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VIENNA CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF TREATIES
Bi-national Chambers of Commerce
What
Iranian Leaders Really Say
about
Doing Away with Israel:
A
Refutation of the Campaign to Excuse
Ahmadinejad's Incitement to Genocide
Joshua
Teitelbaum
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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.
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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.
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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 October 26, 2005: "In the Middle
East, they [the global powers] have created a
black and filthy microbe
called the Zionist regime."
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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."
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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."
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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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