Just in from Iran: A word of hatred

Actions have consequences but so do words. In fact, there is nothing more potent than a word, which is the realization of a thought.

Thus when the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, declares that Israel should be "wiped off the map," there will be consequences.

In Genesis 12, Verse 3, God tells Abraham: "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

Before some idiot starts yelling that Muslims are the children of Abraham, too, let us simply say this:

So what?

Did God say that he would allow Abraham's children to curse one another with no consequences?

No.

Anyone -- Gentile, Jew, Christian, Muslim -- who dishonors Abraham by cursing one of Abraham's children, especially his chosen ones, is subject to the curse.

It's a spiritual principle.

If you're not into spiritual principles, that's your choice; it's your poison, people used to say.

Let's say it in a secular way: What comes around goes around. You sow the wind (hatred), you reap the whirlwind (devastation and death).

The president of Iran is sowing a lot of wind as he ...

"warned Arab countries against developing economic ties with Israel in response to its withdrawal from Gaza.

His remarks, delivered at a conference in Tehran entitled “A World without Zionism”, led to diplomatic protests by the UK, France and Spain, while Shimon Peres, Israel’s deputy prime minister, said Iran should be expelled from the United Nations.

In Washington, spokesmen for the Bush administration said the statement underscored US concern over Iran’s nuclear weapons programme.

Mr Ahmadi-Nejad’s comments came as Islamic Jihad, a militant Palestinian group allied to Iran, killed at least five Israelis with a bombing in the Israeli town of Hedera.

And to prove that there is no moral courage left in the European Union, diplomats suggested:

"... the comments would not derail efforts by France, Germany and the UK to get Iran to return to the negotiating table and halt work at its Isfahan uranium conversion facility. One diplomat said the EU3 had made a point of keeping the nuclear issue separate from Iranian support for militant Palestinian groups during two years of talks.

How open-minded they are.

The president told an audience of students there was “no doubt the new wave [of attacks] in Palestine will soon wipe off this disgraceful blot from the face of the Islamic world”.

“Anybody who recognises Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury,” he said, in remarks aimed at Arab states.

Sounds an awful lot like a threat to world peace.