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A Gift Basket for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The New York Post welcomes the Iranian president to town in style

by
Adam Chandler
September 24, 2012
Zabar's Cream Cheese(John Eats Cheese)
Zabar's Cream Cheese(John Eats Cheese)

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad always causes a stir when he comes to town. When Ahmadinejad arrived yesterday, he and his entourage were met by dozens of protestors who gathered outside the Warwick Hotel to rally against his participation in the United Nations General Assembly.

In one of the more creative responses, the New York Post, never one to finesse anything…ever, assembled a fantastic welcome gift basket with the aim of taking “the edge off his bloodthirsty desire to develop nuclear weapons and wipe Israel off the map.”

In addition to a brochure for the Jewish Museum–A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, there were more goodies:

The basket also contained US-made paraphernalia, including “I ♥ New York underwear” and a stick of deodorant “to keep the flies away,” the Post article state. Ahmadinejad also was given tickets to Jewish off-Broadway shows, and an assortment of Jewish staple products, including Gold’s Borscht, Manischewitz Gefilte Fish, H&H bagels, onion bialys and Zabar’s cream cheese.

Sadly, the basket never reached its intended audience. According to the article, the Secret Service intercepted (and likely ate) the contents of the basket. I’m okay with that.

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.