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Week Ending June 22, 2006

H.CON.RES.21 Calling on the United Nations Security Council to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the United Nations Charter because of his calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.

  << click flag for map and country data, Iran

The resolution preamble begins with reference to a 1948 international convention that defines genocide as, ‘among other things, the act of killing members of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the targeted group.’ The convention also prohibits conspiracy to commit genocide as well as “direct and public incitement to commit genocide”, the preamble said. Further, it holds, 133 member States of the UN have ratified the convention and pledged to prosecute those individuals who violate its criteria for incitement to commit genocide.

The preamble then turns to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and reports that he recently called for Israel to be “wiped off the map”.

The preamble continues to note recent comments by the Iranian President that further supports the assertion that the US is using Israel to control oil resources in the Middle East region.

Further comment is given that Iran funds, trains, and openly supports terrorist groups and a lengthy list of other evidence supporting the subsequent resolution in which the House condemns the Iranian President’s remarks and calls on the UN Security Council and all UN Member States to consider measures to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, a means to carrying out the genocide. The resolution reaffirms the ‘unwavering strategic partnership between the US and Israel and reasserts “the steadfast commitment of the US to defend the right of Israel to exist as a free and democratic state.”

More resolution below…

Sponsor:  Rep. Steven R Rothman (D-NJ-9^th)

Vote: Passed House 411 to 2 with 11 voting 'Present' June 19, 2007 RC 513

Cost to the taxpayers: No discernible cost

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Whereas the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (commonly referred to as the `Genocide Convention') defines genocide as, among other things, the act of killing members of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the targeted group, and it also prohibits conspiracy to commit genocide, as well as `direct and public incitement to commit genocide';

Whereas Article 4 of the Genocide Convention provides that individuals committing any of the listed genocidal crimes shall be punished `whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals';

Whereas 133 Member States of the United Nations have ratified the Genocide Convention and thereby pledged to prosecute those individuals who violate its criteria for incitement to commit genocide, as well as those individuals who commit genocide directly;

Whereas 61 years ago the United Nations was founded to prevent another Holocaust, the Nazi genocide carried out during World War II that resulted in the slaughter of 6 million Jews in Europe, from happening ever again;

Whereas Article 2, Section 4, of the United Nations Charter, to which Iran has agreed as a Member State of the United Nations, requires all Member States of the United Nations to `refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state';

Whereas, on October 27, 2005, at the World Without Zionism Conference in Tehran, Iran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be `wiped off the map', described Israel as `a disgraceful blot [on] the face of the Islamic world', and declared that `[a]nybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury';

Whereas, on December 12, 2006, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed a conference in Tehran questioning the history of the Holocaust and said that Israel would `soon be wiped out';

Whereas, on December 14, 2006, incoming United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that Iran's calls for Israel's destruction and its dismissal of the Holocaust are `unacceptable', and expressed concern about the regional and global security implications of Tehran's nuclear program;

Whereas, on August 3, 2006, in a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that the Middle East would be better off `without the existence of the Zionist regime', called Israel an `illegitimate regime' with `no legal basis for its existence', and accused the United States of using Israel as a proxy to control the region and its oil resources;

Whereas Iran funds, trains, and openly supports terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad among many others, that are determined to destroy Israel;

Whereas, on December 14, 2001, the President of Iran's Expediency Council, Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, threatened Israel with nuclear attack, saying, `[i]f one day, the Islamic world is also equipped with weapons like those that Israel possesses now, then the imperialists' strategy will reach a standstill because the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything [in Israel], while it will merely harm the Islamic world';

Whereas Iran has aggressively pursued a clandestine effort to arm itself with nuclear weapons; and

Whereas the longstanding policy of the Iranian regime is aimed at destroying the democratic State of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East and the most important strategic ally of the United States, which is confirmed by statements such as those made by Iranian President Ahmadinejad and Council President Rafsanjani, demonstrating the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress--

(1) condemns, in the strongest terms, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's offensive remarks, contemptible statements, and reprehensible policies aimed at the destruction of the State of Israel;

(2) calls on the United Nations Security Council to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and Article 2, Section 4, of the United Nations Charter;

(3) further calls on the United Nations Security Council and all Member States of the United Nations to consider measures to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, which would be both a dangerous violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a potential means to the end of carrying out President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's threats against Israel; and

(4) reaffirms the unwavering strategic partnership between the United States and Israel and reasserts the steadfast commitment of the United States to defend the right of Israel to exist as a free and democratic state.

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