Israel “will not last long,” says Ahmadinejad
Once again, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has denied the Holocaust and called for Israel’s destruction. “Confronting the Zionist regime is a national and religious duty,” he told a crowd at Tehran University at the end of the annual Qods (Jerusalem) Day rally last Friday.
“This regime (Israel) will not last long. Do not tie your fate to it …. This regime has no future. Its life has come to an end,” he said. Ahmadinejad also took the opportunity to broadcast his distorted views of history live over radio. “The pretext (Holocaust) for the creation of the Zionist regime (Israel) is false …. It is a lie based on an unprovable and mythical claim,” he said.
Rhetorically, statements like this are Ahmadinejad’s bread and butter. But last week’s remarks—as ominous and diabolical as they are—are telling for their timing. Iran is currently a major talking point, not to mention subject of frustration, among world leaders in regard to its nuclear program. Western states have been talking about penalizing it with sanctions, and rumors are circulating that Israel might even be poised to conduct a military strike. In spite of this, Tehran is, as Stephen Flurry wrote Friday, conducting a successful campaign of winning concession after concession from America.
And still Ahmadinejad is spouting off remarks like this—unconcerned about retribution or the possibility that such controversial statements might undermine his tête-à-tête with the United States.
This reveals how “pushy” and combative Tehran really is. Iran is under immense pressure, internally and externally, and Ahmadinejad is out there shouting controversial remarks confirming his true character and intentions. Most alarmingly, Ahmadinejad’s blunt remarks reveal his clear lack of fear and respect for America’s foreign policy. He knows he can say anything and get away with it. How condemning of the Obama administration: This radical Islamic tyrant refuses point blank to negotiate on the nuclear issue, then tells the world that he wants to destroy Israel, right before he is set to meet with the United Nations, and America continues its preparations to sit down and talk with Tehran.
To learn where Iran’s belligerence will end, as well as where America’s impotence will lead, read The King of the South.
