John Bolton, the outgoing US ambassador to the United Nations, will be joining the call to bring charges against Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad for inciting genocide. The idea of charging Ahmadi-Nejad arises on the heels of the Iranian Holocaust conference, which has been drawing huge complaints internationally. A study produced by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists concluded that the President of Iran was promoting a campaign of hate against Israel and the Jewish people.
A series of remarks by Mr Ahmadi-Nejad, including one in which he reportedly questioned whether Zionists were human beings, “constitute direct and public incitement to genocide”, the study alleges. While reminiscent of incitement before the Rwanda genocide, “the critical difference is that while the Hutus in Rwanda were equipped with machetes, Iran, should the international community do nothing to prevent it, will soon acquire nuclear weapons,” it says.
Even as the Iranian Mission to the UN countered that the international court should be looking at the genocide of Palestinian people by the Israeli government, the lack of movement to “prevent” a genocide from occurring in parts of the world where “vulnerable populations [can’t] defend themselves” continues to be an enduring problem.