White House Urged to Keep Former Iranian President Out of USA

CNSNews ^ | August 29, 2006 | Susan Jones

[Diana in Wisconsin]

A Jewish advocacy group is urging the Bush administration to deny a visa to former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who has lecture dates in New York and Washington next week.

In a letter to President Bush, Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said allowing Khatami to enter the United States rewards the Iranian leadership for their "policy of confrontation and hated towards the United States and her allies."

Khatami has been invited to speak at a U.N. conference in New York. After that, on Sept. 7, he's scheduled to discuss the role of Christians, Muslims and Jews in the peace process at Washington's National Cathedral, as part of the Cathedral's Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation -- an effort to "promote justice and reconciliation throughout the Anglican Communion and across the world," the website says.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations announced last week that Khatami would be the featured speaker at another gathering in suburban Washington on Friday, Sept. 8, when he will discuss "The Dialogue of Civilizations: Five Years After 9/11."

The Wiesenthal Center noted that Khatami is "widely seen as a moderate and a reformer," but according to the Wiesenthal Center, Khatami's own words contradict that notion.

In February 2005, Khatami said there was no difference between President Bush and Osama bin Laden, Rabbi Hier said. The rabbi also noted that Khatami has called Israel "a parasite in the heart of the Muslim world."

"Those are not the words of a moderate," Hier wrote in his letter to President Bush.

Khatami "has been invited to speak on his 'Dialogue of Civilizations' initiative and on his views of the role of the three Abrahamic faiths," wrote Hier. "Yet, as far as the Jewish people are concerned, he has always denied the validity and centrality of Israel to Judaism, a fact embraced by the overwhelming majority of world Jewry. So with whom is he dialoguing?" Hier asked.

The Wiesenthal Center has launched on online petition urging the State Department to revoke Khatami's visa, which apparently has been approved -- but not yet issued.

For it part, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has criticized America's "one-sided support for Israel" as a liability in the war on terror.

"It has turned much of the world, including our European allies against us," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad at Monday's panel discussion on the "Israel lobby."

CAIR said its polling indicates that nearly two-thirds of those surveyed favor "American neutrality or disengagement from the Middle East conflict."

"American's Middle East policy should be based on our nation's interests, not on those of a powerful domestic lobby for a foreign government," Awad said.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Oh, Brother!

[BigSkyFreeper]

Oh, brother is right. And Ahmadinejad wants to debate President Bush.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

arrest the bass turd for his activities in '79-'81....kidnapping and torture of American Citizens from sovereign American territory - our Embassy in Teheran.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

"And Ahmadinejad wants to debate President Bush."

I saw that on another thread. I say we let him debate 'The Beast' as a publicity stunt. Her "Nails on a Chalkboard" voice might act upon him as Slim Whitman's singing did in "Mars Attacks!" Acck! Acck! ;)

[ladyinred]

If it were Clinton he could spend the night in the Lincoln bedroom. (for a fee you understand)

[Safetgiver]

Khatami has been invited to speak at a U.N. conference in New York.......Lord, what is in our midst?

[pollyannaish]

I'm glad I don't know. But some people do, including the President. You can see it on his face recently.

[gotribe]

Welcome him with open arms. Then crush him.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

"Welcome him with open arms. Then crush him."

So what you're really saying is:

"What is best in life?"

Conan: "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women."

I can totally live with that. :)

[piasa]

"American's Middle East policy should be based on our nation's interests, not on those of a powerful domestic lobby for a foreign government," Awad said.

Um, Awad baby... CAIR is a powerful domestic lobby for a foreign terrorist group backed by foreign governments and you don't seem to have a problem with that.

[piasa]

..."It has turned much of the world, including our European allies against us," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad at Monday's panel discussion on the "Israel lobby."

* Nihad Awad :  Executive Director of CAIR ; Former  public relations director  for the  Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP) A palestinian born in Jordan and now a U.S. Citizen.
" I am in support of the Hamas movement." ---------Nihad Awad
12 posted on 07/06/2003 7:01:25 AM PDT by joesnuffy

At CAIR’s inception, in June of 1994, the group received $5,000 from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) to open up a headquarters in Washington, D.C., CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad, who has professed his support for Hamas, called the $5,000 a “modest donation.” The HLF, whose Chairman, Ghassan Elashi, was also a founding board member of CAIR’s Texas chapter, was shut down by the United States for financing Hamas. The FBI called HLF “Hamas’ largest fundraising entity in the U.S.” ------ "Conversations with a Terrorist," by Joe Kaufman, FrontPageMagazine.com, 6/08/04

[gotribe]

LOL

[Jet Jaguar]

Bump