Destruction of Israel?

Columbia is simulcasting around campus.

Students’ questions, taken, as A. requests in English, “one-by-one, please.”

Student: "Do you seek destruction of Israel?"

A: "We love all nations. We're friends with the Jewish people. There are many Jews in Iran living peacefully with security. [He says they have representation in the Parliament for the Jewish community.] Our proposal to the Palestinian plight is a humanitarian and democratic proposal. Nobody should interfere in the affairs of the Palestinian nation. Allow the Palestinian nation to decide its own future.”

The crowd is now excited.

Coatsworth: "Many people in our audience would like a clearer answer on that question."

Louder clapping.

Coatsworth: "Do you seek the destruction of the Jewish state."

C. asks for a yes or no answer.

A.: "You want the answer the way you want to hear it. This isn’t really a free flow of information.”

The crowd gets louder.

A. puts a yes or no question to Bollinger now, essentially, whether or not the Palestinian situation is a problem.”

A.: “"If someone comes and explodes bombs around you...how would you treat them? Would you award them or would you name them a terrorist group? You would call them a terrorist, my dear friends.”

Some Iranians, he points out, were assasinated by a terrorist group.

A.: "Regretfully, that same terrorist group now today in your country is operating under the support of the US administration. Their camps in Iraq are supported by the US government. We were the first nation that objected to terrorism.”

Applause.

He keeps interrupting Coatsworth.

A.: "We live in the Middle East. For us, it’s quite clear which powers incite terrorists, support them, fund them. We're a cultured nation, we don’t need to resort to terrorism.”