Members of the SPME Network are urged to contact their Members of Congress to support this important piece of legislation H.CON.RES.21. Click here to find out how to contact your Members of Congress.

In late Oct 2005, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the first of his alls to wipe Israel off the map, later going on to make his various statements on Holocaust denial. In Nov 2005, I wrote a letter to Dr Juan Mendez, then the Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the UN, calling on him to examine the case for indicting Ahmadinejad for incitement to Genocide, which is defined by the International Criminal Code as a crime against humanity.

In this and 2 subsequent letters, I cited the convictions of Rwandan journalists as a precedent for this examination. In February 2006, the Intl Association of Genocide Scholars voted 70 to 6 in favor of a Resolution condemning President Ahmadinejad and the Government of Iran. At about the same time, the Jerusalem Post published Ahmadinejad: Incitement Deserves Indictment, (R Blum, GH Stanton, ED Richter, I Charny ), based on an expanded statement prepared by the above and others for the Hebrew University, later posted on the websites of Genocide Watch and SPME /petitions. In Dec 2006, the Jerusalem Center of Public Affairs, headed by former Ambassador Dore Gold, published a monograph: Incitement Necessitates Indictment(available on the WEB) based on the HU statement and the above JP article and HU statement. In January 2007, Rep Steven Rothman (D-NJ), now with cosponsors (now 101) in the new 110th House of Representatives, introduced a resolution *H.CON.RES.21 * Title:”Calling on the United Nations Security Council to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the United Nations Charter because of his calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. “ *Sponsor: *Rep Rothman, Steven R. [NJ-9] (introduced 1/9/2007)

This site lists the text, cosponsors, and current status.

Latest Major Action: *5/23/2007 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee Agreed to Seek Consideration Under Suspension of the Rules, (Amended) by Unanimous Consent.

The Resolution will be introduced to the House Floor sometime in early June and then to the Senate. Richard Hellman and Chuck Woolery of CIPAC have done the legwork in Congress.

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*Comment:* This resolution, though non-binding, provides the narrative for a posture that moves intervention forward to predict and prevent before the event from proof of intent after the event. It applies prior knowledge on the predictive and catalytic role of state-sponsored incitement for genocide, and is based on the Precautionary Principle in dealing with catastrophic threats. The case for action is stated by Ahmadinejad’s genocidal threats and Iran’s secret illegal nuclear enrichment, development of long range missile delivery systems, and support for terror organizations openly espousing genocidal agendas. The Resolution’s signers include many who have signed a parallel resolution calling for action to stop the genocide in Darfur. The two Resolutions are not mutually exclusive, but mutually reinforcing. Indeed, we seek to produce an alliance to prevent and stop genocide in all its stages to counter what I call an axis of genocide.

I call on SPME members to contact their Congressmen and Senators to support this resolution.