August 24, 2012
Toronto, ON – The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) joined with numerous others, including the World Jewish Congress, in expressing its profound disappointment that United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Iran next week and urges him to withdraw. CIJA is especially gratified to note that Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird conveyed a similar message to the UN Secretary-General in a formal letter earlier this week.
“The Secretary-General should be distancing himself and the UN from this travesty. In addition to its illegal nuclear program, the Iranian regime continues to rank amongst the world’s worst human rights abusers. In Iran, Christians are regularly imprisoned, women are executed by stoning for ‘adultery’ and gay citizens are publicly hanged. Iran is also one of the leading state sponsors of international terrorism and is directly involved in the ongoing violence and oppression in Syria,” said Shimon Fogel, CEO of The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
“Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who openly denies the Holocaust, has called for the destruction of Israel – a UN member state – no less than three times in the past month alone. To protect the integrity of the United Nations, the Secretary-General should refuse to attend this summit and instead, reaffirm the international community’s call for an end to Iran’s ongoing human rights abuses and the regime’s dangerous drive towards nuclear weapons capability,” said Fogel.