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Mr. President,
The Iranian theocracy has
presented a resolution that is riddled with hypocrisy. By putting
forward this resolution, Iran seeks to ride the WAVE towards
international legitimacy. But Iran’s aspirations cannot be allowed to
drown out the cries of its people who are victims of a regime that
pretends to be progressive, but is in truth tragically regressive.
Iran
calling for nations to denounce violence and extremism could easily
fill the pages an absurdist fiction. I would suggest that Iranians
borrow a phrase from the London Tube and caution readers of this
resolution to “Mind the Gap” between the document’s aspirations and the
situation in Iran.
Mr. President,
Not long ago the
Washington Post published an article written by Shirin Ebadi, the 2003
Nobel Peace Prize winner. She wrote about Iran’s use of torture, media
censorship, and the persecution of religious minorities.
While
world leaders congratulated themselves on the interim deal reached in
Geneva, Ebadi described the scene in Tehran where (and I quote), “the
lifeless body of a young man hung from a crane in a bleak public
square...spreading fear among Iranians, who suffer the world’s highest
per capita rate of executions.”
Today’s resolution implores
nations to ensure a life free of violence for their people, while fully
respecting their human rights. Yet Iran is one of the world’s worst
human rights abusers. This is a regime that hangs gays, stones women,
imprisons journalists, and executes political opponents.
Mr. President,
Reading
through the document before us, it wasn’t clear to me if I was reading a
UN resolution or President Rouhani’s New Year’s resolution.
After
all, Iran is the world’s primary sponsor of terror responsible for the
murder of thousands of innocent civilians from Bangkok to Burgas and
Buenos Aires. It is also the principal supplier of weapons in the Middle
East, igniting conflicts and inflaming sectarian divides.
Iran
continues to lend its financial, military and political support to
murderous groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. These terrorist organizations
have dispatched hundreds of suicide bombers, planted thousands of
bombs, and fired tens of thousands of missiles on innocent civilians.
Just
this weekend, President Rouhani provided another example of Iranian
hypocrisy, when he tweeted (and I quote): "Countries that provide arms
and training to terrorists have created crisis in the region and will
eventually be caught up in this support for terrorism."
Can you
believe this? When read this at my phone, I thought I was reading pages
from Alice in Wonderland, not Rouhani's twitter feed. It reminded me of a
serial killer lecturing all of us on the sanctity of life.
Mr. President,
Today’s
resolution also calls on nations to recognize one another in a display
of tolerance. Iran demonstrated this so-called ‘tolerance’ last week
when it took the floor in the General Assembly and refused to recognize
Israel, a fellow member state in the UN.
Nonetheless, Israel has
joined the consensus to demonstrate its support for the ideals in this
resolution and for the Iranian people. In doing so, Israel is putting
people before politics in the hope that others will follow our example.
This resolution sets the bar high – now it is up to the international
community to ensure that Iran measures up.
Thank you, Mr. President.