The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) applauds and strongly supports the call made by Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for the State Department to deny a visa to Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, due to his repeated calls for the destruction of Israel, allied to an Iranian policy of violating its obligations under the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) by seeking to obtain nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad is due to address the United Nations.

Senator Barrasso said:

“Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice should deny the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, entry to the United States. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I am asking Miss Rice to ban Mr. Ahmadinejad, a major sponsor of fundamentalist Islam and an enemy of the United States, from entering our country …

For Mr. Ahmadinejad to enter the United States, the administration is required to waive section 212(a)3(b) of the Immigration and Naturalization Act. The act stipulates that individuals with terrorist ties not be granted visas to enter the United States …

The facts are undeniable. Mr. Ahmadinejad is a stated enemy of the United States and other democratic nations that value liberty and freedom. Iran‘s leaders continue to pursue development and acquisition of nuclear weapon capabilities. They continue to support terrorist organizations around the world and facilitate the training of insurgents in Iraq. Iran has called for destruction of the democratic state of Israel. These actions illustrate Iran‘s overly hostile intentions. As a result of these and other outrages, the United States has not had diplomatic relations with Iran for nearly 30 years.

There is a precedent. The Reagan administration denied Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat a visa to participate at the U.N. General Assembly in 1988 based on his connections to terrorism. The State Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism 2007 designates Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism. This designation is due largely to the Iranian military’s support of terrorist organizations. Mr. Ahmadinejad’s refusal to prohibit Iran‘s military from supporting terrorists makes him a willing accomplice.

Iran claims its nuclear programs are intended for civilian use. Iran‘s unwillingness to comply with international safeguards and inspections results in a loss of credibility with regard to nuclear technology. Mr. Ahmadinejad’s bellicose threats toward the United States and Israel graphically demonstrate that Iran‘s nuclear program is not intended for civilian use.

The United Nations has imposed limited and largely meaningless sanctions against this totalitarian regime. The world body has attempted to rein in Iran for its support of terrorism. Yet it intends to provide the Iranian leader with a pulpit to espouse his brand of Islamic fundamentalism.

Mr. Ahmadinejad knows he needn’t compromise his views in order to address the United Nations. The extremist leader will continue to thumb his nose at the global community and shrug off concerns regarding his nuclear intentions. He knows he can threaten the security of the United States and still receive his U.N. invitation to New York – an invitation that will allow him to spread his message of hate on the world stage.

It is unfortunate that the United Nations allows Iran to participate in the General Assembly while Iran‘s leaders are openly working in support of global terrorism. The U.N. can be a place for negotiation and an avenue for giving all nations a voice. However, it should not serve to legitimize state supporters of terrorism and their violent methods.

The men and women of the U.S. military are fighting against the extremist terrorist organizations that President Ahmadinejad protects and supports. The United States should not grant Iran‘s president a visa to enter our country. I call on Secretary Rice to stand firm and deny the hatemongering Iranian president the international legitimacy he so craves (‘Bar Ahmadinejad,’ Washington Times, September 14, 2008).

The U.N. Charter states regarding the Purposes of the United Nations:

·        Article 1.1: To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace.”

• “Article 2.1: The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.”


• “Article 2.4: All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”


• “Article 6: A Member of the United Nations which has persistently violated the Principles contained in the present Charter may be expelled from the Organization by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.”


• “Article 99: The Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “We welcome and echo Senator Barrasso’s moral clarity in calling for Ahmadinejad’s exclusion from the U.S. President Ahmadinejad’s frequent calls for obliteration of Israel and declaration that anyone who makes peace with her is damned are too numerous to require reiteration here.

“Not only should Ahmadinejad be barred from U.S. shores, but there is a serious case to be made that Iran should be expelled from the U.N. on account of its leadership having called for the wiping out of a U.N. member state. As the excerpts from the U.N. Charter reproduced above clearly show, such a call is completely at variance with the purposes and requirements of the U.N. Charter and Iran‘s obligations as a member state and signatory of the Charter. In fact, it would be hard to imagine any declaration of policy by any U.N. member that more completely flouts the spirit and letter of the Charter. A country that makes these statements should have no place in the U.N. and, at the very least, the U.S. should bar a leader like Ahmadinejad from entering America.”