Perspectives

Different groups in Germany threaten to hold protests and demonstrations if he does actually come. Jews and Iranian exiles threaten protests, while neo-Nazi groups are certain to hold demonstrations in the streets, supporting the President's stance. The German government will be caught in the middle, trying to keep peace. Of course, if he isn't allowed to come, foreign relations with Tehran may deteriorate, and terrorist retaliation might become a concern.

Germany is in a unique position when it comes to the issue of anti-Semitism. As the curators of countless museums, memorials, and galleries dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust, Germans are least alienated from the memory of anti-Sematism's awful potential. If Germany takes the lessons of its history seriously, they can reach only one solution.

To allow Ahmadinejad the same treatment as other leaders is to send a message that his statements are not remarkable enough to distinguish his diplomatic status from that of other leaders. Germany would send a message that his threats to Israel are acceptable. Meanwhile, his claims that the Holocaust never happened are analogous to those that are keeping a British historian in a Swiss prison, where it's illegal to suggest that the Holocaust never occurred.

It may seem as though this view about Ahmadinejad's freedom of opinion conflicts with my previous arguments about Bill O'Reilly's campaign against free speech. I don't think that it does. Setting aside for the moment that American law doesn't apply to international issues, I think that Ahmadinejad's remarks do fall under the special category of "speech intended to injure" into which O'Reilly unconvincingly tried to squeeze the student's cartoon. Ahmadinejad is a leader making threats against Israel. There is quite a distinction.

I don't think that any country should pursue action against a leader or his/her nation simply for such threats, but I do think that there ought to be some kind of minimal diplomatic consequences. I don't think that Germany ought to greet this man with open arms and let him travel through the country, conveniently neglecting to stop by Dachau on his way home. Germany can either demonstrate that they have no tolerance for anti-Semitic threats, or they can let a leader with all of Hitler's odious racism and resolve enjoy a relaxing holiday in their newly reunified land. This is Germany's chance to distinguish itself from its past.