Remarks highlight Iran/israel tension Marijuana in body of cannibal

JERUSALEM: Israel said yesterday Iran was governed by fanatical anti-Semites after its vice president told a UN forum that Zionists were inciting drug trafficking and Jewish religious law called for the annihilation of non-Jews.

The verbal clash highlighted festering tension in an international stand-off over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

A third round of nuclear talks between world powers and Iran 10 days ago failed to resolve the stalemate.

The remarks at a global drug enforcement conference in Tehran by vice president, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, seemed unusually vitriolic and inflammatory to Western delegates.

Speaking on Tuesday, Rahimi said the Talmud, or canon of Jewish religious law, “teaches them how to destroy non-Jews so as to protect an embryo in the womb of a Jewish mother”, according to excerpts published by the Fars news agency.

He accused “Zionists”, a term the Iranian government applies to Israelis and their Jewish supporters abroad, of inciting drug trafficking.

The New York Times, which covered the conference, further quoted Rahimi as saying Zionists ordered gynaecologists to kill black babies and that the Russian Revolution of 1917 was started by Jews – although none, he was also quoted as saying, died in it.

The speech drew furious condemnation from Israel.

The UN issued a statement saying secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, once again urged Iranian officials to refrain from such anti-Semitic statements. – Reuters MIAMI: A Miami man killed by police after he chewed off a big chunk of the face of a homeless man had marijuana in his system but no other drugs, authorities said yesterday.

Police had speculated that Rudy Eugene, who was found naked gnawing on his victim’s face on the off-ramp of a Miami bridge, may have been under the influence of a synthetic drug known as bath salts at the time of the attack.

Toxicology tests have so far only identified the presence of marijuana. – Reuters