Khamenei Says Israel 'Will Disappear'
Israel is an artificial "outgrowth" in the Middle East that "will disappear," Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said ahead of rallies on Friday against the Jewish state and supporting the Palestinians.
The annual Quds Day marches were started in 1979 after the founding of the Islamic republic. The protests use the word Quds, derived from Arabic, to designate the city of Jerusalem.
Khamenei, in a speech late Wednesday, said the "star of hope" that shined on Iran during its Islamic revolution, and in its 1980-1988 war with Iraq "will also shine for Palestine and its Islamic land will definitely be returned to the Palestinian nation."
He railed against Israel, saying: "This bogus and fake Zionist outgrowth will disappear off the landscape of geography."
Friday's rallies, he said, would be "a blow to the enemies of Islam and Palestine" and added that Iran views supporting the Palestinian cause "a religious duty."
This year's Quds Day marches will take place amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel.
The Jewish state has greatly raised bellicose rhetoric threatening air strikes against the Islamic republic's nuclear facilities, which Israel believe are being used to develop atomic weapons that could destroy it.
Iran denies its nuclear program is anything but peaceful.
16 August 2012, 14:12
25
The more they talk, the stupider it sounds. Stop making empty and meaningless promises.
16 August 2012, 19:42
00
The Taef Accord will disappear from the face of the earth and a normal democracy will appear in Lebanon: equal rights for all citizens.
If you're waiting to see how things turn out in Israel before making your plans, you may have already waited too long.
16 August 2012, 21:12
01
Khamenei has a crystal ball... The same one Khomeini had. look where the revolutionary Ayatollah is and how Israel is doing... Bla-bla to waste ink in the press.
17 August 2012, 09:36
10
This is the kind of statements that Israel loves and awaits for. They publicize them on all their medias including within Europe and US because they give justification to their genocides against palestinians. Also they collect subventions in millions from jewish billionaires since their existence is threatened by Iran. Iranian leaders are american tools intended to attise a climate of war in the region, to balance the jewish colonisation plan. You cannot take what you do not have in a climate of peace. Hezbollah, Iran, Hamas are needed and they should always appear in a threatening matter, not defensive.
