|
Ahmadinejad: Israel won't survive in any shape or form
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out again at Israel on Thursday, saying that it won't survive in any shape or form. Speaking to reporters, the hard-line leader smirked at a former mantra of the Israeli right of a Greater Israel that would include Palestinian territories. The idea has since been abandoned, with Israeli consensus now that there will be a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the idea of a Greater Israel, which includes the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, is a thing of the past, and that anyone who still thinks in this way is delusional. Ahmadinejad said that "while some say the idea of Greater Israel has expired, I say the idea of a Lesser Israel has expired, too." The press conference was an opportunity for Ahmadinejad to speak to the media at length before traveling to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. The Iranian president repeated his previous anti-Israel comments, calling the Holocaust by Nazi Germany during World War II a fabrication and saying that Israel is perpetrating a holocaust on the Palestinian people. The remarks appear to be part of Ahmadinejad's effort to deflect growing criticism at home over failed economic policies and recent comments by some close associates. Iran's inflation hit 27.6 percent last month, while Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashai was recently quoted as saying Iranians were friends of all people in the world - even Israelis. Ahmadinejad, known for virulent anti-Israeli rhetoric, said in 2005 that Israel should be wiped off the map and later called the Holocaust a myth. Most recently, he described the Jewish state as a germ of corruption. Speaking about Iran's controversial nuclear program, Ahmadinejad claimed the UN nuclear watchdog agency has no right to consider documents provided by the U.S. alleging that Tehran sought to make an atomic bomb. Ahmadinejad said regulations under which the International Atomic Energy Agency operates do not allow it to act on claims by any government. On Monday, an IAEA report said Iran had blocked a UN investigation into allegations it tried to make nuclear arms and that the inquiry was deadlocked. Ahmadinejad said the report verified the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran says is only for electricity production, and urged the West to end its hostile policy toward Iran. Iran is already under three sets of sanctions by the UN Security Council over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. Ahmadinejad on Thursday insisted the enrichment would not be stopped. "Let them put sanctions on us, Ahmadinejad said. We are a very strong nation," he said. The United States and its allies are expected to press the UN for a new round of sanctions after Iran refused to accept a recent package of economic and technological incentives in return for suspending enrichment. Iran denies U.S. claims that it is seeking to build a nuclear weapon, and insists that it has the right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to develop reactor fuel using enrichment. Posted by: Fred 2008-09-19 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=250384 |