Activists in bras, underwear delay Peres nuke speech

Greenpeace calls for stripping ME of weapons of mass destruction; president: "They should be demonstrating in Teheran, not Tel Aviv."

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
greenpeace 224.88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
greenpeace 224.88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Anti-nuclear activists stripped to their underclothes at a conference on nuclear arms Thursday as Israeli President Shimon Peres entered to deliver a speech. Members of the Greenpeace international environmental organization who were sitting in the audience at Tel Aviv University suddenly pulled off their shirts and pants to stand in bras and underwear when Peres walked into the lecture hall. They had radiation symbols painted on their stomachs and held banners that read, "Strip the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction." "I think they should turn down the air conditioning in here," Peres said, laughing, after the protesters were led from the room. "I was slightly concerned for their health." "We need to strip the Middle East of wars, not weapons," the 84-year-old Nobel Peace prize winner added. "Besides that, they should be demonstrating in Teheran, not Tel Aviv." Israel supports the international diplomatic effort to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, fearing it would be a target of an Iranian nuclear attack. Israel has never confirmed or denied having a nuclear weapons program. But outside experts have said it has the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.