Middle East News

Ahmadinejad's UN speech was anti-Semitic, says Israel

Sep 24, 2009, 7:04 GMT

Jerusalem - Israel Thursday slammed as anti-Semitic Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's address to the UN General Assembly.

Ahmadinejad's 'hatred' once again revealed the danger that Iran posed and the need to stop its nuclear ambitions, Israel's UN ambassador, Gavriela Shalev, told Israel Radio.

Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren charged Ahmadinejad's words revealed 'classic anti-Semitism' and 'exposed the truth to any who still had doubts as to the true nature of the regime in Iran.'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in interviews with Israeli media outlets that he planned to react 'sharply and clearly' to the Iranian leader's anti-Israel policies and remarks in his own address to the General Assembly later Thursday.

'We will not allow a dangerous leader to threaten us with another Holocaust,' he told the Israel Hayom daily.

The Israeli delegation was absent from the hall when Ahmadinejad spoke.