Hotel gives Nejad the boot
No vacancy!
The New York Helmsley Hotel last night abruptly canceled a long-planned banquet for next week after finding out that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was scheduled to attend and speak, The Post has learned.
Helmsley representatives told Ahmadinejad to beat it after being informed by the security group United Against Nuclear Iran that the Israel-hating, Holocaust-denying America basher was going to be in the house next Thursday.
Helmsley execs were unaware that Ahmadinejad -- who will be in town for a meeting of the UN General Assembly next week -- was involved in the event until informed by UANI yesterday.
An Iranian student group had booked the space months ago, said Howard Rubenstein, spokesman for Helmsley Properties.
"As soon as Helmsley corporate management learned of the possibility of either the Iranian Mission or President Ahmadinejad holding a function at the New York Helmsley Hotel, they immediately ordered the cancellation of that function," Rubenstein said.
"Neither the Iranian Mission nor President Ahmadinejad is welcome at any Helmsley facility. The Helmsley organization is grateful to United Against Nuclear Iran for bringing this matter to its attention so that appropriate action could be taken."
UANI applauded the New York Helmsley's move.
"We are pleased with the decision by the Helmsley group. Now more than ever, American corporations must realize that doing business with Iran provides legitimacy to a brutal dictator and indirectly supports the development of an Iranian nuclear bomb," UANI President Mark Wallace said last night.
In a letter to New York Helmsley general manager Mark Briskin, Wallace had warned about Ahmadinejad.
"By doing business with the Iranian government, the Helmsley is accepting blood money from a regime that brutally suppresses its own people and that is a danger to global security," Wallace wrote.
"Moreover, by providing a forum for President Ahmadinejad's speech, the Helmsley is serving as a bullhorn for the propaganda of the illegitimate leader of a brutal, theocratic dictatorship."
UANI also threatened a public boycott of Helmsley properties, if the company went ahead with the Ahmadinejad event.
Meanwhile, The Post has learned that UANI today will turn the heat on Gotham Hall, which the group said is hosting another Ahmadinejad banquet and speech Sept. 25.
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