The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Tuesday refused to comment on remarks by former South African President Nelson Mandela, who charged that the United States is preparing a world ”holocaust” over Iraq and complained that Israel is not being forced to surrender weapons of mass destruction.
According to media reports, Mandela made his remarks on January 30 at the International Women’s Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa.
He said the United States has a president, George Bush, who ”has no insight, who cannot think properly, (and) is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust” to gain control of Iraqi oil.
Mandela (84) charged that while the Americans insist that Iraq rid itself of weapons of mass destruction, ”their friend Israel has got weapons of mass destruction, but because it’s their ally, they won’t ask the United Nations to get rid of them,” according to the BBC.
In New York, the Zionist Organisation of America denounced Mandela’s statement. ZOA National President Morton Klein said in a statement, ”We deplore Mandela’s outrageous and immoral attempt to portray the terrorist dictator Saddam Hussein as an innocent victim of American aggression, and to put Israel on the same level as Saddam.”
Klein added, ”Israel is a beleaguered, peaceful, and responsible democracy surrounded by terrorists and tyrants who have launched four wars against it and murder its citizens daily. Israel, like America, has every legal and moral right to protect itself with whatever weapons at its disposal.”
During the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel, causing considerable damage but few casualties. All had conventional warheads. Israel is preparing for the possibility that if there is a US-led attack on Iraq, Saddam might try to hit Israel with chemical or biological weapons in retaliation. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it would have no comment on Mandela’s remarks. In the past, Israeli officials and experts on the Nazi Holocaust of World War II, when six-million Jews were killed, have objected to using the term ”holocaust” in other contexts. Israel has never acknowledged having weapons of mass destruction, though foreign experts have consistently concluded that Israel has nuclear weapons. – Sapa-AP