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Israel alone in wanting Iran expelled from United Nations

WASHINGTON - The United States declined Thursday to support Israel's call for expelling Iran from the United Nations for advocating Israel's destruction. While other nations expressed shock and disapproval of the Iranian president's remarks, Israel's call did not draw support elsewhere either.

"Iran is a member of the United Nations," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "What I think we would encourage instead is Iran to start behaving in a responsible manner as a member of the international community."

McCormack said Iran should stop seeking development of nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian program, end support of terrorism and stop oppressing its people.

"Our concern is with Iran's having the know-how, the technology and the capability to enrich or reprocess on its territory," he said.

In a speech Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced Israel and said a new wave of Palestinian attacks "will wipe this stigma from the face of the Islamic world." Citing the words of the founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Ahmadinejad said, "Israel must be wiped off the map."

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday called for Iran to be expelled from the United Nations, saying "a state which calls for the destruction of another people cannot be a member of the United Nations." Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israel had not decided whether to ask officially for Iran's removal.

Israel's deputy ambassador to Britain, Zvi Rav-Ner, said it was unheard of for a U.N. member state to call "for genocide and wiping off of another member state of the U.N."

"This is a clear contravention and breach of the U.N. charter, and it should be dealt with by the international community," he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Iranians will hold demonstrations today to back their president in the face of international criticism of his remarks, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Thursday, adding that the demonstrations will mark al-Quds Day - the annual event when Iranians protest Israel's control over Jerusalem.

"The world will see the anger of the Islamic world against this regime," state-run television quoted Mottaki as telling ambassadors from Islamic countries. He added that the "Zionist regime is illegitimate."

Arab governments remained silent Thursday as international condemnation grew. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry and Cabinet officials said Cairo would have nothing to say on the address. Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher also declined comment.

Despite the silence, analysts in the region said Tehran's Arab rivals may quietly be pleased to see the radical regime further isolated by its extremism.

However, some Palestinians - who would have the task of destroying Israel according to Ahmadinejad - rejected the remarks.

"We have recognized the state of Israel and we are pursuing a peace process with Israel, and ... we do not accept the statements of the president of Iran," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. "This is unacceptable."

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew condemned the comments in a strongly worded statement. "We are in the 21st century. Canada will never accept such hatred, intolerance and anti-Semitism. Never," the statement said.

The 25 European Union leaders at a summit outside London condemned the remarks, saying they "will cause concern about Iran's role in the region and its future intentions."

France, Russia, Spain and the Netherlands summoned the Iranian ambassadors in their capitals to explain the remarks.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard called Ahmadinejad's remarks "dangerous" and said they required a U.N. response, although he wasn't specific.

JERUSALEM - Israel killed seven Palestinians in a missile strike Thursday against Islamic Jihad, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he would not meet with the Palestinian leader until he cracks down on armed groups - a double-edged Israeli response to the latest suicide bombing.

Sharon threatened a "broad and relentless" offensive against Palestinian militants, including mass arrests and airstrikes, but security officials said Israel would stop short of a large-scale military operation.

In the Gaza refugee camp of Jebaliya, Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at a car carrying Islamic Jihad militants. Hospital officials said at least seven people were killed and 15 wounded, four of them critically. Among those killed were four Islamic Jihad members, including Shadi Mohanna, the group's field commander for northern Gaza.