Ahmadinejad says Bush, Merkel must be prosecuted for defending Israel

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jan. 14 – Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended on Saturday his previous comments calling for the destruction of Israel and rejected criticism from Unites States President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the issue.
Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 14 – Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended on Saturday his previous comments calling for the destruction of Israel and rejected criticism from Unites States President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the issue.

In several demagogic speeches since his taking office last year, Ahmadinejad had claimed that the Holocaust was a “myth” and declared that the Jewish state had to be “wiped off the map”. Iran was twice censured at the United Nations Security Council for the president’s comments.

In a joint conference at the White House on Friday, Bush and Merkel condemned the Iranian president’s remarks.

In his first press conference since taking office, which was broadcasted live on state television, Ahmadinejad defended his statements and said that the U.S. was seeking to “wipe Palestine off the map”. “But you will not be able to”, Ahmadinejad insisted.

“If we look at a map from seventy years ago, we will see that Israel never existed”.

Asked about the U.S. and German leaders’ positions, the Revolutionary Guards commander-turned-President said, “Everyone is free to make comments, but I ask this: are these two individuals supporters of Israel or not? If they are then they are also liable for their crimes”.

He said that those who support Israel must be prosecuted for war crimes, so “these people better watch what they say”.