Dozens of western delegates participating in the UN racism conference in Geneva walked out of the forum as an act of protest during the keynote speech delivered by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The conference had already been badly undermined by a boycott by the United States and some of its major allies over concerns that it would be used as a platform for attacks against Israel.
The delegates rose in unison as the Iranian president began attacking Israel as a racist nation. Ahmadinejad accused Israel of being the “most cruel and racist regime.” In a rambling speech, Ahmadinejad pointed the finger at the United States, Europe and Israel and said they were destabilizing the entire world. The boycott left the Iranian president as the only head of state in attendance, and his speech produced the kind of language that the Western countries and Israel had feared.
Ahmadinejad, who has in the past cast doubt on the Holocaust, accused Israel of occupying Palestinian territories “on the pretext of Jewish suffering”.
Ahmadinejad’s address was first interrupted before it even began, as a French student wearing a colorful clown wig rose from his seat and began yelling at the Iranian president. He was removed from the scene by security personnel. The audience in the hall broke out in applause as he was taken out, and Ahmadinejad asked those present to forgive “these ignorant people.”
