These are the kind of statements - no, these outrageous declarations are incitements - that have been spewing forth from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad has a long history of threats against the United States and instigating discrimination against Christians, Jews and Moslems who disagree with his extremism. What is most incredulous is not that he said these horrendous statements, but that nothing has been done about it. These statements are not new; they have been going on for years now. Although some world leaders, including previous UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, have condemned Ahmadinejad's statements, the world community as a whole has been relatively silent. Coupling Ahmadinejad's vitriolic anti-Semitic invectives with his declared goal of making Iran nuclear-ready, the window of opportunity to do something is rapidly closing.

On Thursday, December 14th, after a two-day international conference on Holocaust denial hosted by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Conference and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs sponsored a symposium at the New York County Lawyers Association. World-renowned politicians, lawyers and historians gathered together to address the Jewish community's grave concern about this issue and to voice a demand for justice.

United States Ambassador to the UN John Bolton commented on the warning signs emanating from Iran. He remarked that if things go badly, historians will ask how we all could have missed the signals. He stressed that Ahmadinejad must be taken seriously, because his intentions are clear and he has the capabilities to carry out what he threatens. Ahmadinejad has a long history of supporting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as well as Syria's terrorist activities. Iran has been developing nuclear weapons for almost twenty years and is developing ballistic missiles with increasing accuracy and range.

NY Congressman Charles Rangel stressed that this issue is not just an Israeli or Jewish issue, but a world issue that should particularly concern Israel's neighbors Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. He questioned why there was no outrage among the world's nations or religions and emphasized that silence was not an acceptable response.

Dr. Dore Gold, former Israeli Ambassador to the UN and President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, explained that the prevention of genocide was one of the initial motivating factors in the creation of the United Nations. Despite this, the UN has witnessed genocide under its watch in Rwanda, Srebrenica and Darfur, among others. Rather than mourn the tragedy of potential future genocides, Dr. Gold emphasized that we must do everything to prevent them from happening at all.

Ahmadinejad must believe that he can get away with a plan for genocide because his remarks about wiping Israel off the map have been largely disregarded by the world community. He is trying to delegitimize the State of Israel by denying the Holocaust and has supported and financed Hizballah's leader Sheikh Nasrallah. Nasrallah has been calling for more Jews to immigrate to Israel - only so that it will make it easier to destroy them all if they are gathered in one location.

Former Canadian Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler's concern was from a slightly different perspective. He stressed that this was a religious conflict and that Ahmadinejad was being encouraged by leading imams in Iran that fighting the Jews was a religious obligation. According to them, the world needs the death of the State of Israel, "a cancerous tumor," and the annihilation of its inhabitants, "the evil incarnates," in order to anticipate the messianic coming of the twelfth Imam Mahdi.

Cotler expounded on one of Dr. Gold's points, a call for an international arrest warrant for Ahmadinejad on the grounds of incitement to commit genocide, including one for former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The Argentinean judiciary recently determined, that Rafsanjani was responsible for the planning, organizing and ordering of the mass terrorist bombing of the Argentinean Jewish Community Center (AMIA) in Buenos Aires in 1994. Ahmadinejad made his intentions crystal clear when he publicly declared Iran's intent to acquire nuclear weapons for that purpose so as to "eliminate" Israel "in one single storm."

Cotler demonstrated that this incitement is in direct violation of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, constituting not only a clear and present danger to Israel and the Jewish people, but to the international community as a whole. This incitement justifies his being brought before the International Criminal Court. The UN must be made to enforce its own charter and the anti-incitement clause, of which Iran is a co-signer. Other country co-signers to the convention have a responsibility and a duty to help enforce this clause.

Cotler informed the gathering that a group of international lawyers is preparing an indictment of Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leaders for the violation of the prohibition in both the Genocide Convention and the International Criminal Court Treaty against the "public and direct incitement to Genocide." He stressed that international pressures can be productive in pursuing remedies. Other notorious dictators, such as Slobodan Milosevic and Augusto Pinochet, were ultimately brought to justice after such pressure was applied.

Meir Rosenne, former Israeli Ambassador to the United States and France, noted that Iran has already committed acts of war, by proxy, by supplying Hizballah and Hamas and other terrorist organizations with their weaponry. One of the most forceful and compelling presentations came from Alan Dershowitz. He demanded that Ahmadinejad be brought before the International Criminal Court. He challenged the world community to act and prove itself as defenders of justice. Israel demands equal protection under the law, Dershowitz said. While Israel hopes to avoid the threat of an attack, it should adamantly reserve the right of self-defense and pledge to do everything in its power to preserve that right - including pre-emptive force, if necessary. As Dershowitz declared, the Jewish people waited once. They will never again wait for the international community to act.

Israeli Member of Knesset Danny Naveh compared Ahmadinejad to Hitler on three levels: their extreme ideologies, the political power that they both had amassed and the military strength behind them. What Naveh did not mention is that a critical dissimilarity between the two exists: Hitler did not have nuclear weaponry while Ahmadinejad does. The bullets are much larger and deadlier now than they were 65 years ago.

Martin Peretz, The New Republic editor-in-chief, spoke about the recent Baker-Hamilton report, and commented on the irony of history repeating itself with Britain's Prime Minister Chamberlain foolishly declaring in 1938 that he had achieved "peace in our time" after reaching an agreement with Hitler in Munich. Today, the world is threatened by Iran, and instead of addressing Iran head-on, Baker and Hamilton are thinking like the British and trying to make deals and appease Iran.

Professor Ruth Wedgwood, probably the panel member with the most experience dealing with UN affairs and its legal ramifications, discussed the High Commissioner on Human Rights labeling Iran as an "Irresponsible Regime." She explained how one nation's threats against another can be considered aggression, which was in violation of article 2(4) of the UN Charter.

In summary, Israel must evaluate the situation at hand very carefully. Perhaps Iran is inciting Israel's fears and waiting for it to react offensively so that it can retaliate forcefully. Regardless, Israel is a country that abides by the rule of law and will follow the UN Charter. However, if Israel sees that the UN is lax in enforcing its own rules, Israel will have no alternative but to act under the rule of morality. It cannot and should not allow itself and the welfare of world Jewry to be subject to other nations' capricious attitude and behavior.

Gideon Platt is a senior at the Ramaz Upper School in New York, NY and a member of American Friends of Likud (Special to the Israel HighWay)