Iranian senior clerics attack minister for comments on Israel
Washington, 20 August (IranVNC)—Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Nuri-Hamadani, one of Iran’s senior clergymen, who is a Source of Emulation [Persian: marja’-e taqlid], said today that Vice-President Rahim Mashaei, who said recently that Iran was a friend of “the people of Israel and America” was not “worthy” of holding a governmental post.
By: IranVNC
Published: Wednesday, August 20, 2008
12:00GMT—800AM/EST
Mashaei – Israel – Iran
Washington, 20 August (IranVNC)—Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Nuri-Hamadani, one of Iran’s senior clergymen, who is a Source of Emulation [Persian: marja’-e taqlid], said today that Vice-President Rahim Mashaei, who said recently that Iran was a friend of “the people of Israel and America” was not “worthy” of holding a governmental post.
According to Fars News Agency, Nuri-Hamadani, who was replying to a question on religious issues [asked from a religious experts] from a group of Tehran university students, issued a statement saying that the residents of Israel had the same “Zionist mentality” and added that, according to the remarks of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [founder of the Islamic Republic], “Israel has to be wiped off.” [Persian: “Israel bayad mahv shavad”].
Ayatollah Nuri-Hamadani, who was responding to the remarks of Rahim Mashaei, following the reactions of two other Sources of Emulation, that is, Naser Makarem-Shirazi and Mohammad Javad Fazel Lankarani, said that Britain and America were supporters of Israel, and addressing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he said: “The ‘esteemed and ideological’ president should not appoint as his adviser someone who has not got the capacity to understand reality.”
Meanwhile, Ayatollah Javad Fazel Lankarani, at a meeting with a gathering of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps members, quoted the words of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as saying: “Israel’s annihilation” was one of the most important aspirations of the Islamic Revolution. Lankarani said that Mashaei’s remarks that “just as we love the people of Iran, we also love the people of Israel,” sprang from “his weak ideological standpoint”.
Concluding his remarks, Lankarani said that some individuals, who were assisting the government of Israel, were the “soldiers” of Israel. He then referred to the reply of the senior clergymen about “suicide operations” and the fact that ordinary Israeli people were being killed and said: “Our expert clergymen were asked about the issue that sometimes, in suicide operations, some ordinary Israeli people were also being killed. They replied that this was “permissible” and it did not matter,” Fars News Agency reports.
The hardline Kayhan Newspaper has also called on the president to “speedily dismiss” Mashaei and has severely criticized the delay in not dealing with this issue.
The reformist Islamic Coalition Party and the Militant Clergy Association, are among other organizations which have also reacted strongly to the remarks of the vice-president and have called for his dismissal.
Sources: Fars News Agency, Alef news website, Faavar, Tabnak news agencies in Persian, Central News Unit in Persian
© IranVNC 2008. All rights reserved.
(Original article written in Persian.)