Iranian Statement Polemic Wants To Remove Israel From The World Map

Iran's great leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. (The Times of Israel)

JAKARTA - Iran's support for Palestine has never subsided. The owner of power is willing to install his body as arch-enemy of Israel. Iran even dubbed Israel as little satan (small devil). The attitude against Israel became stronger when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rose to the helm of government.

Iranian President from the 2005-2013 era wants to remove Israel from the world map. The statement was as spoken from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Criticism has emerged from everywhere. However, there are indications that Ahmadinejad was misquoted. What is that?

Colonialization above the world must be abolished. That is the narrative that is often echoed when the Iranian Revolution resonated in 1979. Iran's great leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini tries to bring Iran to full support the Palestinian struggle to defend its homeland.

Anti-Israeli sound hatchers are popping up everywhere. Even Khomeini dubbed Israel a small satan and a 'infiltrators' of the United States (US) like the great satan (Big Sattan). The anti-Israeli attitude is in fact never extinguished, even though Khomeini is no longer at the helm of government.

His successor, Ahmadinejad, became a figure who carried a baton of resistance against Israel. He strongly condemned Israel's treatment of Palestine. He revealed that he wanted to remove Israel from the world map following Khomeini's wishes in October 2005.

The narrative was added by Ahmadinejad by giving the view that the Palestinian issue would be resolved on a condition. The Palestinian people must take over their entire land. The western media were also busy citing Ahmadinejad's wishes.

Criticism has arisen from everywhere. Many of the world's leaders have also criticized Ahmadinejad's desire to remove Israel from the world map. Iranian statements are like people who lose their minds. Iran opposes colonialism, but wants to destroy a country.

The Israeli government also responded. They see such extreme statements as not the first time. Many leaders before Ahmadinejad were anti-Israeli. This attitude was packaged with a series of weapons and others to the Hamas group to Hezbollah for a long time.

"Unfortunately, this is not the first time we have seen such extreme statements from senior Iranian leaders. We see at this time that there is a growing understanding in the international community that the extremist regime in Tehran is not just an Israeli issue. However, it is a problem that must be faced by the entire international community," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev as quoted by Nazila Fathi in his article on The New York Times website entitled Wipe Israel 'off the map' Iranian says (2005).

It could be Ahmadinejad's statement that he wanted to remove Israel from the world map that caused a stir. However, there is an assumption that Ahmadinejad's statement stems from misquoting. This assumption arose because there was no evidence that Khomeini's previous statement wanted to erase Israel from the world map.

The narrative was revealed by a series of analysts such as Juan Cole from the University of Michigan and Arash Norouzi from the Mossadegh Project. Both revealed Ahmadinejad who cited Khomeini's 1980s wish to remove Israel from the wrong world map.

Khomeini's statement in Persian refers to other meanings. Khomeini wants thezionist regime to disappear, not remove Israel from the world map. The regency regime of Jerusalem must disappear from the arena of time. So said Khomeini.

Khomeini's statement was misinterpreted by an anonymous translator from a western media. The statement then turned into an occupation regime over Jerusalem to be removed from the world map. Analyst from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Karim Sadjadpour confirmed this.

He said the impact of the misinterpretation of Khomeini's speech had a big impact. The fight against Israel grew stronger. In the Ahmadinejad era, especially since the misquoted statement continued to be inflamed by Ahmadinejad while continuing to be noisy regarding his anti-Israeli attitude.

Ahmadinejad said anyone who acknowledged Israel would burn in the fire of the anger of the Islamic state. In fact, the work of an anonymous translator was able to make several world leaders threaten each other. Even though the Israeli side still thinks that what comes out of the mouth of the Iranian government is mere boasting.

Sadjadpour, which has studied closely Khomeini's statements, said the supreme leader had spoken more about Israel's problems than any other issue. This is something extraordinary considering Iran is not bordering Israel and that the Jewish state has barely had any impact on the country.

Mainly, the daily life of the Iranian people. Sadjadpour said Khomenei had been consistent. He repeatedly stated that his goal was not military destruction against the Jewish state. However, he wants the defeat of the Zionist ideology and the dissolution of Israel through the people's referendum," Glenn Kessler said in his writing on The Washington Post page entitled Did Ahmadinejad Really say Israel Should be Wiped off the Map? (2011).