Aladdin Monitoring Service
The government-run news agency ISNA reported from Qom that Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, the spiritual mentor of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has launched a vitriolic attack on Jews, describing them as "the worst enemies of Islam."
Addressing a meeting of commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, the man widely regarded as the grey eminence behind the ultraconservative faction in Iranian politics broke with the official line of using the term "Zionisits" instead of "Jews" and said: "The majority of centers of corruption in the world belong to Jews and Zionists. They try to corrupt the others and thus rule the world."
"The Jews are the most corrupt in the world. You don't find such a tribe in any other nation, country or region. The Jews regard themselves as God's chosen people, His loved ones and His godson and they believe other human beings should be sacrificed for them just like animals," Mesbah Yazdi said.
The radical cleric who is a member of the Assembly of Experts, a body of theologians who select the Supreme Leader, told the Revolutionary Guards: "Jews are the most cunning people in politics. They have turned some Christians into their accomplices and have thus created the so-called Christian Zionists, who have monopolized American politics."
"In the West, those who govern officially or those who make decisions for governments behind the curtains are Jewish. Jews are the most seditious group among all human beings and they will not leave Muslims alone until they destroy Islam," ISNA quoted Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi as saying.
The Shiite cleric made an opaque reference to Iranians who do not agree with his description of the Jews: "We believe the Jews are the real enemies of Islam. The Koran stated this fact 1400 years ago and the crimes that they have committed throughout history also prove this. Nevertheless, there are some misguided people in this country who don't accept this."