MESHUGA RABBIS MEET MAHMOUD
By HASANI GITTENS and CLEMENTE LISI
New York Post Online Edition
September 22, 2006 -- Oy vey!Iran's firebrand president met face-to-face yesterday in Midtown with another group of Israel-bashers - about a dozen rabbis.
Holocaust-denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ripped into Israel at the Intercontinental Hotel, garnering praise from a group of Orthodox rabbis who believe Israel's creation violates God's will, WCBS/Channel 2 reported.
"They have no respect for the lives and dignity of the Jews," Ahmadinejad said through a translator. "If they could, they would destroy 6 billion people in the world."
Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, made a chilling prediction about the country's future to the rabbis sitting across from him.
"But their time is ending - God willing," he told the rabbis, who belong to a Brooklyn-based group called "Jews Against Zionism."
Meanwhile, a day after inviting Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia University, school officials canceled the engagement because of "logistics."
Ahmadinejad would have been speaking today, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish new year.
"This time of year, a number of world leaders do come to speak on campus on short notice," Columbia's director of communications told the school's newspaper, "The Spectator."
"It's not unprecedented but, obviously, the scale of the security and logistical issues of this situation would have been much larger than normal."
There were rumors around campus that Jewish student groups were going to stage a large demonstration over Ahmadinejad's speech.
University President Lee Bollinger said he was offended by Ahmadinejad's views but respected Dean Lisa Anderson's right to invite him.
"I find President Ahmadinejad's stated beliefs to be repugnant, a view that I'm sure is widely shared within the university community," Bollinger said in a statement before the speech was canceled.
At the United Nations yesterday, Ahmadinejad told reporters he loves Jews, but hates Zionists.
"We love everyone around the world. Jews, Christians, Muslims, non-Muslims, non-Jews, non-Christians - we have no problem with people," Ahmadinejad said. "Zionists are Zionists - period. They are not Jews, they are not Christians, and they are not Muslims. They are a power group, a power party, and we oppose the oppression and the aggression that any party that seeks pure raw power goes after."
Ahmadinejad also said his country was working within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"The bottom line is we do not need a bomb," he said.
The nations seeking to halt Iran's nuclear activities are working out a new deadline for the Islamic republic and have authorized the European Union's foreign-policy chief to go anywhere at any time to meet Tehran's top nuclear negotiator.
Ahmadinejad said he believed negotiations on the issue were "on the right track."
"Our position on suspension is very clear," Ahmadinejad said. "Under fair and just conditions . . . we will negotiate about it." With Post Wire Services
hasani.gittens@nypost.com
To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor, Metro Desk Contact: Neturei Karta International, 914-262-8342 News Advisory: Neturei Karta International, a world wide organization of Orthodox Jews opposed to Zionism has officially extended her hand, together with many believing Jews, to the Iranian President Ahmadinejad, upon his historic visit to the United States. The respectful display of friendship brings peace, harmony, respect and trust. It is the sincere hope of Torah true Jews, with the help of the Almighty, that this expression of peace will counter the provocations of the Zionist organizations. The motes operandi of Zionism and its organizations, is the cause of animosity and mistrust, which can only bring catastrophic results, endangering Jews and non-Jews alike, in Palestine, the U.S.A. and around the world. Despite media and Zionist hysteria to the contrary, the Iranian President has always been a dear friend of the Jewish people and has profound respect for the Jewish religion. Unfortunately, many people have been led to believe that a rejection of Zionism equals a dislike of Judaism and Jews. Nothing could be further from the truth. Zionism denies many basic beliefs of the Jewish faith and has endangered Jews with its aggressions towards Palestinians and others. By proclaiming that Judaism and Zionism have nothing in common, the Iranian President has actually helped lessen anti-Jewish sentiments throughout the Islamic world. This is in keeping with his policy towards the Jews of Iran who have enjoyed his respect and protection as well as that of the Iranian people in general over the years. This is an undeniable fact and one that our group's Rabbinic leaders have repeatedly witnessed on their many trips to Iran. The President's desire to see Palestine returned to the Palestinian people is far from being a call to harm Jews and is actually the real Torah based formula for peace in the Middle East. Surely, the Zionist solution of endless war has failed miserably. Isn't it time we began to give serious consideration to the reasoned words of the President? His view is not only logically compelling, but it also coincides with the universal view of Torah teachers of the previous generation, namely, that the state of "Israel" violates our faith and is a recipe for disaster for all concerned. Anti-Zionist, Orthodox Jews, will be staging a counter protest outside the United Nations, in order to refute the cruel lies being offered in place of facts, by some misguided organizations, in the Jewish community. Likewise, it will help to reaffirm the respect of the Jewish people for President Ahmadinejad and the mutual good feelings which they share. The Torah abiding Jewish people sincerely hope, that this and similar actions will bring world peace -– from the U.S.A. to Palestine and from New York to Tehran. Amen. WHERE:Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, Second Avenue and 47th Street in Manhattan WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 20 at 12:30 p.m. -0- /© 2006 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/NETUREI KARTA PRESS RELEASE