Bush at U.N.: 'We Must Stand United'

UNITED NATIONS — President Ahmadinejad is suggesting the Jews are to blame for the financial crisis.

Delivering a speech redolent of classical European anti-Semitism, the Iranian leader accused Zionists of controlling the banks and was embraced yesterday by listeners at the General Assembly. He exchanged a long hug with the Assembly president and was feted afterward with mostly friendly questions from handpicked reporters.

Mr. Ahmadinejad's speech — in which he accused "Zionists" of domineering Americans and Europeans through their banking and political activities, and predicted the rise of a "righteous and perfect human being" in their place — was denounced by Israel's President Peres as a return to the language of Hitler and the fraudulent anti-Semitic tract the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Senator Obama said he was sorry that Mr. Ahmadinejad "had a platform to air his hateful and anti-Semitic views."

A spokesman for the McCain-Palin campaign, Michael Goldfarb, responded: "It is Barack Obama who would give him the greatest platform of all, an unconditional summit with the President of the United States. Barack Obama's reckless determination to meet with a man who believes our Israeli friends are 'Zionist murderers' undermines our nation's allies and demonstrates a frightening lack of judgment."

Mr. Ahmadinejad declined to answer a question by The New York Sun, yelled out at the end of a press conference, whether he would support Senator McCain or Mr. Obama in the American presidential race. But he told CNN that regardless of who wins, what matters is whether the new president would "bring about some changes in policy or continue the same old path."

The Iranian president did answer one question from the Sun, saying through an interpretation provided by the Iranian foreign minister, Manoucher Mottaki, that there is an important difference between America's Jews and what he described as "Zionists." In his speech, he noted, he had referred to Moses as one of the great prophets, which proves he was not anti-Jewish. On the other hand, "Zionists are political," he said.

According to Mr. Peres, however, the reference to Moses, included in an anti-Semitic speech, was ludicrous. Mr. Ahmadinejad "called on Jews who came to Israel to return to their countries of origin," Mr. Peres said. "Where should we begin? From Moses? He came from Egypt. And then he says he believes in Moses. I am embarrassed anyone at the U.N. even listens to this man seriously."

Earlier in the day, President Bush, who also met on Governors Island with a variety of democratic dissidents, addressed the General Assembly. "A few nations, regimes like Syria and Iran, continue to sponsor terror. Yet their numbers are growing fewer, and they are growing more isolated in the world," Mr. Bush said. He then listed countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan as those that that either have renounced their support of terror or actively pursue terrorists.

President Sarkozy vowed to refuse to shake hands with the Iranian president. But talks of a new round of Security Council sanctions on Iran seemed stalled. Secretary of State Rice is scheduled to meet her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, today, and the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the Security Council and Germany are expected to conduct a breakfast meeting at the end of the week, but diplomats say there are no signs of change in Russia's objection to a fresh round of sanctions on Iran.

Mr. Sarkozy told reporters that President Assad may help in influencing the mullahs, "because he enjoys the confidence of Iran." But emerging from a meeting with President Erdogan, who has facilitated from Ankara non-direct talks between Damascus and Jerusalem, Mr. Peres expressed skepticism that Mr. Assad will play a positive role on Iran. "Until now, it seems, the opposite has been true, but if a miracle happens I will light an extra candle on Hanukkah," Mr. Peres told the Sun, referring to the Jewish holiday of miracles and light.

Mr. Ahmadinejad told the General Assembly that the "dignity, integrity, and rights of the American and European people are being played with by a small but deceitful number of people called Zionists. Although they are a miniscule minority, they have been dominating an important portion of the financial and monetary centers as well as the political centers" of America and Europe.

Their domineering, he added, means "that the great people of America and various nations of Europe need to obey the demands and wishes of a small number of acquisitive and invasive people. These nations are spending their dignity and resources on the crimes and occupations and the threats of the Zionists network against their will."

This is a resurrection of Hitler's language, Mr. Peres said. "It's as if he emerged from the deepest, darkest pages of human history, repeating the Protocols of the Elders of Zion verbatim," he said.