Mahmoud ahmadinejad quotes on israel

Iranian president's remarks on Israel

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was President of Iran from 3 August 2005 to 3 August 2013, and during that time had repeatedly made contentious speeches and statements against Israel. Ahmadinejad refused to call Israel by name, instead calling it the “Zionist regime”. He has called for the "elimination of the Zionist regime". Ahmadinejad took part in a protest called "The World Without Zionism" and has derided Israel on numerous occasions. He has urged regional powers to cut diplomatic and economic ties with Israel and halt oil sales. Tensions have risen over Iran's nuclear program. He has also provided funding, training and arms to Hezbollah and Hamas.

Ahmadinejad's remarks have been criticized by various world bodies and governments, including the United States, Canada, the European Union, and the United Nations.

Calls for destruction of Israel

2005 call to "move" Israel

In an interview on Iran's Arabic channel 'Al-Alam' on 8 December 2005, Ahmadinejad said that if Germany and Austria feel responsible for the massacre of Jews during World War II, they should host a state of Israel on their own soil. Speaking at a news conference on the summit sidelines, Ahmadinejad said most Jews in Israel "have no roots in Palestine, but they are holding the destiny of Palestine in their hands and allow themselves to kill the Palestinian people."

"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 pa

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (born October 28, 1956) is an Iranian principlist and nationalist politician who was the sixth President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He became president on 6 August 2005 after winning the 2005 presidential election and left the post in August 2013. Previously he served as Mayor of Tehran.

Quotes

2005

Address to the United Nations General Assembly (17 September 2005)

(Full text)

• In the Name of the God of Mercy, Compassion, Peace, Freedom and Justice. Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Today we have gathered here to exchange views about the world, its future and our common responsibilities towards it.

• The Islamic Republic of Iran is born out of a movement, based on the pure primordial nature of a people who rose up to regain their dignity, esteem and human rights. The Islamic Revolution toppled a regime which had been put in place through a coup, and supported by those who claim to be advocates of democracy and human rights thwarted the aspirations of the nation for development and progress for 25 years through intimidation and torture of the populace and submission and subservience to outsiders.

• The Islamic Republic of Iran is the manifestation of true democracy in the region. The discourse of the Iranian nation is focused on respect for the rights of human beings and a quest for tranquility, peace, justice and development for all through monotheism

• The Islamic Republic of Iran is a symbol of true democracy. All officials including the Leader, President, members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, city and village councils are elected through the vote of the citizens. The Islamic Republic of Iran has held 27 national elections in 27 years.

• The Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to provide full and comprehensive support to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan and their elected governments, and will actively help them in the establishment of order and security.

During the past several years, Iranian leaders—most prominently President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—have repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. Certain journalists and Iran experts interpret some of these statements to be simple expressions of dissatisfaction with the Israeli presence in the West Bank or eastern Jerusalem or with the current Israeli government and its policies.

“Ahmadinejad did not say he was going to wipe Israel off the map, because no such idiom exists in Persian,” insists Juan Cole of the University of Michigan, who argues that Ahmadinejad was not calling for the destruction of Israel. Jonathan Steele writes in the Guardian that Ahmadinejad was simply remarking that “this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time. . . . He was not making a military threat. He was calling for an end to the occupation of Jerusalem at some point in the future. The ‘page of time’ phrase suggests he did not expect it to happen soon.”

Scholars continue to soft-pedal the Iranian president’s words. Professor Stephen Walt, previously the academic dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and coauthor of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy with Professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, told a Jerusalem audience in early June 2008: “I don’t think he is inciting to genocide.”

In reality, the intent behind Ahmadinejad’s language is clear. Those who seek to excuse the Iranian leader should be challenged when they use the tools of scholarship to obfuscate these extreme and deliberate statements. What emerges from a comprehensive analysis of what Ahmadinejad said— and how it has been interpreted in Iran, including by leading blogs and news outlets, some official—is that the Iranian president was calling not just for “regime change” in Jerusalem but for the actual, physical destruction of the state of Israel. Ahmadinejad’s language constitutes a call for genocide, the destructi