Ahmadinejad says he won't come to the World Cup 

Brussels, May 31, 2006 – Citing “international pressure” Iranian president Ahmadinejad on Tuesday confirmed that he will not be attending the World Cup Football tournament in Germany which kicks off next  week Wednesday.

The European Coalition for Israel has been campaigning against the prospect of Ahmadinejad's visit since he stated his intention to visit Germany over a month ago. The ECI's lobbying efforts were to conclude this week with the launch of a high profile advertising campaign in Germany's mass circulation daily Das Bild Zeitung in Berlin, when the news broke.

- “If this news is indeed true it is a great victory for Europe and for the World Cup, says European Coalition for Israel chairman Willem Glashouwer from the Netherlands. "This was a testing time for the European people. Where we willing to give an Holocaust denier a stage for his genocidal rhetoric in the same stadia once filled by Hitler? Or where we going to learn from history?", he asks.

- “It is an encouraging sign indeed that the European people have made it clear that Ahmadinejad is not welcome to the World Cup - and he is not welcome to Europe".

The European Coalition for Israel decided to join the campaign against Ahmadinejad's visit three weeks ago. On May 9 - at a Europe Day reception at the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem - Member of European Parliament Hannu Takkula urged “all Europeans of good will to do what they can to keep Ahmadinejad from visiting the World Cup”.

The ECI has been in constant contact with the German government about the initiative and applauds the very constructive role played by Berlin in the Middle East on the mounting Iranian nuclear threat.

News reports on Tuesday indicated that it was the combined pressure of the German government and FIFA which forced president Ahmadinejad to change his plans.- “We want to congratulate the German government for their clear stand they made on the issue and for their efforts to ensure that Ahmadinejad realised that he was not welcome in Berlin", added Glashouwer.

A number of Jewish organisations have been campaigning for weeks to keep Ahmadinejad out of the World Cup and in the European parliament a group of MEP.s have addressed  the international football federation, FIFA, with the same concern.

- “Many groups are to be credited for their active campaigning," says Glashouwer. We count ourselves privileged to have been able to stand by our Jewish friends as explicitly Christian friends of Israel. The efforts to keep Ahmadinejad out of the World Cup were not part of any 'Zionist conspiracy', as he claims,  but evidence of a widespread grassroots concern in Europe about this man's extremist rhetoric and policies" he explains. 

- “But we must remember that this is a small victory. Ahmadinejad's convictions have hardly changed and Europeans that cares about peace and justice in the Middle East must continue to put pressure on him as long as he continues to deny the Holocaust and threaten Israel with destruction. "Ahmadinejad's game is far from over."