Friday, September 18, 2009

Hearing Iran Loud and Clear

A news report:

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at Israel and the West saying Friday the Holocaust was a lie and a pretext for occupying Palestinian lands, while hard-liners attacked a reformist cleric who was marching with the opposition at an anti-government rally in Tehran.

Thousands of opposition supporters held protests in competition with government-sponsored mass rallies to mark an annual anti-Israel commemoration, the Quds Day that reflects the Persian nation's sympathy with the Palestinians...The ceremony was established in 1979 by the leader of the Islamic Revolution and founder of present-day Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Since midmorning, opposition supporters poured out on the streets...There were also chants of: "Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, but our life is for Iran" — a slogan defying the regime's support for Palestinian militants in Gaza and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrilla. [ha!]

At the climax of the occasion, Ahmadinejad addressed worshippers before Friday prayers at the Tehran University campus, reiterating his anti-Holocaust rhetoric that has drawn international condemnation since 2005, questioning whether the "Holocaust was a real event" and saying Israel was created on "false and mythical claims."

...Ahmadinejad also accused world powers of double standards in favor of Israel and of disregarding violations of Palestinian rights. He repeated his old predictions that Israel would soon cease to exist and urged people to stand up against Israel's "Zionist regime as a national and moral duty."

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