Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Israel
During his presidency,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speeches and statements have contributed to increased tensions between
Iran and
Israel, and between Iran and a few
Western nations.
|
President Ahmadinejad speaking at "The World without Zionism" conference |
In his translation of a speech to the
"World Without Zionism" conference held for students in
October 2005, Nazila Fathi of
The New York Times'
Tehran bureau reported Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying, in part:
Our dear Imam (referring to Ayatollah Khomeini) said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map and this was a very wise statement. We cannot compromise over the issue of Palestine. Is it possible to create a new front in the heart of an old front. This would be a defeat and whoever accepts the legitimacy of this regime has in fact, signed the defeat of the Islamic world. Our dear Imam targeted the heart of the world oppressor in his struggle, meaning the occupying regime. I have no doubt that the new wave that has started in Palestine, and we witness it in the Islamic world too, will eliminate this disgraceful stain from the Islamic world. But we must be aware of tricks.
Ahmadinejad also claimed in the speech that the issue with Palestine would be over "the day that all refugees return to their homes [and] a democratic government elected by the people comes to power"
, and denounced attempts to normalise relations with Israel, condemning all Muslim leaders who accept the existence of Israel as "acknowledging a surrender and defeat of the Islamic world."
The speech also indicated that the Iranian President considered Israel's withdrawal from the
Gaza Strip to be a trick, designed to gain acknowledgement from Islamic states. In a rally held two days later, Ahmadinejad declared that his words reflected the views of the Iranian people, adding that
Westerners are free to comment, but their reactions are invalid.
Translation of phrase "wiped off the map"
Many news sources have presented one of Ahmadinejad's phrases in Persian as a statement that "Israel must be wiped off the map"
[http://www.eyewitnessnewstv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4983358][http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/04/world/middleeast/04iran.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5094&en=0af40a2d3d8b56c2&hp&ex=1149393600&partner=homepage][http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nN21308828&pageNumber=2&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=BizArt-C1-ArticlePage2], an English idiom which means to cause a place to stop existing
[http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wipe+off+the+map].
Juan Cole, a University of Michigan Professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History, translates the Persian phrase as:
The Imam said that this regime occupying Jerusalem (een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods) must [vanish from] the page of time (bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad).
According to Cole, "Ahmadinejad did not say he was going to wipe Israel off the map because no such idiom exists in Persian" and "He did say he hoped its regime, i.e., a Jewish-Zionist state occupying Jerusalem, would collapse."[
1]
The
Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) translates the phrase similarly:
[T]his regime that is occupying Qods [Jerusalem] must be eliminated from the pages of history.
On
20 February 2006, Iran's foreign minister denied that Tehran wanted to see Israel "wiped off the map," saying Ahmadinejad had been misunderstood. "Nobody can remove a country from the map. This is a misunderstanding in Europe of what our president mentioned,"
Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference, speaking in English, after addressing the
European Parliament. "How is it possible to remove a country from the map? He is talking about the regime. We do not recognise legally this regime," he said.
[http://www.irandefence.net/archive/index.php/t-1492.html][http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C02%5C22%5Cstory_22-2-2006_pg4_15][http://www.deepika.com/english/archives/ENG4_sub.asp?hcode=132746&ccode=ENG4&newsdate=02/22/2006]In a June 2006 analysis of the translation controversy,
New York Times deputy foreign editor
Ethan Bronner concluded that Ahmadinejad had in fact said that Israel was to be wiped off the map. After noting the objections of critics such as Cole, Bronner said: "But translators in Tehran who work for the president's office and the foreign ministry disagree with them. All official translations of Mr. Ahmadinejad's statement, including a description of it on his Web site (www.president.ir/eng/), refer to wiping Israel away." Bronner stated: "So did Iran's president call for Israel to be wiped off the map? It certainly seems so. Did that amount to a call for war? That remains an open question."[
2]
On June 15, 2006
Guardian columnist and foreign correspondant
Jonathan Steele cites several Persian speakers and translators who state that the phrase in question is more accurately translated as "eliminated" or "wiped off" or "wiped away" from "the page of time" or "the pages of history", rather than "wiped off the map".
[Steele, Jonathan. Lost in translation, ''The Guardian, June 14, 2006.]Interpretation of speech as call for genocide
The speech was interpreted by some as a call for
genocide. For example,
Canada's then
Prime Minister Paul Martin said, "this threat to Israel's existence, this call for genocide coupled with Iran's obvious nuclear ambitions is a matter that the world cannot ignore."
Cole interprets the speech as a call for the end of Jewish rule of Israel, but not necessarily for the removal of Jewish people::''His statements were morally outrageous and historically ignorant, but he did not actually call for mass murder (Ariel Sharon made the "occupation regime" in Gaza "vanish" last summer[sic]) or for the expulsion of the Israeli Jews to Europe.
In the speech, Ahmadinejad gave the examples of
Iran under the
Shah, the
Soviet Union and
Saddam Hussein's regime in
Iraq as examples of apparently invincible regimes that ceased to exist. Ahmadinejad used these examples to justify his belief that the United States and the State of Israel can also be defeated claiming, "they say it is not possible to have a world without the United States and Zionism. But you know that this is a possible goal and slogan."
In
April 2006, Iran's ambassador was asked directly about Ahmadinejad's position towards Israel by CNN correspondent
Wolf Blitzer:
:BLITZER:
But should there be a state of Israel?
SOLTANIEH: I think I've already answered to you. If Israel is a synonym and will give the indication of Zionism mentality, no.
''But if you are going to conclude that we have said the people there have to be removed or they have to be massacred or so, this is fabricated, unfortunate selective approach to what the mentality and policy of Islamic Republic of Iran is. I have to correct, and I did so.
Israeli responses to the speech
The day immediately following Ahmadinejad's statements,
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called for Iran to be expelled from the
United Nations and Israel's Foreign Minister
Silvan Shalom called for an emergency meeting of the
UN Security Council. In that meeting, all fifteen members condemned Ahmadinejad's remarks.
On May 8 2006, Israel's Second Vice Prime Minister
Shimon Peres said in an interview to Reuters that "the president of Iran should remember that Iran can also be wiped off the map," Army Radio reported.
[http://www.dominicantoday.com/app/article.aspx?id=13207] In
1981, Israeli fighter jets bombed
Osirak, Iraq's
nuclear reactor, severely damaging that country's nuclear weapons program. Today, however, experts state that a similar attack on Iran's nuclear facilities is unlikely, given that Iran's nuclear program is spread out across numerous locations, including some sites that are buried deep enough underground that they are thought to be safe from aerial strikes.
[http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=103296] Israel is within range of Iran's ballistic missiles but Israel is believed to possess the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East.
[http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1633716.htm] Peres, a
Nobel Peace Prize laureate, drew unusually stiff criticism from an analyst on Israel's state television, Yoav Limor, for talking of destroying another country. "There is a broad consensus that it would have been better if Peres had not said this, especially now," Limor said. "I'm quite sure Israel does not want to find itself in the same insane asylum as (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad."
[http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/3850070.html]Palestinian responses to the speech
Khaled Meshaal, the
Damascus-based political leader of ruling
Hamas party, has supported Ahmadinejad's stance towards Israel calling Ahmadinejad's remarks "courageous". He has said that "Just as Islamic Iran defends the rights of the Palestinians, we defend the rights of Islamic Iran. We are part of a united front against the enemies of Islam."
.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator and member of the
Palestinian Legislative Council, stated: "Palestinians recognise the right of the state of Israel to exist and I reject his comments. What we need to be talking about is adding the
state of Palestine to the map, and not wiping Israel from the map."
International reaction to the speech
The
White House stated that Ahmadinejad's rhetoric showed that it was correct in trying to halt Iran's nuclear programme. United Nations President
Kofi Annan said he was dismayed by the comments, and reiterated Iran's obligations and Israel's right of existence under the
UN Charter.
EU leaders issued a strong condemnation of the Iranian President's remarks, stating that "[c]alls for violence, and for the destruction of any state, are manifestly inconsistent with any claim to be a mature and responsible member of the international community." On
November 17, the
European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning Ahmadinejad's remarks
and called on him to retract his bellicose comments in their entirety and to recognise the state of Israel and its right to live in peace and safety.
Then
Prime Minister of
Canada Paul Martin also condemned the comments on several occasions.
Iranian responses to the speech controversy
The Iranian Ambassador to the European Union,
Ali Ahani, called the tough political reactions in Europe against Ahmadinejad "unrealistic and premature," complaining about the discriminatory treatment of the international community, which Iran feels has continued to ignore the threats of Israel and its "organized campaign to provoke others into attacking Iran's facilities and infrastructure". Referring to Israel's support of an American attack on Iran.
, an editorialist for the
Tehran Times, claimed that the criticism of Ahmadinejad's statement by the United States and other Western countries is an attempt to divert attention from "the ever-increasing crimes the Zionists are committing against the innocent Palestinians."
Former president Khatami stated "those words have created hundreds of political and economic problems for us in the world."
Khatami has also recently accused Ahmadinejad and his supporters of being an Iranian "
Taliban" and giving the enemies of Iran "... the best excuse to attack Islam and Iran."
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4510922.stm] Others in Iran have said that there is nothing new about his statements and that the
West has overreacted in order to try to smear Iran's international image.
At a later news conference on
January 14,
2006, Ahmadinejad claimed his speech had been exaggerated and misinterpreted.
"There is no new policy, they created a lot of hue and cry over that. It is clear what we say: Let the Palestinians participate in free elections and they will say what they want."
On
December 8 2005, Ahmadinejad gave an interview with Iran's Arabic channel 'Al-Alam' during a
summit of
Muslim nations in Islam's holy city of
Mecca. The interview contained remarks that were widely condemned as
Holocaust denial:
Some European countries insist on saying that during World War II, Hitler burned millions of Jews and put them in concentration camps... Any historian, commentator or scientist who doubts that is taken to prison or gets condemned. Although we don't accept this claim, if we suppose it is true, if the Europeans are honest they should give some of their provinces in Europe—like in Germany, Austria or other countries—to the Zionists and the Zionists can establish their state in Europe. You offer part of Europe and we will support it.
The remarks were condemned by Israeli, European and American politicians,
Kofi Annan "was shocked,"
and Saudi, Turkish, and Iranian officials sharply criticized his speech because it "marred a Mecca summit dedicated to showing Islam's moderate face."
Shortly after these remarks were made, Iran's Interior Minister, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, claimed Ahmadinejad's remarks had been misunderstood:
Actually the case has been misunderstood. (Ahmadinejad) did not mean to raise this matter. [He] wanted to say that if others harmed the Jewish community and created problems for the Jewish community, they have to pay the price themselves. People like the Palestinian people or other nations should not pay the price (for it).
In a speech given on
14 December,
2005 in the city of
Zahedan, and carried live on Iranian television, Ahmadinejad reportedly made the following comments:
According to the Iran's official news agency:
If the Europeans are telling the truth in their claim that they have killed six million Jews in the Holocaust during the World War II - which seems they are right in their claim because they insist on it and arrest and imprison those who oppose it, why should the Palestinian nation pay for the crime. Why have they come to the very heart of the Islamic world and are committing crimes against the dear Palestine using their bombs, rockets, missiles and sanctions. [...] The same European countries have imposed the illegally-established Zionist regime on the oppressed nation of Palestine. If you have committed the crimes so give a piece of your land somewhere in Europe or America and Canada or Alaska to them to set up their own state there. Then the Iranian nation will have no objections, will stage no rallies on the Qods Day and will support your decision.[http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iran/2005/iran-051214-irna02.htm]
According to United States media:
They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets. The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets, (it) deals very severely with those who deny this myth but does not do anything to those who deny God, religion, and the prophet. If you have burned the Jews, why don't you give a piece of Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to Israel? Our question is, if you have committed this huge crime, why should the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime? [http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/14/iran.israel/index.html]
The remarks were condemned immediately by the Israeli government. Mark Regev, spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry stated:
The combination of a regime with a radical agenda, together with a distorted sense of reality that is clearly indicated by the statements we heard today, put together with nuclear weapons -- I think that's a dangerous combination that no one in the international community can accept.
What the Iranian president has shown us today is that he is clearly outside the international consensus, he is clearly outside international norms and international legitimacy, and in so doing he has shown the Iranian government for what it is -- a rogue regime opposed to peace and stability and a threat to all its neighboring countries.
Many other foreign governments also issued condemnations, including those of the
United States, the
United Kingdom, and
Germany.
In an interview on
January 14 2006, Ahmadinejad said "I've just asked two questions. But I have not received any clear answers." referring to his previous statements on Holocaust. He added "I will not make any historical argument. European scientists are in a position to answer these questions". Referring to Europeans, Ahmadinejad added "I want them to offer a clear answer to these questions... what ever they say I would agree".
[http://www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-649691]According to
Aftab News,
Mohammad-Ali Ramin, a political analyst and an advisor to Ahmadinejad, was the one who initiated the idea of
relocation of Israel and also the idea that
holocaust is a myth. He himself accepted the full responsibility of this action, as Aftab News reported. In an interview with
Financial Times, Mohammad-Ali Ramin stated that he has also initiated Holocaust commission in Iran and he is the founder of the Conference on Holocaust in Tehran.
Ramin praised Ahmadinejad for having voiced his doubts over the Holocaust and the need for relocating the
Jews to Europe if Europeans really did the massacre during the Second World War.
[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=661803&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1]In February 2006, Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying: "Now, in the West, insulting the prophet is allowed, but questioning the Holocaust is considered a crime. We ask, why do you insult the prophet? The response is that it is a matter of freedom, while in fact, they are hostages of the Zionists."
In the same month,
Poland banned visas to Iranian researchers who were planning to visit
Auschwitz.
[a press conference in Tehran on April 24, 2006 ][[http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=29511&name=Israel's+Jews+should+go+home%3A+Ahmadinejad Israel's Jews should go home: Ahmadinejad], Ahmadinejad declared that "Israel can ultimately not continue its existence" and said:
Anti-Semitism in Europe has forced Jews to leave their countries of origin, but what they did instead was occupy a country which is not theirs but that of Palestinians
We are sorry for any human being killed in the two world wars. We respect Moses as we respect Jesus, but it is just unacceptable that the Palestinians should suffer from the aftermath
He stated his belief that the Middle East conflict could be settled only within a "just peace plan," but reaffirmed that this must be preceded by
the return of all Palestinians to their homelands.
In an May 30 interview with
Der Spiegel Ahmadinejad again questioned the Holocaust several times, insisting there were "two opinions" on this. When asked if the Holocaust was a myth, he responded "I will only accept something as truth if I am actually convinced of it", and further stated:
We are saying that if the Holocaust occurred, then Europe must draw the consequences and that it is not Palestine that should pay the price for it. If it did not occur, then the Jews have to go back to where they came from.[[http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,418660,00.html "We Are Determined": Spiegel interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad], Der Speigel, May 30, 2006.]
Iranian responses to Holocaust controversy
In
March 4 2006, Iran's parliament speaker,
Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, said "the Western media empire is trying to portray Iran as an anti-Semitic country. However, our support for Palestinians should not be interpreted as anti-Semitism". He added "If our president questions Holocaust, It does not mean that Iran believes in anti-Semitism. In our history, there were no anti-Semitism and genocide". Iran parliament speaker said according to
ISNA.
[http://www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-678397&Lang=P]][Ahmadinejad's position on the Holocaust, sole Jewish Majlis MP Maurice Motamed has expressed some concerns, noting that "Denial of such a great historical tragedy that is connected to the Jewish community can only be considered an insult to all the world's Jewish communities." He also criticised Iranian television for broadcasting anti-Semitic programmes. ][http://www.rferl.org/reports/iran-report/2006/02/6-220206.asp]
Also, the head of Iran's Jewish community, Haroun Yashayaei, sent a letter to Ahmadinejad in early 2006 that read, in part, "How is it possible to ignore all of the undeniable evidence existing for the exile and massacre of the Jews in Europe during World War Two? Challenging one of the most obvious and saddening events of 20th-century humanity has created astonishment among the people of the world and spread fear and anxiety among the small Jewish community of Iran."[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/681856.html]
In February 2006, former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami made remarks affirming the Holocaust but decrying what he described as the connection between the Holocaust and present-day persecution in Palestine "We should speak out if even a single Jew is killed. Don't forget that one of the crimes of Hitler, Nazism and German National Socialism was the massacre of innocent people, among them many Jews."[http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Religion&loid=8.0.270028823]On January 4, 2006, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke and was widely reported to be dead or near death. The next day President Ahmadinejad spoke to Shi'a clerics in the city of Qom. Speaking of Sharon he said:[Iran's Ahmadinejad compares Israel to Hitler]
On Aug 3rd, 2006, in a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders, Ahmadinejad said, "although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented". "[Israel] is an illegitimate regime, there is no legal basis for its existence." "Today the Americans are after the greater Middle East," he said. "The Zionist regime is used to reach this objective. The sole existence of this regime is for invasion and attack." [ SEAN YOONG,Ahmadinejad: Destroy Israel, end crisis Associated Press, Thu Aug 3, 10:49 AM ET]The solution to the Middle East crisis was to destroy Israel.
:''Direct quotations of the 2006 International Qods Conference address are available at wikiquote [3]
* President's speeches
* IRNA news
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*Many different viewpoints on Israel comment
*New York Times Full Text Translation of Speech (October 30 2005)
*"Iranian President Hopes Sharon Perishes"
*"Sample of his own words"
*Iran's Ahmadinejad: fulfiller of stereotypes
*Quotations from speech held by mr. Ahmadinejad
