At least not in the way being pushed by the right. One of the key justifications, that I am still hearing, for strong action against Iran is that the President said that Israel must be wiped from the face of the earth. The contention is that this is a direct threat against Israel that is unacceptable.

Juan Cole, as part of his dissection of Hitchens:

The precise reason for Hitchens’ theft and publication of my private mail is that I object to the characterization of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as having “threatened to wipe Israel off the map.” I object to this translation of what he said on two grounds.

First, it gives the impression that he wants to play Hitler to Israel’s Poland, mobilizing an armored corps to move in and kill people. But the actual quote, which comes from an old speech of [Ayatollah] Khomeini, does not imply military action, or killing anyone at all.

The second reason is that it is just an inexact translation. The phrase is almost metaphysical. He quoted Khomeini that “the occupation regime over Jerusalem should vanish from the page of time.” It is in fact probably a reference to some phrase in a medieval Persian poem. It is not about tanks.

Bill Scher on The Huffington Post makes the point that MEMRI translates this the same way as Cole. Let’s say that MEMRI is generally less than sympathetic to Iran.

Pretending that Iran is run by a frothing madman who is desperate to attack Israel seems fundamental to justifying macho action against Iran. If Iran’s President was in a precarious domestic political situation and was trying to drum up popular support with firebrand rhetoric it would hardly call for military action…

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