October 15, 2007 | 4:01 pm

Rafsanjani is no moderate; Clinton and Obama are wrong on Iran

Posted by Karmel Melamed

Follow JewishJournal.com on

It always amazes me how journalists and media personalities in the U.S. and Europe label certain leaders in Iran’s government as “moderates” considering the fact that all members of the Iranian regime share the same anti-Semitic and world jihadist views. Perhaps one of the most popular Iranian leaders that are frequently referred to as “moderate” in the western media is the country’s former president Ali Akabar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Some American and European journalists who for some sick reason are apologists for Iran’s regime, consider Rafsanjani and others like him as “moderates” because their comments and statements are not always as hardline as the Iranian regime’s other leaders including Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Rafsanjani served as president of Iran from 1989 to 1997 and now serves as the Chairman of the “Assembly of Experts”, a theocratic government group that controls Iran’s government. Yet as an individual who follows and understands the Persian language media broadcasted out of Iran, I find no difference between the hatred and anti-Semitism spewed by Rafsanjani and others in the government. Perhaps the best example of Rafsanjani’s hatred of Jews came several weeks ago on October 1st when he told a large crowd in Tehran during his televised speech that Hitler’s treatment of Jewish people in Europe was due in part to their being “a pain in the neck”. He also said the Jews caused problems for European governments because they “had a lot of property” and “controlled an empire of propaganda”. Lastly the “moderate” Rafsanjani said that the Nazis were successful in saving Europe from the evil of Zionism. The following is a link to video footage of Rafsanjani’s broadcasted speech with subtitles provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI): MEMRI TV

If the media and U.S. officials consider this type of hateful anti-Semitic rhetoric coming from Rafsanjani as moderate, then we’re all in some serious trouble. There is clearly no difference between this man’s hateful beliefs about Jews during the Holocaust and those of Ahmadinejad who denies the Holocaust.

What is even more troubling is our elected officials and presidential candidates including Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama have recently indicated that they would engage in negotiations with Iran. Now I am not one to advocate military actions, but a regime like the one in Iran whose leaders hold sacred their anti-Semitic and anti-Israel beliefs, do not deserve us engaging with them in any dialogue. How can any freedom and peace-loving person engage in dialogue and negotiations with leaders of Iran that are dedicated to annihilating the state of Israel? How can any peace loving person engage in dialogue and negotiations with leaders of Iran who want the world to submit to and adopt their radical beliefs of Islam? How can anyone in our democratically elected government engage ruthless dictators who want us dead and are killing our soldiers in Iraq, as is the case with Iran at this point in time.

Our objective as Americans should be to encourage our leaders in Washington to help economically and diplomatically isolate Iran. If the regime feels the squeeze from the rest of the world, then perhaps they may curb their anti-Semitic rhetoric and desires for nuclear weapons. Rafsanjani is indeed no moderate and the media needs to label him for what he really is…an anti-Semitic radical leader of a terrorist sponsoring state. If you don’t believe me, go view the hours of video footage online of Rafsanjani speaking his mind freely about the Jews.