Daniel Lubetzky

The only thing more upsetting than giving Ahmadinejad the floor at Columbia University to spew hatred and idiocy, was hearing lame questions from President Bollinger to him.

As anyone could have predicted, Ahmadinejad ignored any questions and just did whatever he wanted with the platform.

Bollinger ran out of steam and out of credit with the audience with his early attacks on Ahmadinejad, which he should have saved for a rebuttal.  Instead, by the time he got to ask Ahmadinejad questions, these had no spine or guts, and no depth.

And why did the audience applaud this monster? Partly again because Bollinger created empathy for Ahmadinejad through his initial harsh criticism of Ahmadinejad, ahead of Ahmadinejad speaking, rather than saving it for when it was needed and advisable, which was when he needed to counter and reject Ahmadinejad.

Alas, Bollinger clearly did not know how to debate him.  And he decided instead to cover his rear by first giving the ‘disclaimer-to-having-invited-Ahmadinejad-to-speak’ speech.  I am sure he will parade that opening statement to all of the school’s donors.  But the fact is that at the actual event, Bollinger failed miserably.

At one point he asked Ahmadinejad if his government sought to destroy Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, and Ahmadinejad avoided answering the question.  When Bollinger asked him to answer with a simple Yes or No, Ahmadinejad retorted by asking if the tragedy of the Palestinian people was one that needed the immediate attention of the world community.  Bollinger said yes.  But then instead of asking Ahmadinejad to now answer himself, he just let him go.

Like the letter he once wrote to Bush, Ahmadinejad is a scary psychopath.  He complained about lack of freedom in America, without even hesitating at the irony of his comments, as the President of one of the most repressive and totalitarian regimes in the world.

"In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like you have in your country," said Ahmadinejad.  It is embarrassing that this bigoted monster is given a platform!

Each time Ahmadinejad wrapped himself around the Palestinian cause, but Ahmadinejad causes more pain to the Palestinian people than anyone else.  His manipulation of the Palestinian people has caused so many setbacks to the Palestinian cause.  Because of his proxy attacks through Hezbollah and the militant wing of Hamas, the plan to evacuate Israeli settlements from the West Bank (a plan on which Israeli Prime Minister Olmert was elected by the Israeli people) was derailed. 

The Palestinian leadership is fed up with Ahmadinejad trying to hijack their cause for his manipulative purposes, which only cloud a legitimate cause with his apocalyptic agendas and hegemonic ambitions.  Saeb Erakat point blank asked the Iranian leadership to "stop" trying to help the Palestinian cause and to not meddle in Palestinian affairs. 

Ahmadinejad at one point complained that his host should have been kinder, as in Iran their culture would have mandated more cordial treatment of their guests.  If Bollinger had been better prepared, he could have used this opportunity to mention that Ahmadinejad has jailed, tortured and killed his opponents, and that the "courtesy" he most recently extended to an American scholar trying to help build bridges between Iran and the US was to incarcerate her for many months.