One European diplomat described it as “definitely one of the worst speeches I have heard in my life. My gut reaction was ‘Why are we supporting any cooperation with these people?’”
He was describing the vitriolic tirade of Iranian Vice-President, Mohammad Reza Rahimi at a recent UN Conference on Drugs and Crime held in Tehran. Proving that he is cut from the same cloth as President Ahmadinejad, Rahimi accused “Zionists” of being the driving force behind the drug trade that plagues Iran and the entire world. The Fars News Agency reported that Rahimi said the “prevalence of narcotic and drug addiction throughout the world finds it roots in the wrong teachings of the . . . Talmud.” He declared that the Talmud teaches “how to destroy non-Jews so as to protect an embryo in the womb of a Jewish mother.” Although UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has pleaded with Iranian officials to refrain from making anti-Semitic statements, Rahimi expanded his verbal attack, claiming that Zionists had ordered the slaughter of black babies by Jewish gynecologists. He ultimately blamed the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution on the Jews, claiming that “mysteriously” no Jews perished in that conflict.
As Christians, we should feel some compassion toward Iran and its campaign against the illegal drug trade carried on within its borders. Iran is a favored route for moving drugs from Afghanistan, its neighbor to the east, to drug dealers in Europe. Iran has lost millions of dollars and over 4,000 lives trying to combat the transit of drugs through its country. But neither should we tolerate the baseless, irresponsible and nearly unceasing ranting of a country that is willing to blame all the problems of the world on a people it has vowed to destroy. Especially when those people are God’s Chosen.
Ultimately Jehovah will judge all things, and “the ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down.” (Isaiah 29:20) Until then, we need to remember that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms,” (Ephesians 6:12) because, ultimately, that is who is stirring up both the drug trade and the hatred toward the Jews. Our most effective weapon is prayer. Join us, please, in praying for the peace of Jerusalem and for God’s protection over the land of Israel.