US Congress
Photo: AFP
Ahmadinejad - inciting genocide?
Photo: AFP
US Congress: Charge Ahmadinejad for inciting genocide
House of Representatives passes resolution calling on UN Security Council to punish Iranian president for statements made regarding destruction of Israel
WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives passed a resolution calling on the UN Security Council to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating international laws pertaining to genocide by calling for the destruction of Israel.
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Written after the Holocaust, the UN Genocide Convention defines the act of genocide as, among other things, the act of killing members of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the targeted group.
It also however prohibits conspiracy to commit genocide, as well as "direct and public incitement to commit genocide." A majority of 411 members of congress voted in favor of taking Ahmadinejad's to court for his statements, agreeing that they fell under the prohibited actions detailed in the UN's Genocide Convention. Two representatives voted against calling on the UN to take such action.
Article 4 of the Genocide Convention states that anyone found to have committed any of the listed genocidal crimes shall be punished whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals."
As a Member State, says the House resolution, Iran is signatory to the United Nations Charter which specifies in Article 2, Section 4 that all Member States must "refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."
The resolution then quotes the statements made by Ahmadinejad on October 27, 2005, in which he called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," described Israel as "a disgraceful blot (on) the face of the Islamic world," and declared that "anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury."
On August 3, 2006 the Iranian president said that the Middle East would be better off "without the existence of the Zionist regime." He also called Israel an "illegitimate regime" with "no legal basis for its existence."
During the Iranian-organized conference questioning the Holocaust on December 12, 2006 Ahmadinejad told the assembled audience that Israel would "soon be wiped out."
The House resolution also noted the financial and training support Iran openly provides organizations like Hamas, Hizbullah and Islamic Jihad, among others – all terror organizations whose charters call for the destruction of Israel.
The resolution condemns Ahmadinejad's statements, calls on the UN to charge him and consider measures to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and "reaffirms the unwavering strategic partnership between the United States and Israel and reasserts the steadfast commitment of the United States to defend the right of Israel to exist as a free and democratic state."
