Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Photo: Wikipedia.

JNS.org – The Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish groups are calling on world leaders at the UN to condemn Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s speech, accusing Israel of oppressing Palestinians, and blaming “Zionist pressure groups” for causing the US to violate the nuclear deal.

Rouhani said, “The oppressed Palestinians are still afflicted by a web of apartheid policies and atrocities set by the usurping Zionist regime,” referring to Israel in his address to the 71st session of the UN General Assembly on Thursday.

Rouhani also referenced the US Supreme Court’s seizing of billions in Iranian assets, emphasizing that “Zionist pressure groups could go as far as having Congress pass indefensible legislations [sic] forcing the highest American judicial institution to violate peremptory norms of international law.”

In a veiled threat to the US government, Rouhani warned that America’s credibility will be eroded if it continues to allow Zionist groups to influence its ability to uphold Tehran’s nuclear deal. And “any failure on the part of the United States in implementing it would constitute an international wrongful act and would be objected to by the international community.”

World Jewish Congress president Ronald S. Lauder said that Rouhani’s remarks are just as “inflammatory and inciting today as [those made by] former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”

Lauder added, “We may have thought that under Rouhani, Iran’s antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric had abated, but clearly, Iran hasn’t changed. It still promotes hatred against Israel, fixated on the notion of a Zionist conspiracy against the world. We urge world leaders to strongly condemn his hateful discourse and recognize that Iran is still every bit as dangerous as we feared.”

The ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt said, “Antisemitic statements by the Iranian regime in the halls of the United Nations are nothing new. For years, Iranian leaders have lodged accusations of Jewish control over the US government, financial institutions and media. It’s time for it to stop.”