_a.jpg "Photo: Yaron Brener")
Ban Ki-moon slams Ahmadinejad over 'microbe' remark
In meeting with Gillerman, UN secretary-general says Iranian president's recent anti-Israel statement 'intolerable and inexcusable'. Israeli ambassador demands multinational UN force in Lebanon act vigorously to prevent Hizbullah breaches of Resolution 1701
WASHINGTON - Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, met on Wednesday with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to protest Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's labeling of Israel as "a dirty microbe."
Ban called Ahmadinejad's words "intolerable and inexcusable" and vowed he would address the controversial remarks.
During the meeting, which lasted over an hour, the Israeli envoy demanded that the UN officially denounce Ahmadinejad's statement.
"The secretary-general was appalled by the Iranians' remarks, even before hearing Ahmadinejad's most recent statement," Gillerman told Ynet after the meeting.
On Monday the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, referred to Israel as "cancerous bacteria". In a letter of consolation to Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah in the wake of arch-terrorist's Imad Mugniyah's assassination, Jafari said he believed Israel would soon "vanish'.
Gillerman said he had also discussed with Ban the issue of Hizbullah's rearmament in south Lebanon and kidnapped Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
The envoy said he demanded that UNIFIL forces stationed in Lebanon act vigorously to prevent violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War.
The two also discussed the current situation in the Gaza Strip. Gillerman described the unbearable day-to-day lives of Sderot residents while the UN secretary general voiced his concern over a possible humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The Israeli ambassador told Ban intentional terror attacks on children and infants should not be compared to the Israeli efforts to block the rocket attacks emanating from Gaza.
