AFP: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s combative suggestion that Israel should be relocated to Austria or Germany was “totally unacceptable”.
BERLIN, Dec 8 (AFP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s combative suggestion that Israel should be relocated to Austria or Germany was “totally unacceptable”.
“The remarks of the Iranian president are totally unacceptable, and as chancellor of Germany, which has a historical responsibility in this regard, I reject them with the greatest firmness,” she said at a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac.
“We are resolved to do everything necessary to ensure that there is no threat to the existence of Israel,” she added.
Ahmadinejad, who claimed in October that Israel “must be wiped off the map”, said on Thursday that if Germany and Austria believed Jews were massacred during World War II, then a state of Israel should be established on their soil.
“You believe the Jews were oppressed, why should the Palestinian Muslims have to pay the price?” he asked in an interview with Iranian state television’s Arabic-language satellite channel, Al-Alam.
“You oppressed them, so give a part of Europe to the Zionist regime so they can establish any government they want,” he said.
“So, Germany and Austria, come and give one, two or any number of your provinces to the Zionist regime so they can create a country there which all of Europe will support and the problem will be solved at its root.”
Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel earlier denounced the remarks as “outrageous”.
