Editorial: Hateful words from Iran’s leader

Saturday, Oct. 29, 2005 | 10 a.m.

Anti-Semitic remarks made this past week by Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, further cemented that country's reputation as an outlaw regime. Ahmadinejad, appearing before 4,000 students at a program dubbed "The World Without Zionism," said Wednesday that Israel's government was "illegitimate" and must be "wiped off the map."

"The establishment of a Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world," Ahmadinejad said. "The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of the war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land."

Ahmadinejad's abhorrent comments were immediately condemned by an overwhelming number of democracies. But Mideast nations were noticeably silent. For example, as the Associated Press reported, Egyptian Foreign Ministry and Cabinet officials said that the government in Cairo wouldn't comment. Interestingly enough, however, Palestinian Authority officials did reject Ahmadinejad's remarks.

"We have recognized the state of Israel and we are pursuing a peace process with Israel, and ... we do not accept the statements of the president of Iran," Palestinian negotiator Seab Erekat told the Associated Press. "This is unacceptable."

As long as so many Mideast countries continue to refuse to condemn others that wish to exterminate Israel, and as long as these countries continue to resist true democratization, they will not be taken seriously by the American public and free people elsewhere. Indeed, these Mideast nations will be seen as nothing more than corrupt regimes that aren't truly interested in finding peace in their part of the world.