Mennonite Weekly Review

Whether to talk with adversaries, particularly Iran, has sparked debate in the presidential campaign. Mennonite Central Committee last month found itself at the center of a similar controversy.

MCC leaders showed courage in choosing to co-sponsor a dinner and meeting that included Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sept. 25 in New York City. Despite clear risks and uncertain rewards, they accepted an opportunity to be bridge builders. Their decision fit MCC’s mandate to be an active peacemaker, even when it is unpopular.

The danger for MCC was that the backlash might cause more bridges to be burned than built. MCC took some hard hits: “No feast with the beast” read one protester’s sign; “a perversion of the search for peace,” said the executive director of the Anti-Defamation League. Criticism came from Jewish and Christian groups.

Probably few constituents would have faulted MCC if its leaders had decided another meeting with an “enemy” wasn’t worth the potential misunderstandings and bad press. Yet MCC officials chose to follow their ideals and accept the scorn.

“Jesus ate with lepers and with tax collectors, and in the United States right now Iran would be in that category,” said Arli Klassen, MCC executive director.

Other sponsors of the meeting included the American Friends Service Committee and the World Council of Churches. It was the fourth time MCC and other religious groups had organized such an event.

Unfortunately, the meeting’s hoped-for dialogue with Ahmadinejad didn’t happen. The Iranian president spoke for 45 minutes and then left without taking questions.

But participants did, once again, speak to Ahmadinejad about issues on which he has expressed reprehensible views, including denial of the Holocaust. Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb referred to the Holocaust in her remarks about what motivates her work for reconciliation between Muslims and Jews, Palestinians and Israelis. In previous meetings, MCC has challenged Ahmadinejad on Holocaust denial, threats toward Israel and Iran’s nuclear program.

MCC leaders say that over the past two years the Iranian president has backed off his most inflammatory comments. He has told MCC, as well as CNN and the Los Angeles Times, that his much-publicized comment about “wiping Israel off the map” was not a military threat but a statement of support for a “one-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. No matter what one thinks of that explanation, it does represent a moderating of rhetoric. And it is important to know this, since U.S. politicians often repeat Ahmadinejad’s comment to bolster Americans’ perception of Iran as a potential target of U.S. military action.

Mennonites who have met with Ahmadinejad several times believe he has gained valuable exposure to Christians and other peacemakers of different faiths. They cannot be sure what impact the meetings have had. But they are certain that Christian peacemaking must begin with a willingness to talk.

By meeting with Ahmadinejad, MCC representatives did not validate the Iranian president’s statements or honor him or “appease” him. They dealt with an “enemy” as a human being with whom it is possible to resolve differences without compromising one’s principles. That approach makes sense for any broker of peace, religious idealist or not.