Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, the aide to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who said Iran was a friend of the Israeli people, but also urged an end to the war of words.
"Someone made a statement about people who live in Israel. It was an inaccurate statement," Khamenei said in his sermon on Friday at the main weekly Muslim prayers in Tehran.
"To say that we are friends of the Israeli people like all the other people of the world is not fair comment, it is an illogical comment," he said in the sermon broadcast live on state television.
"Someone said something false and there were reactions. These should end," the leader said, calling on opponents of the government to end debate "on this minor question".
Khamenei said Israelis have "usurped the houses, land, fields and businesses" of Palestinians.
"It is Israeli people who inhabit the settlements and which the puppet Zionist government arms against the Palestinians," he said.
"The Islamic republic's position is very clear. We have no problem with Jews, Christians or the faithful of other religions, but we have a problem with the usurpers of the land of Palestine," he said.
Mashaie, vice president in charge of the tourist board, said in mid-July that Iran is a "friend of the Israeli people". He returned to the theme in August, saying he had "no hostility against the Israeli people."
The remarks prompted fierce criticism from leading religious and political leaders, notably in his own conservative faction, which called for his dismissal.
On Thursday, the president, whose son is married to Mashaie's daughter, defended his associate by insisting he had been misquoted by the media and never made the offending comments.
Ahmadinejad also rejected the views of religious leaders on the topic.
"Someone made a statement about people who live in Israel. It was an inaccurate statement," Khamenei said in his sermon on Friday at the main weekly Muslim prayers in Tehran.
"To say that we are friends of the Israeli people like all the other people of the world is not fair comment, it is an illogical comment," he said in the sermon broadcast live on state television.
"Someone said something false and there were reactions. These should end," the leader said, calling on opponents of the government to end debate "on this minor question".
Khamenei said Israelis have "usurped the houses, land, fields and businesses" of Palestinians.
"It is Israeli people who inhabit the settlements and which the puppet Zionist government arms against the Palestinians," he said.
"The Islamic republic's position is very clear. We have no problem with Jews, Christians or the faithful of other religions, but we have a problem with the usurpers of the land of Palestine," he said.
Mashaie, vice president in charge of the tourist board, said in mid-July that Iran is a "friend of the Israeli people". He returned to the theme in August, saying he had "no hostility against the Israeli people."
The remarks prompted fierce criticism from leading religious and political leaders, notably in his own conservative faction, which called for his dismissal.
On Thursday, the president, whose son is married to Mashaie's daughter, defended his associate by insisting he had been misquoted by the media and never made the offending comments.
Ahmadinejad also rejected the views of religious leaders on the topic.
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