On Tuesday, April 1, Colorado congressman Doug Lamborn (R) introduced H.R. 4357 into the U.S. Congress. This proposed legislation is intended to prevent known terrorists from obtaining visas to enter the United States as ambassadors to the United Nations.

Yes, it is absurd that legislation needs to be passed to prevent such a farce. But unless this legislation is passed, the U.S. will allow one of the Iranians who took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, and held 52 of our citizens captive for 444 days, to enter the U.S. and to travel to the U.N. in New York.

That is because the current president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hasan Rouhani, named Hamid Aboutalebi as Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Aboutalebi is a member of the militant group The Muslim Students Followers of the Imam’s Line, which took the Americans hostage in Tehran.

On November 4, 1979, the Islamic revolutionaries scaled the walls of the American Embassy and occupied it to show their support for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and to express outrage that the deposed Shah of Iran had been admitted into the U.S. for cancer treatment. The revolutionaries wanted the Shah returned to Iran for a trial and, presumably, execution.

“America should not willingly accept into our country a diplomat who helped hold American diplomats hostage. Diplomatic immunity should not apply to terrorists. The only way terrorists should be allowed into our country is if they are coming to face justice. The President can already deny visas to diplomats for spying. Terrorist activities by diplomats, past or present, should be dealt with just as severely,” said Lamborn in a statement released on April 2.

Aboutalebi is now downplaying his role in the group, claiming that he was “merely” a translator and negotiator during the Iranian Hostage Crisis, referred to in Iran as “Conquest of the American Spy Den.”

Lamborn’s proposed bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK1), is a companion bill to the senate version introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), S. 2195.

The bills which seek to prevent known terrorists from obtaining visas in order to enter the U.S., were sent to the Judiciary Committees of their respective houses.

Only 11 percent of all bills introduced make it out of committee, and only approximately three percent of all bills were enacted during 2011 – 2013, so expectations are not high that these bills will pass.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has just released its top ten anti-Semitic/anti-Israel slurs for the year 2013.

The SWC saw the most extreme hatred exemplified by three Arab and/or Muslim leaders, a UN official, a Christian Canadian denomination, a far right-wing European party, an aging rock star, an aging formerly famous novelist, an overripe teenager, an American academic association, a small New York school district, and quite a few European athletes.

1. The very top of the list of outrageous insults comes from Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who referred to Israel as the “rabid dog” in the Middle East region. Successfully adding insult to injury, Khamenei also said that Israel’s “leaders look like beasts and cannot be called human.”

“The genocidal animus of Iran’s Supreme Leader against the Jewish state continued unabated throughout the secret and direct negotiations with the United States and the P5+1,[which] places him at the top of the list,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Center’s Associate Dean.

2. Turkey’s Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan placed second on the SWC’s most worst list. Erdogan achieved this dubious honor in a year characterized by a dramatic deterioration in relations between Turkey and Israel. Twice the Turkish leader blamed Israel – using the code word “interest rates lobby” for serious challenges to his authority by the citizens of his country.  First it was the Gezi Park uprising and most recently that same “interest rates lobby” was blamed for a huge, still ongoing corruption scandal that has profoundly affected his government, with more than a dozen ministers either resigned or being fired or reshuffled.

3. In third place is the first Jew on the list. It is the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Arab Territories, Richard Falk.  This year Falk described Israel has harboring Nazi-like genocidal intentions towards the Palestinian Arabs. The hatred he exudes towards Israel is, perhaps, summed up best in his justification of suicide bombings perpetrated against Israel as a legitimate means to inflict sufficient harm on Israel.  There is much more to make your blood boil on the SWC site.

4. In fourth place the SWC listed the economic and legal warfare against the Jewish state known as BDS.  BDS stands for the Boycott of, Divestment from and Sanctions against Israel that is urged on by haters of the Jewish State.

In this BDS category, special mention is made of several practitioners. The first example offered is the American Studies Association.  Much has already been written on these pages about the ASA’s misguided effort to boycott Israeli academic institutions.

The good news, of course, is that the ASA appears to have done far more damage to its own organization than any harm that could possibly befall Israeli academic institutions because of the ASA’s stunt. With close to 100 universities condemning the ASA’s boycott and several withdrawing from the organization altogether, perhaps we should really place the ASA’s boycott on a list of efforts taken which resulted in nationwide solidarity in support of the Jewish State.  So, thanks, actually.

The other practitioners mentioned are Pink Floyd’s former frontman Roger Waters, and the United Church of Canada.Waters has also been the subject of several articles here at The Jewish Press. The United Church of Canada, however, merits special attention.

“As Christians suffer in Syria, ethnic cleansing in Iraq, and are threatened in Egypt, the United Church of Canada endorsed a boycott of Israel – the only Middle East state that guarantees full religious freedom and protection to all faiths,” is how the SWC describes the UCC’s folly.

5. The extreme far-right wing Hungarian party, Jobbik, is fifth on the list of most awfuls. The deputy leader of the Jobbik party called for a registry of all Jews in Hungary as a security measure last year.  He also alleges that Israel “runs a Nazi system.”

6. In sixth place is a meme that never seems to go away.  This is the “Hitler as Hero” meme, which was taken up by an alarmingly large and diverse group of Arabs and Europeans over 2013, including Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood’s Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Iraqi cleric Qays bin Khalil al Kalbi, Saudi cleric Muhammal al Farraj, a famous Lebanese singer, and several Turkish immigrants in Holland.

7. Several particularly egregious Cartoons That Defame Israel are seventh on the SWC list of most anti-Semitic/anti-Israel Slurs for 2013.  In what passes as an art form that has been around for centuries, this year’s entries into the pantheon of dehumanizing depictions of Jews (and the Jewish State) are prize winners.  Check the SWC site to see this ugly art.

8. The small upstate New York school district of Pine Bush has permitted ugly anti-Semitic abuse of its Jewish students. Parents have sued the school district for allowing the ugliness to continue. One school official allegedly responded that the complainants’ “expectations for changing inbred prejudice may be a bit unrealistic.”  Really? Let’s hope that official’s hope to keep his job is a bit unrealistic.

9. Two American authors, one a has-been and the other a never-been, are in the 9th place “poison pen” position on SWC’ list. Alice Walker, who easily could have appeared in the fourth place as a practitioner of BDS, appears here because her most recent book, The Cushion in the Road, is described by the SWC as being approximately 25 percent “a diatribe against the Jewish state.”

Walker was the author of a hugely popular and powerful novel, The Color Purple, albeit that was 30 years ago.  The second person in the poison pen category is mostly famous for having a semi-famous daddy, Sidney Blumenthal, a speechwriter for Bill Clinton. Max Blumenthal seems to have spent the past 20 years of his life attempting to be an enfant terrible, but now he’s mostly just terrible. His new book, Goliath, practically takes anti-Semitism to pornographic heights.  He refers to Israelis as Judeo-Nazis, and blames the Arab-Israeli conflict on “Israeli society’s nationalistic impulses.” Blumenthal is at least nominally Jewish.  So sad.

10. The Wiesenthal Center describes various European Sports Venues as having been “Hijacked for Hate,” and placed them in the final slot of its 2013 list of most egregious anti-Semitic/anti-Israel slurs. Of particular note were European soccer stadiums as the stage where a great deal of ugly anti-Semitism played out over the past year. Italian, English, Polish, Hungarian, Latvian and Croatian teams or their members were cited for anti-Semitic activity this past year.

In a late-breaking addition to the list, the Wiesenthal Center included its request that NBA Star Tony Parker apologize for using a Nazi-like salute which is currently widely used by neo-Nazis in Europe. The gesture is called a quenelle, or a reverse Nazi salute.  It has been denounced by French authorities and leaders of the French Jewish communities.

The Wiesenthal Center asks readers to share with it incidents of anti-Semitic or anti-Israel slurs so that such incidents can be explored and exposed, and the perpetrators held accountable.

Originally published at Gatestone Institute.

The bad news is that Rouhani has little influence on the three major power centers in Iran. Rouhani, who knows for whom he works (and it is not the Iranian people), will try to use his negotiating skills to effect changes in American behavior toward Iran.

The 686 men who expressed their desire to run in Iran’s presidential election were whittled down to 8 — not by primaries, debates and polls, but by the six theologians and six jurists on the Guardian Council. The candidates had to be Iranian-born, over 21, and believe in “God, Islam and the Iranian Constitution.” Education, military service and “public service” were also taken into account by the Council. So while in the West much has been made of the differences among them, similarities rule.

Nevertheless, the Iranian people used their franchise to vote for the man on the ballot most opposed by the Mullahs. They made their statement in overwhelming numbers, proving the existence of the much-sought-after “Iranian moderates.” That is the good news. The other good news is that they learned from Egyptian moderates, who lost by splitting votes among a selection of secular candidates. Anti-clerical Iranians coalesced around a single candidate, Hassan Rouhani, and Mohammad Reza Aref bowed out to enhance Rouhani’s chances. The bad news is that the Iranian people have little influence, and neither will Rouhani, on the three major power centers in Iran:

• The Supreme Leader’s religious leadership base
• The Basij paramilitary militia established by the Ayatollah Khomeini
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (the IRGC or Pasdaran)

The Iranian people also will not be able to determine the policy direction on international issues that concern the United States, Israel and much of the rest of the world, such as:

• Iran’s aspiration to nuclear weapons capability
• Support for international terrorism against Israel and the West
• The quest for Shi’ite supremacy in the Middle East and beyond.

The “reforms” Rouhani is likely to pursue will be to help the staggering Iranian economy, plagued by the effects of U.S.-led international sanctions, as well as massive corruption in the system. Since the sanctions are the result of Iranian decisions on their nuclear aspirations, and the corruption largely benefits the IRGC and the Basiji police, which are all untouchable, Rouhani’s ability to have a real impact is minimal.

This leaves the United States in an uncomfortable position.

Wanting to show support for the Iranian people, and support for “reform” and “moderation,” insofar as any are permitted by the real Iranian power centers, the U.S. declared its acceptance of the result, congratulating the people for their “courage in voting” and being “determined to make their voices heard, despite the limitations the ruling government imposed on the political process.” There have already been calls to “strengthen” Rouhani, “strengthen” the moderates — much like the calls to “strengthen” Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority — on the assumption that American support will enable him to pursue an agenda more closely aligned with Western interests.

It won’t. He can’t.

On the other hand, as a former nuclear negotiator, Rouhani knows how to speak the language of the international community. He is said to favor a negotiated settlement with the West on nuclear issues, which means he will likely push for a return to the P5+1 talks or some other form of engagement. This will please those for whom talk equals progress. But since the outcome on the Iranian side is pre-determined by people who are not Rouhani, and Iran expects that it will have whatever nuclear capability it deems essential, more talks are both a delaying tactic while the centrifuges spin and a means to press the U.S. to lift economic sanctions.

The Obama administration will be torn between easing sanctions to “help” the Iranian people in whom he has invested rhetorical support, and continuing to hold fast to his determination that Iran will not achieve its nuclear goals. It does not help that the sanctions are having a punishing effect on the civilian economy, but were “too little, too late” to prevent the acquisition of nuclear-related technology by the regime.

The nuclear issue is the most potentially devastating threat to the West and to American allies, but Iran’s support for Hezb’allah and the Assad government in Syria is clearly the most actually devastating. Iran’s evident intention is to achieve hegemony across Syria and through Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, with consequences not only for Syria and Lebanon, but for Turkey, Jordan, Israel and the Kurdish minorities across the region. This is part of the larger Sunni-Shi’ite war to spread Islam and re-establish the Caliphate under the control or one side or the other. The U.S. cannot — and apparently does not — look lightly on an Iranian victory in Syria, having just agreed to arm the “Syrian rebels.” To have swallowed its discomfort with the Sunni jihadists — despite the sure knowledge that al Qaeda is part of the rebel front — is an indication of just how worried the administration is about Iran.

Iranian activity in the Western hemisphere — in Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Ecuador — including arms sales, and overtures to China based on China’s need for Iranian oil, is a third area the United States cannot ignore.

None of the American priorities for changes in Iranian behavior can be affected by Hassan Rouhani, but Rouhani, who knows for whom he works (and it is not the Iranian people), will try to use his negotiating skills to effect changes in American behavior toward Iran. Whoever wins in the bazaar will determine the future threat posed by Iran to the West.

Jewish groups are protesting Ontario Liberals’ decision to permit an “anti-Semitic hate rally” to be held at Queen’s Park by an Islamic group labeling Jewish nationalists in Israel as “oppressors and criminals,” the Toronto Sun reported.

An Islamic group’s request to mark International Al-Quds Day has been approved by Sergeant-At-Arms Dennis Clark. They will gather outside the Ontario Legislature on Aug. 18, as they have been doing for several years now.

Al-Quds Day was started 33 years ago by then-Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini to mark the last Friday of Ramadan, and a call for Muslims to rise up against Israel which should be eliminated and replaced by a Palestinian state.

Last year’s Al Quds Day event featured several controversial speakers, including Zafar Bangash, an Islamic journalist and commentator from Toronto who called Israel an “apartheid state” of “oppressors and criminals,” and urged Muslims to “march” to liberate Palestine.

Anita Bromberg of B’nai Brith Canada has argued that the identity of the organizers of this year’s Al-Quds rally is being kept secret. She said Jewish officials from B’nai Brith approached Clark to learn who filed the application to hold this year’s event, so they “could touch base with this group and express their concerns directly.” But their request was denied for reasons of privacy policy, Bromberg said.

“Our concern … is the veil of secrecy that is around it,” Bromberg told the Sun, adding that while nobody has been arrested for hate crimes at previous rallies, the tone of what has been said at past rallies was an incitement to hate.

“This year, there is no information on who is behind the event’s committee. If you’re going to have public rallies … the organizers should come forward and stand behind what they are doing,” she said.

In a video from last year on the website Shia TV, Zafar Bangash appears at Queens Park, bellowing into a microphone while a demonstrator behind him holds a photo of the Ayatollah.

“When shall I see that day, when we, the Muslims, march on Palestine and liberate Palestine for all the people in the world … and under Islamic law, they will live as equals,” yelled Bangash. “The Zionists … claim that Muslims hate Jews … I challenge any Zionist … to come and prove to us that any Jewish people have been oppressed anywhere in the Muslim world.”

Clark told the Toronto Sun he believed the organizers’ application should be approved.

“We met with the organizers this year … and based on what they said, we approved the application,” said Clark, who would not comment on what rally organizers told him, but was aware of concern around what had been said last year. “Very seldom do we deny something unless they came in and they told us that what they were going to do was unlawful.”

Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman disagreed, pointing out that remarks at past Al-Quds rallies could be considered unlawful.

“If there were concerns expressed last year, and there were … I don’t think the Sergeant-At-Arms should be so hasty in saying, ‘Go ahead folks, common back and do it again.’” Shurman said.

“We have laws against the expression of hatred that are clear cut, but not clear cut (enough) for police to listen or look and make an absolute determination. That’s why I’m concerned,” he said.

Premier Dalton McGuinty noted that while Clark has the authority to approve “these kinds of gatherings,” the dissemination of hate would not be tolerated.

“This is an international event,” Anita Bromberg argued, “The Al-Quds committee has a website, but they don’t really give you the names of the individuals or the groups that are involved, but if you look at the 2011 event you can see there was a list of different organizations involved.”

The Canadian Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies told JTA that “the endorsement of hate” is “a matter of public safety.”

“This is no longer a debate about free speech versus hate speech,” said the Canadian Friends’ CEO Avi Benlolo. “This is an insult to all Ontarians and a simple matter of right and wrong.”