Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today made headlines once more, when he referred to Israel as a “racist state” during a address at United Nations conference on racism in Geneva, Switzerland. Delegates from several European nations walked out of the conference in protest at Ahmadinejad's remark.
Jomhour has published the following video showing the diplomats’ departure:
Commentators have drawn parallels between this incident and the speech the Iranian president gave at Columbia University in New York in 2007.
Ghommar says Iranians have once again been humiliated in front of the world community their president. He writes [fa]:
رئیس‌جمهوری که در کشورش هر روزه شاهد نقض گسترده‌ی حقوق‌بشر هستیم …زنان از کوچک‌ترین حقوق انسانی که لباس پوشیدن است محروم هستند و در زندان‌های آن پر از زندانبان عقیدتی و سیاسی است..، خیلی خنده‌دار و تلخ است که در سازمان ملل از نژادپرستی و نقض حقوق‌بشر در کشورهای دیگر حرفی بزند
Zarehbin says [fa] the scene where different delegates left the conference shows how much we are hated in the world. “What a poor nation we are that this bum [Ahmadinejad] is our president…while a regime repressed Bahai's and others in Iran how can support Palestanians’ rights.”