Wondering what’s with all the over-the-top rhetoric against Israel here of late? Friday was Quds Day, the day Jew-hating jihadists and their sympathizers call in feeling genocidal and take the day off to agitate against the Jewish state. Here are but two nuggets from the annual festivities.
First, from the helmet-haired helmsman in Tehran: “Iran’s Ahmadinejad: No Place for Israel in Region,” from Fox News, August 26:
TEHRAN, Iran — The Iranian president said on Friday there will be no room for Israel in the region after the formation of a Palestinian state, and that once the state is established, the liberation of all Palestinian lands should follow.
So the entire area can be an ungovernable disaster.
The comments by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reflected his typical anti-Israeli rhetoric, which has drawn international condemnation since he first said in 2005 that Israel should be “wiped off the map.”
Ahmadinejad spoke at a Tehran ceremony following nationwide pro-Palestinian rallies marking Quds Day. Quds is the Arabic word for Jerusalem. The annual demonstration is an occasion for Iranian officials to show off their support for Palestinians and condemn archenemy Israel.
The remarks come as the Palestinians are pushing this year to achieve recognition at the United Nations during the General Assembly meeting in September. The statehood bid comes amid stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and although the U.N. vote in New York will be largely symbolic, the Palestinians believe it will send a powerful message to Israel.
“Do not assume you will be boosted with a (U.N.) recognition of a Palestinian state,” Ahmadinejad said, addressing Israel. “There is no room for you in the region.”
“Recognition of a Palestinian state is the first step in the liberation of the entire Palestine,” he added.
The foreign minister joins in: “Minister: Int’l Quds Day Rallies Echo Crush of Zionists’ Bones,” from Fars News Agency, August 26:
TEHRAN (FNA)- The International Quds Days rallies mean crushed bones for the Zionist regime, Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi stressed.
Iranians across the country, including in the capital Tehran, alongside other people around the world held massive anti-Israel rallies on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan in opposition to the continued occupation of Palestinian land by Israel.
Speaking to FNA about the Quds Day, Moslehi asserted that one of the manifestations of the Islamic Awakening is attention to the issue of Palestine and al-Quds.
“The Islamic communities should translate into practice the issue of Palestine and the rescue of the people of this country from Zionist hands,” the minister added.
The International Quds Day was started by the late Founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, in 1979 as a way of expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and underscoring importance of the holy Quds to Muslims.
International Quds Day is an annual event opposing Israel’s occupation of Beitul-Muqaddas. Anti-Zionist rallies and demonstrations are held on the last Friday of Ramadan in Muslim and Arab countries around the world, and especially in Iran.