Dozens of Western diplomats walked out of a United Nations conference on racism April 20, when the hard-line leader of Iran called Israel the "most cruel and repressive racist regime."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — the first government official to take the floor at the weeklong event in Geneva, Switzerland — delivered a rambling, half-hour speech that was by turns conciliatory and inflammatory. At one point he appealed for global unity in the fight against racism, and then said the United States and Europe helped establish Israel after World War II at the expense of Palestinians.

"They resorted to military aggression to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering," he said.

At the first mention of Israel, about 40 diplomats from Britain, France and other European Union countries exited the room. Japan's delegation stayed.

The United States and eight other countries boycotted the event out of concern that Islamic countries would demand that it denounce Israel, and ban criticism of Islam.

The meeting turned chaotic almost from the start when a pair of rainbow-wigged protesters threw red clown noses at Ahmadinejad as he began his speech with a Muslim prayer. The duo from a French Jewish student group said it had been trying to convey "the masquerade that this conference represents."