Jewish Civil Rights Group Warns Columbia About Entertaining Ahmadinejad… Again!

Shurat HaDin — the Israel Law Center that has led several successful lawsuits by victims against perpetrators of terror and their enablers — has again risen to the victim’s defense by issuing a warning to Columbia’s president. From the Center’s press release:

Jewish civil rights group Shurat HaDin — Israel Law Center — has sent a warning letter to Columbia University President Lee Bollinger advising him that Columbia’s plan to host a banquet for visiting Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad runs afoul of U.S. anti-terror laws and will subject the university and its officials to both criminal prosecution and civil liability to victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism in Israel or elsewhere. The letter explains that Iran has been designated as a state sponsor of terrorism by the United States (22 U.S.C 2656f) and that the provision of any support by U.S. persons, including the planned banquet for Ahmadinejad, is considered unlawful provision of aid to the outlawed regime. The Law Center stated that victims of Iranian terrorism will file civil actions and hold Columbia liable for their injuries.

From the letter signed by New York attorney Robert Tolchin and Shurat HaDin director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner:


Hosting Ahmadinejad at a banquet is not merely morally repulsive: it is illegal and likely to render Columbia University and its officers both criminally and civilly liable. Iran is official designated under U.S. law as a state sponsor of terrorism, as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and as a perpetrator of human rights abuses. Ahmadinejad is Iran’s chief executive and personally directs Iran’s terrorist and nuclear proliferation activities and human rights abuse ….

While for Columbia University and certain of its officers hosting Ahmadinejad at a banquet might appear to be nothing more than a harmless Radical Chic parlor game such conduct is in fact very serious business that can and will have severe, real-world criminal and civil consequences for Columbia and its officers.

Ahmadinejad will be in New York next week to address the UN General Assembly for Durban III — the so-called “World Conference Against Racism.” The parentheses are deliberate, since the international body’s Durban I and II conferences were actually fiestas of racism — featuring virtual non-stop anti-Semitism and demonization of Israel.

PajamasMedia

Dining With The Devil: Columbia Students to Dine With Ahmadinejad

A group of Columbia University students is expected to attend an upcoming private dinner with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who will be in New York City in September for the United Nations General Assembly, The Columbia Spectator reported.

Fifteen members of the Columbia International Relations Council and Association (CIRCA) were invited to the Sept. 21 event in Manhattan, the newspaper said. The students will dine and speak with Ahmadinejad and Columbia President Lee Bollinger, who introduced the Iranian leader as "a petty and cruel dictator" when he spoke on campus in 2007.

At the same 2007 event, Ahmadinejad lambasted Bollinger for what he called the "insults" and "unfriendly treatment" he endured from his host.

CIRCA Vice President Tim Chan said so far he has not heard any concerns from the group about the upcoming dinner, the Spectator reported. "Everyone was really enthusiastic," he said.

The controversial Iranian leader has called for the destruction of Israel and questioned whether the Holocaust ever happened. On Sunday, the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Ahmadinejad said the United States planned the attack as an excuse to launch wars on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Columbia University and Bollinger were criticized for hosting Ahmadinejad at the 2007 forum, where the Iranian president again cast doubt on the Holocaust and questioned whether al Qaeda was to blame for the 9/11 attacks. He also dismissed accusations that Tehran executed homosexuals, saying there were no gay people in his country.

Bollinger defended his decision to invite Ahmadinejad to campus in 2007, saying in a statement "Columbia, as a community dedicated to learning and scholarship, is committed to confronting ideas."

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