In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, US President George W. Bush said that if he were Israel's foreign minister, he would be concerned over a neighboring country which wants to destroy him.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quick to respond Wednesday, also in a CNN interview, saying that he was surprised American politicians "are so sensitive and biased with regards to Israel."
He again expresses doubt that the Holocaust is a historically established fact.
| Bush's Interview |
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| Bush on Iran: Israel’s worries justified / Yitzhak Benhorin |
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US president tells CNN he understands Israel’s concern over Iranian threat; Iranian President Ahmadnejad’s threats to destroy Israel should be taken seriously, he says |
| Full story |
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Ahmadinejad stated that although Israel bombed Lebanon,
"it doesn't seem to have created concern among American politicians. But when somebody questions or criticizes the Zionist regime, there is so much reaction."
"Given the massacres committed by Israel ... should they not be subject to criticism? Should nobody complain?" He asked.
CNN's Anderson Cooper asked the Iranian president if he believed Israel had no right to exist – something Ahmadinejad had said in the past. The Iranian leader responded: "I say that it is an occupying regime."
He reiterated the remarks he made in an interview with Time Magazine this week, according to which the Palestinian "nation" as a whole – including Jews, Christians and Muslims living there and 5 million displaced refugees – should be able to vote to decide "what its fate should be."
Asked about his previous assertions that the Holocaust did not happen, Ahmadinejad refused to address the issue, saying, "Since I've talked a lot about this subject, I don't want to repeat myself."
He did, however, address whether the Holocaust should be used as a "pretext for occupying Palestinian land" when the Palestinians had nothing to do with the genocide in Europe.
"If this event happened, where did it happen?" he asked. "The 'where' is the main question, and it was not in Palestine."
Ahmadinejad also slammed the comments Bush made to the Iranian people during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. Bush told Iranians their rulers "have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear weapons."
Ahmadinejad responded by saying he didn't know what the president "is actually thinking when he makes remarks like that."
"This is not the kind of language you speak talking with a great nation. It is an insult to a great nation," the Iranians president said.
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