Calling on the United Nations Security Council to charge Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and United Nations Charter because of his calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.

Whereas the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (commonly referred to as the Genocide Convention) defines genocide as, among other things, the act of killing members of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the targeted group, and it also prohibits conspiracy to commit genocide, as well as direct and public incitement to commit genocide;

Whereas Article 4 of the Genocide Convention provides that individuals committing any of the listed genocidal crimes shall be punished whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals;

Whereas 133 Member States of the United Nations have ratified the Genocide Convention and thereby pledged to prosecute those individuals who violate its criteria for incitement to commit genocide, as well as those individuals who commit genocide directly;

Whereas 62 years ago the United Nations was founded in the wake of the Holocaust, the Nazi genocide carried out during World War II that resulted in the slaughter of 6 million Jews in Europe, in order to save succeeding gen- erations from the scourge of war and uphold and protect the dignity and worth of the human person;

Whereas Article 2, Section 4, of the United Nations Charter, to which Iran has agreed as a Member State of the United Nations, requires all Member States of the United Nations to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state;

Whereas on October 26, 2005, at the World Without Zionism Conference in Tehran, Iran, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be wiped off the map, described Israel as a disgraceful blot on the face of the Islamic world, and declared that anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury;

Whereas on December 12, 2006, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed a conference in Tehran questioning the historical veracity of the Holocaust and said that Israel would soon be wiped out;

Whereas on December 15, 2000, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamene’i stated to thousands of Muslim worshippers in Tehran that Iran’s stance has always been clear on this ugly phenomenon (Israel). We have repeatedly said that this cancerous tumor of a state should be removed from the region;

Whereas other Iranian leaders have made similar statements and the Government of Iran has displayed inflammatory symbols that express similar intent;

Whereas on December 14, 2006, incoming United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that Iran’s calls for Israel’s destruction and its dismissal of the Holocaust are unacceptable, and expressed concern about the regional and global security implications of Tehran’s nuclear program;

Whereas on August 3, 2006, in a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that the Middle East would be better off without the existence of the Zionist regime, called Israel an illegitimate regime with no legal basis for its existence, and accused the United States of using Israel as a proxy to control the region and its oil resources;

Whereas Iran funds, trains, and openly supports terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad among many others, all of which have murdered Americans, Israelis, and non-Israeli Jews and are determined to destroy Israel;

Whereas on December 14, 2001, former leader of Iran and current leader of Iran’s influential Expediency Council Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani threatened Israel with destruction by nuclear attack, saying, if one day, the Islamic world is also equipped with weapons like those that Israel possesses now, then the imperialists’ strategy will reach a standstill because the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything in Israel, while it will merely harm the Islamic world;

Whereas Iran has aggressively pursued a clandestine effort to arm itself with nuclear weapons; and

Whereas the longstanding policy of the Iranian regime is aimed at destroying the democratic State of Israel, a vital United States ally and longstanding friend, which is confirmed by statements such as those made by Iranian leader Ahmadinejad, Supreme Leader Khamene’i, and Expediency Council leader Rafsanjani, demonstrating the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran: Now, therefore, be it