Call for poll on Mideast conflict

TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader has sought to clarify his position on Israel after being accused of threatening its destruction.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted by the official IRNA news agency late on Sunday as saying the Middle East conflict should be resolved through a popular referendum among “all real Palestinians, including Muslims, Jews and Christians” who trace their roots back to before the creation of Israel.

That would seem to include the Palestinians, as well as the small community of Jews who lived in the Holy Land before the mass immigration of Jews in the 20th century, and the creation of Israel in 1948.

Khamenei did not address the fate of the vast majority of Jewish Israelis, who claim biblical roots to the land, but whose immediate ancestors arrived in the last century.

Khamenei and other senior Iranian officials have repeatedly called for Israel’s demise, while saying Iran would only attack it in self-defence, and bears no hostility toward Jews as a religious community.

Earlier this month, a tweet posted on Khamenei’s official Twitter account said Iran’s “stance against Israel is the same stance we have always taken. #Israel is a malignant, cancerous tumour in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated: it is possible, and it will happen.”

The account is run by Khamenei’s office and it’s not known if he dictates the tweets himself. The quote was from several years ago.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked about the tweet at a press conference with German chancellor Angela Merkel the following day.

“Iran calls for our destruction, but it’s also seeking nuclear weapons to carry out its genocidal design,” said Netanyahu, who was visiting Europe to press for the further dismantling of the Iranian nuclear deal after the US withdrew.

Iran is home to the largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside of Israel. The Jewish community has a representative in Iran’s parliament.