By UN Watch ——Bio and Archives--August 5, 2013
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His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon The Secretary-General The United Nations New York, NY 10017 Via Fax August 5, 2013 Dear Mr. Secretary-General, United Nations Watch expresses its outrage at the latest incitement to hatred by the leaders of Iran. We urge you, together with High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, to condemn these gross violations of the United Nations Charter and of core UN declarations against racism and intolerance.
We call your attention to the following incidents from Friday, 2 August, in connection with "Al Quds Day," a festival of hate created by the late Ayatollah Khomeini:These are not statements by marginal and unknown figures, but televised speeches by senior figures inciting to religious hatred-and specifically to the elimination of a United Nations member state, an illegal threat under international law. As you know, the UN Charter obliges all member states to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. We urge you to speak out. Sincerely, Hillel Neuer Executive Director
- The Islamic Republic of Iran organized mass rallies and religious sermons that spewed vitriolic hatred, with state television showing hundreds of thousands marching across the country to chants of "Death to Israel" and "Death to America." (Al Jazeera, 2 August 2013)
- Outgoing president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad-invoking "God as my witness" -told a mass crowd that a storm would "uproot" Israel, and that the Jewish state "has no place in this region." (Agence France Presse, August 3)
- Then President-elect Hassan Rouhani described Israel as "a sore" that "has afflicted the body of the Islamic world for many years." (BBC, 5 August 2013)
- In Beirut, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Iranian proxy Hezbollah-which is part of the Lebanese government-called Israel a "cancerous gland" that needed to be "excised." He was greeted with ecstatic cheers from the audience. (Lebanon Daily Star, 2 August 2013)
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UN Watch is a Geneva-based human rights organization founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI).