"Anyone who threatens to annihilate Israel risks a similar fate," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday in response to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who compared Israel to a "virus."
Khamenei spoke to the nation in a 30-minute speech aired on state television in honor of Quds Day, which this year was subdued due to coronavirus. He repeatedly referred to Israel as a "cancer" or "tumor" during the speech, criticizing the US and the West for equipping it with "various kinds of military and non-military tools of power, even with atomic weapons."
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"The Zionist regime is a deadly, cancerous growth and a detriment to this region," Khamenei said. "It will undoubtedly be uprooted and destroyed."
Defense Minister Benny Gantz also made it clear that Israel would not stand by as Iran continued to increase its power in the Middle East. In a post on his Facebook page, Gantz wrote, "Israel is facing huge challenges in a number of arenas. Khamenei's declaration that Israel is a 'cancer' makes that clearer than anything else could. As someone who is very familiar with the Iranian issue, and who prepared the IDF to handle it, I wouldn't recommend that anyone test us."
"The state of Israel and the Zionist dream are facts, unlike the Iranian satellite states that are trying to entrench themselves and damage regional stability, which we will not allow. From my experience, our enemies' grandiose talk points to weakness," Gantz wrote.
In the days running up to Friday, his office released a cartoon graphic showing smiling Iranian-backed forces, Arabs and two Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem under a headline that included the phrase "the final solution."
The image later was deleted from Khamenei's Twitter account and other places, though it remains on the Farsi-language version of his official website. The Foreign Ministry offered a tweet of its own over the picture, writing: "We have experience with leaders who talk about 'final solutions,' and we promise: Not on our watch."
Khamenei was not the only leader to target Israel on Quds Day. Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah also gave a speech on Friday in which he called for the liberation of "Palestine."
"Palestine belongs to the Palestinian people and must be restored to them. Israel is trying to keep itself alive by force. Our position on Palestine is clear and consistent. Resistance in all its forms is the only way to liberate Palestine," Nasrallah said.
"Anyone who thinks they can change our minds is wrong. Wars, targeted killings, and sanctions wont' help. The Zionist entity has a shield in the US. Palestine belongs to the Palestinians, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river. The US is leading Israel, and the main battle is against America," the Hezbollah leader added.
The world was quick to condemn the anti-Israel statements.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted: "Incredible that @JZarif and Iran's Supreme Leader are echoing Hitler's call for genocide. This depravity should dispel any notion the regime belongs in the community of nations. We stand with Germany and Israel against this oldest & most vile form of hatred, and say #NeverAgain."
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab tweeted: "There is no excuse for the anti-Semitic language in statements from Iran's leadership. Israel has an undeniable right to peace and security, and denying it hurts all the people of the region."
