UNCLAS SANTIAGO 002220

SIPDIS

STATE FOR R/MR, I/PP, WHA/BSC, WHA/PD, INR/IAA, PM, INL
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, NEA/PDA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR KPAO OPRC PTER CI IR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: IRAN

On September 28, center-left "Diario Siete (circ.
23,000) ran an editorial entitled "Erase Israel from
the map?" Quote:

"Mahmud Ahmadinejad, the new president of Iran, said
yesterday that Israel `should be erased from the
map'.... This is an obscene expression that can lead
to the justification of genocide.... Whether for God,
country, superior race, or the argument of a chosen
people, fundamentalists are an affront to humanity ...
and any doctrine that tries to validate genocide must
be confronted by the international community as
whole.... There can be no double standard on this.
Just as humankind condemns the Holocaust, it also
condemns the abuses committed by Israel against the
people of Palestine.... The fundamentalist mentality
is the main obstacle to long-lasting peace in the
Middle East, which requires the co-existence of Israel
and a Palestinian state.... We must encourage those in
the Arab world who distance themselves from the stance
of the new government of Iran, and those sectors in
Israel who want to end the bloodshed."

KELLY"