• 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.
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