To the editor:
Re: "Incorrect quotations can have scary repercussions," Dec. 30.
Geoff Olson is quick to defend the Iranian regime run by the virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Israel President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Contrary to Olson's assertions, Mr. Ahmadinejad's own words and deeds show that this pariah country genuinely seeks Israel's destruction. These "hostile attitudes" were on full display this past April when Ahmadinejad addressed a large crowd in the Iranian city of Sanandaj calling for the establishment of a "greater Middle East- without the existence of the Zionist regime" (Israel). In an October 2010 rally in Lebanon, he said, "The whole world should know that the Zionists will eventually disappear." In an April 2009 address aired on the Iranian News Channel, he claimed that Israel is on the "verge of death" and on May 8, 2008, Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that Israel is "on its way to annihilation." That day, for your information, marked the birth of Israel and its Independence Day. I could list a dozen other examples, but I'll conclude with perhaps the most recognized of Ahmadinejad's tirades. In an October 2005 address to 4,000 students at a program titled, "The World Without Zionism," Ahmadinejad said that Israel is "a disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map." Iran's destructive pursuit of nuclear weapons, support for terrorist groups, deplorable human rights record, repeated anti-Israel tirades, and Holocaust denials have made this country an outcast. Iran represents a genuine threat not only to Israel, the Jewish people, and Western interests, but to the broader Middle East, surrounding Arab countries, to democratic values and to the entire world.
Mike Fegelman, executive director HONESTReporting Canada
