(CNSNews.com) – Largely upstaged by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s earlier diatribe, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s fifth annual address to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday evening was a relatively low-key affair, punctuated by religious terminology and his trademark attacks against the U.S. and Israel.
 
There were empty seats across the chamber during the hour-long speech, including those of the U.S. and Israel, while some Western delegates left as he spoke.
 
Since his last trip to New York, Ahmadinejad has, if possible, become an even more controversial figure, having triggered a walkout at the U.N.’s troubled “Durban II” racism conference in Geneva, continued to defy the international community on the nuclear issue, and cracked down on opposition protestors at home after his disputed re-election over the summer.
 
Ahmadinejad made no mention of the nuclear dispute, although the five permanent Security Council members and Germany (P5+1) in a statement earlier Wednesday warned Tehran to give a “serious response” to the international community at talks that are scheduled for October 1.
 
He railed against Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians and the U.S. military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.
 
“It is not acceptable that some who are several thousands of kilometers away from the Middle East would send their troops for military intervention and for spreading war, bloodshed, aggression, terror and intimidation in the whole region, while blaming the protests of nations in the region that are concerned about their fate and their national security,” he said.
 
Ahmadinejad’s speech was interspersed with Islamic language, with frequent references to Muslim “prophets” from Moses, through Jesus to Mohammed, as well as Shi’ite eschatology – his belief in the so-called “hidden” or 12th imam, Mahdi, who Shi’ites expect to emerge at a time of war and chaos.
 
He urged Allah to “hasten the arrival of al-Mahdi,” who he said would “return” with the help of the righteous and true believers, and be accompanied by “Jesus and other noble men.”

On Thursday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will address the General Assembly. On a notorious previous visit, in 2006, the left-wing populist called President Bush “the devil,” saying that he could still smell the sulphur at the podium where Bush had spoken the previous day.
 
This time Chavez does not have Bush to harangue, but he is scheduled to follow Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, according to a speaking roster made available by U.N. officials.
 
Chavez, a close ally of both Ahmadinejad and Gaddafi, has become one of Israel’s most vociferous critics outside the Arab-Islamic world.
 
In 2006 he recalled Venezuela’s ambassador from Tel Aviv and compared an Israeli military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon to the actions of the Nazis. Last January he severed diplomatic ties with Israel completely, in response to Israel’s military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.