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Thursday, March 01, 2012

Ayatollah Khamenei's website says "Israel" in Farsi, not "Zionist Entity"

Remember last month when Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, said Israel was a "cancerous tumor" that must be removed?

Here are his words from his English-language website:

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei says Iran will stand by and support any nation or group that chooses to stand up to Zionist regime.

"We will continue to support any nation or group that fights or confronts the Zionist regime and we are not afraid of saying this," Ayatollah Khamenei said in the Friday prayers sermons in Tehran.

The Leader rejected Iran's interference in the affairs of regional countries, including Bahrain, and said Iran only had a role in the fight against Zionist regime during the 33-day war Zionist war on Lebanon and Tel Aviv's 22-day war against Gaza which both resulted in the regime's defeat.

"The Zionist regime is a cancerous tumor that must be removed, and God willing it will be," he said.

Interestingly, in the Farsi text of his speech, he doesn't only say "Zionist regime" - but he explicitly says "Israel" as well.

I'm not sure why the well-known historic refusal of many Muslims to say Israel's name is not in force by Iran's Supreme Leader when speaking in Farsi.

(h/t Max)