Chestnut Hill Academy Meeting with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Raises Concerns

Date: October 2, 2008

Late last month, students from Chestnut Hill Academy, an all boys' school in Philadelphia, were among the 400 attendees who met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in New York. ADL expressed its concern to the Academy's Headmaster, citing specific examples of Ahmadinejad's record of hatred towards Israel and Jews. In a letter earlier this month, ADL's Eastern PA/DE Regional Director conveyed the League's disapproval of the meeting.

The Regional Director emphasized that, despite the school's good intentions, the meeting lent stature and credibility to Ahmadinejad, whose unmitigated hostility to Jews, Israel and the West remains a controversial foreign policy issue. Furthermore, ADL stated that "there was no evidence that Ahmadinejad's views were challenged," though participants did discuss a range of human rights topics with him. ADL believed that although students prepared for the trip with readings, some may have come away misinformed by Ahmadinejad and thus not fully grasping the very serious threat that he poses to the Jewish people, Western interests and world peace. ADL offered to assist the Academy in its follow-up by arranging for a League representative or another expert to present students with a fuller context in which to evaluate their experience and to expose them to another point of view.