Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that ‘’those threatening Israel with destruction face similar danger’’ after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used a Nazi imagery in statements.
Khamenei shared on Twitter a poster reading “Palestine will be free. The final solution. Resistance is referendum.”
The poster shows a conquered Jerusalem with photos of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force leader Qasem Soleimani, killed in a targeted U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in January.
Ahead of Iran’s annual Quds Day (Jerusalem Day), Tehran’s chief ayatollah tweeted that Israel’s “Zionist regime” is a “cancerous tumor.”
“The Zionist regime is the most evident example of state terrorism. Ever since Britain’s anti-Islamic, antihuman policies put the Zionists to rule in #Palestine, they have been acting like a cancerous tumor, furthering their goals by massacring children, women and men,” Khamenei wrote.
In his reaction, Netanyahu tweeted: “Khamenei’s threats to carry out ‘The Final Solution’ against Israel bring to mind the Nazi ‘Final Solution’ plan to annihilate the Jewish People. He should know that any regime that threatens the destruction of the State of Israel faces a similar danger.”
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also reacted on Twitter. “The United States condemns Supreme Leader Khamenei’s disgusting and hateful anti-Semitic remarks,” he wrote. “They have no place on Twitter or on any other social media platform. We know Khamenei’s vile rhetoric does not represent the Iranian people’s tradition of tolerance.”
On Thursday, the European Union condemned Khamenei’s threatening remarks bringing into question Israel’s legitimacy. ‘’Such statements are totally unacceptable and represent a deep source of concern,’’ said EU’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell in a statement issued on behalf of the EU.
‘’They are also incompatible with the objective of a stable and peaceful Middle East region pursued by the EU,’’ the statement added.
‘’The European Union reiterates its fundamental commitment to the security of Israel,’’ it said.
Khamenei later denied that his statements were anti-Semitic. “Eliminating the Zionist regime doesn’t mean eliminating Jews,” he tweeted after Netanyahu’s warning. “We aren’t against Jews. It means abolishing the imposed regime & Muslim, Christian & Jewish Palestinians choose their own govt & expel thugs like Netanyahu. This is ‘Eliminating Israel’ & it will happen.”
“We will support and assist any nation or any group anywhere who opposes and fights the Zionist regime, and we do not hesitate to say this,” he tweeted.