CNN and Other US Media Refuse to Sell Banner Space for a Campaign Against Ahmadinejad

Leading mainstream U.S. news media companies, including CNN and ABC News, have told the Jewish Agency (JA) that they won't sell internet site ad space to JA and the World Zionist Organization (WZO) for a media campaign against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Working through Network Solutions, a well-known Internet advertising company, JA and WZO spoke to over 40 leading news media companies in the U.S. about their internet campaign, and were turned down by nearly all.

Jewish Agency spokesman Yarden Vatikay said that the U.S. news media companies "claimed the ad was a political statement and, therefore, disqualified." He continued, "I find it unbelievable that a campaign against hatred and anti-Semitism could be considered political."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian president, has repeatedly called for wiping Israel off of the map. In 2005, Ahmadinejad spoke at the "World Without Zionism" convention calling for the destruction of Israel. He delivered his speech in front of sophisticated graphics depicting an hourglass with the United States broken at the bottom and Israel falling into the bottom of the hourglass along with grains of sand. In his speech, Ahmadinejad said--

"We are in the process of an historical war between the World of Arrogance and the Islamic world, and this war has been going on for hundreds of years ..."

"The issue of this conference is very valuable. In this very grave war, many people are trying to scatter grains of desperation and hopelessness regarding the struggle between the Islamic world and the front of the infidels ..."

"Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism? But you had best know that this slogan and this goal are attainable, and surely can be achieved ..."

Shlomo Molla, the head of the WZO's Department for Zionist Institutions, who also heads the Jewish Agency's campaign against anti-Semitism, stated that he was "deeply disappointed" with the U.S. news media for refusing to sell banner space for the ad campaign on their web sites.