Israel calls for boycott of Iran leader U.N. speech
JERUSALEM, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Israel called on world leaders on Wednesday to walk out on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he speaks at the United Nations General Assembly, to protest his call to destroy the Jewish state.
"I think the fact that such brutal thugs, such barbaric dictators like Ahmadinejad, speak in front of the world assembly is a real low point in the annals of the United Nations," Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told Reuters.
"I think it will be incumbent on all decent countries and leaders to boycott this appearance and speech," he added.
Israel views Iran's nuclear ambitions coupled with its support for Islamist militant groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip as a strategic threat. It says all options are on the table to thwart an Iranian atomic bomb.
Iran denies any ambition to develop nuclear weapons.
Ahmadinejad stirred Israeli concerns by his recent statements denying the Nazi Holocaust in which six million Jews were killed. On Friday he called the World War Two genocide a "lie" devised as a pretext for Israel's creation.
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