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Iran’s Elections: Hindenburg Beats Hitler
By Daniel Koffler / May 30, 2008
One can be forgiven for not noticing, in light of the earth-shattering revelations in Scott McClellan's book, that the Iranian Parliament, the Majlis, elected a new speaker this week, Ali Larijani, by a resounding 232 to 31 margin. Before joining the Majlis in March, Larijani had been one of two personal appointees of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to the Supreme National Security Council, in which capacity he was Iran's chief international representative on nuclear technology policy. Before that, he was a candidate in the presidential election of 2005, and has been one of the chief rivals to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the favor of Khamenei, for control of the conservative political coalition, and for power in Iran.
Now, there's no reason to lionize Larijani pre-emptively. His history suggests that he is far less reformist than say, Muhammad Khatami, whose presidency was a pretty big disappointment. But he is the leader of the pragmatist wing of the conservative coalition and not a raving loon like Ahmadinejad, so his elevation to the speakership of the Majlis is a fairly profound signal that Khamenei is displeased with Iran's strategic drift. Which means conditions exist for a reorientation of Iranian policy (especially if Larijani defeats Ahmadinejad in the upcoming elections in 2009).
What does all this mean for Americans? Firstly, that the next president will likely have an opportunity for diplomacy with Iran that hasn't existed since 2003, and if he (or she) squanders that opportunity without so much as trying to put a halt to Iranian nuclearization through negotiations, we'll all be that much less safe as a result. So it's probably worthwhile thinking about which presidential candidates have made a steadfast promise to make you less safe when and if you vote this November.
Secondly and relatedly, it's probably time for those people supporting the propagandistic charade that "talking to Iran" = "talking to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Holocaust denier" to feel a little agenbite of shame. Ahmadinejad's job was a combination of secretarial and ambassadorial duties, in which he could only exercise power at the discretion of Khamenei. Since Khamenei regards Ahmadinejad as a low-class dolt, Ahmadinejad has not exercised power on any matter of significance, let alone conducting Iranian foreign policy.
Thirdly and most importantly, willful mistranslations of a powerless figurehead aside, Khamenei and the Majlis' gelding of Ahmadinejad and elevation of Larijani is yet more evidence that the Iranian government acts rationally to satisfy its preferences, the most important of which is self-preservation. Which is a good thing to keep in mind when liars and hallucinators claim that Iran is a greater threat to US security than the Soviet Union was, because of some unique death-seeking quality of Iran's governing ideology. Also worth keeping in mind is that the fantasist school of Iran policy used to be the gang that denounced Reagan as a Chamberlainian surrender-monkey for talking to Mikhail "Hitler" Gorbachev.
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• 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. 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.
• 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 rather the actual physical destruction of the State of Israel. When Ahmadinejad punctuates his
speech with “Death to Israel” (marg bar Esraiil), this is no longer open to various interpretations.
• A common motif of genocide incitement is the dehumanization of the target population. The Nazi weekly Der
Stürmer portrayed Jews as parasites and locusts. Ahmadinejad said in a speech on February 20, 2008: “In the
Middle East, they [the global powers] have created a black and filthy microbe called the Zionist regime.”
• Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989, has made
statements about Israel similar to Ahmadinejad. On December 15, 2000, he declared on Iranian TV:
“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.”
• Michael Axworthy, who served as the Head of the Iran Section of Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth
Office, notes that when the slogan “Israel must be wiped off the map” appeared “draped over missiles in
military parades, that meaning was pretty clear.”
• There is an ample legal basis for the prosecution of Ahmadinejad in the International Court of Justice
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
exists in Persian.” The British Guardian’s Jonathan Steele argued that Ahmadinejad was simply remarking
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
served as academic dean of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and co-authored TheIsrael Lobby and US Foreign Policy along with Professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago,
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
that of South African political scientist Virginia Tilley – be introduced into the Congressional Record.
These versions assert the Iranian president was only seeking a change of regime in Israel and not the
physical elimination of the country.3 H. Con. Res. 21 was adopted by a majority of 411 to 2, with Rep.
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
rather the actual physical destruction of the State of Israel. After all, it is hard to wipe a country off the map
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
meaning of what Ahmadinejad has declared constitutes a call for genocide – the destruction of the Jewish
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
ORIGINAL TRANSLITERATION TRANSLATION
? ???? ???? ?? ??????? ?? ???
???? ??????? ??? ???? ?? ????
?????? ??? ???. ??? ????
????? ??????? ???.
Va Imam-e aziz-e ma
farmudand ke in rezhim-e
eshghalgar-e Qods bayad
az safhe-ye ruzegar mahv
shaved. In jomle besyar
hakimane ast.
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
which nevertheless conveyed the meaning of the original – the destruction of Israel.5 Despite the international
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
Soft-pedaling Ahmadinejad’s call for the destruction of Israel, Prof. Cole told the New York Times that
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
punctuates his speech before a large crowd with “Death to Israel” (marg bar Esraiil), this is no longer open to
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
In the same speech of October 26, 2005,8 Ahmadinejad returned to the theme of Israel as dirty vermin
which needed to be eradicated:
ORIGINAL TRANSLITERATION TRANSLATION
?? ???? ??? ??? ??? ?? ?? ?????
????? ????? ??? ????? ??? ?
??? ???? ???.
Be-zudi in lake-ye nang ra az
damane donya-ye Islam pak
khahad kard, va in shodani’st.
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
Iranian president’s official site, http://www.president.ir, interpolates the word “Esraiil” ( ??????? ) in its report on 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
Der Stürmer portrayed Jews as parasites and locusts. In the early 1990s, Hutu propaganda in Rwanda against
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.”
11 Similarly,
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
ORIGINAL TRANSLITERATION TRANSLATION
?? ????? ????????? ??? ??????
???? ? ????? ?? ??? ????
????????? ???? ???? ??? ??
?? ??? ???? ????? ???????? ? ??
????? ?? ????? ??? ??? ?? ??
????????? ??? ?????.
Dar mantaqe-ye Khavar-e
Miyane niz jarsum-e siyah
va kasifi be-nam-e rezhim-e
sahyonisti dorost kardeand
ta be-jan-e mardom-e
mantaqe biandazand va
be-behane-ye an siyasathaye
khod-ra dar Khavar-e
Miyane pish bebarand.
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:
“President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday labeled the Zionist regime as a ‘stinking corpse’ and
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
ORIGINAL TRANSLITERATION TRANSLATION
???? ?????? ? ????? ??? ??? ??
?? ?? ????? ???? ????? ????
Derakht-e khoshkide va
puside’i ast ke ba yek tufan
dar ham khahad shekast.
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
ORIGINAL TRANSLITERATION TRANSLATION
???? ????????? ?? ??? ?????
???
rezhim-e sahyonisti az bayn
raftani’st.
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
ORIGINAL TRANSLITERATION TRANSLATION
????? ? ???? ????? ??????
???? ? ??? ??? ?? ??????
??????? ???
Mantaqe- va jehan amadeye
tahavolat-e bozorg va
pak shodan az doshmanan-e
ahrimani’st.
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
would soon be swept away by the Palestinians.”19 A day later, Ahmadinejad spoke in Gorgan, in northern Iran,
declaring, “Israel’s days are numbered,” adding that “the peoples of the region would not miss the narrowest
opportunity to annihilate this false regime.”20 In a public address shown on the Iranian news channel on June
2, 2008, Ahmadinejad again reiterated: “Thanks to God, your wish will soon be realized, and this germ of
corruption will be wiped off the face of the world.”21 Clearly, Ahmadinejad’s call for the imminent destruction
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
Blogs and Forums
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.
Mr. Ahmadinejad, Isn’t that Enough?
“In every Internet site that I visit today (for example, BBC or Radio-Farda) or the satellite radio and television
news stations that I listen to, the first news item is the pearls of wisdom issued by Mr. Ahmadinejad regarding
the countdown to the destruction of Israel.”22
What Have We Done to Erase Israel?
“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
Ahmadinejad’s Statements and the Qur’an
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
First Fix Your Own Country – Then Destroy 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:
“My opinion is that first you [Ahmadinejad] should fix up your own country, and then you can say that
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
Take the First Steps towards Obliterating Israel
Bloggers at Imam Sadegh University called for boycotting Israeli products, with the following message:
“Dear bloggers: If you would like to do so, you can take the first steps towards obliterating Israel from the
map of the world.”26
The Iranian blogs reflect a wide range of views regarding statements by Iranian leaders – primarily
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.
Resalat Daily Reflects on an Ahmadinejad Speech: “The Great War Is Ahead of Us”
Resalat, a conservative Iranian daily, published an editorial on October 22, 2006, entitled “Preparations for
the Great War,” in which it reflected on a speech given by Ahmadinejad two days earlier. It stated: “It must
not be forgotten that the great war is ahead of us, perhaps tomorrow, or in a few months, or even a few years.
The nation of Muslims must prepare for the great war, so as to completely wipe out the Zionist regime, and
remove this cancerous growth (emphasis added).27
“Israel must be uprooted and wiped off [the pages
of] history” – the inscription on a Shahab 3 missile
in a military parade in Tehran, September 22, 2003
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
the Center for the Basij Resistance in the Judicial
Branch, which is part of the Basij Resistance
in Government Ministries and Departments. 28
The Basij are “mobilization forces” used as
reserves for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC) or Pasdaran, which was created
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
used before in a specifically military context.
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
now, the imperialist strategy will reach an impasse, because the employment of even one atomic bomb
inside Israel will wipe it off the face of the earth, but would only do damage to the Islamic world (emphasis
added).”29
14 What Iranian Leaders Really Say about Doing Away with Israel
The banner appears as well on a bus at a military
rally in Iran in November 2006. The banner reads
in English, “Israel should be wiped out of the face
of the world.”30
In English: “Down with Israel”
In Persian: “Death to Israel”
While the captions of the posters in English read
“Down with Esrail [Israel]” and “Down with USA,” the
captions in Arabic read “Death to Israel” and “Death to
America.”
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
region.”32 Iranian journalist Kasra Naji translated this
sentence from the original Farsi as follows: “It is the
mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel
from the map of the region.”33 The difference between
international reaction to Khamenei’s statements on Israel and those of Ahmadinejad in 2005 comes from
the fact that Ahmadinejad’s declarations were made after the disclosure of Iran’s clandestine nuclear
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
regime from the political map of the world.”35 It may be that Khamenei has toned down his own rhetoric,but nonetheless has allowed his handpicked editor-in-chief of Kayhan to maintain his original ideological
position on destroying Israel to the Iranian public.
In a speech on October 4, 2007, Shariatmadari stated: “‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ are not
only words written on paper but rather a symbolic approach that reflects the desire of all the Muslim
nations.”36
So when Ahmadinejad makes his lunatc rants about wiping Israel off the map (I expect a fake juan cole quote in respons) the presidency doesn't matter, but when he might lose or when Khatami was in power it shows the reform minded tendancies of the Iranian regime? You can't have it both ways
Thank you for this information
Ahmadinejad is a dolt? Lets see, he has prevented any real threats to the development of nuclear reactors, and wowed the audience at Columbia (while Jewcy was protesting the far more dangerous Abe Foxman), and has made Holocaust denial respectable. He has solidified a Shiite arc of power that now includes Lebanon.
In the 1980s Carter advised Arafat on the good cop, bad cop routine that was used to scare whites. Negotiate with MLK, or deal with Hosea Williams. Arafat used this successfully using Hamas as a threat. We now know that there is not much difference between the PA and Hamas. The Iranians are now using this trick, and you havent caught on. I guess you overslept your classes at Yale
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