By: Tashbih Sayyed, Ph. D.
If the world needed any further proof of Khomeinism's Fascist and Nazi traits, Ahmadinejad's call for Israel's destruction has provided it. Addressing a conference in Tehran, entitled "The World without Zionism", Ahmadinejad declared, "To those who doubt, to those who ask is it possible, or those who do not believe, I say accomplishment of a world without America and Israel is both possible and feasible." Ahmadinejad said Wednesday (October 26, 2005) that Israel is a "disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map." Confirming the power of anti-Israel ideology and anti-American state of mind in the Islamist controlled Muslim world, a Palestinian homicide bomber blew himself up in an Israeli market, killing five people in the deadliest attack in the country in three months.
Iranians staged multiple protests in the capital, Tehran, and other cities holding banners carrying anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian slogans. "Death to Israel, death to America," read many placards. The demonstrations are being held as part of annual al-Quds - Jerusalem - Day protests, which were first held in 1979 after Shiite Muslim clerics took power in Iran. After Khomeini toppled the pro-Western Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1979, he declared the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as an international day of struggle against Israel and for the liberation of Jerusalem. The Iranian government organizes a central demonstration annually in Tehran, while other rallies demanding Israel's destruction are held around the world.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the massive demonstrations illustrate the anger of the Islamic world over the Jewish state's existence. "The comments expressed by the president are the declared and specific policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Mottaki told state-run television. "We don't recognize the Zionist regime and don't consider it legitimate."
Iran's seven state-run TV stations devoted coverage Friday to programs condemning the Jewish state and praising the Palestinian resistance since the 1948 creation of Israel. Then again on Sunday (October 30, 2005), Ahmadinejad said his comments represented Iran's long-standing policy toward the Jewish state enunciated by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the 1979 revolution. "These words are the same ones that the late imam [Khomeini] said," he said, explaining that he only added one sentence about "the powers of arrogance," seen as a reference to the US.
Iran does not recognize the existence of Israel and Khomeini had repeatedly called for its destruction. Ahmadinejad said, "Once, his eminency Imam [Ruhollah] Khomeini - leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution], stated that the illegal regime of the Pahalvis must go, and it happened. Then he said the Soviet empire would disappear, and it happened. He also said that this evil man Saddam [Hussein] must be punished, and we see that he is under trial in his country. His eminency also said that the occupation regime of Quds [Jerusalem, or Israel] must be wiped off from the map of the world, and with the help of the Almighty, we shall soon experience a world without America and Zionism, notwithstanding those who doubt."
Many find it difficult to understand the rationale behind the timing of such a statement which is certainly going to isolate Iran in the international community. They believe that in view of the rising international pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear program, Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel declaration has been the most stupid. The UN Security Council condemned the remarks, "The Security Council condemns the remarks about Israel attributed to Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of the Islamic republic of Iran," said a press statement read by Romanian UN Ambassador Mihnea Ioan Motoc, whose country holds the council presidency for October.
Council members also expressed support for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement Thursday, which noted that "under the United Nations Charter, all members have undertaken to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial or political independence of any state."
Israeli UN envoy Dan Gillerman told reporters that his country welcomed the council's condemnation of the remarks by the Iranian president. "We're very satisfied that after so many national condemnations, we have heard a clear condemnation by the UN through the Security Council. We feel that Iran, in its present state and with its present leadership, should take this condemnation very, very seriously," Gillerman said.
But what the international community needs to know is that such customary and routine condemnations have never stopped a Fascist or Nazi power from advancing its totalitarian goals. What Ahmadinejad said was only a reflection of his faith in Khomeini ideology and underscores the fact that there is no difference between Saudi Arabian Wahhabism and Iran's Khomeinism.
Wahhabism and Khomeinism represent the two fundamental ideologies fueling international Islamist terrorism. Al-Qaida state of mind primarily is a product of Wahhabi doctrine that believes in either converting all humanity to the totalitarian Wahhabi beliefs or exterminating all those who refuse to convert. Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are the offspring of Khomeinism, which in the words of Mahdi Ahouie, believes that the defeat and 'removal' of Israel is integral to the ultimate success of the Islamic movement, regionally and, ultimately, globally.
Khomeinism does not believe that there is any room for a Jewish State in the Islamist world. It is driven by a conviction that "As an externally inauthentic manifestation in the area, and the 'illegitimate offspring' of superpower arrogance and hegemonism, Israel would have to be defeated and Jerusalem liberated before the Iranian revolution itself could run its full course."
Both Wahhabism and Khomeinism are united in their global jihad against the Judeo-Christian civilization. The dreadful part of this alliance is that both of these ideologies are cast in religious terms receiving a level of holiness. They are backed by the two most influential and powerful Muslim states – Saudi Arabia and Iran – which are committed to the establishment of a global Islamist State in the world.
Saudi Arabia and Iran both have contributed in one form or the other in the rise and perpetuation of anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism and Islamist extremism all over the world. If Saudi Arabia was responsible for all the Arab wars against Israel and the establishment of Taliban Emirate of Afghanistan, Iran contributed heavily in the destruction of Lebanon by festering the fires of civil war there and empowering Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad in the Middle East. Khatami, in the first official visit to Syria by an Iranian president, hailed Hezbollah as an "ideological and humanitarian movement" that was trying "to liberate Lebanese territory from Israeli occupation" and "to protect the unity and independence of Lebanese territories".
Khatami also met in Damascus with leaders of major militant Palestinian factions opposed to the peace process and pledged support for them. Syria and Iran called in a statement for an end to Israeli occupation of Arab territories, including an unconditional troop pullout from southern Lebanon. Iran also emphasized on the right of the Palestinian refugees who are living outside Palestine – mostly in Syria, to come back to their homeland and to participate in the decision making for the future of Palestine.
Iran has also been a constant factor in the homicide bombings aimed at the killing of Israelis. Many believe that Iran is still harboring a very significant portion of Al-Qaeda leaders in and around its region of Baluchistan bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan's province of Baluchistan.
The only difference between Wahhabism and Khomeinism is in their tactics. Whereas Saudi Arabia feigns innocence and blames others for the terrorist attacks carried out by its citizens, "claiming that whatever happens is because of America or the Israeli -Palestinian conflict," Iran has never tried to hide its hatred for either Israel or the US.
According to Mahdi Ahouie, "Long before Ayatollah Khomeini and his followers came to power in Iran, they had already set in motion their Islamic ideology and a powerful propaganda campaign against the spread of Jewish influence and especially 'Zionism' in the region and in the world. Thus during his exile Ayatollah Khomeini supported all struggle against Israel throughout the world and forged relationship with Palestinian groups, from left to right and from Islamic to Marxist.
Immediately after assuming power, Khomeini regime denounced the relations with Tel Aviv and turned over the Israeli mission in Tehran to the Palestine Liberation Organization. "Iranian leaders contended that Israel's existence was illegitimate, because it came about as a result of the destruction of Palestine. Therefore, Iran advocated eradicating Israel and reconstituting Palestine. Even those Arabs who advocated compromise with Israel, such as Anwar Sadat of Egypt, were excoriated as traitors.
Iran's hostility to Israel continued after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini as strongly as in the Khomeini era. The Iranian disapproval of the political resolution on the Arab-Israeli conflict is based on this fundamental assumption that Israel has basically no right to exist and that its destruction is a desideratum.
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini said as far back as October 21, 2000, that the only way to resolve the Middle East crisis is by eradicating Israel. "The only way to end the crisis in the Middle East is to dry up its roots. What is at the roots of this crisis? It is the Zionist regime that has been imposed on the region," Khomeini told some 100,000 Basij Islamic militia members gathered on the outskirts of Tehran for military exercises.
Khomeini also called on Arab leaders to help "clean Holy Quds (Jerusalem) of Zionists," and said those responsible for killing Palestinians in clashes with Israeli forces should be tried by Arab or Islamic courts.
Khomeini, according to a Reuters report, called on Iranians to donate money to help Palestinians "even though we cannot send weapons now and it is not possible for this nation's youth to go there." The Iranian leader called for the militant Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad to unite with radical members of the mainstream Fatah, saying deals made at the Sharm al-Sheikh summit would not curb anti-Israeli unrest.
"Shameful agreements at Sharm al-Sheikh and other such summits will have no effect other than bringing disrepute on those who make such accords," said Khomeini.
Ahmadinejad has reconfirmed that Khomeinism represents the same anti-civilization forces that have always controlled and guided Islamist Imperialism. Islamist totalitarian mentality considers all non-Muslims as a second class citizen and all non-Arab cultures and civilizations as belonging to dark ages. That's why wherever Islamists went, they destroyed the local culture, forced their subjects to give up their history, language, customs and civilization and imposed their Bedouin way of life - everything under an Islamist crescent had to be Arab. Iran under Khomeinism is trying to do the same thing by rejecting Iran's own history as represented by Cyrus the Great, who after liberating the enslaved Jews in the Kingdom of Babylon in 534 BC, allowed them to return to their promised land.
Motivated by Ahmadinejad's remarks about 300 Khomeinists turned up Sunday at the offices of the Headquarters for Commemorating Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement to volunteer for suicide bomb attacks against Israel. Presidential adviser Mojtaba Rahmandoust attending the gathering said, "The Iranian nation wants this regime removed from the world map," Rahmandoust told the gathering held at a building owned by the semiofficial Martyr Foundation.
A spokesman for the group said it had signed up more than 45,000 volunteers to undergo training for suicide attacks since it began recruiting in June 2004. "More than 1,000 of them have already been trained. Many of them don't need training since they are already members of the elite Revolutionary Guards and paramilitary Basij forces."
Iran's foreign policy today is a combination of Islamist ideological preferences, careful exploitation of regional and global aspirations of former super power Russia, aspiring superpower India and the superpower in the making People's Republic of China and playing up European Union's insecurities and historical anti-Semitism against the United States of America. By maintaining a strong relationship with Syria and continued support and sponsorship of terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad it wants to continue the war of attrition against the Jewish State and retain some leverage in its future encounters with the West.
All these different strands of Iran foreign policy are woven together by a subtle and sometimes not so subtle Islamist anti-Semitism and are designed to impress upon the world of Khomeinisms power and ability to influence world politics with a particular emphasis on the Middle East.
There is another reason for Ahmadinejad's so "un-diplomatic" outburst; the movement in many Muslim countries toward some kind of contacts with Israel. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Morocco, and Tunisia have all expressed their readiness, albeit conditional, for establishing relationship with Tel Aviv. In September, Bahrain announced it was ending a decades-old law banning trade ties with Israel. Earlier this month, Qatar said it was donating US$6 million to help build a soccer stadium for a mixed Arab-Jewish team, the first such financial assistance by an Arab state for any town inside Israel.
This change in the political and diplomatic climate in the Muslim world does not bode well for Iran – it will eventually isolate Iran. In a world in which major Muslim states do not consider the Jewish State as their enemy, there will not be any room for a revolutionary Islamist vision that draws its energy from the anti-Israel passion. Such a pro-Israel Muslim world will undermine the destructive power of Wahhabism and Khomeinism.
That's why Ahmadinejad also attacked those Muslim states who are seeking to break new ground in their relations with Israel. "Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury; any (Islamic leader) who recognizes the Zionist regime is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world," state-run television quoted Ahmadinejad as telling thousands of students during a Tehran conference called "The World without Zionism."
Ahmadinejad and other radical Islamists know that such a pro-Israel environment will be their undoing and they cannot allow this to happen. The only way to keep the Muslim world from becoming friendly to Israel is to somehow keep the fires of anti-Semitism burning. That can only happen if Israel and the US are forced to act in a manner that may infuriate the Muslims in the extreme.
Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Iraq, Abu Garaib, desecration of Quran, the Muslim holy book and the death and destruction brought on by the natural disasters have created a fertile ground in the Muslim world for any radical theory that is laced with anti-Semitism to be accepted readily. Ahmadinejad, in my view, is trying to force the US and Israeli hand to commit just such an act. He is in need of a violent conflict between the US and a Muslim state that can be translated as another attack on Islam.
The international community will have to find a way to punish Khomeinists without angering the Muslim masses. The trap is well thought out and time tested.
Ahmadinejads reference to the US along with the Jewish Israel reflects Khomeinist conviction that without destroying all chances of any rapprochement with the US, they will not be able to implement their revolutionary foreign policy objectives of exporting Khomeinist revolution and the destruction of Israel. For Ahmadinejad, the protracted hostage crisis in November 1979 furnishes a good example how to prevent the moderates from re-establishing relations with the US. The seizure of the American embassy in Tehran was very skillfully exploited by the radicals to kill all chances of normal relations with the US and Ahmadinejad wants to create some kind of a similar situation today.
It is now up to the civilized world to stop this mad man from achieving his destructive goals. Ahamdinejad's statement has made the world aware of the permanent nature of Khomeinism's anti-Semitism. It has also betrayed the real rationale behind Tehran's nuclear program. Iran does not need nuclear power for peaceful purposes. It needs it to wipe the Jewish State from the face of this earth. Now the question is will the world allow Khomeinism or Wahhabism to plunge it into the third world war?
The typical condemnations will not be good enough this time. The international community will have to accept that they cannot save humanity by being politically correct or embarking on another campaign of appeasement. The time for dialogue and discussion has passed. Only a determined and focused action plan to prevent Iran from realizing its anti-American and anti-Semitic dream will save the world from total annihilation.
(The writer is editor-in-chief of Pakistan Today and Muslim World Today, California-based weekly newspapers, president of Council for Democracy and Tolerance and adjunct fellow of Hudson Institute.)
