This past week, snuggled in the mountains of Switzerland, a meeting took place to which most Americans are oblivious. The U.N. World Conference Against Racism known as Durban II, kicked off with a bang as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched a racist tirade against Israel.
As soon as he began his insulting diatribe against Jews, some 40 countries got up and walked out on him. But that didn’t seem to matter to him as I believe that and more was his purposeful intent. And that’s why the civilized world just doesn’t “get it.”
When Ahmadinejad stood before the VIP’s of the world, his goal was well defined to those that understand and relate to his viewpoint. To the rest of the world, he’s a nut that should just be dismissed as such.
However, in a recent interview to Germany’s Der Spiegel, he revealed his belief that the majority of Germans hate Israel as much as he does. He believes that behind closed doors most would like to see Israel eliminated. He also believes the same sentiment exists across Europe. With the rise if anti-Semitism and the spread of Islam that is spreading across Europe, Ahmadinejad has taken a page from Hitler’s play book “Mein Kampf.”
Historians speculate that the main reason the world sat back and did nothing during the years when Hitler rose to power was simple disbelief. They believed his threats to be political posturing; seeds of ideology that would never be accepted by “civilized” people.
The question is often asked, why didn't the Jews of Eastern Europe do more to escape the Holocaust? There were no doubt lots of good reasons, but the most powerful was once again—disbelief. Historical documents show that Hitler fully disclosed his intent, yet most outside of Germany gave him little chance for carrying out these “silly notions.” In other words, they just didn’t get it!
Two generations have passed and now another has come on the world scene spouting the same ideals. Leaders of the free world dismiss the threats of Ahmadinejad as the ramblings of a paranoid leader that can’t possibly threaten the framework of the superpowers of the world. They fail to understand that his weapons are on two fronts.
One front is Iran’s rapid move in developing nuclear weapons. The superpowers dismiss it saying that he can’t threaten them [though Israel sees it differently] – but that is not the real issue. Ahmadinejad wants nuclear weapons for something much bigger than the ability to destroy Israel—his life mission is to initiate end-times conflict between Dar al Islam [the Zone of Islam] and Dar al Haran [the Zone of War], and hasten the return of the Islamic messiah [more on that next week].
The second front of his attack is the rhetoric that continues to stir up hatred against Jews across the globe. History has shown that words are usually more powerful than any man-made weapon. Words are the reason someone will strap themselves with a bomb and walk into a café and destroy the lives of innocent people.
“Seventy-three years after the Berlin Olympiad, yesterday the world saw the return of Adolf Hitler”, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said Tuesday after Ahmadinejad's speech. “This time he is bearded and he talks Persian. But the words are the same words, the goals the same goals and the resolve to use effective means to achieve them is the same threatening resolve.”
It is clear that Israel understands it—I just wonder if the rest of the world “will get it”!

