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Injured Israeli: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Hotel Rooms Are Mine!
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 14, 2012
Modified Sep 14, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 14, 2012
Modified Sep 14, 2012
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It's almost that time of year when clown-of-the-century nominee Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivers his annual United Nations roast. Knowing Ahmadinejad, there'll be plenty of anti-Semitic hoo-haw, 9/11 conspiracy theories, and tons of the argle-bargle pseudo-scientific baloney he is so fond of regurgitating. But he may have a problem getting a room this year, if former NYer Stuart Hersh gets his way: Hersh has served papers to The Warwick Hotel (where Ahmadinejad and his large entourage have booked rooms) demanding the hotel hand over his rooms.
Hersh was severely injured in a 1997 suicide bombing in Israel; a federal court found Iran liable for the attack in 2003, and ordered them to pay Hersh $12 million. He now claims this entitles him to assume Ahmadinejad’s reservation or receive whatever money the hotel gets paid for it. “Ahmadinejad is going to be staying at The Warwick hotel, paying a fortune, and he owes me $12 million and he just won’t pay it,” Hersh told the Post by phone from Israel. “He throws that in my face and in the face of America, saying: ‘Hey, I still got money—despite your sanctions.’ ”
Hersh's lawyer, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, estimated that Iran would spend at least $20,000 a night to house its delegation at The Warwick for the week. Ahmadinejad also stayed at The Warwick—the hotel founded by William Randolph Hearst located on 54th Street at Sixth Avenue—last year, and attended a "Monster Ball" there in 2010. Although Ahmadinejad and his crew are offered free accommodations at the Iranian Mission to the United Nations, they have rejected that in recent years for fancier digs; but many other elite hotels have rejected them (including the San Carlos Hotel, The Loews Regency Hotel, and the Preferred Hotel Group).
For Ahmadinejad's sake, let's hope he can find somewhere opulent enough to stay; after all, who would want to miss his highly-anticipated UN address on September 26th. Considering he referred to Israel as a "cancerous tumor" just last month, we're sure he'll be extremely respectful speaking on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.
Tagged
hotels
iran
mahmoud ahmadinejad
stuart hersh
united nations
warwick hotel
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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