FORGET football hooligans. The thorniest dilemma
facing Germany as it prepares to host the World Cup is
what to do about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s hardline
President, if he insists on coming to watch his team
play next month.
Germany is obliged to admit the head of state of a
participating nation, and the tournament’s official
motto is “A Time To Make Friends”. But Mr
Ahmadinejad has demanded Israel’s destruction and has
repeatedly denied the Holocaust — a crime in Germany.
Iran’s first match is in Nuremberg, used by Hitler
for his mass rallies, and German neo-Nazis are planning
a march in support of Mr Ahmadinejad. Israel, Iranian
exiles and German politicians are demanding he be kept
away. “The question is whether Germany as host can
prevent the visit of a head of state who has shown
himself to be a repulsive and embarrassing
anti-Semite,” Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister,
said. “The spirit of the World Cup is in absolute
contradiction to the spirit that he represents.”
An editorial in the Jerusalem Post accused
Germany of trading with Iran and appeasing its nuclear
ambitions:
“Germany’s behaviour toward Iran is a clear sign
that for all its Holocaust memorialising, for all its
anti-Nazi legislation, and for all its protestations of
friendship with Israel and the Jewish people, Germany
has not learnt the lessons of the Holocaust.”
Edmund Stoiber, prime minister of Bavaria, said:
“Such a man is not welcome.” But the German
Government is pressing ahead. Wolfgang Schäuble, the
Interior Minister, says that the President “can
naturally come to the matches”. Differences of opinion
over the Holocaust, Israel and nuclear power could be
aired during the visit.
Herr Schäuble’s deputy, August Hanning, a former
Security Service chief, has agreed with Tehran that
there should be no political demonstrations in the
stadiums. The two states will also exchange intelligence
on possible threats.
For Iranian exiles, expected to attend the matches
against Mexico, Angola and Portugal in large numbers,
that smacks of appeasement. “Naturally we are worried
that information from the Germans will be used against
our families in Iran,” said Hassan Nayeb-Agha, who
played as a midfielder for Iran in the 1978 World Cup.
“We must not let the Iranian regime misuse the
World Cup in the same way that Hitler did with the 1936
Olympic Games.”
Iran is expected to decide if Mr Ahmadinejad should
travel to Germany within the next few days, but there is
little doubt that he wants to go. “Our President loves
soccer,” said Muhammad Ali Dadkan, head of the Iranian
Football Association, as he inspected the Nuremberg
pitch last month.
One Israeli lawyer living in Germany has lodged an
application with the federal prosecutor to serve an
international arrest warrant on the President as soon as
he gets off the plane.
Mr Ahmadinejad would, however, probably enjoy
diplomatic immunity and some lawyers doubt that his
denial of the Holocaust breaches German law as his
comments were made abroad.
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Russia yesterday backed the need for a new Security
Council resolution on Iran’s nuclear programme and
said it hoped that the measure could be adopted before
Monday’s meeting of foreign ministers from the big
powers.
Vitali Churkin, Moscow’s new UN Ambassador, said
Russia had problems with some elements of a draft
resolution put forward by France, Britain and the US
but had supported the Security Council proposal.
