A tweet from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) twitter account:
- #Iran says that #Palestinian statehood is the first step toward eradicating Israel – Stop #Iran before its too late aipac.org/Donate%20Now
The statement is likely in reference to comments about the “Zionist regime” made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during Friday prayers at Tehran University last week.
The Associated Free Press quotes him saying (Farsi video clip here):
- The Zionist regime is the hotbed for germs and cancerous cells. If they persist even in a very small parcel of the Palestinian land, they will move again… and harm everyone
This is his Palestine related statement:
- The recognition of an independent Palestinian government is not the ultimate goal… (but) only a step forward for the full liberation of the Palestinian land.
The Iranian president’s comments are meant to be inflammatory and his holocaust-related remarks are odious and despicable, but AIPAC is arguing that people shouldn’t support a Palestinian state simply because Iran does. That the bid for their own state is an independent Palestinian initiative decades in the making is apparently not worth considering.
Here’s the link to the section on AIPAC’s website urging members to lobby U.S. congress to oppose the bid at the U.N.
“The Iranian president’s comments are meant to be inflammatory and his holocaust-related remarks are odious and despicable,”
Did he make comments about the holocaust? You didn’t mention any. Is it odious and despicable for him to ask why Palestinians are punished for the sins of Germans/Europeans? I hardly think so. Frankly, I haven’t heard him engage in holocaust denial as to ask the question why Palestinians are punished for European sins. Unless, in some incomprehensible way that even asking this question is “holocaust denial.”
Please, quote the offensive remarks, as we can’t judge what you’re talking about without them. The question I cited doesn’t seem odious to me. I’m not saying he hasn’t or is incapable of such comments, but we really should have some specific quote to reference.
Recognition of a Palestinian state is coming, and the far future will witness the end of the Jewish apartheid state in Palestine. What Iran says or does will neither help nor hinder these outcomes.