'He said the government had dropped the bid because of the complexity of the issues involved and the high legal threshold required to bring forward a case.' In other words: there is no case to answer.

I wonder what Australia expected to get back from the jews! May be the price was not worth it and the whole issue was dropped.

It was a bit naive of the government to start the process anyway - but there are some people in this world who actually take the threat of Iran at its word very seriously.

...at least Smith's feelings are out in the open. I wish those who claim to be supporters who truly are not would just say it already. Smith says "Ahmaninejad's comments are appalling by any standard" yet his (Smith) lack of humanity prevents his very own humanity. No different now than during the time of incitement prior to Jews being sent to their death... The world sits and does nothing. Bush even refused to sell Israel long range aircraft for heaven sakes yet everyone classifies Bush as a compassionate friend of Israel. Bush did nothing to insist Abbas change their Fatah charter calling for the end of Israel. He did nothing about the Fatah Abbas santioned widespread poster which shows all of Israel as Palestine next to Arafat and a gun. He went back on his campaign promise to move the American embassy to the rightful capital of Israel while every country in the world who has relations with the US has an American embassy in their capital city. So in all respect how can we be surprised Australia chickened out. Germany sells gas to Iran right out in the open after all. Now we hear rumblings Bush is lifting sanctions on Syria. The world cares not. Period. Oh well. I could go on and on but why?

....they realized that properly translated, Ahmadinejad didn't actually say Israel should be wiped off the map and if they proceeded with the case, it would vindicate Ahmadinejad. the conclusion they came to was that it is better not pursue the case and case and have people go on with their lives thinking that is in fact what he said....

And more to do with the futility of the very first decision that was made.What Ahmednejad meant and how the press twisted the same was fully demonstrated when the Iranian President was in New York.

The way the Muslim world is treated has everything to do with oil and your violent reactions to the smallest provocations. It never has anything to do with justice as you might think. I don't fault Australia in fact I'm surprised they even considered a case against Ahmadinijad. Iran blew up a Jewish center in Buenos Aires and I imagine the Australians don't want to invite such troubles to their country. Look at what they already go through with the Lebanese.

Western media will give you plenty against Iran>i have lost track of accusations rendered against Iran so far since the Islamic Revolution but one thing is for certain.All accusations are based on either pro-Iranian elements or anything which helps ordinary reader feels nearer to Iran.However,for your record,not a single Iranian has so far been been caught for act of terrorism.Fetch as many incidents as you can and read the conclusions.Vested interest have to fabricate and implement some acts of this nature to keep us readers in the dark and point fingers at countries like Iran.If they dont do it,their own citizens tend to wonder why such huge amounts are allocated to military and covert operations.You just happen to have live example in your own country.Happy recovery!

mahmood, with all due respect, i beg to differ with your statement. iran owns hizbullah, finances hizbullah and hamas and trains their terrorists. many of these terrorists trained and financed by iran would have never been able to act had they not been pumped with money and arms from iran. so, yes, iranians were never caught (although many revolutionary guards were caught by usa troops in iraq during their terror reign), but it is still not true that they are not a terror sponsoring state. iran wants to keep her hands clean and have the world not point fingers at it. but, in fact, they employ proxies as terrorists who have done much damage not only to israel, but to iraq, to france, argentina, britain, etc... just because you do not send in iranians to do the terror jobs, but send it arabs whom you train and supply doesn't vindicate iran from terrorist activities in the middle east, in europe and in south america.

in the case of Buenos Aires came from a corrupt Argentinian official who knew of the plot in advanced and lated named Iranian offiicials complicit in the murders. These Iranian officials refuse to cooperate with the Argentinians because they know they are guilty.

As an Australian, I would just like to say that Rudd really has no idea what's going on, and we are a small country, so it would be really crazy and kind of make us look foolish if he carried it out. He's only been in the job for less than a year and he's a terrible pm!

Only idiots elect a prime minister like that.

"As well, we determined to avoid pursuing a case which would give further profile to these obscene remarks," Smith said in a statement. He's right. Ahmadinejad thrives on this type of attention. Economic sanctions and isolation send a clearer message. Treat Iran like a pariah state.