Haaretz
Kislev 10, 5766
Iran's supreme ruler came out in
support of his maligned president on Saturday, who created an
international storm by demanding Israel be moved to Europe and casting
doubt on whether the Holocaust happened.
"The unusual sensitivity
of Zionists and their American supporters toward Iran's stance over the
Zionist state reveals their increased weakness and fear about the level of
attention given by Islamic nations to the Palestinian issue," state-run
Iranian radio quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying.
"Despite the
Zionist's campaign, the struggle against the occupiers has become an old
and thick tree in the Islamic world such that the arrogant powers could
not sever its roots," he added.
Khamenei did not refer specifically
to Ahmadinejad's remarks made Thursday in Saudi Arabia on the sidelines of
a Saudi Arabian summit of more than 50 Islamic nations, convened to show a
Muslim front against terrorism.
But the United States, Israel,
Europe, United Nations and even Iranian ally Russia condemned Ahmadinejad
for casting doubt on whether the Nazi Holocaust took place and suggesting
Europe give land for a Jewish state if it felt guilty about
it.
Khamenei has ultimate say on all issues in Iran and backed
similar controversial remarks made in October by Ahmadinejad, who said
Israel should be "wiped off the map."
Later, state-run television
quote Khamenei as saying the world should vote on the status of Israel and
the Palestinian territories, a suggestion previously floated by other
Iranian officials.
"Nations would support Iran's proposal for
holding a referendum on Palestine to decide about the future of the land,"
he said.
Ahmadinejad emerged from the hard-line establishment as a
surprise victor in June elections on a platform of helping Iran's poor and
a return to the values of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Since taking
office, he has pushed hard-core rhetoric recalling the revolution's leader
Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Iran plans to hold an
international conference on "Support Palestine's Islamic Revolution" in
April 2006.
Nobel peace laureate and UN nuclear watchdog agency
chief Mohamed ElBaradei appeared to warn Israel not to bomb Iranian atomic
facilities in a newspaper interview published Saturday.
"You cannot
use force to prevent a country from obtaining nuclear weapons. By bombing
them half to death, you can only delay the plans," ElBaradei was quoted as
saying by the Oslo newspaper Aftenposten. "But they will come back,
and they will demand revenge."
ElBaradei was in the Norwegian
capital to accept the Nobel Peace Prize awarded jointly to him and the
International Atomic Energy Agency.
The report said ElBaradei did
not mention Israel but it was clear he was referring to Israel's
increasingly open discussion over whether to protect itself by bombing
Iranian facilities it suspects are being used in a possible secret nuclear
weapons program.
Mofaz: Israel needs 'other' solutions to
Iranian threat
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Saturday he was
not interested in discussing the Iranian issue.
"We have made it
clear that the policy of the state of Israel is to put the Iran issue to
the Security Council and that the diplomatic channel is the proper one to
deal with this matter at this time," he told Israel Radio.
However,
on Friday Mofaz spoke harshly against Ahmadenijad saying Israel must
prepare solutions "other than diplomatic" in the face of Tehran's
persistent advancement of its nuclear program.
Speaking on a visit
to the market at Hatikva neighborhood in Tel Aviv, Mofaz said, "the right
move would be to let a diplomatic approach guide us, but we must also
prepare other solutions."
The defense minister referred to
Ahmadenijad as an "Israel hater" adding that "the combination of extreme
hatred and nuclear capabilities certainly threatens the State of Israel
and Western countries."
Mofaz commented on a speech Ahmadenijad
made on Thursday in which he questioned the extent of the Holocaust and
suggested Israel be moved to Europe.
World leaders, including UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, condemned these remarks.
"Some
European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of
innocent Jews in furnaces and they insist on it to the extent that if
anyone proves something contrary to that they condemn that person and
throw them in jail," the IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
"We don't accept this claim," he said.
"If the Europeans are honest
they should give some of their provinces in Europe - like in Germany,
Austria or other countries - to the Zionists and the Zionists can
establish their state in Europe," he said at a conference in Saudi Arabia
on Thursday. "You offer part of Europe and we will support it."
Annan expresses shock
Annan expressed shock at the
comments and pointed to a UN General Assembly resolution last month that
rejected "any denial of the Holocaust as an historical event, either in
full or in part."
He urged all UN members to "combat such denial
and to educate their populations about the well established historical
facts of the Holocaust, in which one third of the Jewish people were
murdered along with countless members of other minorities."
In
October, Annan and many other leaders criticized Ahmadinejad for saying
Israel should be wiped off the map.
Thursday's comments also
elicited quick condemnation. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called them
"totally unacceptable."
At a press conference with French
President Jacques Chirac near Berlin, Merkel also said: "With our
historical responsibility in mind, I can only say that we reject [the
comments] in the harshest possible terms. We will do everything to make it
clear that Israel's right to existence is in no way endangered. I am
firmly convinced that a majority in the international community has a
similar opinion on this issue." Chirac said he agreed
completely.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he condemns
the comments "unreservedly," adding, "They have no place in civilized
political debate."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "It
just further underscores our concerns about the regime in Iran and it's
all the more reason why it's so important that the regime not have the
ability to develop nuclear weapons."
Russia also condemned
Ahmadinejad's comments on Friday.
"It is difficult to comment on
such unacceptable remarks,"
the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a
statement. "There are well-known historical facts concerning World War
Two, including the Holocaust. These facts cannot be revised and this
should be understood by everyone."