Repeating History: Evil Iranian Leader To Chair UN Agency... On Purim

The Islamic Republic of Iran will assume the presidency of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament on Monday. The Conference on Disarmament (CD) is a multilateral forum established in 1979 by the international community to negotiate arms control and disarmament agreements based at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The Conference meets annually in three separate sessions in Geneva.

The CD has as part of its permanent agenda dialogue about nuclear weapons. The CD also works toward the reduction of military budgets. 

Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch, decried the move on Twitter: 

"Today marks a sad and shameful day," Neuer wrote. "It is a travesty that the murderous Islamic regime in Iran is becoming today the President of the UN Conference on Disarmament. "

"This is a terrorist regime that murders its own people, that beats, blinds, tortures, and rapes women and girls. 

"They are illegally building a nuclear weapon to threaten the world. They illegally arm Russia to bomb Ukrainian civilians. They are in violation of international laws, in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and numerous other international conventions."

"They sponsor terrorists worldwide including Hamas, which massacred more than 1,000 people, tortured, mutilated, raped. They should never be allowed to be president of any UN body, let alone on disarmament."

"At tomorrow morning's plenary, when Tehran takes the gavel, we're urging all countries not to carry on business as usual at the Conference on Disarmament."

Neuer posted an online petition, calling on people to protest the UN's decision.

"We're urging them to walk out or, at a minimum, lower the level," Neuer said. "Don't let an ambassador be in the room. And express outrage at the Islamic regime's horrific actions. Don't let this go unnoticed. Do not be silent. Speak out."

The 2024 session of the body, which is the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community, is divided into three successive parts: from January 22 to March 28, from May 13 to June 28, and from July 29 to September 13. 

Perhaps the most ironic part of this absurd story is that the position rotates among members and Iran will head the conference from March 18 to March 29, and from May 13 to May 24. The holiday of Purim falls on March 23-24, in the middle of Iran's first term as chair.

It should be remembered that Purim commemorates the salvation of the Jews from a plot hatched by an evil member of the Persian/Iranian government to destroy the Jewish people.

Several US lawmakers slammed the move as well. Senator Claire Chandler tweeted, "The Islamic Republic of Iran holding this position while developing a nuclear bomb and being found to have committed serious human rights breaches is an embarrassment for the UN system."

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) released the following statement in response to Iran taking the chair of the CD.

"An adversary nation actively pursuing the development and proliferation of nuclear weapons is now chairing the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum. Western appeasement of Iran, especially in assuming this role, only serves to degrade the institution and its efforts," Gallagher posted to his website. 

"Iran has, for decades, lied to the international community regarding its nuclear development and unabashedly serves as perhaps the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Iran should be prohibited from occupying this post, and banned from holding any leadership role in the international community, especially any to do with weapons of mass destruction."

Ironically, the announcement of Iran's role in the CD came on the same day that a UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission concluded that the Iranian regime was responsible for the unlawful death one and a half years ago of Jina Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman whose arrest in Tehran for opposing mandatory hijab and subsequent death in police custody sparked a wave of protests throughout Iran. 

"The entire State apparatus was mobilized with security forces using firearms, including AK-47s and Uzis as we documented in some areas, resulting in injuries and deaths," Chairperson Sara Hossain told the UN.

She testified that there were "credible figures" that indicate there were 551 deaths, at least 49 women and 68 children, "and we found that those occurred in 26 out of the 31 provinces of Iran over multiple months", the Mission found. They also reported that 834 people were executed in 2023, marking a 43 per cent rise from the previous year

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