At a recent conference of world leaders,
- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran called the nation of Israel a “cruel and oppressive racist regime.” The leaders of many nations boycotted his speech, while others walked out in protest.
- In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said, “The man who called the Holocaust a lie spoke at this podium. To those who refused to come and to those who left in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity and you brought honor to your countries. But to those who gave this Holocaust denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere—have you no shame? Have you no decency?”
- President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic criticized a meeting on climate change, calling it “propagandistic,” “undignified,” “sad,” and “frustrating.”
- President Muammer Gaddafi of Libya was allowed by the assembly president, also a Libyan, to speak for over 90 minutes in spite of the fact that the same assembly president had insisted other speakers be granted only 15 minutes. In his speech, Gaddafi accused the leading world powers of creating an atomosphere of terror rather than security.
Where did these acrimonius speeches take place? Why, at the General Assembly of the so-called “United” Nations! The same body that is “committed to maintaining international peace and security [and] developing friendly relations among nations.”
It is symptomatic of the end times that “nation will rise against nation” (Luke 21:10). It is only when Christ has conquered the earth that people from every nation will worship the Lamb together (Rev. 5:10; 7:9).
