Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, makes a sound distinction here:TEHRAN — The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, took the unusual step on Thursday of explaining that while he strongly opposed the state of Israel, his hostility did not extend to the Israeli people. “We have no problem with people and nations,” he said. “Of course, we do not recognize a government or a nation for the Zionist regime.”
Mr. Ahmadinejad has long been seen as a threat to Israel, especially since he angered the West and Jews worldwide in 2005 when he repeated a slogan from the early days of the revolution, saying, “Israel should be wiped off the map.” [This is a lie: see here.]
But on Thursday, he defended his vice president for tourism, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, who created a storm of protest among legislators and senior clerics over the summer when he said that Iran was a friend of the Israeli people. Analysts viewed Mr. Ahmadinejad’s public support for Mr. Mashai’s remarks as a sign that Iran might be softening its position amid increasing pressure by the West over its nuclear program.
“It looks like the remarks are a policy,” said Saeed Leylaz, a political analyst in Tehran. “Despite the opposition, they were repeated, no apology was made and the president supported it today.”
In mid-July, Mr. Mashai was quoted as saying that Iran was “a friend of Israeli people.” He then repeated the comment in August, saying there was “no hostility toward the Israeli people. ...“We are opposed to the idea that the people who live there should be thrown into the sea or be burnt,” he said. “We believe that all the people who live there, the Jews, Muslims and Christians, should take part in a free referendum and choose their government.”
What's good for the goose is good for the gander. What's wrong with a diverse, multicultural, vibrant, inclusive, tolerant, multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-religious, harmonious one-state solution?
After all, this is the era of globalization, isn't it? So let's have a nice, healthy dose of "democracy"; it's the American way!
Let the Judeo-plutocracy eat cake.
More here:
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has delivered a scathing report to the UN Human Rights Commission on Israel's shelling of Beit Hanoun in Gaza in 2006.
The report, leaked on Monday, says the shelling may have been a war crime.
It criticises an Israeli inquiry that concluded that the shelling was due to a flawed artillery system.
The Archbishop also criticised the international community for "failing to fulfil its role in respect of the suffering of the people of Gaza".
"It is the silence of the international community in the face of what is happening there which most offends. This silence begets complicity," he said.
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