As Iran and Israel are facing off against each other on issues ranging from Iran’s nuclear program to the Palestinian conflict, these six quotes from the past highlight a relationship that went from friendly to adversarial.
• "Iran is Israel’s best friend and we do not intend to change our position in relation to Tehran, because Khomenei’s regime will not last forever,” said Yitzhak Rabin in October 1989, as quoted in the book
"Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States" by Trita Parsi.
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• "In the back of the historical memory of the Israelis, when you speak about Iran, Iran is considered to be a good friend of Israel," David Menashri, an Israeli expert on Israeli-Iranian relations,
told CNN.
• "Iran's stance has always been clear on this ugly phenomenon (Israel),” Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in 2000. “We have repeatedly said that this cancerous tumor of a state should be removed from the region. The Palestinian issue is not an internal Israeli matter. It involves the interests of the whole Islamic world, including Iran. All should strive to return that piece of land to Islamic hands."
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• In 2005, Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad quoted Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini’s words that Israel "must be wiped out from the map of the world." Then he added his own words, "And God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism."
• At the same time in 2005, Ahmadinejad was also quoted as saying, "Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury."
• Iran’s leaders have repeatedly expressed doubt about the Holocaust and what occurred during World War II. In 2006, the country’s president Ahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust a myth, and said, "I have visited the Nazi camps in Eastern Europe. I think it is exaggerated."
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