You are here: Home » Featured »

Iran Calls for Israel’s Destruction as Islamic Republic Marks Quds Day

August 17, 2012 10:26 am 8 comments

Share this Article

Tags:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at an Quds Day rally in Tehran. Photo: Facebook.

Iranian lawmakers called for Israel’s destruction and led rallies where citizens chanted “death to U.S.” on Friday, marking the annual Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) celebrations across the Islamic Republic and throughout parts of the Muslim world.

The holiday takes place on the last Friday of Ramadan every year and was established by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 to garner support for the destruction of the Jewish state, and according to Khomeini, liberate the Palestinian people from Zionist occupation.

Speaking in Tehran on Friday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that World War I and World War II were orchestrated by Zionists in order to help the United States achieve global power.

“Westerners are after [the establishment] of a new Middle East. We are also after a new Middle East which will definitely be formed … but in this new Middle East, there will be no trace of the US and Zionists,” Ahmadinejad said, according to Iranian news outlets.

Friday’s protests, which include events across Europe and Asia, follow a week’s worth of statements from Iranian leaders calling for Israel’s demise.  On Thursday, Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei said Israel would “disappear from the geographical landscape” and be replaced by a Palestinian state, while Ahmadinejad offered his own statement on Quds Day from a conference in Saudi Arabia.

“Keeping in mind the occurred developments in the world and the oppressor powers’ great enthusiasm for saving the Zionists, it is a dire necessity that this year’s Quds Day rallies would be held more enthusiastically, at a much broader scale, and with a much wiser attitude than the years before,” he said.

During a speech in Tehran on Friday, Ahmadinejad said, “the very existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to humanity.”

Quds Day demonstrations in Europe and Asia are taking place on Friday as well.  In Pakistan, a bus carrying a group of people to a protest in Karachi was hit with an explosion.

8 Comments

  • Theresa
    September 24, 2012
    9:44 pm

    To Shayn.. If Ahmadinejad does not represent your country.. And if he is drawing you into a war you do not want… GET RID OF HIM!

    Reply
  • Theresa
    September 24, 2012
    9:41 pm

    Sorry.. This administration’s stupidity leaves a rational person breathless…regardless of who you believe to be right or good or just… The actual,fact that a country this baboon from Iran has been allowed to visit is in fact the very country he vows to destroy???? Really?? He was allowed in here??? And he wasn’t arrested for any of his war crimes? His flagrant flaunting to the world court that he has not been shipping weapons grade uranium when he clearly has?? But we just turn our cheek and pretend he is a respectful leader???
    Oh yea.. I forgot.. We have cowtow to this administration’s timeline, again.. Not to tread on BO’s toes for re-election.. Al the while the rest of the world, again, see the only thing which is of any interest to Obama.. Is Obama.. Certainly not his country… He has taken us to the brink of global fiscal collapse because the timeline on the FIRST BIPARTISAN agreement regarding the debt ceiling wasn’t what HE wanted… And AGAIN taking the WORLD to the brink of a work war because He does not want to handle Anything because it may reflect badly on the election…. So what.. We have no leader because HE REFUSES TO LEAD?? AGAIN????? Sorry.. Not my vote.. He is toast!

    Reply
  • Samir S. Halabi
    August 18, 2012
    1:24 pm

    All is fair in love and war, therefore it’s only fair that it should be Iran which now must be destroyed, together with all their pederast evil Islamic Clerics.
    Iran’s membership should be struck from the United Nations.

    Reply
  • D.B
    August 18, 2012
    1:19 am

    Same old wretched lunatic coward Ahmadinejad at it again; making bullets for others to fire. It’s time for the people of Iran to realize just what this maniac will bring on their heads if he is allowed to continue. Please read the history of that other maniac Adolf Hitler and see the destruction which he above all people helped to bring about. Learn from history and don’t let this rotten little coward/maniac do the same to you. Please, the ruling circles of Iran learn from history before it is too late.

    Reply
  • shayn
    August 17, 2012
    5:38 pm

    vaghan keh kesafatahay khomeini miran to khiyaboom shoar midan be israel va America, alan keh jang misheh maro mindazan jolo!!!! WE REGULAR IRANIANS ARE NOT FIGHTING THIS WAR. shoma arabzadeh berin bejangid bemirid, ma iraniharo tanha bezarin.

    Reply
  • Yitzhak
    August 17, 2012
    1:06 pm

    Wait for it… the predictable whining from the Joo-haters that poor old Ahmadinejad was ‘misquoted’….

    Reply
  • Chaya
    August 17, 2012
    12:28 pm

    What’s Quds? Isn’t there a vowel missing after the “U”?
    Does it have anything to do with SCUDS? Anything to do with the month of Elul?

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Please note: comments may be published in the Algemeiner print edition.


More...

  • Arts and Culture Blogs Film Review: Fill the Void (VIDEO)

    Film Review: Fill the Void (VIDEO)

    Rama Burshtein’s Fill the Void (Lemale et ha’halal) is the second film in as many years to emerge from Israel with not only a strong international presence, but a unique perspective on religious Judaism. Just as Footnote before it, this was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards after a run of significant festival appearances (including winning Best Actress at the 2012 Venice Film Festival). The film represents the crowning jewel of an emerging religious women’s cinema [...]

    Read more →
  • Arts and Culture Blogs EXCLUSIVE: Gal Gadot on Jewish Identity, American Films and Representing Israel in Hollywood (INTERVIEW)

    EXCLUSIVE: Gal Gadot on Jewish Identity, American Films and Representing Israel in Hollywood (INTERVIEW)

    Gal Gadot is arguably Israel’s second hottest export at the moment. The former Miss Israel 2004 and Miss Universe contestant has a starring role in the most recent film from the Fast and the Furious Franchise and is one of the faces of Israel’s largest clothing brands, Castro. Now she’s teaming up with Vine Vera skin care products,which incorporates the breakthrough ingredient Resveratrol, which she tells The Algemeiner is  “a new innovative discovery which helps slow down the aging process [...]

    Read more →
  • Arts and Culture Blogs Jonathan Ames, ‘Herring Wonder’ and HBO Series Creator, Does Israel

    Jonathan Ames, ‘Herring Wonder’ and HBO Series Creator, Does Israel

    Writer Jonathan Ames, creator of the HBO television series “Bored to Death,” is known for his fearless and exhibitionistic persona. One can find YouTube videos of him eating herring and boxing at the same time, having knives thrown at him by a person called “Throwdini,” and ranting drunkenly at an awards ceremony. And when it comes to writing, Ames’s essays tend to cover racy topics. Given these exploits, it’s a bit surprising to learn that Ames’s recent trip to Israel [...]

    Read more →
  • Arts and Culture Beliefs and concepts Jewish Presence in Contemporary Art

    Jewish Presence in Contemporary Art

    The Jewish presence and identity in the contemporary world of art is one truly worth noting. At the 3rd annual conference of “Jewish Arts & Identity in the contemporary world” in Baruch College’s Jewish Studies Center, at a panel entitled “Jewish Ways of Seeing: The Visual Arts and the Jewish Tradition”, the Jewish impact on the creative world is exemplified through the discussion of artist Audrey Flack and her various works. Flack was born in 1931 to a fairly Orthodox [...]

    Read more →
  • Blogs Features Black Jazz Musician Encounters Mixed Reactions to Subway Renditions of Hatikvah, Hava Hagila

    Black Jazz Musician Encounters Mixed Reactions to Subway Renditions of Hatikvah, Hava Hagila

    At first you may be skeptical of Isaiah Richardson Jr. He doesn’t look like somebody who would be playing Hava Nagila for passengers waiting for their train in the subway. Firstly, he seems too young,  and secondly, he’s a black kid from the Bronx, dressed sharply, derby hat and all. But when upon meeting Isaiah, the 32-year-old ticked off “Hevenu Shalom Aleichem,” “Bashana Haba’ah,” and “Zum Gali Gali” as some of his favorite songs to play passing crowds, I knew [...]

    Read more →
  • Blogs Music Mother’s Day Performer Blends Israeli Independence and the Jewish Side of Verdi

    Mother’s Day Performer Blends Israeli Independence and the Jewish Side of Verdi

    This Mother’s Day, the music of opera singer Sharon Azrieli Perez will integrate the varied threads that have made up the fabric of her life. Perez, in a Mother’s Day concert May 12 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, will weave a musical experience that brings together intimations of Israeli independence, Giuseppe Verdi’s use of Jewish melodies, medieval Ladino music, and modern Jewish show music. These musical elements are particularly personal for Perez, whose Juilliard education has [...]

    Read more →
  • Blogs Jewish 100 Social Harvey Weinstein to Elie Wiesel: Without You There Would be no ‘Schindler’s List’ (VIDEO)

    Harvey Weinstein to Elie Wiesel: Without You There Would be no ‘Schindler’s List’ (VIDEO)

    Famed film producer Harvey Weinstein presented Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel with the Algemeiner newspaper’s ‘Warrior for Truth’ award at its recent star studded 40th anniversary ‘JEWISH 100’ Gala. “My mother, the Miriam of Miramax […] was so thrilled when she heard that I was presenting to Professor Wiesel,” Weinstein said as he called on the professor to accept the award. “I am happy to be here on the Algemeiner’s 40th anniversary and to celebrate their top 100,” Weinstein added. Commenting [...]

    Read more →
  • Israel Sports Israeli Soccer Star Victim of Anti-Semitic Abuse on Twitter

    Israeli Soccer Star Victim of Anti-Semitic Abuse on Twitter

    Israeli soccer star Yossi Benayoun, who currently plays for FC Chelsea in the English Premier League, was recently the victim of anti-Semitic abuse on Twitter. After thanking his Twitter followers for sending him birthday wishes, Benayoun, who many consider to be the greatest Israeli soccer player ever, was sent the following message: “f***in Jew a**hole.” Benayoun posted a response, saying, “Some nice people in the world.” His team has called on the police to investigate the matter, according to the Britain’s [...]

    Read more →
Sign up now to receive our regular news briefs.
Never see this message again.