Things Mahmoud Ahmadinejad never said: “I want to wipe Israel off the map”

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a dangerous and stupid theocrat who looks like a fool whether he’s speaking at Columbia University or the United Nations. But he never said “I want to wipe Israel off the map.”

What he said was this: “بايد از صفحه روزگار محو شود”

From Juan Cole:

… I object to the characterization of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as having “threatened to wipe Israel off the map.” I object to this translation of what he said on two grounds. First, it gives the impression that he wants to play Hitler to Israel’s Poland, mobilizing an armored corps to move in and kill people.

But the actual quote, which comes from an old speech of Khomeini, does not imply military action, or killing anyone at all. The second reason is that it is just an inexact translation. The phrase is almost metaphysical. He quoted Khomeini that “the occupation regime over Jerusalem should vanish from the page of time.” It is in fact probably a reference to some phrase in a medieval Persian poem. It is not about tanks.

Ahmadinejad is obviously no friend to Israel, but he did not promise to obliterate Israel from the planet. Of course, in the West, it makes no difference what he really said, as the over-riding anti-Iran and anti-Arab sentiments have defined his statements as they see fit, rather than examine the fact that he speaks a completely different language and comes from a completely different culture.

Whatevere one’s opinions are of Ahmadinejad (who is not Iran’s leader, by the way), the simple fact is that his statement’s were purposely twisted. Hasn’t the West reacted radically enough to lies for Westerners to demand truth?

–WKW

Save