Analysis: Iran's talk of destroying Israel must not get lost in translation

Analysis: Iran's talk of destroying Israel must not get lost in translation

www.jpost.com

In an address to the "World without Zionism" Conference held in Teheran on October 26, 2005, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said: "Our dear Imam [Khomeini] ordered that this Jerusalem-occupying regime [Israel] must be erased from the page of time. This was a very wise statement."

The New York Times translated the statement as Israel "must be wiped off the map," a non-literal translation which nevertheless conveyed the meaning of the original - the destruction of Israel.

(visit the link for the full news article)

But on the other hand other academics are saying this:

Juan Cole of the University of Michigan argues that Ahmadinejad was not calling for the destruction of Israel, saying, "Ahmadinejad did not say he was going to wipe Israel off the map because no such idiom exists in Persian." The British Guardian's Jonathan Steele argued that Ahmadinejad was simply remarking that "this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time." Steele continues: "He was not making a military threat. He was calling for an end to the occupation of Jerusalem at some point in the future. The 'page of time' phrase suggests he did not expect it to happen soon."

So who are we to believe? The New York Times translation?

Personally with all the propaganda in the media you are better off translating it yourself.

Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich tried arguing the point of more translation.

Translating Ahmadinejad's statements is not purely an academic matter. When in 2007 the US House of Representatives debated a resolution calling on the UN Security Council to charge Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the United Nations Charter because of his repeated calls for the destruction of Israel (H. Con. Res. 21), the issue of the accuracy of the translation of his remarks came up in the House debate.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) requested that alternative translations of Ahmadinejad's language - like that of South African political scientist Virginia Tilley - be introduced into the Congressional Record. These versions assert the Iranian president was only seeking a change of regime in Israel and not the physical elimination of the country. H. Con. Res. 21 was adopted by a majority of 411 to 2, with Rep. Kucinich and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) voting against.

Would love to hear everyones thoughts on this. Especially DimensionalDetectives

www.jpost.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

the wonders of jpost - first they lay down scholar after scholar translating it , even so far as saying

Juan Cole of the University of Michigan argues that Ahmadinejad was not calling for the destruction of Israel, saying, "Ahmadinejad did not say he was going to wipe Israel off the map because no such idiom exists in Persian."

then they go on to rubbish all the scholars by putting

What emerges from a comprehensive analysis of what Ahmadinejad actually said - and how it has been interpreted in Iran - is that the Iranian president was not just calling for "regime change" in Jerusalem, but rather the actual physical destruction of the State of Israel. After all, it is hard to wipe a country off the map without destroying its population as well.

they have ignored the next line(s) in his speach which then compares the regime change in the soviet union (bloodless if you remember) to the one that will happen in israel.

but oh for the propagande that part was ignored.

oh and the follow up which is somewhat `interesting ` in the way its written

"The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom," Ahmadinejad said at Tuesday's meeting with the conference participants in his offices, according to Iran's official news agency, IRNA.



He said elections should be held among "Jews, Christians and Muslims so the population of Palestine can select their government and destiny for themselves in a democratic manner."

taken from
www.haaretz.com...

now , they cite IRNA as the source and yet

"As the Soviet Union disappeared, the Zionist regime will also vanish and humanity will be liberated

www2.irna.ir...

is the IRNA version.

the words have been changed to suit the mindset of the reader -`as the soviet union disappeared changed to `zionist regime wiped out in teh same way teh soviet union was` - change a few words and you get a totally different meaning.


btw you should read about the whole holocaust `thing` - he actually asked why was israel trading on a war 60 years ago and still ramming it down everyone throats and not living on its own merits in todays world.

which is rather damningly true.

reply to post by Harlequin


To me it sounded like they were analyzing it from all sides. I will admit yes there was more "spin" put on the side of the translation of wanting Israel destryoed.

I just found this article very interesting because they put out a new view on it, saying the New York Times "spinned" this story into their own translation.

Now in this world with all of these different translations, it seems as if "The New York Post" is choosing the translation that will provide them the most profit.

-Kdial1

More propaganda from the MSM. Even the papers who appear to "report" on certain conspiracies, pick and choose. This is a classic example of putting out the propaganda to the masses of sheeple to demonize one group and gather support against them. We're being "Iraq'd" all over again by the gov and the corpomedia...

Disgusting.

The Jerusalem Post is a right-wing propaganda media website. I know, I read it everyday and sometimes I read the comments... good god, those guys are a bunch of racists and warmongerers it's incredible!

So when you read the JPost, remember that they want war.

It is the stated and official Iranian position for several decades, that concerning the jewish/palestinian issue, a referendum encomprising all people living there or formerly living there, to decide what type of statehood should be created. As a majority of those people are non-jewish, they probably would not decide for a "jewish state". In it's delusionary madness, Israel officially denounces this Iranian position as the abrogation of the jewish state, hence the "destruction of Israel". And obeyant zionists hatemongers all over the world now try to force standard TV viewers to their mind-boggling vision of the world, in another squarefaced attempt to pull off yet another genocide in the middle east.