabbi on Tuesday called upon U.S. officials to boycott Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech to the United Nations.
KNX 1070's Margaret Carrero reports Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center said Americans should be concerned both by the content and timing of Ahmadinejad's speech.
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"It's unbelievable that the United Nations provides a platform for a person that violates its own charter," said Hier, who serves as both dean and founder of the Weisenthal Center and the Museum of Tolerance.
Ahmadinejad - who has repeatedly called for the elimination and destruction of the state of Israel - used his first appearance at the U.N. on Monday to denounce the "Zionists" who "Zionists see themselves at a dead end and they want to find an adventure to get out of this dead end".
But Hier said the U.N.'s decision to allow Ahmadinejad to speak on Judaism's high holy day of Yom Kippur defies reason.
"That would be a message heard 'round the world," he added.
"By choosing a date when he can speak without being confronted by concerned citizens - hundreds of thousands of people would have taken to the streets, but tomorrow's the holiest day in Judaism," said Hier. "They're all going to be in their temples."
Hier has urged President Obama to lead a U.S.-led boycott of the speech.
