His official website edited out the part about how the wound should be removed. Remember: Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. said: “War is deceit.”
“Iran’s new president calls Israel an ‘old wound,'” by Nasser Karimi for the Associated Press, August 2 (thanks to Block Ness):
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Ahead of his inauguration, Iran’s new president on Friday called Israel an “old wound” that should be removed, while tens of thousands of Iranians marched in support of Muslim claims to the holy city of Jerusalem.
Hasan Rouhani’s remarks about Israel – which Iran considers to be its archenemy – echoed longstanding views of other Iranian leaders and could tarnish his image in the West as a voice of moderation in Iranian affairs.
But no Iranian leader is likely to diverge from Iran’s longstanding denunciations of Israel and the remarks are not necessary evidence that Rouhani would roll back his support for calmer relations with the West, including possible one-on-one dialogue with Washington.
“The Zionist regime has been a wound on the body of the Islamic world for years and the wound should be removed,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by the semi-official ISNA news agency.
The president-elect also expressed doubts about the possibility of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal even as the two sides resumed negotiations in Washington this week, ending a five-year freeze in Mideast talks.
“Israelis show a compromising face to the world but continue their expansionism in practice,” Rouhani said according to Fars, another semi-official news agency.
However, Rouhani’s official website later Friday published somewhat different comments, citing him only as saying that “the occupation of Palestine and Jerusalem … is a wound on the body of the Islamic world,” without any direct reference to Israel or saying that this wound should be removed.
The two versions of his comments could not immediately be reconciled….