Iran’s Khamenei Takes Rhetoric to New Level With 9-Point List for Destroying Israel
NOVEMBER 13, 2014 8:27 AM
Sean Savage / JNS.org
JNS.org – Iranian Supreme Leader the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is known for his anti-Zionist rhetoric, has issued perhaps his most detailed tirade to date in a Twitter post titled “9 key questions about the elimination of Israel.”
“Why should & how can #Israel be eliminated? Ayatollah Khamenei’s answer to 9 key questions. #HandsOffAlAqsa,” read the introduction to Khamenei’s tweet, posted Saturday.
The hashtag #HandsOffAlAqsa referred to the recent tensions between Arabs and Jews at the Temple Mount. Last week, masked Arab rioters threw rocks and shot fireworks at Israeli security personnel at the holy site in Jerusalem, marking the latest outbreak of violence there.
As part of the tweet, Khamenei proposed a referendum that would serve as a means for the elimination of Israel.
“So far as I know, Khamenei’s idea of a referendum has not been proposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran until now. It suggests that the Iranian leadership wishes to make common cause with the leftists also wanting to see Israel disappear,” Dr. Daniel Pipes, founder and president of the Middle East Forum, told JNS.org.
The first answer provided within Khamenei’s nine points accuses “the fake Zionist regime” of trying to achieve its goals via “infanticide, homicide, violence & iron,” with the only solution to these “Israeli crimes” being the “elimination of this regime.”
The “practical & logical mechanism for this,” according to Khamenei, is through a “public and organized referendum” for all the “original people of Palestine including Muslims, Christians, and Jews,” excluding “the Jewish immigrants who have been persuaded into emigration to Palestine,” who “do not have the right to take part.”
In addition to the referendum, the Iranian leader called for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to fight against Israel, rejecting any U.N.-moderated negotiation.
On Monday alone, a 26-year-old Israeli woman was killed in a stabbing attack near the Jewish community of Alon Shvut in Judea and Samaria, and an Israeli soldier was stabbed to death at the entrance of the Hagana train station in southern Tel Aviv. Two vehicular terror attacks also recently took place near light rail stations in Jerusalem, causing Israeli civilian deaths and many injuries.
Earlier this year, Iran had announced that it was increasing its effort to arm Palestinians in the West Bank.
“Arming the West Bank has started and weapons will be supplied to the people of this region,” said Iranian paramilitary network chief Mohammad Reza Naqdi, The Times of Israel reported.
The timing of Khamenei’s tweet also comes as the P5+1 nations—the U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China, and Germany—are nearing a negotiated solution with Iran ahead of the Nov. 24 diplomatic deadline. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned world powers not to rush into a bad deal with Iran on its nuclear program.
Referencing Khamenei’s plan, Netanyahu said in a statement that he sent a letter to the P5+1 countries that highlights Iran’s desire to destroy Israel.
“[Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is] publicly calling for the annihilation of Israel as he is negotiating a nuclear deal with the P5+1 countries,” Netanyahu said.
“There is no moderation in Iran,” he added. “It is unrepentant, unreformed, it calls for Israel’s eradication, it promotes international terrorism, and as the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) report just said, it continues to deceive the international community about its nuclear weapons program. This terrorist regime in Iran must not be allowed to become a nuclear threshold power. I call on the P5+1 countries—don’t rush into a deal that would let Iran rush to the bomb.”
Last week, the IAEA said that its investigation into the potential weaponization of Iran’s nuclear program has stalled due to the Islamic Republic’s refusal to cooperate with the probe. President Barack Obama, meanwhile, sent a letter to Khamenei in mid-October expressing the countries’ shared interest in the fight against Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
