Want to comment and correct the words of McCain and media’s interpretation of Ahmadinejad’s statement that “Israel must be wiped of the map” or “driven out in the ocean”.

His words, in Persian:

“een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar
mahv shavad.”,

in English:

“The Imam [Ayatollah Khomeini] said that this regime [Israel]
occupying Jerusalem must be erased from the page of time.”

It could therefore be interpreted as it is the regime, i.e. political situation or rule
that should be erased, not the state of Israel.
[Collins, Allan (2007) Contemporary Security Studies, Oxford University press, p.138]

The statement has in my view been misinterpreted in able to fit the narrative of some people,

/Marcus Sundquist
Student at the Dep. of Political Science,
Stockholm, Sweden