Iran's Elections: Hindenburg Beats Hitler

– have made numerous statements calling for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. While

certain experts have interpreted these statements to be simple expressions of dissatisfaction with the

current Israeli government and its policies, in reality, the intent behind Ahmadinejad’s language and that

of others is clear.

interpreted in Iran – is that the Iranian president was not just calling for “regime change” in Jerusalem,

speech with “Death to Israel” (marg bar Esraiil), this is no longer open to various interpretations.

statements about Israel similar to Ahmadinejad. On December 15, 2000, he declared on Iranian TV:

responsible, is that the cancerous tumor called Israel must be uprooted from the region.”

• Michael Axworthy, who served as the Head of the Iran Section of Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth

military parades, that meaning was pretty clear.”

and the International Criminal Court for direct and public incitement to commit genocide and crimes

against humanity.

6 What Iranian Leaders Really Say about Doing Away with Israel

Over the past several years, Iranian leaders – most prominently, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

– have made numerous statements calling for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. Some of these

statements have been interpreted by certain journalists and experts on Iran 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.

Juan Cole of the University of Michigan argues that Ahmadinejad was not calling for the destruction of

Israel, saying, “Ahmadinejad did not say he was going to wipe Israel off the map because no such idiom

that “this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.” Steele continues: “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.”1

Scholars continue to soft-pedal the Iranian President’s words. Professor Stephen Walt, who previously

told a Jerusalem audience during a joint appearance in early June 2008, “I don’t think he is inciting to

genocide,” when asked about Ahmadinejad’s call to wipe Israel off the map.2

In reality, the intent behind Ahmadinejad’s language is clear. Those who seek to excuse Iranian leaders

should not remain unchallenged when they use the tools of scholarship as a smokescreen to obfuscate these

extreme and deliberate calls for the destruction of Israel. Language entails meaning. These statements have

been interpreted by leading Iranian blogs and news outlets – some official – to mean the destruction of

Israel.

U.S. Congress Debate on Translating Ahmadinejad

Translating Ahmadinejad’s statements is not purely an academic matter. When in 2007 the U.S. House

of Representatives debated a resolution calling on the UN Security Council to charge Ahmadinejad with

violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the United

Nations Charter because of his repeated calls for the destruction of Israel (H. Con. Res. 21), the issue of the

accuracy of the translation of his remarks came up in the House debate.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) requested that alternative translations of Ahmadinejad’s language – like

These versions assert the Iranian president was only seeking a change of regime in Israel and not the

Kucinich and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) voting against.

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs 7

Examining Ahmadinejad’s Language

What emerges from a comprehensive analysis of what Ahmadinejad actually said – and how it has been

interpreted in Iran – is that the Iranian president was not just calling for “regime change” in Jerusalem, but

without destroying its population as well.

The Iranian government itself reinforced this understanding with its own rendition of his slogans on posters

and billboards during official parades. Those who try to make Ahmadinejad’s statements excusable by

narrowing their meaning to a change of Israel’s ruling coalition are misleading their readers. The plain

state and its residents.

A contextual examination of these statements demonstrates beyond a doubt that when Iranian leaders use the

euphemism “Zionist regime” or “the Jerusalem-occupying regime,” they are most definitely referring to the State

of Israel and not to the present regime. Iranian leaders are simply following the time-worn practice in the Arab

world of referring to the “Zionist regime” in an attempt to avoid dignifying Israel by recognizing its name.

Iranian leaders are also not talking about a non-directed, natural historical process that will end with Israel’s

demise. Rather, they are actively advocating Israel’s destruction and have made it clear that they have the

will and the means to effect it.

Ahmadinejad’s “Wipe Israel Off the Map” Speech

In an address to the “World without Zionism” Conference held in Tehran on October 26, 2005, Iranian

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said:4

Our dear Imam [Khomeini]

ordered that this Jerusalemoccupying

regime [Israel]

must be erased from the

page of time. This was a very

wise statement.

The New York Times translated the statement as Israel “must be wiped off the map,” a non-literal translation

controversy that Ahmadinejad’s language generated, a report on his October 2005 speech was still available

on his presidential website as of May 2008.

8 What Iranian Leaders Really Say about Doing Away with Israel

“Jerusalem-Occupying Regime” – Another Name for the

State of Israel

all Ahmadinejad had said was that “he hoped its regime, i.e., a Jewish-Zionist state occupying Jerusalem,

would collapse.”6

Official Iranian spokespersons and organs have since based their slogans on Ahmadinejad’s statement,

and have loosely translated the statement as “Israel should be wiped off the face of the world.” This is

evident in pictures showing banners and signs in parades and ceremonies. Even the Iranian newscaster that

introduced the report on the “World without Zionism” Conference used the word “Israel” (instead of the

“Jerusalem-occupying regime”) and also the word “world” (instead of the “page of time”), and thus referred

to Ahmadinejad’s statement as “erasing Israel, this disgraceful stain, from the world” (clip available from

the Jerusalem Center upon request).

While Iranian leaders are well aware that they are watched by the international media and occasionally soften the

wording of their statements accordingly, they are less careful in internal forums and events. When Ahmadinejad

various interpretations.7 He is openly calling for the destruction of a country – and not a regime.

Dehumanization as Prelude to Genocide: Israel as an Infection

which needed to be eradicated:

Soon this stain of

disgrace will be cleaned

from the garment of

the world of Islam, and

this is attainable.

In order to remove any doubt in the mind of the Persian reader that Ahmadinejad is referring to Israel, the

speech to explain the expression “stain of disgrace.”9

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs 9

A common motif of genocide incitement is the dehumanization of the target population. The Nazi weekly

the Tutsis described them as “cockroaches.”10 Prior to Saddam Hussein’s operations against the Iraqi Shiitepopulation in 1991, his Baath Party newspaper characterized them as “monkey-faced people.”

President Ahmadinejad has called Israeli Jews “cattle,” “blood thirsty barbarians,” and “criminals.”12

Dehumanization has also appeared in other forms, like demonization, by which the target population is

described as “Satanic” – a theme specifically used by Ahmadinejad.13

The theme of the Israeli germ or microbe is also a common one with the Iranian president. In his speech

before a crowd in Bandar Abbas on February 20, 2008, Ahmadinejad said:14

In the Middle East, they [the

global powers] have created

a black and filthy microbe

called the Zionist regime, so

they could use it to attack

the peoples of the region,

and by using this excuse,

they want to advance their

schemes for the Middle East.

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Israel’s founding, the President of Iran stated that “global

arrogance established the Zionist regime 60 years ago.” The Islamic Republic News Agency reported:

said those who think they can revive the corpse of this fabricated and usurper regime are mistaken.”15

10 What Iranian Leaders Really Say about Doing Away with Israel

The Destruction of Israel is Achievable and Imminent –

Not a Long-Term Historical Process

According to President Ahmadinejad, ridding the world of the germ Israel is possible and imminent. On April

14, 2006, Ahmadinejad insisted that Israel was “heading towards annihilation.” He added that Israel was:16

A dried, rotten tree that will

collapse with a single storm.

The President of Iran told a press conference on March 14, 2008, held during a meeting of the Organization

of the Islamic Conference in Senegal:17

The Zionist regime is on its

way out [destructible].

Referring to the U.S. (the “Great Satan”) and Israel (the “Little Satan”), Ahmadinejad said at a military

parade on April 17, 2008:18

The region and the world are

prepared for great changes

and for being cleansed of

Satanic enemies.

For Ahmadinejad, Iran’s support for the Palestinians will help them destroy the State of Israel. He told a press

conference on May 13, 2008: “This terrorist and criminal state is backed by foreign powers, but this regime

declaring, “Israel’s days are numbered,” adding that “the peoples of the region would not miss the narrowest

2, 2008, Ahmadinejad again reiterated: “Thanks to God, your wish will soon be realized, and this germ of

of Israel was not a one-time event in 2005, but rather publicly declared on multiple occasions.

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs 11

Israelis as a “Falsified People”

Ahmadinejad was fully prepared to make his assertions about Jews and Israel in the Western press, as well.

In an interview that appeared in the French daily Le Monde on February 5, 2008, he said the Jews of Israel

are: “a people falsified, invented, [the people of Israel] will not last; they must leave the territory.”

From the interview it is clear he believes that Israelis will not endure and will not continue to stay on the

territory on which they are living. This is not a call for a change of government or new policies alone, but

rather for the removal of Israel’s Jewish population from the country, either by ethnic cleansing or physical

destruction.

How the Statements Are Understood in Iran

While certain Western commentators on Iran seek to whitewash Ahmadinejad’s statements on Israel, proand

anti-regime Iranians (and others in the region) have no doubt that the Iranian president is referring to the

destruction of Israel, according to Iranian blogs and forums. There are close to 180,000 Persian-language

blogs, and Iranians constitute 53 percent of Internet users in the Middle East.

“In every Internet site that I visit today (for example, BBC or Radio-Farda) or the satellite radio and television

the countdown to the destruction of Israel.”22

“Didn’t Imam Khomeini decree that Israel should be erased from the scene of time? Well, I ask you – what

have we done in order to erase this Israel from the scene of time?”23

An Iranian blogger asks: Why did Ahmadinejad talk about the destruction of Israel? Are his statements

supported by religious laws and decrees? The blogger then presents the research he did regarding the

religious writings in the Qur’an that can be seen to support Ahmadinejad’s statements.24

12 What Iranian Leaders Really Say about Doing Away with Israel

In the Ham-Mihan Forum, the question was raised about Ahmadinejad’s declaration that the countdown

towards Israel’s destruction had begun. Among the 71 responses:

Israel should be destroyed. The people in Iran don’t have bread and we are concerned with Palestine.”

“I wish that all of this energy that is devoted to the destruction of Israel would be directed towards the

destruction of drug addiction, poverty, corruption and prostitution.”25

Bloggers at Imam Sadegh University called for boycotting Israeli products, with the following message:

map of the world.”26

Ahmadinejad – on the destruction of Israel. His statement at the “World without Zionism” Conference is

widely quoted in blogs – by those supporting the statement, those critical of the statement, and those who

support the statement but question the wisdom of the timing. One fact cannot be disputed – Ahmadinejad’s

statement that “the Jerusalem-occupying regime must be erased from the page of time” was interpreted by

Persian-language bloggers – without exception – as meaning the physical destruction of the State of Israel.

the Great War,” in which it reflected on a speech given by Ahmadinejad two days earlier. It stated: “It must

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs 13

Calls for the Destruction of Israel Are Echoed Throughout

Iran at Military Parades, Billboards, and Demonstrations

Even before Ahmadinejad himself spoke about

wiping Israel off the map, the Iranian regime

used such expressions but did not leave any

doubt about what stood behind this phraseology.

By juxtaposing its call for Israel’s elimination

with a Shahab 3 missile during a military parade,

the Iranian regime itself has clarified that these

expressions about Israel’s future do not describe a

long-term historical process, in which the Israeli

state collapses by itself like the former Soviet

Union, but rather the actual physical destruction

of Israel as a result of a military strike. The

Shahab 3 missile has a range of 1,300 kilometers

and can reach Israel from launch points in Iranian

territory. Once Iran has completed the production

of sufficient quantities of highly enriched

uranium – or weapons-grade plutonium – there

is no reason why Iran cannot deploy a future

Iranian nuclear weapon on a Shahab 3 missile in

order to carry out Ahmadinejad’s threat to wipe

Israel off the map.

This banner appears on the building which houses

Branch, which is part of the Basij Resistance

reserves for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard

to defend the Iranian revolutionary regime in

1979. The English translation on the banner

reflects how an official organ of the Iranian

government understood Ahmadinejad’s words.

It is noteworthy that variations on the expression

“wipe out of the face of the world” have been

In a Friday sermon, former Iranian President

Rafsanjani made the statement: “If one day, a

very important day of course, the Islamic world will also be equipped with the weapons available to Israel

14 What Iranian Leaders Really Say about Doing Away with Israel

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs 15

The Statements of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

In the Iranian system, the highest ranking political

authority is the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,

who succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.

Khamenei has made statements about Israel similar to

Ahmadinejad. In a Friday sermon on December 15, 2000

(shown on Iranian TV), he declared: “Iran’s position,

which was first expressed by the Imam [Khomeini] and

stated several times by those responsible, is that the

cancerous tumor called Israel must be uprooted from

the region.”31

A month later on January 15, 2001, at a meeting with

organizers of the International Conference for Support

of the Intifada, he stated: “The foundation of the

Islamic regime is opposition to Israel and the perpetual

subject of Iran is the elimination of Israel from the

sentence from the original Farsi as follows: “It is the

mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel

international reaction to Khamenei’s statements on Israel and those of Ahmadinejad in 2005 comes from

weapons program in 2002-3, and the breakdown of EU-Iranian talks on halting the Iranian uranium

enrichment program. By 2005, Khamenei began a concerted effort to limit the damage done to Iran

by Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric, by insisting that Iran did not seek the military destruction of Israel.34 Yet

Hossein Shariatmadari, a close confidant of Khamenei who serves as one of his major mouthpieces,

wrote an editorial in the Iranian daily Kayhan on October 30, 2005, in which he argued, “We declare

explicitly that we will not be satisfied with anything less than the complete obliteration of the Zionist

position on destroying Israel to the Iranian public.