Posted By Andrew Swift Share

This Friday is al-Quds day, a holiday created by the Iranian regime to oppose Zionism and Israel's control over Jerusalem. This year, it happens to fall near the beginning of the peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington.

Unsurprisingly, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei has tweeted a holiday message, and it's as cheery as you might imagine:

Israel Is A Hideous Entity In the Middle East Which Will Undoubtedly Be Annihilated

No word yet on what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is planning to say, but his boss has upped the ante on the regional contest of who can use the most inflammatory rhetoric on al-Quds day.

As a sidenote, I'm pretty certain that Khamenei's use of Twitpic is one of the most absurd things I've ever seen on the Internet.

http://twitpic.com/2kkrj6/full

 

AVILLA

7:08 PM ET

September 2, 2010

Erm...

You do realize that's not his actual twitter account, right? Please tell me you know that. The account has only 716 followers, is not verified, and nothing on his official site (yes, he has an official site) says anything about him "tweeting". Plus most of the messages are apparently from a... uh... "fan" of his, as most of the tweets begin with "The Supreme Leader's View of..." and link to some article.

Amusingly, there appear to be MULTIPLE fake Khameneis on twitter:

http://twitter.com/sayyidkhamenei

Although I must admit, the thought of Mr Supreme Leader himself sitting down and tweeting about Justin Bieber is hilarious.

 

SYNERGY

8:05 PM ET

September 2, 2010

Not his real twitter account.

Not his real twitter account. Get this irresponsible pseudo-news off of here before you cause an international incident.

 

JRDUNASSIGNED

9:02 PM ET

September 2, 2010

Irresponsible Journalism

This is seriously irresponsible journalism, FP.

 

XMASTER4000

9:08 PM ET

September 2, 2010

Not a real twitter account.

Not a real twitter account. Yeah, this is the kind of gossip that make wars.

 

NICOLAS19

3:53 AM ET

September 3, 2010

trying to grab some headlines, eh?

First, it's not his actual Twitter account. I could go on and register a name like "Iamtherealahmedinajad" and tweet crap about other countries, would I get the same coverage.
Second. Even in the hypothetical situation that the tweet was real, I don't see how this would be cause for any outrage. The world press and US/Istaeli politicians continuously make statements like "Iran is a threat to humanity", "Iran shall be attacked", etc. You even write articles about how a military attack on Iran would work.

 

KERPIN

6:42 PM ET

September 3, 2010

Dimwits, he says the same things on his official website

http://english.khamenei.ir/
"Those who are resisting and suffering innocently in the occupied Palestinian lands are the only ones offering hope about the freedom of Palestine and the annihilation of the usurping Zionist regime."
Waiting to hear how the Ahmadinejad apologists around here will explain this (you know, the same ones who think it's ok to hang gay people and stone adulterers to death).

 

JKLAIRWIN

7:42 PM ET

September 3, 2010

Comparison

How does his statement compare with the spiritual leader of a party in the Israeli government calling for a "plague" on all Palestinians and for Abbas and all Palestinians to "perish"? And Netanyahu refuses to condemn or even disassociate himself from the comment.

 

KERPIN

8:47 PM ET

September 3, 2010

The difference, which may be difficult for you to grasp:

One is the de factor sole ruler of an authoritarian theocracy, governed by Islamic law, and the actual person in charge of its armed forces. Criticism of him will lead you to prison, and in many cases death.
The other is a rabbi in a SECULAR DEMOCRACY. He has no power over its military, and whatever political power he has is curbed by other checks and balances, particularly the fact that there is a DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED PM. He is frequently criticized and ridiculed in the press and by ordinary citizens.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/rabbis-can-apparently-say-whatever-they-want-1.311855

One is basically the equivalent of Kim Jong-Il, and the other - maybe Pat Robertson. Get it?

 

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