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| Nethanyahu urges genocide trial for Ahmadinejad the Nutjob |
| 2007-01-26 |
| Former Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu demanded Thursday that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad be summoned to a genocide trial before he can unleash nuclear weapons to "wipe out" Israel. Netanyahu said Ahmadinejad was a threat not just to Jews but to Iranians, surrounding Muslim states and the wider world and needed to be stopped before he acquired the nuclear bombs to carry out his "mad conception". The former Israeli prime minister was in London as part of efforts to raise global support to indict Ahmadinejad for inciting genocide in violation of international law. Ahmadinejad has stated his goal is to wipe Israel off the map and the United States believes he harbours plans to develop a nuclear arsenal. Israeli opposition leader Netanyahu said Ahmadinejad had violated a 1948 convention outlawing the incitement to commit genocide. "While he is denying the Holocaust, he is preparing a new holocaust," he told reporters in Portcullis House, part of the offices of the Houses of Parliament. He said he did not have illusions of Ahmadinejad turning up in the International Criminal Court but said the move was part of what should be a string of measures "to create a tide of moral and political opposition". The right-wing Likud party leader said engaging Tehran in talks "when you should be squeezing them would be a mistake" and often compared the Iranian regime to Nazi Germany. Citing estimates from Israel's domestic intelligence agency Mossad, he said Iran could acquire a nuclear bomb within three years. "We have 1,000 days -- and this day has just gone," he said. Netanyahu left the door open for Israel to take unilateral action against Iran, but only after diplomacy and eventual economic sanctions are given "a chance." "I think those have to be tried before stiffer action is required," he said. |
| Posted by:3dc |