Expressing negative views on Israel is one thing. That is a current issue in the Middle East and as a world leader he will say what he thinks. I don’t agree but he is entitled to his say on that. But denying a central event in human history (the Holocaust) is something else. He had David Duke–a known Nazi–at his so-called conference showing that he is a pure anti-Semite.

Also, special thanks to the Iranians who wrote on this blog. I always make a distinction between leaders and the people of any nation. Bush does not represent me and I don’t think Ahmadinejad represents most Iranians. I also don’t think Ohlmert represents most Israelis.

We have been trying to get our Congress to stop the war in Iraq and they just don’t get it (because the lobbies pay them not to get it).

Freedom for women, gays, Jews, and other marginalized people is vital and Ahmadinejad does not support any of this. He is not a peace-loving person. I know many peace loving people who have strong objections to some of the excesses of Israel. Some people I know do not agree with Israel’s existence.

My view is that if we can have Islamic countries and countries with official Christian churches, there is nothing wrong with having a Jewish state too. I would like to see the Arab nations donate land to the Palestinians so they can also have a homeland. Israel is too small to give up more land. I feel sorry that the Palestinians are caught between the age-old problems between the Arab nations and the Jewish nation.

But let’s make no mistake about this–if leaders like Ahmadinejad really cared so much about the Palestinians, wouldn’t these leaders offer to donate land to them? I think they are using the Palestians as pawns to fight the Jews.

Isreal has a lot to answer for but not as much as countries that tell women how to act and dress and that kill gays and don’t let ANYBODY have any say–even their own Arab people.

I’ll be protesting on Monday. Political correctness be damned. What about the political correctness of not insulting people affected by the Holocaust? What about NYC being a place with lots of Jewish people? We are sick of anti-Semitism.

Why not invite other, unheard Iranian speakers? There are women in Iran fighting for human rights. There are others who want to liberalize things there. These people don’t get heard a lot. I would like to see these people get a platform–they need it more than Ahmadinejad. Why not introduce Columbia U students to the good things in Iranian culture so they can appreciate it more? I would like to learn more about Arab culture but the negative people seem to get all the attention and that is not good. Columbia should seek to provide balance for that problem.

I predict Ahmadinejad’s speech will be boring soundbites and nothing we haven’t already heard. Bollinger will probably ask easy questions…he doesn’t need to court any more controversy with this one.