Israeli Ynet reports tonight on AIPAC’s relentless efforts to push America into a war.
“Though US Congress is pressured
by the American public to vote against a US military intervention in
Syria, Israel’s most ardent supporters in AIPAC urge Congress representatives to vote in favor of an intervention”.
Ynet writes that in the past
Israel has “refrained from pushing US into war, and Jerusalem and AIPAC
have thus far kept silent regarding Syria, but in recent days Israel
decided to voice its support of an attack.
Ynet reveals the operative plan.
“Some 250 Jewish leaders and AIPAC activists, intend to storm the halls
on Capitol Hill beginning next week to persuade lawmakers that Congress
must adopt the resolution authorizing US strikes against Syria.”
For the first time in modern
history, in the open, the Jewish Lobby together with the Jewish State
are pushing for a war that can easily escalate into a global conflict.
Yet, I am slightly perplexed, as to whether these war mangers grasp what
could be the consequences of such a war: do these Jewish campaigners
really want to bear responsibility for the death of many innocent
people? Can’t they see that they pressure the American Congress to act
against the will of the American people? Are they still concerned with
antisemitism, because their acts can bring total disaster on their
fellow Jews
Watching the scale of the Jewish
pro war campaign should lead us to consider the possibility that Jewish
politics (not just Israeli politics) is a grave threat to world peace.
AIPAC Ancam Senator AS atas Sanksi Iran
Islam Times - http://www.islamtimes.org/vdcf0ydmjw6dj1a.,8iw.html
"Mereka mengancam banyak senator yang menolak dalam pemilu jika mereka tidak menyetujui RUU ini," kata Beeman.
AIPAC, menguasai AS
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) mengancam
banyak senator AS yang menolak penjatuhan sanksi lebih terhadap Iran,
seorang analis mengatakan.
"Orang-orang yang mendorong RUU [sanksi Iran] ini tampaknya berniat benar-benar menghancurkan masa enam bulan negosiasi dalam pembicaraan," kata William Beeman Press TV pada hari Kamis (16/1/14).
"Yang diyakini secara luas di Amerika Serikat adalah, Komite Urusan Publik Israel Amerika (AIPAC) sebenarnya melobi senator ini....mengancam untuk menarik dukungan atau kampanye terhadap mereka dalam pemilu jika mereka tidak menjatuhkan sanksi tambahan ini, "tambahnya.
"Mereka mengancam banyak senator yang menolak dalam pemilu jika mereka tidak menyetujui RUU ini," kata Beeman.
RUU itu diperkenalkan oleh Mark Kirk Sens dan Robert Menendez bulan lalu dan telah mengumpulkan 59 pendukung di Senat.
Tapi Presiden Barack Obama mengancam akan memveto jika RUU itu berhasil melewati Kongres.
Dalam pertemuan hari Rabu (15/1) dengan Senat Demokrat, Obama mendesak para senator untuk menolak RUU sanksi tersebut.
Senator Jeff Merkley yang hadir pada pertemuan tersebut mendesak para senator untuk memanfaatkan kesempatan untuk melanjutkan perundingan dengan Iran daripada beralih ke sanksi yang lebih banyak. Jika Iran tak menunjukkan langkah positif maka Presiden Obama akan menandatangani RUU yang akan memperketat sanksi. Tapi, lanjut Markley, Amerika harus memberi tempo selama 6 bulan.[IT/r]
"Orang-orang yang mendorong RUU [sanksi Iran] ini tampaknya berniat benar-benar menghancurkan masa enam bulan negosiasi dalam pembicaraan," kata William Beeman Press TV pada hari Kamis (16/1/14).
"Yang diyakini secara luas di Amerika Serikat adalah, Komite Urusan Publik Israel Amerika (AIPAC) sebenarnya melobi senator ini....mengancam untuk menarik dukungan atau kampanye terhadap mereka dalam pemilu jika mereka tidak menjatuhkan sanksi tambahan ini, "tambahnya.
"Mereka mengancam banyak senator yang menolak dalam pemilu jika mereka tidak menyetujui RUU ini," kata Beeman.
RUU itu diperkenalkan oleh Mark Kirk Sens dan Robert Menendez bulan lalu dan telah mengumpulkan 59 pendukung di Senat.
Tapi Presiden Barack Obama mengancam akan memveto jika RUU itu berhasil melewati Kongres.
Dalam pertemuan hari Rabu (15/1) dengan Senat Demokrat, Obama mendesak para senator untuk menolak RUU sanksi tersebut.
Senator Jeff Merkley yang hadir pada pertemuan tersebut mendesak para senator untuk memanfaatkan kesempatan untuk melanjutkan perundingan dengan Iran daripada beralih ke sanksi yang lebih banyak. Jika Iran tak menunjukkan langkah positif maka Presiden Obama akan menandatangani RUU yang akan memperketat sanksi. Tapi, lanjut Markley, Amerika harus memberi tempo selama 6 bulan.[IT/r]
Lobi Zionis di AS Sedang Berusaha Merusak Kesepakatan Nuklir Jenewa
Lobi
Israel di AS sedang mencoba merusak kesepakatan Jenewa yang tercapai
antara Iran dan Kelompok 5+1 dan mengklaim bahwa Tehran akan
"mencurangi" kesepakatan tersebut, demikian kata seorang analis politik.
Iran dan Kelompok 5+1 pada hari Ahad lalu sepakat untuk memulai tahp pelaksanaan kesepakatan enam bulan.
Beberapa kelompok lobi berpengaruh, termasuk Komite Urusan Publik
Israel Amerika (AIPAC), bekerja keras untuk menggalang dukungan bagi
sanksi baru terhadap Iran.
"Apa yang dilakukan
intelijen Israel di sini ... khususnya di Kongres, mereka memfokuskan
upaya mendukung RUU untuk sanksi dengan tema baru yang telah diupayakan
sekitar lebih dari sepekan lalu bahwa Iran telah mencurangi sanksi yang
diberlakukan saat ini," kata Jim W Dean dari Veteran Today kepada Press
TV (14/1).
Dengan demikian Israel sedang mencoba untuk
menunjukkan bahwa Iran akan "Akan melanggar semua perjanjian" dan bahwa
AS "harus siap untuk menarik pelatuk dengan sanksi baru segera,"
tambahnya.
Perdana Menteri Israel Benjamin Netanyahu,
yang mengkritik kesepakatan nuklir interim di Jenewa, menyatakan sangat
prihatin terhadap meredanya ketegangan antara Iran dan Amerika Serikat.
Dean mengatakan posisi Israel akan lemah jika sanksi dikurangi.
Mayoritas senator AS telah mendukung Iran RUU sanksi baru yang
diusulkan oleh Ketua Komite Hubungan Luar Negeri Senat Robert Menendez
dan Senator Mark Kirk bulan lalu.
Namun, Presiden
Barack Obama memperingatkan Kongres atas upaya penetapan sanksi ekonomi
baru terhadap Iran, dan mengatakan ia akan memveto setiap langkah yang
diambil anti-Tehran.(IRIB Indonesia/MZ)
Upaya lobi Israel untuk meloloskan sebuah RUU sanksi baru terhadap Iran telah terhenti di Senat AS.
RUU sanksi baru terhadap Iran diperkenalkan oleh Mark Kirk Sens dan Robert Menendez bulan lalu dan telah mengumpulkan 59 dukungan suara.
Partai Republik sangat mendukung langkah tersebut . Namun Presiden Barack Obama telah mengancam akan memveto RUU jika melewati Kongres.
Meskipun ada tekanan dari Komite Urusan Publik AS-Israel ( AIPAC ), para pemimpin partai Demokrat tidak menyetujuinya.
Pemimpin Mayoritas Senat Harry Reid saat ini mundur dari komitmen sebelumnya untuk memungkinkan pemungutan suara mengenai RUU baru anti-Iran selama beberapa minggu ke depan.
Lobi Israel di AS sedang mencoba untuk merusak kesepakatan Jenewa yang dicapai antara Iran dan enam kekuatan dunia dengan menyatakan bahwa Tehran akan "menipu" kesepakatan itu.
Iran dan lima anggota tetap Dewan Keamanan PBB plus Jerman sepakat untuk mulai melaksanakan kesepakatan enam bulan.
Beberapa kelompok lobi berpengaruh, termasuk Komite Urusan Publik Israel- Amerika (AIPAC), bekerja keras untuk membangun dukungan bagi sanksi baru terhadap Iran.
"Apa yang intelijen Israel lakukan di sini dengan semua spionase mereka dan orang-orangnya, khususnya di Kongres. Kini mereka fokus untuk mendukung undang-undang sanksi baru [terhadap Iran], "kata Jim W kepala Veteran Today hari Senin (13/1).
"Israel sedang mencoba untuk menunjukkan bahwa Iran akan melakukan kecurangan pada setiap jenis perjanjian dan AS harus siap untuk menarik pelatuk sanksi baru segera," tegasnya.
Perdana Menteri Israel Benjamin Netanyahu mengkritik kesepakatan nuklir Jenewa yang dicapai antara Iran dan kelompok 5+1, dan sangat khawatir atas meredanya ketegangan antara Tehran dan Washington.
Posisi Israel akan melemah jika sanksi terhadap Iran dikurangi sebagai bagian dari kesepakatan nuklir.
Sementara itu, analis politik AS menilai dukungan Washington terhadap Israel bukan lahir dari kepentingan rakyat AS.
Mark Weber Rabu (16/1) mengatakan, "Seluruh dukungan AS untuk Israel bukan kepentingan otentik Amerika, tapi kekuatan besar yang kita sebut lobi Israel ... yang memiliki pengaruh sangat besar terhadap kehidupan politik dan budaya AS. "
(IRIB Indonesia/PH)
Lobi Zionis Anti-Iran Tersandung di Senat AS
Upaya lobi Israel untuk meloloskan sebuah RUU sanksi baru terhadap Iran telah terhenti di Senat AS.
RUU sanksi baru terhadap Iran diperkenalkan oleh Mark Kirk Sens dan Robert Menendez bulan lalu dan telah mengumpulkan 59 dukungan suara.
Partai Republik sangat mendukung langkah tersebut . Namun Presiden Barack Obama telah mengancam akan memveto RUU jika melewati Kongres.
Meskipun ada tekanan dari Komite Urusan Publik AS-Israel ( AIPAC ), para pemimpin partai Demokrat tidak menyetujuinya.
Pemimpin Mayoritas Senat Harry Reid saat ini mundur dari komitmen sebelumnya untuk memungkinkan pemungutan suara mengenai RUU baru anti-Iran selama beberapa minggu ke depan.
Lobi Israel di AS sedang mencoba untuk merusak kesepakatan Jenewa yang dicapai antara Iran dan enam kekuatan dunia dengan menyatakan bahwa Tehran akan "menipu" kesepakatan itu.
Iran dan lima anggota tetap Dewan Keamanan PBB plus Jerman sepakat untuk mulai melaksanakan kesepakatan enam bulan.
Beberapa kelompok lobi berpengaruh, termasuk Komite Urusan Publik Israel- Amerika (AIPAC), bekerja keras untuk membangun dukungan bagi sanksi baru terhadap Iran.
"Apa yang intelijen Israel lakukan di sini dengan semua spionase mereka dan orang-orangnya, khususnya di Kongres. Kini mereka fokus untuk mendukung undang-undang sanksi baru [terhadap Iran], "kata Jim W kepala Veteran Today hari Senin (13/1).
"Israel sedang mencoba untuk menunjukkan bahwa Iran akan melakukan kecurangan pada setiap jenis perjanjian dan AS harus siap untuk menarik pelatuk sanksi baru segera," tegasnya.
Perdana Menteri Israel Benjamin Netanyahu mengkritik kesepakatan nuklir Jenewa yang dicapai antara Iran dan kelompok 5+1, dan sangat khawatir atas meredanya ketegangan antara Tehran dan Washington.
Posisi Israel akan melemah jika sanksi terhadap Iran dikurangi sebagai bagian dari kesepakatan nuklir.
Sementara itu, analis politik AS menilai dukungan Washington terhadap Israel bukan lahir dari kepentingan rakyat AS.
Mark Weber Rabu (16/1) mengatakan, "Seluruh dukungan AS untuk Israel bukan kepentingan otentik Amerika, tapi kekuatan besar yang kita sebut lobi Israel ... yang memiliki pengaruh sangat besar terhadap kehidupan politik dan budaya AS. "
(IRIB Indonesia/PH)
Gates: Sanksi Baru Akan Menjadi Kesalahan Strategis AS
Mantan
menteri pertahanan AS, Robert Gates mengecam langkah sejumlah anggota
Kongres AS menyetujui sanksi baru terhadap Iran, dan menyatakan bahwa
segala bentuk sanksi baru terhadap Republik Islam adalah "kekeliruan
fatal."
"Penjatuhan sanksi baru saat ini adalah
kekeliruan fatal dan akan menjadi kesalahan strategis," kata Gates dalam
sebuah wawancara dengan PBS NewsHour yang ditayangkan Selasa (14/1).
Mantan menteri pertahanan Amerika ini merujuk pada RUU, yang diusulkan
oleh Ketua Komite Urusan Luar Negeri Senat AS Robert Menendez dan
Senator Mark Kirk pada tanggal 18 Desember 2013, yang mendesak penetapan
sanksi tambahan anti-Iran, yang menargetkan sektor energi, perkapalan
dan pertambangan negara itu.
RUU yang didukung 59
senator itu, akan melanggar ketentuan dari kesepakatan yang tercapai
pada 24 November 2013 antara Iran dan Kelompok 5+1. Kedua belah pihak
juga sepakat pada 20 Januari sebagai tanggal dimulai penerapan
kesepakatan dalam perundingan.
Berdasarkan kesepakatan
Jenewa, enam negara Kelompok 5+1 setuju mencabut sejumlah sanksi dan
sebagai imbalannya Republik Islam setuju untuk membatasi aspek-aspek
tertentu dari kegiatan nuklirnya selama periode enam bulan. Juga
disepakati bahwa tidak dijatuhkan sanksi baru yang berhubungan dengan
nuklir akan dikenakan terhadap Iran dalam jangka waktu yang sama.
Menurut Gates AS "tidak punya pilihan selain berunding dengan Iran."
Republik Islam juga memperingatkan atas penetapan sanksi baru dan bahwa
hal itu akan menjegal kesepakatan nuklir di Jenewa.(IRIB Indonesia/MZ)
|
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| Local Editor | ||
| http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?fromval=1&cid=18&frid=18&eid=130040
US President Barak Obama has once again warned Congress against imposing new sanctions against Iran.
"My preference is for peace and diplomacy and this is one of the
reasons why I've sent a message to Congress that now is not the time for
us to impose new sanctions,” Obama said during a meeting with Spanish
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in the White House on Monday.
"Now is the time for us to allow the diplomats and technical experts to do their work," he added.
The US president on Sunday threatened that he would veto any legislation the Congress pushes for further sanctions.
So far, 59 senators have supported the bill that would impose more
sanctions on Tehran if an interim nuclear deal recently reached in
Geneva between Iran and the world powers fails.
The Senate bill was introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez and Senator Mark Kirk last month.
It proposes boycotting Iranian oil exports and the blacklisting of
Iran's mining, engineering and construction industries. It also calls
for "diplomatic, military and economic support" to Israel in case Tel
Aviv decides to launch an attack against Iran’s nuclear energy program.
Iran insists it will never negotiate under threats and pressure and
if the US Congress passes any new sanctions against the country, the
Geneva agreement will be dead.
Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Sayyed
Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that the Islamic Republic is not ready to
hold talks under pressure.
“If the US congress wants to pressure us on new pretexts, we'd say
with certainty that we won’t negotiate under pressure at all, and if new
sanctions are imposed, the Geneva deal would be canceled,” Araqchi
said.
Israeli Ynet reports tonight on AIPAC’s relentless efforts to push America into a war.
“Though US Congress is pressured
by the American public to vote against a US military intervention in
Syria, Israel’s most ardent supporters in AIPAC urge Congress representatives to vote in favor of an intervention”.
Ynet writes that in the past
Israel has “refrained from pushing US into war, and Jerusalem and AIPAC
have thus far kept silent regarding Syria, but in recent days Israel
decided to voice its support of an attack.
Ynet reveals the operative plan.
“Some 250 Jewish leaders and AIPAC activists, intend to storm the halls
on Capitol Hill beginning next week to persuade lawmakers that Congress
must adopt the resolution authorizing US strikes against Syria.”
For the first time in modern
history, in the open, the Jewish Lobby together with the Jewish State
are pushing for a war that can easily escalate into a global conflict.
Yet, I am slightly perplexed, as to whether these war mangers grasp what
could be the consequences of such a war: do these Jewish campaigners
really want to bear responsibility for the death of many innocent
people? Can’t they see that they pressure the American Congress to act
against the will of the American people? Are they still concerned with
antisemitism, because their acts can bring total disaster on their
fellow Jews
Watching the scale of the Jewish
pro war campaign should lead us to consider the possibility that Jewish
politics (not just Israeli politics) is a grave threat to world peace.
“WIPED OFF THE MAP” – The Rumor of the Century
by Arash Norouzi – January 18, 2007
Across the
world, a dangerous rumor has spread that could have catastrophic
implications. According to legend, Iran’s President has threatened to
destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, “Israel must be wiped off the
map”. Contrary to popular belief, this statement was never made, as the
following article will prove.
BACKGROUND:
On Tuesday, October 25th, 2005 at the
Ministry of Interior conference hall in Tehran, newly elected Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a speech at a program,
reportedly attended by thousands, titled “The World Without Zionism”.
Large posters surrounding him displayed this title prominently in
English, obviously for the benefit of the international press. Below the
poster’s title was a slick graphic depicting an hour glass containing
planet Earth at its top. Two small round orbs representing the United
States and Israel are shown falling through the hour glass’ narrow neck
and crashing to the bottom.
Before we get to the infamous remark,
it’s important to note that the “quote” in question was itself a quote—
they are the words of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, the father of the
Islamic Revolution. Although he quoted Khomeini to affirm his own
position on Zionism, the actual words belong to Khomeini and
not Ahmadinejad. Thus, Ahmadinejad has essentially been credited (or
blamed) for a quote that is not only unoriginal, but represents a
viewpoint already in place well before he ever took office.
THE ACTUAL QUOTE:
So what did Ahmadinejad actually say? To quote his exact words in farsi:
“Imam ghoft een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad.”
That passage will mean nothing to most people, but one word might ring a bell: rezhim-e. It is the word “Regime”, pronounced just like the English word with an extra “eh” sound at the end. Ahmadinejad did not refer to Israel the country or Israel the land mass, but the Israeli regime. This is a vastly significant distinction, as one cannot wipe a regime
off the map. Ahmadinejad does not even refer to Israel by name, he
instead uses the specific phrase “rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods” (regime
occupying Jerusalem).
So this raises the question.. what exactly did he want “wiped from the map”? The answer is: nothing. That’s because the word “map” was never used. The Persian word for map, “nagsheh”,
is not contained anywhere in his original farsi quote, or, for that
matter, anywhere in his entire speech. Nor was the western phrase “wipe
out” ever said. Yet we are led to believe that Iran’s President
threatened to “wipe Israel off the map”, despite never having uttered
the words “map”, “wipe out” or even “Israel”.
THE PROOF:
The full quote translated directly to English:
“The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time”.
Word by word translation:
Imam (Khomeini) ghoft (said) een (this)
rezhim-e (regime) ishghalgar-e (occupying) qods (Jerusalem) bayad
(must) az safheh-ye ruzgar (from page of time) mahv shavad (vanish
from).
Here is the full transcript of the speech in farsi, archived on Ahmadinejad’s web site
THE SPEECH AND CONTEXT:
While the false “wiped off the map”
extract has been repeated infinitely without verification, Ahmadinejad’s
actual speech itself has been almost entirely ignored. Given the
importance placed on the “map” comment, it would be sensible to present
his words in their full context to get a fuller understanding of his
position. In fact, by looking at the entire speech, there is a clear,
logical trajectory leading up to his call for a “world without Zionism”.
One may disagree with his reasoning, but critical appraisals are
infeasible without first knowing what that reasoning is.
In his speech, Ahmadinejad declares
that Zionism is the West’s apparatus of political oppression against
Muslims. He says the “Zionist regime” was imposed on the Islamic world
as a strategic bridgehead to ensure domination of the region and its
assets. Palestine, he insists, is the frontline of the Islamic world’s
struggle with American hegemony, and its fate will have repercussions
for the entire Middle East.
Ahmadinejad acknowledges that the
removal of America’s powerful grip on the region via the Zionists may
seem unimaginable to some, but reminds the audience that, as Khomeini
predicted, other seemingly invincible empires have disappeared and now
only exist in history books. He then proceeds to list three such regimes
that have collapsed, crumbled or vanished, all within the last 30
years:
(1) The Shah of Iran- the U.S. installed monarch
(2) The Soviet Union (3) Iran’s former arch-enemy, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein
In the first and third examples,
Ahmadinejad prefaces their mention with Khomeini’s own words foretelling
that individual regime’s demise. He concludes by referring to
Khomeini’s unfulfilled wish: “The Imam said this regime occupying
Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time. This statement is very
wise”. This is the passage that has been isolated, twisted and distorted
so famously. By measure of comparison, Ahmadinejad would seem to be
calling for regime change, not war.
THE ORIGIN:
One may wonder: where did this false
interpretation originate? Who is responsible for the translation that
has sparked such worldwide controversy? The answer is surprising.
The inflammatory “wiped off the map”
quote was first disseminated not by Iran’s enemies, but by Iran itself.
The Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran’s official propaganda arm, used
this phrasing in the English version of some of their news releases
covering the World Without Zionism conference. International media
including the BBC, Al Jazeera, Time magazine and countless others picked
up the IRNA quote and made headlines out of it without verifying its
accuracy, and rarely referring to the source. Iran’s Foreign Minister
soon attempted to clarify the statement, but the quote had a life of its
own. Though the IRNA wording was inaccurate and misleading, the media
assumed it was true, and besides, it made great copy.
Amid heated wrangling over Iran’s
nuclear program, and months of continuous, unfounded accusations against
Iran in an attempt to rally support for preemptive strikes against the
country, the imperialists had just been handed the perfect raison d’être
to invade. To the war hawks, it was a gift from the skies.
It should be noted that in other
references to the conference, the IRNA’s translation changed. For
instance, “map” was replaced with “earth”. In some articles it was “The
Qods occupier regime should be eliminated from the surface of earth”, or
the similar “The Qods occupying regime must be eliminated from the
surface of earth”. The inconsistency of the IRNA’s translation should be
evidence enough of the unreliability of the source, particularly when
transcribing their news from Farsi into the English language.
THE REACTION:
The mistranslated “wiped off the map”
quote attributed to Iran’s President has been spread worldwide, repeated
thousands of times in international media, and prompted the
denouncements of numerous world leaders. Virtually every major and minor
media outlet has published or broadcast this false statement to the
masses. Big news agencies such as The Associated Press and Reuters refer
to the misquote, literally, on an almost daily basis.
Following news of Iran’s remark,
condemnation was swift. British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed
“revulsion” and implied that it might be necessary to attack Iran. U.N.
chief Kofi Annan cancelled his scheduled trip to Iran due to the
controversy. Ariel Sharon demanded that Iran be expelled from the United
Nations for calling for Israel’s destruction. Shimon Peres, more than
once, threatened to wipe Iran off the map. More recently, Israel’s
Benjamin Netanyahu, who has warned that Iran is “preparing another
holocaust for the Jewish state” is calling for Ahmadinejad to be tried
for war crimes for inciting genocide.
The artificial quote has also been
subject to additional alterations. U.S. officials and media often take
the liberty of dropping the “map” reference altogether, replacing it
with the more acutely threatening phrase “wipe Israel off the face of
the earth”. Newspaper and magazine articles dutifully report Ahmadinejad
has “called for the destruction of Israel”, as do senior officials in
the United States government.
President George W. Bush said the
comments represented a “specific threat” to destroy Israel. In a March
2006 speech in Cleveland, Bush vowed he would resort to war to protect
Israel from Iran, because, “..the threat from Iran is, of course, their
stated objective to destroy our strong ally Israel.” Former Presidential
advisor Richard Clarke told Australian TV that Iran “talks openly about
destroying Israel”, and insists, “The President of Iran has said
repeatedly that he wants to wipe Israel off the face of the earth”. In
an October 2006 interview with Amy Goodman, former UN Weapons Inspector
Scott Ritter referred to Ahmadinejad as “the idiot that comes out and
says really stupid, vile things, such as, ‘It is the goal of Iran to
wipe Israel off the face of the earth’ “. The consensus is clear.
Confusing matters further, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad pontificates rather than give a direct answer when
questioned about the statement, such as in Lally Weymouth’s Washington
Post interview in September 2006:
Are you really serious when you say that Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth?
We need to look at the scene in the
Middle East — 60 years of war, 60 years of displacement, 60 years of
conflict, not even a day of peace. Look at the war in Lebanon, the war
in Gaza — what are the reasons for these conditions? We need to address
and resolve the root problem.
Your suggestion is to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth?
Our suggestion is very clear:… Let the
Palestinian people decide their fate in a free and fair referendum, and
the result, whatever it is, should be accepted…. The people with no
roots there are now ruling the land.
You’ve been quoted as saying that Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth. Is that your belief?
What I have said has made my position clear. If we look at a map of the Middle East from 70 years ago…
So, the answer is yes, you do believe that it should be wiped off the face of the Earth?
Are you asking me yes or no? Is this a
test? Do you respect the right to self-determination for the Palestinian
nation? Yes or no? Is Palestine, as a nation, considered a nation with
the right to live under humane conditions or not? Let’s allow those
rights to be enforced for these 5 million displaced people.
The exchange is typical of
Ahmadinejad’s interviews with the American media. Predictably, both Mike
Wallace of 60 Minutes and CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked if he wants to
“wipe Israel off the map”. As usual, the question is thrown back in the
reporter’s face with his standard “Don’t the Palestinians have rights?,
etc.” retort (which is never directly answered either). Yet he never
confirms the “map” comment to be true. This did not prevent Anderson
Cooper from referring to earlier portions of his interview after a
commercial break and lying, “as he said earlier, he wants Israel wiped
off the map”.
Even if every media outlet in the world
were to retract the mistranslated quote tomorrow, the major damage has
already been done, providing the groundwork for the next phase of
disinformation: complete character demonization. Ahmadinejad, we are
told, is the next Hitler, a grave threat to world peace who wants to
bring about a new Holocaust. According to some detractors, he not only
wants to destroy Israel, but after that, he will nuke America, and then
Europe! An October 2006 memo titled Words of Hate: Iran’s Escalating
Threats released by the powerful Israeli lobby group AIPAC opens with
the warning, “Ahmadinejad and other top Iranian leaders are issuing
increasingly belligerent statements threatening to destroy the United
States, Europe and Israel.” These claims not only fabricate an
unsubstantiated threat, but assume far more power than he actually
possesses. Alarmists would be better off monitoring the statements of
the ultra-conservative Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, who holds the
most power in Iran.
As Iran’s U.N. Press Officer, M.A. Mohammadi, complained to The Washington Post in a June 2006 letter:
It is not amazing at all, the
pick-and-choose approach of highlighting the misinterpreted remarks of
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in October and ignoring this
month’s remarks by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that
“We have no problem with the world. We are not a threat whatsoever to
the world, and the world knows it. We will never start a war. We have no
intention of going to war with any state.”
The Israeli government has milked every
drop of the spurious quote to its supposed advantage. In her September
2006 address to the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni accused Iran of working to nuke Israel and bully
the world. “They speak proudly and openly of their desire to ‘wipe
Israel off the map.’ And now, by their actions, they pursue the weapons
to achieve this objective to imperil the region and threaten the world.”
Addressing the threat in December, a fervent Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
inadvertently disclosed that his country already possesses nuclear
weapons: “We have never threatened any nation with annihilation. Iran,
openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map.
Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have
nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?”
MEDIA IRRESPONSIBILITY:
On December 13, 2006, more than a year
after The World Without Zionism conference, two leading Israeli
newspapers, The Jerusalem Post and Haaretz, published reports of a
renewed threat from Ahmadinejad. The Jerusalem Post’s headline was
Ahmadinejad: Israel will be ‘wiped out’, while Haaretz posted the title Ahmadinejad at Holocaust conference: Israel will ‘soon be wiped out’.
Where did they get their information?
It turns out that both papers, like most American and western media,
rely heavily on write ups by news wire services such as the Associated
Press and Reuters as a source for their articles. Sure enough, their
sources are in fact December 12th articles by Reuter’s Paul Hughes [Iran president says Israel's days are numbered], and the AP’s Ali Akbar Dareini [Iran President: Israel Will be wiped out].
The first five paragraphs of the
Haaretz article, credited to “Haaretz Service and Agencies”, are
plagiarized almost 100% from the first five paragraphs of the Reuters
piece. The only difference is that Haaretz changed “the Jewish state” to
“Israel” in the second paragraph, otherwise they are identical.
The Jerusalem Post article by Herb
Keinon pilfers from both the Reuters and AP stories. Like Haaretz, it
uses the following Ahmadinejad quote without attribution: ["Just as the
Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist
regime soon be wiped out," he added]. Another passage apparently relies
on an IRNA report:
“The Zionist regime will be wiped out
soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve
freedom,” Ahmadinejad said at Tuesday’s meeting with the conference
participants in his offices, according to Iran’s official news agency,
IRNA.
He said elections should be held
among “Jews, Christians and Muslims so the population of Palestine can
select their government and destiny for themselves in a democratic
manner.”
Once again, the first sentence above
was wholly plagiarized from the AP article. The second sentence was also
the same, except “He called for elections” became “He said elections
should be held..”.
It gets more interesting.
The quote used in the original AP
article and copied in The Jerusalem Post article supposedly derives from
the IRNA. If true, this can easily be checked. Care to find out? Go to:
www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0612134902101231.htm
There you will discover the actual IRNA quote was:
“As the Soviet Union disappeared, the Zionist regime will also vanish and humanity will be liberated”.
Compare this to the alleged IRNA quote reported by the Associated Press:
“The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom”.
In the IRNA’s actual report, the Zionist regime will vanish just as the Soviet Union disappeared. Vanish. Disappear.
In the dishonest AP version, the Zionist regime will be “wiped out”.
And how will it be wiped out? “The same way the Soviet Union was”.
Rather than imply a military threat or escalation in rhetoric, this
reference to Russia actually validates the intended meaning of
Ahmadinejad’s previous misinterpreted anti-Zionist statements.
What has just been demonstrated is
irrefutable proof of media manipulation and propaganda in action. The AP
deliberately alters an IRNA quote to sound more threatening. The
Israeli media not only repeats the fake quote but also steals the
original authors’ words. The unsuspecting public reads this, forms an
opinion and supports unnecessary wars of aggression, presented as self
defense, based on the misinformation.
This scenario mirrors the kind of false
claims that led to the illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq, a war now widely
viewed as a catastrophic mistake. And yet the Bush administration and
the compliant corporate media continue to marinate in propaganda and
speculation about attacking Iraq’s much larger and more formidable
neighbor, Iran. Most of this rests on the unproven assumption that Iran
is building nuclear weapons, and the lie that Iran has vowed to
physically destroy Israel. Given its scope and potentially disastrous
outcome, all this amounts to what is arguably the rumor of the century.
Iran’s President has written two rather
philosophical letters to America. In his first letter, he pointed out
that “History shows us that oppressive and cruel governments do not
survive”. With this statement, Ahmadinejad has also projected the
outcome of his own backwards regime, which will likewise “vanish from
the page of time”.
Arash Norouzi is an artist and co-founder of The Mossadegh Project.
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