While Senator Barbara Mikulski’s announcement she will support the Iranian nuclear deal seems to give President Obama the crucial 34th vote he needs to ensure its survival, all members of Congress may want to read the English-language excerpts available of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s recently published book Palestine before casting their final vote.
The fact Khamenei has no reservations about publishing this book—clearly stating what lies ahead for Israel and the U.S.—before Congress has even voted on the agreement is most telling. He appears to believe Tehran’s destiny is sealed by Allah’s double blessing: its enemy, “the Great Satan,” is led not only by an incompetent U.S. president but an incompetent Congress as well.
Khamenei’s book is simply titled Palestine, but it goes beyond the issue the title suggests. According to the excerpts in English now available, the book not only makes clear the Palestinian people are to be returned to the land Israel now holds—a goal to be accomplished by that nation’s destruction—but it also mandates America’s destruction. President Obama may tell us the mullahs’ calls for “Death to America” are for domestic consumption only, but the book tells us Khamenei is a man with a plan to make the chant a reality.
For Khamenei, the adage “possession is nine-tenths of the law” lacks relevance in regards to Palestine as lands once occupied by Muslims can never be conceded to non-believers currently occupying them. He writes that fatwas issued decades ago obligate all Muslim countries to eradicate Israel in an effort to return that territory to the Palestinians.
Khamenei credits his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, for spurring on the “Islamic awakening”—the first focus of which was to replace the Shah with an Islamic republic; the second to wage war against Israel to emancipate Palestine.
But, Khamenei adds, the Islamic awakening also has a global mission—to confront the U.S. as the symbol of injustice in the world, “cutting the hand of the United States from Islamic countries, establishing Islamic government and restoring Islamic values, and emancipating the whole of Palestine are our objectives.”
Khamenei advises Iranians need prepare for what lies ahead, improving the quality of their weapons (nuclear?) to accomplish what needs to be done.
The timing of Khamenei’s brazen declaration to destroy Israel and the U.S. suggests he truly believes Allah has paved the way for an Islamic miracle to occur.
Khamenei’s book makes clear as long as the mullahs are in power, a two-state solution will never happen. There is but one solution and that is forcefully divesting Israel of the land the Jews occupy. With Iran now to receive $150 billion—courtesy of Kerry, whose first priority as Secretary of State was negotiating a two-state solution—Khamenei undoubtedly is ecstatic he will possess the financial fuel to achieve his one state solution.
One can understand from Khamenei’s book why Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has voiced his concerns about the nuclear deal—as the Supreme Leader’s foreign policy is being driven by his absolute commitment to Israel’s destruction. When those billions of dollars in assets are released, the mullahs will go to work using their new found wealth to arm to the teeth every Islamic terrorist group it can to wipe Israel off the map.
A statement Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made in October 2005 created controversy when he allegedly threatened to “wipe Israel off the map.” Pro-Iran defenders suggested afterward the statement was taken out of context. But if that is so, it is interesting that Khamenei chose to give the statement new life in his book.
Khamenei could not be clearer in noting, “The land of Palestine has to be freed and returned to its own people. They might ask, ‘How would you wipe a country, which is under the protection of the superpowers, off the map?’ A resolve that comes from faith eases any difficulty; it makes every miracle possible.”
If Congress approves the Iranian nuclear deal, for Khamenei that “miracle” will come in the form of a nuclear warhead.
Lt. Colonel James G. Zumwalt, USMC (Ret.), is a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam war, the U.S. invasion of Panama and the first Gulf war. He is the author of “Bare Feet, Iron Will–Stories from the Other Side of Vietnam’s Battlefields,” “Living the Juche Lie: North Korea’s Kim Dynasty” and “Doomsday: Iran–The Clock is Ticking.” He frequently writes on foreign policy and defense issues.