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Iran's hard-line president called for Israel to be "wiped off
the map" and said a new wave of Palestinian attacks will destroy the Jewish
state, state-run media reported Wednesday.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also denounced attempts to recognize Israel or normalize
relations with it.
"There is no doubt that the new wave (of attacks) in Palestine will wipe
off this stigma (Israel) from the face of the Islamic world," Ahmadinejad
told students Wednesday during a Tehran conference called "The World without
Zionism."
"Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's
fury, any (Islamic leader) who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging
the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world," Ahmadinejad said.
Ahmadinejad also repeated the words of the founder of Iran's Islamic revolution,
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who called for the destruction of Israel.
"As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map," said Ahmadinejad,
who came to power in August.
Ahmadinejad referred to Israel's recent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a
"trick," saying Gaza is part of the Palestinian territories and the
withdrawal was meant to make Islamic states acknowledge Israel.
