exerpt: Third, the notion conveyed by Columbia President Lee Bollinger that this is an opportunity to challenge Ahmadinejad on a host of controversial subjects is naive. Anyone who thinks this will be a productive exercise, either to further expose the hatred of the Iranian president or to get him to alter his views, is engaged in wishful thinking. His public statements and media interviews, such as on 60 Minutes, make clear that he is a master at avoiding the question or turning it on the questioner.
Abraham H. Foxman is national director of the Anti-Defamation League and author of The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control
Iran hanged up to 30 people this past July and August during a widely reported suppression of efforts to establish a more democratic society. Many of these executions were carried out in public view, a violation of the international covenant of civil and political rights to which Iran is a party.