“Today Palestine is the symbol of life, determination, faithfulness, diligence, and dignity,”

Iran’s Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei told Ramadan Abdullah, the secretary general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement.

“Israel is going downhill toward decline and fall and God willing its obliteration is certain.”

In these sentiments, Khameini joined a long list of top Iranian officials, not the least of which is President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has said on several occasions that Israel should be destroyed.

Last year Ahmadinejad said that Israel was “dying” and that people in the Middle East would destroy it if given the chance. He also stressed that opposition to Israel is a fundamental principle in Shi’ite Muslim Iran:

“They should know that regional nations hate this fake and criminal regime and if the smallest and briefest chance is given to regional nations they will destroy [it].”

In 2005 Ahmadinejad said that

“Israel should be wiped off the map”

.
Then he made his U.S. tour to spread the gospel of Holocaust denial on prime-time U.S. television, the United Nations and at Columbia University in uptown Manhattan.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization to begin enriching the nation’s uranium stockpile to a level of 20%, up from 3.5% and to build an additional 10 uranium enrichment facilities.

The move is a rejection of a Western diplomatic deal whereby Iran’s uranium would be enriched abroad to ensure it did not reach weapons grade.

In addition Iran is nearly prepared to repel an Israeli air raid thanks to an expected delivery of advanced Russian-made anti-aircraft missile batteries. Iranian and Russian officials last Thursday confirmed that Moscow, despite Israeli objections, will honor its contract to deliver the S-300 missile systems to the Islamic Republic very soon.

Well, needless to say, Bibi will be travelling to Moscow next Sunday for three days, this time actually announcing the trip, to beg the Russians to think twice.

German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg responded to Ahmadinejad’s comments, saying:

“Today’s statement shows that farce is being played out just like we have seen in the past, that the outstretched hand of the international community has not only not been taken but pushed back.”