Responses to Ahmadinejad:

“I’m interested only in the person who has his finger on the trigger, and I don’t want to be at the mercy of this delusionary man. He behaves as though he has a direct link to God, and he has a dangerous and delusionary worldview. I take every word of his seriously, including the talk about destroying Israel.” —Uri Lubrani, former Israeli ambassador to Iran, December 1, 2006

“Believe him and stop him. This is what we must do. Everything else pales before this.” While the [Iranian] president “denies the Holocaust, he is preparing another Holocaust for the Jewish state. I disagree with the claim that nothing can be done against Iran.” —Benjamin Netanyahu, Likud leader and former prime minister of Israel, November 13, 2006

“Israel doesn’t threaten any country with anything––never did. We never threaten another nation with annihilation. Iran openly, explicitly, and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Civilized countries do not threaten other countries that they will use the nuclear weapons in order to destroy them.” —Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel, December 11, 2006

“Iran’s nuclear issue must be resolved through diplomatic channels.” He added that Russia believes that “every country in the world has the right to develop nuclear industries for peaceful purposes, and this goes for Iran too.” —Sergei Kiriyenko, Head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, December 11, 2006