Wiping good translation off the map

I wrote last week drawing your attention to Jonathan Steele's contention that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not in fact call for Israel to be "wiped off the map". His article has caused a bit of controversy and he's followed it up with more detail.

He uses a variety of sources including the New York Times and the BBC. But the most significant has to the the Mossad inspired MEMRI. This is an institution that was set up to publicise the oft-decontextualised quotes of prominent Arabs and Muslims. They use the worst possible translations to serve their pro-Israeli cause. This is what they made of the Iranian President's statement:

"This regime that is occupying Qods [Jerusalem] must be eliminated from the pages of history."

As Steele points out, when he said this, he compared the "elimination" of Israel to the fall of the Shah in 1979. We're talking regime change, not ethnic cleansing. This view is shared by many anti-Zionists.

One obvious question emanating from this is who did spread the "wiped off the map" translation? Why did this story receive the prominence it did at this point in history/point of the map (depending on which translation you use)?

Comments

[Ted]

I don't see the distinction that yourself and Steele are seemingly crowing about.

[Osama]

Bottom of Steele's article. Much of the pro-war language used about Iran recently has been based upon the possibility of Iran holding nuclear weapons and using them on Israel - via this wiped map statement. The point is that is not what their President was saying.