STAGING A WALKOUT: European Union delegates leave the Durban Review Conference during the speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the United Nations in Geneva. (EPA)

GENEVA: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the West of using the Holocaust as a “pretext” for aggression against Palestinians, prompting European diplomats to walk out yesterday from a speech disrupted by jeering protesters in rainbow wigs tossing red clown noses at the hard-line leader.

A UN racism conference turned into chaos moments after Ahmadinejad became the first government official to take the floor. Two protesters in wigs tossed the noses at the Iranian leader as he began his speech. A Jewish student group from France later took credit for causing the disturbance, saying members were trying to convey “the masquerade that this conference represents.”

In his half-hour speech, Ahmadinejad said the United States and Europe had helped establish Israel after World War II at the expense of Palestinians. “They resorted to military aggression to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering,” he said.

“And they sent migrants from Europe, the United States and other parts of the world in order to establish a totally racist government in the occupied Palestine,” Ahmadinejad continued. “And in fact, to compensate for the dire consequences of racism in Europe, they helped bring to power the most cruel and repressive racist regime in Palestine.”

That prompted a walkout by some 40 diplomats from Britain, France and other European countries that had threatened to leave the conference if it turned into an anti-Israeli event. The United States and eight other Western countries were already boycotting the conference fearing such a turn of events.

As the European diplomats filed out of the conference room, others cheered the Iranian leader. Protesters held placards reading, “This is a circus. A racist cannot fight racism,” and repeatedly interrupted the speech with shouts of “Shame! shame!” and “Racist! racist!” Later, about 100 members of mainly pro-Israel and Jewish groups tried to block Ahmadinejad’s entrance to a scheduled news conference.

Ahmadinejad’s speech also took aim at the United States for its role in the global economic crisis and at Western countries for imposing unfair economic conditions on the developing world. He alleged that Zionists instigated the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq in concert with weapons manufacturers.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Ahmadinejad before his speech and said he had counseled the Iranian leader to avoid dividing the conference. Ban later said he was disappointed Ahmadinejad had used his speech “to accuse, divide and even incite,” directly opposing the aim of the meeting.

Alejandro Wolff, the US deputy ambassador to the United Nations, denounced “the Ahmadinejad spectacle” and the Iranian president’s “vile and hateful speech.” “It’s inaccurate. It shows disregard for the organization to which he is speaking, the United Nations, and does a grave injustice to the Iranian nation and the Iranian people,” Wolff told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

“We call on the Iranian leadership to show much measured, moderate, honest and constructive rhetoric when dealing with issues in the region, and not this type of vile, hateful, inciteful speech that we all saw ... this morning,” he said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s spokesman said Britain would return to the talks but “unreservedly condemns his offensive and unacceptable remarks.” “He ascribed all the problems relating to racism in the modern world to Israel and the Jewish state, and that was enough for me to walk out,” British Ambassador Peter Gooderham said.

In Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned what he called “an intolerable call to racist hate” and urged a firm reaction by the European Union.

Also yesterday, Israel recalled its ambassador to Switzerland for “consultations” to protest the Swiss president’s meeting with Ahmadinejad ahead of the conference in Geneva.

It also summoned the head of Switzerland’s diplomatic mission to Israel, Monika Schmutz-Kirgoz, for an “urgent discussion” to convey Israel’s deep displeasure with the meeting on Sunday between Ahmadinejad and Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz. “The meeting between the president of a democratic country with an infamous Holocaust-denier such as the president of Iran, who calls for Israel’s destruction, does not mesh with the values that Switzerland represents and that are supposed to be represented at the UN conference on racism,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In a radio interview, the Swiss president defended his meeting with Ahmadinejad and said criticism was unjustified. “Switzerland is neutral and not part of any alliance,” Merz said, adding that it is part of his country’s national tradition to offer its mediation services.