Is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not up-to-date on Ayatollah Khamenei’s anti-Israel writings?
Addressing the United Nations Thursday, Netanyahu held up what he said was the Iranian Supreme Leader’s “latest book,” which was released “a few days after the nuclear deal was announced” in July.
“It’s a 400-page screed detailing his plan to destroy the State of Israel,” the prime minister declared.
However, the book — entitled “Palestine” — is actually a collection of Khamenei’s speeches that has been reprinted in several editions in recent years. The third edition, published in 2012, is the one with the cover Netanyahu displayed on Thursday, as can be seen on Khamenei’s website.
Iranian leader Ali Khamenei’s Palestine book, as promoted on his website
Nonetheless, Netanyahu’s aides insisted that he was accurate when he said that the book in his hand had been published after July 14, when the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers was signed in the Austrian capital.
“The latest edition of the book was published after the Vienna deal was reached, as said by the prime minister,” Ofir Gendelman, Netanyahu’s spokesperson to the Arab media, told The Times of Israel Friday in New York.
In August, the New York Post ran an article about the ayatollah’s purported “new book” on the Palestinian question. The article, which did not clarify that various versions of this book have been published over the years, was quoted by several Israeli news outlets.
Khamenei continues to make viciously anti-Israel speeches, so a new edition will doubtless be possible soon. In recent weeks, for instance, he has hailed his people for demanding death to America and Israel, and declared that Israel won’t survive the next 25 years.
It is unclear how the prime minister got his hands on the book, which is not officially available in Israel or the United States. “We will keep that for us. He didn’t buy it in Steimatzky,” an aide to the prime minister said, referring to a chain of Israeli bookstores.
