Ahmadinejad’s 'Most Anti-Semitic Speech Yet'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s most recent call for the destruction of the State of Israel is particularly “ominous” in light of Tehran’s continued quest for nuclear capability, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) warned Thursday, after the Iranian leader excoriated American candidates and elected officials for "kissing the feet of the Zionists" while meeting with their counterparts in Israel.

Addressing a group of ambassadors from Islamic countries in advance of “al-Quds” (“Jerusalem”) Day, Ahmadinejad said the “annihilation of the Zionist regime” is not just a Palestinian issue, but the “key for solving the world problems.”

“Any freedom lover and justice seeker in the world must do its best for the annihilation of the Zionist regime in order to pave the path for the establishment of justice and freedom in the world,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.

“It has now been some 400 years that a horrendous Zionist clan has been ruling the major world affairs,” Ahmadinejad said, asserting that the Zionists are “behind the scenes of the major power circles, in political, media, monetary, and banking organizations in the world.”

“In his bluntness, Ahmadinejad cuts through the falsedichotomy of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism when he uses the term ‘Zionist’ to describe alleged Jewish control of the world for 400 years,” said ADL director Abraham Foxman.

“Ahmadinejad’s most comprehensive anti-Semitic speech yet,” Foxman said, adding that while the message itself has been heard before, Ahmadinejad’s words had “more ominous overtones and should be taken seriously as the Iranian regime continues on its march toward a nuclear weapon.”

Referencing Mitt Romney’s visit to Israel last week, Ahmadinejad said that that the influence of the "Zionist regime" is so profound that “the presidential election hopefuls must go kiss the feet of the Zionists to ensure their victory in the election…. If the people’s votes really counts in those countries, why then a candidate must go to kiss the feet of a clandestine Zionist minority, sacrificing the entire prestige, chanted mottoes, and values of their system before the Zionists, and justifying the entire criminal acts of that regime?”

Foxman said that Ahmadinejad’s remarks were “filled with anti-Semitism and expressions of contempt for Israel and its leaders” and called them the “hallmark of the hate-filled and irrational nature of the Iranian regime.”

'Khamenei told me that Israel must be burned to the ground'

Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar tells crowd in Jerusalem that during meeting with Iran's supreme leader in 2000, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, "War against the United States and Israel is inevitable."

Shlomo Cesana and Reuters

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to worshippers in Feb. 2012.  |  Photo credit: AP

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Israel has, for years, cautioned against Iran's intentions and the dangers of its nuclear ambitions, but on Wednesday former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar gave the world yet another reason to heed those warnings. Aznar, speaking to a crowd in Jerusalem, recalled a meeting with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in which he expressed his intention to destroy Israel.

"In a private discussion we held in Tehran in October of 2000, Ali Khamenei told me that Israel must be burned to the ground and made to disappear from the face of the Earth," Aznar told the audience. The former Spanish prime minister went on to say that Iran's spiritual leader also said that "Iran's war against the United States and Israel is inevitable."

Aznar was in Israel as a guest of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, currently headed by former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Dore Gold.

Gold asked him, "When Khamenei was talking about wiping Israel off the map, was he referring to a gradual historical process involving the collapse of the Zionist state, or rather its physical-military termination?"

Aznar answered, "He meant physical termination through military force." The former Spanish leader also told the crowd that Khamenei described Israel as "an historical cancer, an anomaly," and said that he was "working toward Iran defeating the United States and Israel in an inevitable war against them."

Aznar also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and discussed the matter with him.

Meanwhile, a classified report submitted by a panel of experts in the U.N. and leaked to Reuters concludes that sanctions against Iran are working, but that the Islamic Republic has been simultaneously continuing its nuclear enrichment efforts.

Western diplomats say Iran is installing more centrifuges in an underground plant but does not yet appear to be using them to expand higher-grade uranium enrichment that could take it closer to producing atom bomb material.

They say Iran's production of uranium refined to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, which it started two years ago, seems to have remained steady in recent months after a major escalation of the work in late 2011 and early this year.

Progress in Iran's controversial nuclear program is closely watched by the West and Israel as it could determine the time the Islamic Republic would need to build nuclear bombs, should it decide to do so.

Getting Iran to stop the higher-level enrichment is expected to be a priority for world powers when they meet with Iran in Baghdad next week in an attempt to start resolving the decade-old dispute over Tehran's atomic ambitions.

"It is still going strong. I hear it is unchanged," one diplomat accredited to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, which regularly inspects Iran's declared atomic sites, said about the country's most sensitive nuclear activity. "But with installation work going on, at some point there will be an increase," the official said.

Tehran took a big step toward the capability of making nuclear weapons material after a previous attempt at diplomacy failed when, spurning U.N. demands to halt all enrichment, it instead ramped up uranium processing to 20 percent purity.

That provoked the West to impose crushing sanctions on its banks and oil exports.

A U.N. nuclear report published in February showed Iran trebling output of 20 percent uranium since late 2011 after starting up production at the Fordo underground plant near the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Qom and later increasing it.

Another envoy said he did not expect to see a "significant expansion" of this work in the next quarterly report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran's nuclear program due later this month.

And again: Ahamdinejad threatens Israel

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has once again threatened Israel, calling the Jewish state 'an insect threatening the Iranian nation' (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

"Israel is nothing more than a mosquito which cannot see the broad horizon of the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said, addressing a large gathering of the Iranian people in Khorassan Razavi province, Northeastern Iran, on Saturday.

He reiterated that the Zionists accompanied by their western masters have long attempted to impede Iran's progress through ballyhoo and by leveling different accusations against the Iranian nation, but to no avail.

"Our enemies know that if Iran can maintain the same speed in development of the country, it will become a developed country and they will no more be able to challenge us," Ahmadinejad said.

I wonder whether Ahmadinejad has ever heard the story of the Roman Emperor Titus.

According to the Babylonian Talmud (Gittin 56b), an insect flew into Titus's nose and picked at his brain for seven years. He noticed that the sound of a blacksmith hammering caused the ensuing pain to abate, so he paid for blacksmiths to hammer nearby him; however, the effect wore off and the insect resumed its gnawing. When he died, they opened his skull and found the insect had grown to the size of a bird. The Talmud gives this as the cause of his death and interprets it as divine retribution for his wicked actions.

There may be an insect in Ahmadinejad's future. But God willing not as a result of his success in destroying the Jewish state. He will fail at that venture.

British Ad Group Stops PA from ’Wiping Israel Off the Map’

The British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic mission from using a map showing all of Israel as “Palestine.

The “Discover Palestine" map showed Israel – from the Lebanese border to the Egyptian border – in the colors of the Palestinian Authority flag and included tourism links without referring to the State of Israel.

The ASA agreed with public complaints that the map in effect declared the country of Israel to be non-existent. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has told English-speaking audiences that he would recognize Israel based on the temporary 1949 Armistice Lines but not as a Jewish state. However, PA Arabic-language media and official statements depict the entire country as “Palestine.”

"We considered that the average consumer would infer from the map and the linked information that the total area represented by the map was the occupied Palestinian territories. Because this was not the case we concluded that the website was misleading,” the ASA ruled.

The Palestinian Authority's diplomatic mission argued that it has changed the title of the map to "Palestine in 1948," claiming that it represents “historical Palestine.” In fact, the term “Palestinians” in reference to Arabs in Israel was created years later.

The Palestinian Authority in recent years has educated children and the public at large that all of Israeli cities are “Palestinian,” and the map in Britain refers to the ancient port of Jaffa (Yafo) as “a Palestinian Arab city... militarily occupied by Israel since 1948.”

Haifa was also listed as being part of “Palestine.”

The Palestinian Authority map also presented a “united Arab Jerusalem” without even bothering to separate the city according to the Armistice Lines.

The British advertising authority said, “We noted that this section of the website made no reference to east or west Jerusalem or the fact that the status of the city was the subject of much international dispute. We considered that the website implied that the entire city was part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Because we understood that that was not the case, we concluded that the website was misleading."

The map also rewrote history concerning Hevron, which it described as “one of the oldest towns in Palestine.” Hevron is the home of the Patriarchs Cave, recorded in the Bible as being purchased by Avraham for a huge sum of money – “400 pieces of silver.”

MEMRI: Hamas In Their Own Voices

Turks scream "Death to Israel" at Mavi Marmara ceremony

Anti-Israel rally in London

On Monday in London, there was an anti-Israel rally in London to commemorate the second anniversary of Operation Cast Lead. Here's more from Jonathan Hoffman at the Jewish Chronicle. Remember the film was made by a supporter of the haters - in my judgment there were not more than 500 there. Listen to the chanting: "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" and "Hey, ho, Israel has got to go" (4:45) This was not a demo to support the Palestinians - it was a demo in favour of the eradication of the Jewish State. It was therefore incitement to race hate. Why do the police allow it and why will our leaders not urge prosecution of the organisers? Good questions.

YNET: Hamas commander: Israel will disappear Day after Mahmoud al-Zahar says Islamist group committed to unofficial truce, head of its armed wing says Israel will 'cease to exist and we will have Palestine. Spokesman: We have something that will worry the occupation

Muhammad Deif, the commander of Hamas' military wing, said the Palestinians will not give up their struggle until Israel ceases to exist.

In a statement issued Saturday to mark 23 years since the Islamist group was founded, Deif also vowed to release all Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. "We promise to release them and break the (prison) bars despite the occupiers' efforts," he said.

In a direct message to Israel, Deif said, "You will disappear and we will have Palestine. We won’t wave a white flag as long as even one Muslim remains."

Ahmed Ja'abri, another top commander in the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, issued a statement of his own on a Hamas-affiliated website. "On the anniversary of the war of God's seal (referring to Operation Cast Lead) we say to the enemy that we are willing to face any new Zionist crime," the statement read.

"Attempts by the leaders of this entity to deceive and intimidate will only make us more determined to continue the resistance against any invasion or Zionist crime."

Also Saturday, a Hamas spokesman warned that the group is observing a truce with Israel but is also ready for a resumption of hostilities.

"There is a truce in effect in the field. It is real if Israel stops its aggression and ends its siege. But if there is any Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip we will respond strongly," said a masked spokesman for Hamas' armed wing who identified himself as Abu Obeideh.

Speaking at a press conference with three guards, who were all masked and armed, he said the group was ready to repel any future Israeli invasion and hinted at a secret weapon.

"We are completely ready to answer any Israeli aggression," he said. "Our weapons are few compared to those of the Israeli occupation, but we have something that will worry the occupation," he said without giving details.

On Friday Hamas strongman Mahmoud al-Zahar stated that his organization would be committed to a ceasefire if Israel abided by it.

"We are committed to self-restraint as long as there is no oppression and no aggression," he said.

Mosab Yousef - Islam is a lie

PMW: Group that sings about destruction of Israel named national band by Abbas

A song and dance group that has recently performed hate and violence promotion songs in the PA has been honored and turned into an official Palestinian national band by decree of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Among the performances that have been broadcast by the Alashekeen band on PA TV was a dance and song about conquering Israel through war. Israeli cities Lod and Ramle as well as Jerusalem are presented as Palestinian cities to be liberated through "Jihad" by Palestinians who have "replaced bracelets with weapons." The song says: "Pull the trigger" to "redeem Jerusalem, Nablus and the country." It also describes Israelis as "despicable" and says that "the Palestinian revolution awaits [them]."

The band's logo includes the Palestinian flag next to the map of Israel presented as "Palestine" covered by a Kafiya, the Arab scarf.

Palestinian Media Watch reported when this song was first broadcast on PA TV on Sept. 12, 2010:

Click to view song on PA TV

"Fight, brother, the flag will never be lowered,
the torches will never die out."
On [Mt.] Carmel (in Israel) and in the [Jordan] Valley,
we are rocks and streams.
In Lod (Israeli city) we are poems, and in Ramle (Israeli city) - grenades.
We, my brother, shall remain the revolution of the fighting nation."

 

"The Zionists went out from [their] homelands,
compounding damage and enmity.
But the Palestinian revolution awaits [them].
The orchard called us to the [armed] struggle.
We replaced bracelets with weapons.
We attacked the despicable [Zionists].
This invading enemy is on the battlefield.
This is the day of consolation of Jihad.
Pull the trigger.
We shall redeem Jerusalem, Nablus and the country."

[PA TV (Fatah), Sept. 12, 2010]

This was the announcement in the PA daily:

"The Palestinian Alashekeen band discovered yesterday that President Mahmoud Abbas recently published a presidential decision to turn the band, established in 1978 in Damascus, into a [Palestinian] national institution. Director of the Alashekeen band, Maisa Harb, said that the President had approved the decision as part of the presidential directives which he had announced during a banquet which he held in honor of the members of the band...
The director of the band introduced her speech with gratitude to President Mahmoud Abbas for his interest in and admiration for the band."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 22, 2010]

Israel Matzav: Ayalon: 'Palestinian Authority' more interested in destroying Israel than in a 'Palestinian state'

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told a foreign ministry briefing session for pro-Israel 'activists' on Tuesday that'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen's 'Palestinian Authority' is more interested indestroying the Jewish state than in creating a 'Palestinian state.'

The Palestinian Authority has replaced military warfare with political tactics dedicated to defaming Israel and delegitimizing it in the international arena, Ayalon said.

“They [the PA] tried to take us on militarily and they couldn’t, then economically...and then with terror. Now the [battle] front is the political and legal warfare,” he told activists in the oneday seminar sponsored by the Foreign Ministry, called “Israel’s Upcoming Public Diplomacy Challenge.”

“We have to understand that we are facing a very dedicated enemy,” he added, saying it was making use of the Internet and non-government human rights organizations in a very sophisticated way.

If this delegitimization continues, “it will become an obstacle to peace,” he declared.

“If you try and paint Israel into a corner, there is no incentive for the Palestinians to negotiate” because “they believe that someone else will do the job for them,” he said.

Let's go to the videotape.



I am reminded of President Bush's 2002 'new leadership' speech regarding the 'Palestinians.' In that speech, he said that he would not deal with the 'Palestinians' until they got 'new leadership' that was 'untainted by terror.' As a result, Bush did not deal with the 'Palestinian Authority' until Arafat's death in 2004.

The current leadership is obviously no better than the previous leadership. It's a pity that Bush pretended that Abu Mazen was better than Arafat rather than admitting and forcing the Arab countries to confront the truth.

PMW: Palestinian girl calls for genocide of Jews on PA TV

ISRAEL MATZAV: 'Death to America, death to Israel'

On Friday, the 'Palestinians' in Gaza did what they do best: Hundreds of thousands of them took to the streets to chant 'Death to America, death to Israel.'

BOSTON GLOBE: The undeniable Jewish state By Jeff Jacoby

IS ISRAEL a Jewish state? Is the pope Catholic? Nothing about Israel could be more self-evident than its Jewishness.

Hebron - Residents Receive Text Message from Hamas Threatening Revenge

Hebron - Many residents received a text message from Hamas, in which the group threatened to avenge the deaths of the two operatives who murdered four residents of Beit Hagai in August.

NYT: Stronger Hezbollah Emboldened for Fights Ahead

AITA AL SHAAB, Lebanon — It was from this shrub-ringed border town that Hezbollah instigated its war with Israel in 2006, and supporters of the militant Shiite movement sound almost disappointed that they have not fought since.