Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran, Israel on 'collision course'

[Phx_Dem]

TEHRAN -- Iran's highest authority lashed out against Israel on Friday with some of his harshest comments in recent memory about the Jewish state.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is Iran's top political and military figure, said his country's hostility to Israel extended beyond the government to the Israeli people as well. In saying so, he was brushing aside recent overtures by top Iranian officials to the Israeli public.

Khamenei said Iran and Israel were on a "collision course," a statement that could further increase tensions in a Middle East already fearful of a conflict between the two countries.

"Who are Israelis?" Khamenei told thousands of worshipers gathered for Friday prayers in downtown Tehran. "They are responsible for usurping houses, territory, farmlands and businesses. They are combatants at the disposal of Zionist operatives. A Muslim nation cannot remain indifferent vis-a-vis such people who are stooges at the service of the arch-foes of the Muslim world."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran20-2008sep20,0,554272.story

[melody]

1. Isn't this convenient for the neocons? n/t

[LeftishBrit]

2. Ugh. I hate religious-right bastards...

whatever the religion.

Clearly, the Iranian leadership like to use the 'Zionist entity' as a convenient scapegoat; nothing like a good Enemy for rallying the people round their leader. Probably it will stay that way, especially as Iran would place itself in serious danger by attacking Israel - but there's always the risk that the 'My penis is bigger than yours" verbal game will one day escalate into something worse. I hope not.

[Scurrilous]

3. Americans for Peace Now: Engage with Iran

<snip>

"Americans for Peace Now is advocating U.S. diplomatic engagement with Iran.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's policies are “repugnant” and “abhorrent,” Debra DeLee, the group's president and CEO, wrote in an article shared with JTA, but engaging in real diplomacy with Iran is vital to U.S. national interests, she said.

"Scorn cannot replace policy. The U.S. does not have to like Ahmadinejad to engage in real diplomacy with his country, and engaging Iran in order to safeguard vital U.S. national security interests is not appeasement. Rather, it is the kind of sensible and responsible foreign policy that is long overdue," she wrote.

Tough talk from Jewish and American policy makers hasn't succeeded in eliminating the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, DeLee pointed out.

"Addressing the challenge of Iran requires a smart strategy -- combining carrots and sticks, diplomacy and sanctions -- and strong U.S. participation and leadership," DeLee wrote. "Sanctions are indeed a potentially powerful tool for putting pressure on Iran, but they simply will not suffice as a replacement for diplomacy in resolving our differences."

DeLee's comments come on the eve of a major rally, scheduled for Monday across from the United Nations and co-sponsored by a number of major Jewish groups, to protest the visit of the Iranian president to the world body. DeLee said that the rhetoric coming from the Jewish community and Washington lawmakers may actually be making the situation worse."

http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/110450.html

[LeftishBrit]

5. Good points-

diplomacy and the threat of, and if necessary, use of sanctions are both important.

[applegrove]

4. But but but Iran - when you look at the Koran, it places an Israel filled

with Jews right on the map..just about where it is right now. How can you go against the Koran?