Ahmadinejad: Israel's Existence, An Insult To Humanity

Israel's existence is an 'insult to all humanity', Iran's president has said in one of his sharpest attacks yet against the Jewish state, as Israel openly debates whether to attack Iran over its nuclear programme.

 

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said confronting Israel was an effort to 'protect the dignity of all human beings'.
'The existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to all humanity,' the president said in an address to worshippers at Tehran University following nationwide pro-Palestinian rallies - an annual event marking Quds (Jerusalem) Day on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

 

Israel considers Iran an existential threat because of its nuclear and missile programmes, support for radical anti-Israel groups on its borders, and repeated references by Iranian leaders to Israel's destruction. Ahmadinejad himself has repeatedly made such calls, as has Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran has denied allegations that it is seeking to build nuclear weapons, saying its nuclear programme is peaceful and aimed at producing electricity and radioisotopes used to treat cancer patients.

Israel has been carrying on an increasingly public debate about whether to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

The country's official position is to favour diplomatic and economic measures to persuade Iran to cease its uranium enrichment programme, but Israel insists that Iran must not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons.
Israeli leaders say 'all options are on the table', a clear reference to a military strike, if they determine that other measures have failed.



Iran has warned it would hit back at Israel if it is attacked, also threatening to strike at American interests in the region.
Ahmadinejad called Israel a 'corrupt, anti-human organised minority group standing up to all divine values'.
'Today, confronting the existence of the fabricated Zionist regime is in fact protecting the rights and dignity of all human beings,' said Ahmadinejad, who sported a black and white scarf around his neck similar to those worn by many Palestinians.

 Demonstrators in Tehran set U.S. and Israeli flags on fire and chanted 'Death to the U.S.' and 'Death to Israel' during a pro-Palestinian rally on Friday.

Iran and Israel have been bitter enemies for decade. Khamenei has called Israel a 'cancerous tumour' that must be wiped out.

Tensions between Iran and Israel have intensified since 2005, when Ahmadinejad said in a speech that Israel will one day be 'wiped off the map'.
The Iranian president has also described the Holocaust, when six million Jews were killed by German Nazis and their collaborators during World War II, as a 'myth'

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