Norway 'won't let Iran hijack Durban II'

        Norway's Ambassador to Israel Jakken Biorn Lian vehemently denied on Tuesday reports that his country's foreign minister had applauded Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech on Monday, which called for the eradication of Zionism. In a conversation with The Jerusalem Post, he confirmed that Norway had remained in the room during Ahmadinejad's address to the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, even though 23 European Union countries had walked out. Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre drew sharp criticism from Israeli officials Tuesday for remaining while Ahmadinejad excoriated Israel. "Minister Støre chose to remain in the room because he was scheduled to speak right after Ahmadinejad, and wanted to criticize him and reject his untenable assertions," Lian said. Støre indeed spoke after Ahmadinejad and used the opportunity to blast the Iranian president's speech. He said it "threatens the very focus of this conference. Through his message, [Ahmadinejad] has made Iran the odd man out. And Norway will not accept that the odd man out hijacks the collective effort of the many." In response to Lian's statement, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel "accepts happily the clarification of the Norwegian Embassy to the effect that the Norwegian minister did not join too many other delegates in applauding the speech of Ahmadinejad." But, Palmor added, "we are deeply disappointed that he attended the conference in the first place and stayed in the room when all EU delegations rose and left, thus sending the wrong message to the Iranians and those who support them." Lian told the Post that Norway understood that this was Israel's position, but "on this point we have a difference of perspective. We believe you stand a greater chance to influence an event if you are there. Mr. Støre used strong language [to criticize Ahmadinejad], and he was interrupted several times with applause. Our belief is that he made an impression." According to Palmor, Jerusalem's concerns will be formally delivered to Norway's Foreign Ministry in Oslo by Israeli Ambassador Michael Eligal. Switzerland, which is hosting the conference, also remained in the room during the speech. A political cartoon placed on the front page of the Swiss daily Le Temps on Tuesday showed the country's representative sitting there during the speech cringing in his jacket with sweat dripping off his head, as countries such as Zimbabwe and Libya cheered above him. On Monday, Israel recalled its ambassador to Switzerland to protest a meeting that President Hans Rudolph Merz had on Sunday with Ahmadinejad. Contrary to reports that it had walked out, the Moroccan delegation told the Post on Tuesday that it had remained in the room, although some of the high-level delegates had been outside the room working on their speeches. On Tuesday, Norway and France were among a number of countries who defended their decision to attend the conference. France - which did walk out of the room during the speech but, like Norway, opted to remain at the conference - sharply criticized the US, which had joined Israel, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Italy, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands in boycotting the event altogether out of fear that it would turn into an anti-Semitic debacle. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned Tuesday that the US decision to boycott the anti-racism conference could be a mistake and hurt efforts to reach out to Iran. Kouchner's remarks constituted rare public criticism of President Barack Obama's new administration by a French or any foreign official. "The speech by President Ahmadinejad had an electoral, personal character which did not escape us," Kouchner said on France-5 TV. Ahmadinejad faces a presidential election in June. Asked earlier in an interview on Europe-1 radio about the US decision to boycott - taken even though the Obama administration has said it is open to negotiations on Iran's nuclear program - Kouchner said, "It's more than a paradox. It could really be a mistake." He added, "Leaving an empty chair, it's easy. You leave, then you yell at the rest." French government spokesman Luc Chatel defended France's decision to return to the meeting after Ahmadinejad's speech. "If we leave, it is Mr. Ahmadinejad who wins," he said on LCI television Tuesday. "Leaving would have been a disastrous message to all the moderate countries who are in the majority, who also hope that the values that Europe and France incarnate are defended during this conference," he said. In contrast, the Czech Republic pulled out of the conference to protest the speech. It was the only country to do so. "We cannot allow our presence at this conference to legitimize the completely unacceptable anti-Israeli attack," the Czech Republic said in a statement. Its position differed from that of the EU, which on Tuesday announced that it would remain in Geneva. As he sat in the conference on Tuesday, William Cheptumo, Kenya's assistant justice minister, said that like Norway and Switzerland, he thought it was a mistake to walk out. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said, should not overshadow the work the conference needs to do on racism. "The conflict can't be resolved here. It is an issue for another day," he said. Israel, he contended, should have come to the conference, and it should not have recalled its ambassador. Cheptumo said he did not agree with Iran, but it had a right to speak, and it was proper for countries to sit and listen. Those who had walked out, he said, represented all those who disagreed with Iran but remained. "Don't be scared of the fact that people remained here," he said, adding that if countries like his had not stayed, the others could not have left. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sent a note Tuesday thanking those nations that boycotted the Geneva conference. (10,32)