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June 24, 2007

Prof. Cole: Write The Editor, Ahmadinejad Didn't Mean It

ahmadinejad wipe Israel.jpe

Michael Rubin at NRO's The Corner reports that academics and policymakers, like Professor Juan Cole, are bending over backwards to deny that Ahmadinejad doesn't really call for Israel to be wiped off the map:

Today, the National Iranian American Council—a lobby group advocating the normalization of ties between the United States and the Islamic Republic—published this analysis, which ends:

The proper translation of Ahmadinejad’s quotes has been the subject of some debate. Kucinich argued that the translations used in the bill were either misquoted or out of context, offering alternative translations from the New York Times to convey his point.

It's a line which originated with Juan Cole, a University of Michigan professor, has peddled. Indeed, Cole wrote:

I have a suggestion for my readers. Every time you see a newspaper article that alleges that Ahmadinejad said that Israel should be wiped off the face of the map, please write the editor. Say that this idiom does not exist in Persian, and that what Ahmadinejad actually said was, "This occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time." And you can cite me.

Perhaps one can quibble over how to render a translation. Here, the Islamic Republic provides its own clarification. In its official translations, it headlined Ahmadinejad's call to "wipe Israel off the map."

Posted by TS at June 24, 2007 05:24 AM

Comments

Treasonous hypocrites, enjoying our freedoms while giving succor to our enemies. Know that men like Specialist Miguel Carrasquillo are fighting and dying like warrior heroes to protect our freedom.

Posted by: James L. Miller at June 24, 2007 05:33 PM

The proof from the Iranian web site is nice to have but not necessary.

Iran took considerable diplomatic heat over that speech and had ample opportunity to clarify if it did NOT call for Israel's demise. No clarification was forthcoming. The sentiment has also been expressed many times since the speech as well as before.

The beauty of this situation is that it exposes fully the untrustworthiness of the academics and politicians that hate Israel. They turned the debate on words from one speech when the surrounding data proves absolutely the intent of this regime. Cole is thus discredited as is Kucinich and many others.

Posted by: Brad Brzezinski at June 24, 2007 07:11 PM

The link "headlined" in the last paragraph leading to Islamic Republic website does not seem to function.

Posted by: Pasi Turunen at October 2, 2009 09:19 AM

Thanks Pasi.

You're right, the original URL is dead, but we've updated the link with a cached copy of the page.

If you try again, it should now work.

Posted by: GI at October 2, 2009 03:58 PM

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