Daniel Lubetzky

So Columbia University in its infinite wisdom has deemed it appropriate to invite Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at its campus.  Never mind this man has denied the holocaust, and gone on record stating that he would not mind if half of Iran was destroyed if on the way this enabled him to wipe Israel off the map.  Never mind that this man is feverishly pursuing nuclear weapons. Never mind that he is intent on undermining Iraqi reconciliation efforts or Arab-Israeli peace. Never mind that he is a messianic apocalyptic and fatalistic believer that accelerating the coming of the 12th Imam can be brought about through Armageddon. Columbia will give him the stage, confusing freedom of speech with good judgment. 

Freedom of Speech is a vital strength of our American system, one I would fight for any time.  Freedom of speech means you should not stop anyone from the liberty to express themselves.  But it should not mean giving the megaphone to evil bigots.  There is nothing sensible about this dumb decision.

That said, if I can make it there, I will want to ask Ahmadinejad:

How come every major conflagration between Israelis and Arabs in 2006 took place a couple days before Iran was being referred to an international body?

How come Nasrallah’s unprovoked incursion and attacks in the North of Israel happened four days before Iran’s nuclear efforts were scheduled to be discussed at the UN Security Council?  Does it have anything to do with Iran’s wholly funding of Hezbollah?

How come the hijacking of Gilad Shalit in Gaza by the militant wing of Hamas – which derailed the Olmert-Abbas prisoner release they had announced they were working on, and which derailed the Abbas-Haniyeh national unity government discussions – took place a couple days before Iran’s intransigence against nuclear inspections and bans was scheduled to be discussed at the IAEA?  Does the fact that Khaled Maashal gets his funding from Iran have anything to do?