RSVP: Drop dead

Submitted for the consideration of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are words spoken Friday by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as he addressed an anti-Israel demonstration: “The very existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to humankind and an affront to all world nations. Confronting Zionists will also pave the way for saving the whole humankind from exploitation, depravity and misery.”

And: “The nations of the region will soon finish off the usurper Zionists in the Palestinian land. . . . A new Middle East will definitely be formed. With the grace of God and help of the nations, in the new Middle East there will be no trace of the Americans and Zionists.”

And: “The Zionist regime and the Zionists are a cancerous tumor.”

And: The day of protest was “an occasion for all human communities to wipe out this scarlet letter, meaning the Zionist regime, from the forehead of humanity.”

And: “Open your ears: There will be no Zionist regime and no United States [domination] in the new Middle East map.”

And: “Zionists” engineered World Wars I and II, and had “taken control over world affairs since the moment they became dominant over the U.S. government.”

Ahamedinejad is on the verge of hosting a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, an organization composed of 118 countries, mostly from the Third World. Some 40 heads of state are expected to attend. The ceremonies will include anointing Ahmadinejad as movement chairman.

He and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are quite thrilled to have the recognition as America, Europe and other participants in the civilized world fight to isolate Iran in hope of stemming the country’s drive to gain nuclear weapons capability.

Ban is on the invite list. He has declined to say whether he’ll attend and lend Ahmadinejad his prestige. This was never a close call, given the militaristic anti-Semitism of the Iranian leadership and the war footing on which it places the world.

Now, once more, Ahmadinejad has made plain that he wishes for Israel’s complete destruction. Not only must Ban refuse to favor the madman with his presence, he must denounce him in the strongest possible terms.