A chara, – Contrary to Clive Hyman's claims (November 29th), President Ahmadinejad never said that Israel should be "wiped off the face of the map".
In a recent Al Jazeera video interview, the Israeli Minister of Intelligence, Daniel Meridor, admitted that this phrase was never used. Instead, he accepted that Ahmadinejad was quoting a previous speech by the late Ayatollah Khomenei to the effect that the “regime occupying Jerusalem” was “an unnatural creature” which “will not survive”.
The original mistranslation from Farsi into English was provided by Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency, but here is a vast gulf between threatening to obliterate a country and airing a view that the administration of that country should be removed. One could be taken as a threat of war; the other not.
Regrettably, vice president Shimon Peres reacted to the mistranslation at the time by retorting in an interview with Reuters, “Now when it comes to destruction, Iran too can be destroyed (but) I don’t suggest to say an eye for an eye”. – Is mise,
NICK HILLIARD,
De Courcey Square,
Glasnevin,
Dublin 9.