Last week, the impotence of the world Jewish community was on display for all to see. For all the talk of how the Jews control the media, the banks, and the US government, a man whose declared intention it is to wipe Israel off the map was treated as an international dignitary in the city that contains more Jews in it than any other on earth.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran not only spoke at the UN from the same podium and just a few hours after the leader of the free world, but was even invited to the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations to hold forth as a visiting statesman. So now the world Jewish community must contend with the sad truth that 60 years after the Holocaust, a man can declare himself the new exterminator of the Jews and still be treated with respect.

As I watched the Ahmadinejad media circus fly through town — his face adorning the cover of Time magazine, his soft-glove interview with Brian Williams of NBC news, The New York Times’ front-page coverage of his cool demeanour at the Council on Foreign Relations — I could not help but wonder whether a grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan whose declared intention it was to wipe out all traces of black life from the US might similarly be feted as a bona fide leader. I watched Ahmadinejad’s skilled retorts to his various interviewers. He was on his guard never to lose his cool. His purpose was not to change or

moderate his views, but rather to demonstrate their rationality. — Beliefnet.com