Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon led a Canadian walkout as Iran's president began speaking to the United Nations Wednesday night, a boycott that was followed by diplomats from the United States and other countries. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad then launched into a tirade against the United States, Israel, and Jews.
The government signalled earlier in the day that they planned the walkout to protest the Iranian leader's past attacks on Israel and denial of the Holocaust, as well as his regime's disregard for human rights.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday the boycott was justified by Mr. Ahmadinejad's “disgraceful, insulting declarations.”
“…There is no way I'm going to permit any official of the government of Canada to be present and give any legitimacy to remarks by a leader like that,” Mr. Harper told reporters in Oakville, Ont.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, his minister of state Peter Kent and another member of the Canadian delegation walk out of the United Nations General Assembly as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad takes the podium on on Sept. 23, 2009.
The United States had said its delegation wouldn't walk out, but leave only lower-level diplomats in the room. But as Mr. Ahmadinejad spoke, the U.S. diplomats left their seats to protest against what they called “hateful, offensive, and anti-Semitic rhetoric.”
Diplomats from several other countries also exited the UN's general assembly, leaving a large portion of the chamber's seats empty.
In an attack on Jews around the world in last night's speech, Mr. Ahmadinejad said “it is unacceptable that a small minority should dominate the politics, economy, and culture of vast parts of the world through a complicated network and establish a new form of slavery…”
Mr. Ahmadinejad's speech had been delayed till the evening because of Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi's lengthy, rambling tirade in the morning, but a few hours before the Iranian President took to the podium, Mr. Cannon said the walkout was necessary because of the Iranian President's disregard for human rights, his violation of UN Security Council resolutions on nuclear non-proliferation, his anti-Semitic attacks and his “erratic behaviour in terms of denying the Holocaust.”
