Jewish groups will participate in a sit-in outside Rome’s City Hall protesting the visit by Iran’s president.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be in the Italian capital to attend the World Food Summit of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization June 3-4. On the eve of his trip, he renewed calls for Israel’s destruction.
Pope Benedict XIV and senior Italian leaders have declined to meet with Ahmadinejad, but his delegation is expected to hold economic talks with Italian officials.
Organizers of Tuesday’s protest said Ahmadinejad’s presence at a summit “addressing the tragedy of hunger in the world symbolizes the devastating contradiction between the violence of totalitarian governments and their demagogic statements.”
The World Jewish Congress on Monday also deplored Ahmadinejad’s participation in the summit.
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