Khameini: Israel will be destroyed

By · October 2, 2008

Iran’s supreme leader again predicted Israel’s destruction.

“Today, officials of the Zionist regime acknowledge that they are moving towards weakness, destruction and defeat,” Ayatollah Ali Khameini said in remarks Wednesday marking the Eid al-Fitr holiday. “Definitely, the world of Islam will see that day and hope the existing generation of the Palestinian people will watch the day Palestine is at the disposal of the Palestinian people, in the hands of the landlords.”

Khameini also promised to stand by Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group controlling the Gaza Strip.

The remarks, reported by state television and translated by The Associated Press, are not the first time that Khameini, the main wielder of power in the Islamic Republic, has predicted Israel’s demise.

Israel’s ambassador to the United States said that Khameini’s rhetoric was especially dangerous as Iran nears its suspected goal of obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“Not since World War II has the world faced such a dangerous and significant threat,” Sallai Meridor said in a statement. “The fanatical Iranian regime, a sponsor of global terror, is threatening the elimination of another state and is striving to achieve a nuclear weapon. This should be a moment of truth for the world to take immediate actions to prevent this regime from pursuing the development of a military nuclear capability.”

Israel and the United States are pressing the international community to intensify sanctions against Iran.