Ahmadinejad at Bandar Abbas, a city in southern Iran: “Look at our region. [The Western powers] created a dirty black microbe called the Zionist regime to set upon the countries in the area like a beast of prey” (ANB News, February 20, 2008).

1. The killing of senior Hezbollah terrorist Imad Moughnieh was exploited by the Iranian regime to issue vicious anti-Semitic statements calling for the destruction of the State of Israel . Prominent were those made by Iranian president Ahmadinejad in a speech given at the port city of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran . He attacked the Western powers which, he claimed, caused wars to be able to export weapons. Regarding the Middle East he had the following to say:

“Look at our region… They [the Western powers] created a dirty black microbe called the Zionist regime to set upon the countries in the area like a beast of prey . They want to use it to force their policies on the peoples of this region… They assassinate men of faith and patriots and then celebrate the event. You saw that brave son of Lebanon [i.e., terrorist mastermind Imad Moughnieh] who stood up against the wild attack of the Zionists in Lebanon and blunted their horns…” [ Note : Ahmadinejad's speech was interrupted by cries of “ Death to America ” and “ Death to Israel ,” which prevented him from finishing his sentence] (Khabar TV, February 20).

2. Other senior Iranian figures exploited Moughnieh's death to call for the destruction of the State of Israel:

1) The commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Muhammad Ali Ja'ffari , sent a message to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah emphasizing that “in the near future we will witness the destruction of the cancerous parasite , Israel, at the strong hands of the Hezbollah fighters” (Fars News Agency, February 18).

2) The chief of staff of the armed forces, Firozabadi , said that the killing was an act of revenge by Israel following the second Lebanon war. He said that inspired by Moughnieh, thousands of shaheeds (martyrs for the sake of Allah) would rise up to continue the “resistance” (i.e., terrorist attacks) in “ Palestine ” and Lebanon until Israel was totally destroyed ( Kayhan News , Iran , February 16).

The anti-Semitic Aspect in the Iranian Statements 

3. The statements made by Ahmadinejad and other senior Iranian figures were clearly anti-Semitic, as witnessed by both the content (the call for the physical destruction of the State of Israel, the Jewish homeland) and the use of the Nazi-oriented term “dirty black microbe.” The expression is close to the age-old expression “dirty Jew,” which originated in Europe and was exported to the entire world. The comparison between Jews and microbes or repellent animals such as snakes, octopuses and cockroaches is often made in remarks, articles, illustrations and cartoons by both classical European and Aram-Muslim anti-Semitism. 

Israel and the Jews as Germs and Insects to Be Destroyed

Hezbollah as a can of insect repellent exterminating Israel in the Shebaa Farms region of Lebanon ( Al-Arabi , Egypt , December 10, 2000)		A magnifying glass reveals an anthrax germ as a Star of David, symbol of the State of Israel (Al-Osboa, Egyptian weekly, October 22, 2001).