title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: On 17 May 2014, a group of civil society organizations brought a legal action before the Constitutional Court of the State of Yucatán under the guise of "correcting a legislative omission." It was the first time a mechanism to correct an omission had been used in Mexico as the basis of a suit. The organizations claimed 10 injunctions had been approved in the state without legislative action. The suit asked for Articles 49 and 94 of the Family Code which limit marriage to one man and one woman to be "considered in the broadest sense and that the gender of its members be undefined." On 2 March 2015, the Yucatán court dismissed the appeal for constitutional action to change the Civil Code. Supporters of amending the code vowed to appeal the decision. In June 2015, they filed a lawsuit against the Yucatán court in federal court. The suit argued that the Yucatán court's decision was flawed as the Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. After postponing a hearing five times, the Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit on 31 May 2017.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: On 24 May 2016, a prominent member of the state Congress stated that Yucatán would wait for the Congress of the Union to legislate on same-sex marriage before taking the necessary steps to legalize it. In September 2017, the Yucatán Congress unanimously approved a PRD-proposed bill to begin discussion on issues that had previously been neglected and not discussed, including same-sex marriage. On 15 August 2018, Governor Rolando Zapata Bello introduced bills to amend the state Constitution and Family Code to legalize same-sex marriage. On 10 April 2019, the state Congress rejected an amendment to repeal the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, in a 9–15 vote. In response to the failure to pass legislation, the 17th Pride Parade in Mérida saw the unprecedented participation of around 8,000 people. A second attempt at legalizing same-sex marriage failed on 15 July 2019, with 15 votes against and 9 votes in favor.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: On 25 August 2021, the Congress of Yucatán approved in a 20–5 vote a bill that would repeal the heterosexual definition of marriage in the state constitution, thus allowing same-sex marriage.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: The bill was signed by the Governor on 3 September 2021 and published on 7 September 2021. Congress had 180 days from that date (i.e., until 6 March 2022) to amend all laws, including the Family Code, to conform with the new wording of the constitution. The state congress voted unanimously to pass secondary legislation allowing same-sex marriage on 1 March 2022.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: On 18 June 2015, a member of PRD announced that she would submit a bill to reform the state's Civil and Family Codes to give same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual married couples.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: The July 2018 elections resulted in pro-same-sex marriage parties winning a majority of legislative seats in Zacatecas.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: On 14 February 2019, the city of Zacatecas announced it would begin issuing same-sex marriage certificates. Despite claims from the Governor that the marriages would be void, and calls from Bishop Sigifredo Noriega to stop the marriages, the first couple married on 23 February. The municipality of Cuauhtémoc followed suit on 1 March, while a new same-sex marriage bill was introduced to the state Congress around that time. Villanueva followed suit on 20 May 2019.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: On 14 August 2019, the state Congress rejected a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, in 11–13 vote, with 2 abstentions.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: On 14 December 2021, the state Congress approved a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, in 18–10 vote, with 1 abstention. It took effect on 30 December 2021, the day after its publication in the official gazette.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: In 2020, 335,563 marriages were celebrated in Mexico. Of these, 2,476 (0.7%) were between same-sex partners,


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: In a Parametría poll, conducted from 17 to 20 November 2006, 1,200 Mexican adults were asked if they would support a constitutional amendment that would legalize same-sex marriage in Mexico. 17% responded yes, 61% said no and 14% had no opinion. The same poll showed 28% in support of same-sex civil unions, 41% were opposed and 28% had no opinion. From 27 to 30 November 2009, major Mexican newspaper "El Universal" polled 1,000 Mexico City citizens concerning the legalization of same-sex marriage in the city. 50% supported it, 38% were against it and 12% had no idea. The same poll showed that support was stronger among the youngest population (age: 18–29), 67%, and weaker among the oldest (age: 50-onwards), 38%. With 48%, the most cited reason was "right of choice" for the supporters, followed by "everybody is equal" with 14%. 39% of the opposers cited "it is not normal" as the main reason to not support same-sex marriage, followed by "we lose values" with 18%.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: Guillermo Bustamante Manilla, a PAN member and president of the National Union of Parents of Families (), as well as the father of Guillermo Bustamante Artasánchez, a law director of the Secretary of the Interior, opposes abortion and same-sex civil unions and has described the latter as "anti-natural." He has publicly asked voters not to cast votes for "abortionists" parties and those who are in favor of homosexual relationships.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: A study conducted by Vanderbilt University in 2010 concluded that 37.8% of Mexicans supported same-sex marriage.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: A poll conducted in July 2013 found a significant increase in support for same-sex marriage, with 52% of Mexicans in favour of legalising same-sex marriage. When broken down by religion, support was 52% among Roman Catholics and 62% among non-religious people. However, in the same poll, only 24% of respondents supported same-sex adoption.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: According to a Pew Research Center survey, conducted between 30 October and 12 November 2013, 49% of Mexicans supported same-sex marriage, 43% were opposed.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: In early 2014, the Strategic Communication Cabinet, a statistical consulting services company, published a report called "Social Intolerance in Mexico", in which polls that covered several social issues were conducted in the 45 largest cities and municipalities. The study found that the strongest support for same-sex marriages was registered in Mexico City, Tijuana, San Luis Potosí, Colima and La Paz; whereas it was the weakest in Durango, Ciudad Victoria, Aguascalientes, Chihuahua and Monterrey. Additionally, adoption by same-sex couples was more widely accepted in Mexico City, the border cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez, as well as Xalapa and Cancún; meanwhile the least support was found in Chihuahua, Guadalajara, Aguascalientes, Durango and Campeche.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: Following President Enrique Peña Nieto's proposal to legalize same-sex marriage in Mexico in May 2016, a poll on the issue was carried out by "Gabinete de Comunicación Estratégica". 69% of respondents were in favor of the change. 64% said they saw it as an advance in the recognition of human rights. Public opinion changed radically over the course of 16 years. In 2000, 62% felt that same-sex marriage should not be allowed under any circumstances. In 2016, only 25% felt that way. In addition, a BGC-Excélsior survey conducted the same month found similar numbers: 65% of Mexicans expressed support for same-sex marriage. However, a poll conducted by Parametría that same month found completely opposite figures. According to the polling firm, 59% of Mexicans opposed same-sex marriage.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: A 2017 survey by the "Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía" (INEGI) found that opposition to same-sex marriage was most marked in southern Mexico, namely the states of Chiapas (58.7%), Tabasco (56.5%), Campeche (56.1%), Veracruz (54.3%) and Guerrero (54.0%). It was lowest in the central and northwestern parts of the country, with Mexico City (28.6%), Baja California (30.7%), Sonora (31.4%), Querétaro (32.4%) and México (33.8%) being the five states/districts with the least opposition. Overall, 42.6% men and 38.5% women in Mexico opposed same-sex marriage.


title: Same-sex marriage in Mexico

text: A study by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) in 2022 indicated that 76% of Mexicans supported same-sex marrige.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The Wabanaki Confederacy ("Wabenaki, Wobanaki", translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of four principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet ("Wolastoqey"), Passamaquoddy ("Peskotomahkati") and Penobscot. The Western Abenaki are also considered members, being a loose identity for a number of allied tribal peoples such as the Sokoki, Cowasuck, Missiquoi, and Arsigantegok, among others.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: There were more tribes, along with many bands, that were once part of the Confederation. Native tribes such as the Norridgewock, Etchemin, Alemousiski, and Canibas, through massacres, tribal consolidation, and ethnic label shifting were absorbed into the five larger national identities.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Members of the Wabanaki Confederacy, the Wabanaki, are located in and named for the area which they call Wabanakik ("Dawnland"), roughly the area that became the French colony of Acadia. It is made up of most of present-day Maine in the United States, and New Brunswick, mainland Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island and some of Quebec south of the St. Lawrence River, Anticosti, and Newfoundland in Canada. The Western Abenaki live on lands in Quebec as well as in Vermont, and New Hampshire within the United States.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The word Wabanaki is derived from the Algonquian root word ""wab"", combined with the word for "land", being ""aki."" "Wab" is a root that is used for the following concepts:


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The political union of the Wabanaki Confederacy was known by many names, but it is remembered as ""Wabanaki"", which shares a common etymological origin with the name of the "Abenaki" people. All Abenaki are Wabanaki, but not all Wabanaki are Abenaki.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The name of the political union during the time it existed had gone by other names both shared and unique to its members. The Mi'kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Wolastoqey called it Buduswagan which translates into "convention council." The Passamaquoddy also had their own unique name being Tolakutinaya which translates into "be related to one another." Finally, the Penobscot would interchangeably call it either Bezegowak or Gizangowak which can be translated into "those united into one" and "completely united" respectively.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Small-scale confederacies in and around what would become the Wabanaki Confederacy were common at the time of post-Viking European contact. The earliest known confederacy was the Mawooshen Confederacy located within the historic Eastern Penobscot cultural region. Its capital, "Kadesquit", located around modern Bangor, Maine, would play a significant role as a political hub - for the future Wabanaki Confederacy, for example.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: In 1500, Portuguese explorer Gaspar Corte Real reached Wabanaki lands. He captured and enslaved at least 57 people from modern-day Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, selling them in Europe to help finance his trip. The rich fishing waters full of cod in and around the Gulf of Saint Lawrence attracted many Europeans to this area. By 1504 French Bretons were fishing off the coast of Nova Scotia. Norman fishermen began to arrive around 1507, and they too would start kidnapping people from the surrounding land. This would hurt relations with some tribes. But the fishermen also started slowly introducing European trade goods to the Wabanaki, returning to Europe with North American trade goods.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: After the establishment of the Treaty of Tordesillas by which Catholic Europe established spheres of influence for exploration, Portuguese explorers commonly believed that Newfoundland and Wabanaki lands were on the Portuguese side of the "Inter caetera", entitling them to the land. Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes attempted to establish the first European colony in Wabanaki lands in 1525. He brought families totaling almost 200 people, mostly from the Azores, and founded a fishing settlement in Cape Breton, within Mi'kmaq territory. The settlement lasted at least until 1570, as fishing ships brought news of them back to Europe. The fate of the settlement is unknown, but the people would have interacted with the local Mi'kmaq.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Throughout the 1500s, Wabanaki people encountered many European fishermen along with explorers looking for the Northwest Passage. They were at risk of being captured and enslaved. For instance, Portuguese explorer Estevan Gomez reached Wabanaki lands in 1525, kidnapping a few dozen people and taking them back to Spain, where he was forced to release them. The Crown did not arrange their passage back.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Italian explorer, Giovanni da Verrazano also reached Wabanaki lands. He was documented about 1525 as capturing a native boy to bring back to France, whom he was sailing for. Around 1534 French explorer Jacques Cartier would explore the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and traded with Mi'kmaq people living in Chaleur Bay. He encountered people now known as St. Lawrence Iroquoians on the Gaspé Bay. These are now believed to have been independent of the Five Nations of Iroquois that developed the Iroquois League further south. By the early 1600s, the St. Lawrence Iroquoian villages were abandoned. Historians now believe they may have been defeated by the Mohawk in competition over hunting. They may also have been defeated by Algonquins from further east in the St. Lawrence Valley.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Cartier traded with the Mi'kmaq, and returned to France with furs of North American animals such as beaver, which became high-demand items. Cartier brought back numerous goods from the First Nations from his three trips to the St. Lawrence, but the furs had the greatest demand. French colonists went to the area to work in what became the North American fur trade.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: More Europeans entered Wabanaki lands over the coming decades, where they started as traders to meet the growing fur demand in Europe. The French established permanent trading operations with the Wabanaki around 1581 to obtain furs. Henry III of France granted a fur monopoly to French merchants in 1588. This would lead to the desire for the French to establish permanent trade posts in and around Wabanaki lands for furs. French fur traders like François Gravé Du Pont would often travel to Wabanaki lands to obtain furs, establishing the French fur trading site of Tadoussac in 1599. During one of his trips back in 1603 he would bring Samuel de Champlain with him, and he would lead to a new era of Wabanaki/French relationships.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: When Champlain established contact during an expedition to the Mawooshen in Pesamkuk (present-day Mount Desert Island, Maine) in 1604, he noted that the people had quite a few European goods. Champlain had a positive encounter on Pemetic, meeting with sakom (title for community leaders) Asticou in his and his people's summer village. Asticou was a sakom with regional power over the eastern door of Mawooshen. He was subsidiary to sakom Bashaba, who led the entire Mawooshen Confederacy. Champlain went upriver to the Passamaquoddy, where he established another post at present-day St. Croix, Maine. The French colonial region known as Acadia developed on existing tribal territory. The ethnic French of Acadia and the peoples of Wabanaki coexisted in the same territory with independent, yet allied governments.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Champlain continued to establish settlements throughout Wabanaki territory, including Saint John (1604) and Quebec City (1608), among others. The trade and military relations between the French and the local Algonquin tribes, including the Mawooshen and later Wabanaki, lasted until the end of the French and Indian/Seven Years' War. Asticou approved the founding of a Jesuit mission in 1613.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The following year the mission village was destroyed by a group of English colonists led John Smith, who stopped there while on a return voyage to Europe. French and English colonists would long compete for territory in North America. To make more money, Smith invited 20 Algonquin people in modern-day Massachusetts to board his ship to trade, but he enslaved them all to sell in Spain. The famous Tisquantum was among the captives. According to an early 20th-century account, he returned to the area just before the Pilgrims landed in 1620.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: English colonists established contacts with the Mawooshen in 1605. Captain George Weymouth met with them in a large village on the Kennebec River. He took five people as captives to take back to England, where they were questioned about settlements by Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Sakom Tahánedo was the only one of those captives known to have returned home. He accompanied settlers of the short-lived Popham Colony (1607-1608), who hoped to establish good relations with the local peoples be returning Tahánedo, but local tribes were uneasy about the English colony.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: In 2020 journalist Avery Yale Kamila wrote that the account of the Weymouth voyage has culinary significance because it "is the first time a European recorded the Native American use of nut milks and nut butters."


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Champlain forged strong French relations with Algonquin tribes up until his death in 1635. Somewhere in the area near Ticonderoga and Crown Point, New York (historians dispute the site), Champlain and his party encountered a group of Iroquois (likely mostly Mohawk, the easternmost nation). In a battle that began the next day, 250 Iroquois advanced on Champlain's position, and one of his guides pointed out the three chiefs. In his account of the battle, Champlain recounts firing his arquebus and killing two of them with a single shot, after which one of his men killed the third. The Iroquois turned and fled. This action set the tone for poor French-Iroquois relations for the rest of the century, with conflicts arising over territory and the beaver trade.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The next year the Battle of Sorel started on 19 June 1610. Champlain was aided by warriors of allies among the Wendat, Algonquin and Innu peoples, with some French regulars. They fought against the Mohawk people at present-day Sorel-Tracy, Quebec. Champlain's forces were armed with the arquebus. After engaging their opponent, they slaughtered or captured nearly all of the Mohawk. The battle ended major hostilities with the Mohawk for twenty years.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: In and around this time, more French arrived as traders in Nova Scotia. The French migrants formed settlements such as Port-Royal. At many of these settlements, the French traded weapons and other European goods to the local Mi'kmaq. The influx of European goods changed the social and economic landscape, as local tribes became more dependent on European goods. This new economic reality harmed their existing kinship ties among clans and reduced the reciprocal exchange that had supported the local economy. Subsistence hunting shifted into a competition for animals like beaver and for access to European settlements. Population movements, and intraband and interband disputes were affected.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Allied with the Maliseet and Passamaquoddy, the Mi'kmaq fought with their Western Mawooshen (Western Abenaki/Penobscot) neighbors for goods as trading relations broke down. This power imbalance resulted in war starting around 1607. In 1615 the Mi'kmaq and their allies killed the Mawooshen Grand Chief Bashabas in his village. War was costly for the Mi'kmaq and their allies, but especially for their southern Abenaki/Penobscot adversaries. Many Abenaki villages faced great losses from the war. The war was then followed by a pandemic known as "The Great Dying" (1616-1619), which killed around 70-95% of the local Algonquin population left after the war.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Not long after this widespread local depopulation, Pilgrim settlers from England arrived in November 1620. Algonquin peoples throughout what would become New England began to see Pilgrim settlers settling in their ancestral lands. Southern Abenaki people such as the Alemousiski would soon come into permanent contact with English settlers moving into Massachusetts, as well as their lands in southern Maine under the colonizing efforts of people directed by Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason, respectively. Pannaway Plantation near modern-day Kittery, Maine would both be founded in 1623. Originally founded as fishing and lumber villages, over the decades they developed larger economies and became major population centers in the fledgling economy.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: By the 1640s, internal conflicts within the region started to make Iroquois advances harder to combat for what would become the Wabanaki peoples, but also the Algonquian (tribe west of Quebec City), the Innu, and French to manage separately. Aided by French Jesuits, this led to the formation of a large Algonquian league against the Iroquois, who were making significant territorial land gains around the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River region. By the 1660s, tribes of Western Abenaki peoples as far south as Massachusetts had joined the league. This defensive alliance would not only prove to be successful, but it helped repair the relationship among the Eastern Algonquians, promoting greater political cooperation in the coming decades.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: This growing tension with two large and organized political adversaries, the Iroquois and especially English colonists, over the next 20 years would lead to an Algonquian uprising during King Philip's War (1675-1676), followed by the First Abenaki War (1675-1678). Soon after the many Algonquian tribes fought together in an effort to strengthen both defensive and diplomatic power, a push to make a formal political union would take place leading to the development of the Wabanaki Confederacy.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The First Abenaki War saw native peoples throughout the Eastern Algonquian lands face a common and powerful enemy, encroaching English colonists. The fighting led to large-scale depopulation of English colonial settlements north of the Saco River in the district of Maine, while Wabanaki people south of the river like the Armouchiquois, would be forced from their ancestral lands. The political situation was complicated, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony was forced to relinquish control of Maine to the heirs of Ferdinando Gorges in 1676. This required them to find the heirs to buy back the land making up Maine, and then to issue grants for people to settle once again. This conflict as a whole was not without significant losses for the soon-to-be Wabanaki peoples, and it became clear that the tribes would have to work together. The First Abenaki War ended with the Treaty of Casco, which forced all the tribes to recognize the property rights of English colonists in southern Maine. In return, English colonists recognized "Wabanaki" sovereignty by committing themselves to pay Madockawando, as a "grandchief" of the Wabanaki alliance, a symbolic annual fee of "a peck of corn for every English Family." They also recognized the Saco River as the border.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The Caughnawaga Council was a large neutral political gathering in the Mohawk territory that occurred every three years for tribes and tribal confederacies within and around the Great Lakes, East Coast, and Saint Lawrence River. At one of these councils in the 1680s, the Eastern Algonquians came together to form their own confederation with the aid of an Ottawa "sakom." The Mawooshen Confederacy, of which Madockawando was part, was put in a situation where it would be absorbed into a larger confederacy that incorporated the tribes into each other's internal politics and would start to hold their own councils as a new political union. In this new union, the tribes would see each other as brothers, as family. The union helped challenge Iroquois hostilities along the Saint Lawrence River over land and resources which was becoming a bigger problem for almost all the Eastern Algonquians to manage separately, but also provided political organization and might to push back collectively against growing English colonial expansionism, as well as mitigating large losses in the recent three-year war with them.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The political union incorporated many political elements from other local confederacies like the Iroquois and Huron, the role of wampum council conduct being a major example. This political unit allowed for the safe passage of people through each of their territories (including camping and subsisting on the land), safer trade networks from the western agricultural centers to the eastern gathering economies (copper/pelts) through non-aggression pacts and sharing natural resources from their respected habitats, freedom to move to each and any of the other's villages along with organizing inter-tribal marriages, and a large-scale defensive alliance to fend off attacks in their now shared territory. Madockawando for instance would later move from Penobscot lands to Maliseet lands, living in their political hub of Meductic until his death. These events would lead to the formal creation of what is now called the Wabanaki Confederacy.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The Passamaquoddy wampum record or "Wapapi Akonutomakonol" tells about the event that took place at the Caughnawaga Council that led to the formation of the Wabanaki Confederacy.Silently they sat for seven days. Everyday, no one spoke. That was called, "The Wigwam is Silent." Every councilor had to think about what he was going to say when they made the laws. All of them thought about how the fighting could be stopped. Next they opened up the wigwam. It was now called "Every One of Them Talks." And during that time they began their council...When all had finished talking, they decided to make a great fence; and in addition they put in the center a great wigwam within the fence; and also they made a whip and placed it with their father. Then whoever disobeyed him would be whipped. Whichever of his children was within the fence - all of them had to obey him. And he always had to kindle their great fire, so that it would not burn out. This is where the Wampum Laws originated. That fence was the confederacy agreement...There would be no arguing with one another again. They had to live like brothers and sisters who had the same parent...And their parent, he was the great chief at Caughnawaga. And the fence and the whip were the Wampum Laws. Whoever disobeyed them, the tribes together had to watch him.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The Wabanaki Confederacy were governed by a council of elected sakoms, tribal leaders who were frequently also the governors of the drainage basin their village was built on. Sakoms themselves were more of respected listeners and debaters than simply rulers.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Wabanaki politics was fundamentally rooted on reaching a consensus on issues, often after much debate. Sakoms frequently used stylized metaphorical speech at council fires, trying to win over others sakoms. Sakoms who were skilled at debate often became quite influential in the Confederacy, often being older men who were called "nebáulinowak" or "riddle men." "They have reproached me a hundred times because we fear our Captains, while they laugh at and make sport of theirs. All the authority of their chief is in his tongue's end; for he is powerful in so far as he is eloquent; and even if he kills himself talking and haranguing he will not be obeyed unless he please the [Indians]." Wabanaki sakoms held regular conventions at their various "council fires" (seats of government) whenever there was a need to call each other together. In a council fire, they would sit in a large rectangle with all members facing each other. Each sakom member would have a chance to speak and be listened to, with the understanding that they would do the same for the others. Each tribe a sakom was part of also had a "kinship" status, being that they are brothers some members were older and younger. The lack of a single centralized capital complemented the Wabanaki government style, as sakoms were able to shift their political influence to any part of the nation that needed it. This could mean bringing leadership near or away from conflict zones. When a formal internal agreement was reached, not one but often at least five representatives speaking on behalf of their respective tribe and nation as a whole would set off to negotiate.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Probably influenced by diplomatic exchanges with Huron allies and Iroquois enemies (especially since the 1640s), the Wabanaki began using wampum belts in their diplomacy in the course of the 17th century, when envoys took such belts to send messages to allied tribes in the confederacy. Wampum belts called "gelusewa'ngan", meaning "speech", played an important role in maintaining Wabanaki political institutions. One of the last keepers of the "Wampum Record" and one of the last Wabanaki/Passamaquoddy delegates to go to Caughnawaga was Sepiel Selmo. Keepers of the wampum record were called "putuwosuwin" which involved a mix of oral history with understanding the context behind the placement of wampum on the belts.Wampum shells arranged on strings in such a manner, that certain combinations suggested certain sentences or certain ideas to the narrator, who, of course, knew his record by heart and was merely aided by the association of the shell combinations in his mind with incidents of the tale or record which he was rendering. What was not recorded through wampum was remembered in a long chain of oral record-keeping which village elders were in charge of, with multiple elders being able to double check each other. In the 1726 treaty following Dummer's War, the Wabanaki had to challenge a claim that land was sold to English settlers, of which not a single elder had a memory of. After much challenge with New England Lt. Governor William Dummer, Wabanaki leadership was very careful and took their time to make sure there was as little misunderstanding of the terms of the land and peace as possible. The terms were worked out little by little each day, from August 1 through 5th. When an impasse was found, leadership would withdraw to talk about the matter thoroughly among themselves before reconvening to debate once more, with all representatives debating on the same page, with their most well thought-out arguments.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The Wabanaki never had a formal "grandchief" or single leader of the whole confederacy, and thus never had a single seat of government. Though Madockawando was treated as such in the Treaty of Casco, and his descendants such as Wabanaki Lieutenant-Governor John Neptune would maintain an elevated status in the confederacy, both officially had the same amount of power as any other sakom. This would continue throughout the entire history of the Wabanaki, as the confederacy remained decentralized so as to never give more power to any of the member tribes. This meant that all major decisions had to be thoroughly debated by sakoms at council fires, which created a strong political culture empowering the best debaters.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The four/fourteen tribes were not completely independent from each other. Not only was it possible for sanctions to be placed on each other for creating problems, but also when a sakom died, newly elected sakoms would be confirmed by allied Wabanaki tribes who would visit following a year of mourning in the village. An event to appoint a new sakom, known as a "Nská'wehadin" or "assembly", could last several weeks. Tribes had a lot of autonomy, but they built a culture which normalized being involved in each other's political affairs to help maintain unity and cooperation. This event would continue until 1861 when the last Nská'wehadin was held in Old Town, Maine, shortly before the end of the confederacy. Occasionally some sakoms were known to ignore the will of the confederacy, most often the case for tribes on the border of European powers who had the most to lose during peace after war. Gray Lock, who was among the most successful wartime Wabanaki sakoms, refused to make peace after the 1722-1726 Dummer's War, given that his Vermont lands were being settled by English colonists. He would hold a successful guerrilla war for the following two decades, never being caught, and successfully deterring settlers entering his lands.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Kinship metaphors like "Brother", "Father", or "Uncle" in their original linguistic context were much more complex than when they were when translated into English or French. Such terms were used to understand the status and role of a diplomatic relationship. For instance, for the other tribes in the Wabanaki the Penobscot were called the "ksés'i'zena" or "our elder brother". The Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Mi'kmaq in this order of "age" were called "ndo'kani'mi'zena" or "our younger brother". The Maliseet referred to the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy as "ksés'i'zena" and the Mi'kmaq as "ndo'kani'mi'zena". Concepts like this were also found in other confederacies like the Iroquois. In the Wabanaki context, such terms indicated concepts like the Penobscot looking out for the well-being of the younger brothers, while younger brothers would support and respect the wisdom of an older brother. The idea of being related helped establish unity and cooperation in Wabanaki culture, using family as a metaphor to overcome factionalism and to quell internal conflicts like a family would. The age rank was based on the tribes proximity to the Caughnawaga Council, with the Penobscots being the closest. Before the massacre of the Norridgewock and the slow abandonment of their settlements and integration into their neighbor tribes, they were once seen as an older brother to the Penobscot.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: This system was not seen as something indicating superiority per se, but rather a way to perceive a relationship in a manner that reflected the cultural norms of the Wabanaki. When the Wabanaki called the French Canadian governor and King of France "our father", it was a relationship built upon a sense of respect and protective care that reflected a Wabanaki father-son relationship. This was not well understood by diplomats from France and England who did not live with the peoples, seeing such terms as acknowledgment of subservience. Miscommunication over these terms was one of the biggest challenges in Wabanaki and European diplomacy. The culture and government style of Wabanaki would strongly push for a clear and mutual understanding of political matters, both internally and externally.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The Wabanaki saw and called the Ottawa "our father" for both their role as a leader in the Caughnawaga Council and in being a tribe that helped found Wabanaki and issued binding judgments that help maintain order. This did not mean the Wabanaki ever saw themselves as subservient to the Ottawa in any way, this was the same with the French. The Ottawa were largely seen as a form of third party political oversight.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Nations in the Confederacy also allied with the Innu of Nitassinan, the Algonquin people and with the Iroquoian-speaking Wyandot people. The homeland of the Wabanaki Confederacy stretches from Newfoundland, Canada to Massachusetts, United States. Members of the Wabanaki Confederacy participated in seven major wars.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: During this period, their population was radically decimated due to many decades of warfare, but also because of famines and devastating epidemics of infectious disease. The number of European settlers increased from about 300 in 1650 to about 6,650 in 1750. European diseases such as smallpox and measles were introduced.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The Miꞌkmaq were among the first tribes to establish trade with European settlers and helped to establish a barter system along the coast. Settlers and natives communicated in a language that mixed French and Mikmawisimk. The Miꞌkmaq traded beaver, otter, marten, seal, moose, and deer furs with European settlers. The French missionary Chrestien Le Clercq complained, that "they ridicule and laugh at the most sumptuous and magnificent of our buildings".


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: In 1711 the Acadians joined the Wabanaki Confederacy, when Fort Anne was besieged. The British proceeded to raid the coastal settlements, demanding an oath of allegiance from the Acadians. When British settlers encroached on the territory of the Abenaki, Penobscot, and the Passamaquoddy, these First Nations joined the Maliseet and the Miꞌkmaq in the Wabanaki Confederacy. In 1715 the Miꞌkmaq attacked fishing vessels off Sable Island. The Miꞌkmaq declared "the Lands are [ours] and [we] can make War and peace when [we] please". The Wabanaki Confederacy did not fight under the leadership of a commander, but nevertheless implemented a strategy that was aimed to clear their land of intruders. Between 1722 and 1724 the Penobscot attacked Fort St. George four times, the Wabanakis attacked British colonial settlements along Kennebec River, while western Maine was attacked by the Pigwacket and the Amarascoggin. The Wabanaki Confederacy destroyed the Brunswick settlement as well as other British colonial settlements on the banks of the Androscoggin River.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Prior to the Expulsion of the Acadians (1755–1764), the Acadians living in Nova Scotia largely refused to swear allegiance to the British Crown. When the Acadians in 1755 again refused to swear allegiance to the Crown, about 6,000 were deported to British North America, France and Louisiana. Quebec was taken by the British in 1759 and the French government effectively lost all influence in North America.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The French were defeated by the British in 1753. The British colonial authorities marginalised Indigenous people as a matter of policy, because the Mi'kmaq had supported the French. 13,000 French settlers were evicted by the British and the land was occupied by settlers from New England, Britain and other European countries, including Ireland and Germany.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: After 1783 and the end of the American Revolutionary War, Black Loyalists, freedmen from the British North American colonies, were resettled by the British in this historical territory. They had promised slaves freedom if they left their Patriot masters and joined the British. Three thousand freedmen were evacuated to Nova Scotia by British ships from the colonies after the war.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Oppressive policies instituted by successive colonial and federal administrations against the Acadians, Black Canadians and Mi'kmaq people tended to force these peoples together as allies of necessity. Some white and black parents left their children behind in reserves to be raised according to Wabanaki culture, even as late as the 1970s. The colonial government declared the Wabanaki Confederacy forcibly disbanded in 1862. However the five Wabanaki nations still exist, continued to meet, and the Confederacy was formally re-established in 1993.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: The Wabanaki Confederacy gathering was revived in 1993. The first reconstituted confederacy conference in contemporary time was developed and proposed by Claude Aubin and Beaver Paul and hosted by the Mi'kmaq community of Listuguj under the leadership of Chief Brenda Gideon Miller. The sacred Council Fire was lit again, and embers from the fire have been kept burning continually since then. The revival of the Wabanaki Confederacy brought together the Passamaquoddy Nation, Penobscot Nation, Maliseet Nation, the Miꞌkmaq Nation, and the Abenaki Nation. Following the 2010 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the member nations began to re-assert their treaty rights, and the Wabanaki leadership emphasized the continuing role of the Confederacy in protecting natural capital.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: There were meetings amongst allies, a "Water Convergence Ceremony" in May 2013, with Algonquin grandmothers in August 2013 supported by Kairos Canada, and with other Indigenous groups.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Alma Brooks represented the Confederacy at the June 2014 UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She discussed the Wabanaki/Wolostoq position on the Energy East pipeline. Opposition to its construction has been a catalyst for organizing:


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: "On May 30 [2015], residents of Saint John will join others in Atlantic Canada, including Indigenous people from the Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet), Passamaquoddy and Mi'kmaq, to march to the end of the proposed pipeline and draw a line in the sand." This was widely publicized.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: These and other preparatory meetings set an agenda for the August 19–22, 2015, meeting which produced the promised Grandmothers' Declaration "adopted unanimously at N'dakinna (Shelburne, Vermont) on August 21, 2015". The Declaration included mention of:


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: On October 15, 2015, Alma Brooks spoke to the New Brunswick Hydrofracturing Commission, applying the Declaration to current provincial industrial practices:


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Since the 1990s, members of The Penobscot nation and other members of the Wabanaki Confederacy gather at The Pines on Father Ralse Road in Madison at the former Nanrantsouak village to remember and honor ancestors massacred by the British on August 22, 1724. A ceremony takes place and afterward a traditional Wabanaki meal of roasted corn, salmon, baked beans or moose stew is eaten. The tradition was begun by Barry Dana during an overnight sacred run. The ceremony began as a private Wabanaki remembrance but now the public is welcome to educate about this history.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Members of the Wabanaki Confederacy are recognized for their fine art basket making. Well-known Wabanaki basket makers Molly Neptune Parker, Clara Neptune Keezer, and Fred Tomah have been recognized for their art. Parker's grandchild Geo Soctomah Neptune is also a nationally-recognized basket artist who is two-spirit and was featured in "Vogue" magazine in 2022 for their style and earring collection. Gabriel Frey received the Best in Class award in the Basketry category at the 2021 Santa Fe Indian Market.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Wabanaki cuisine, like other Indigenous cuisine, is based on what can be grown and hunted locally. Corn, beans, squash, fresh-water fish, salt-water fish, moose, and white tailed deer are common foods. Maple syrup, wild blueberries, ground cherries, ground nuts, and sunchokes are also incorporated into many dishes. Wabanaki people traditionally made milks, butters, and infant formula from walnuts, cornmeal, and sunflower seeds for centuries before colonizers arrived.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Wabanaki dishes include roasted parched sweet corn, hickorynut and hull corn salad, roasted groundnuts, cranberry sauce, grilled whitefish, Abenaki rose cornmeal pudding, pemmican made from ground fruits, nuts, and berries, Three Sisters soup, dandelion greens, fiddlehead salad, creamy sorrel and fiddlehead soup, clams with sunchokes, m8wikisoak stew, hazelnut cakes, salmon burgers, and maple syrup pie.


title: Wabanaki Confederacy

text: Maps showing the approximate locations of areas occupied by members of the Wabanaki Confederacy (from north to south):


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Iran–Israel relations can be divided into four major phases: the ambivalent period from 1947 to 1953, the friendly period during the era of the Pahlavi dynasty from 1953 to 1979, the worsening period following the Iranian Revolution from 1979 to 1990, and the ongoing period of open hostility since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. In 1947, Iran was among 13 countries that voted against the United Nations Partition Plan for the British Mandate of Palestine. Two years later, Iran also voted against Israel's admission to the United Nations.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Nevertheless, Iran was the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel as a sovereign state after Turkey. After the 1953 coup d'état, which reinstalled the pro-Western leader Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as the Shah of Iran, relations between the two countries significantly improved.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran severed all diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel, and its theocratic government does not recognize the legitimacy of Israel as a state. The turn from cold peace to open hostility began in the early 1990s, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the defeat of Iraq in the Gulf War, after which relative power in the Middle East shifted towards Iran and Israel. The conflict escalated in the early 1990s, as Yitzhak Rabin's government adopted a more aggressive posture on Iran. Rhetorical conflict heated up during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who made inflammatory statements against Israel. Other factors that have contributed to the escalation of bilateral tensions include Iran's development of nuclear technology relative to Israel's long-stated Begin Doctrine, Iran's funding of Islamist groups such as Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, as well as alleged involvement in terrorist attacks such as the 1992 attack on Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 AMIA bombing, and Israel's alleged support for militant groups such as the People's Mujahedin of Iran and Jundallah as well as alleged covert Israeli operations in Iran including multiple assassinations and bombings. Since 1985, Iran and Israel have been engaged in an ongoing proxy conflict that has greatly affected the geopolitics of the Middle East, and has included direct military confrontations between Iranian and Israeli organizations, such as in the 2006 Lebanon War.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: The beginnings of Jewish history in Iran dates from late Biblical times. The biblical books of Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles, and Esther contain references to the life and experiences of Jews in Persia. In the book of Ezra, the Persian king Cyrus the Great is credited with permitting and enabling the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple; its reconstruction was carried out "according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia" (Ezra 6:14). This is said to have taken place in the late sixth century BC, by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia. Persian Jews have lived in the territories of today's Iran for over 2,700 years, since the first Jewish diaspora when Shalmaneser V conquered the (Northern) Kingdom of Israel (722 BC) and sent the Israelites into captivity at Khorasan. In 586 BC, the Babylonians expelled large populations of Jews from Judea to the Babylonian captivity. Jews who migrated to ancient Persia mostly lived in their own communities.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: The Jewish Bible's Ketuvim ends in Second Chronicles with the decree of Cyrus, which returned the exiles to the Promised Land from Babylon along with a commission to rebuild the temple.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: 'Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth hath Yahweh, the God of heaven, given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all His people—may Yahweh, his God, be with him—let him go there.' (2 Chronicles 36:23)


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: "In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: 'Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the temple, the place where sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt and let its foundations be retained, its height being 60 cubits and its width 60 cubits; with three layers of huge stones and one layer of timbers. And let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. Also let the gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be returned and brought to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; and you shall put them in the house of God.' (Ezra 6:3–5)


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: As a result of Cyrus's policies, the Jews honored him as a dignified and righteous king. However, there is no evidence that the declaration reflected a unique attitude towards Jews. Rather, it may have been part of his renowned tolerance towards the cultures and religions of the people under his rule. The historical nature of this decree has been challenged. Professor Lester L Grabbe argues that there was no decree but that there was a policy that allowed exiles to return to their homelands and rebuild their temples. He also argues that the archaeology suggests that the return was a "trickle", taking place over perhaps decades, resulting in a maximum population of perhaps 30,000. Philip R. Davies called the authenticity of the decree "dubious", citing Grabbe and adding that J. Briend argued against "the authenticity of Ezra 1.1–4 is J. Briend, in a paper given at the Institut Catholique de Paris on 15 December 1993, who denies that it resembles the form of an official document but reflects rather biblical prophetic idiom."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Mary Joan Winn Leith believes that the decree in Ezra might be authentic and along with the Cylinder that Cyrus, like earlier rules, was through these decrees trying to gain support from those who might be strategically important, particularly those close to Egypt which he wished to conquer. He also wrote that "appeals to Marduk in the cylinder and to Yahweh in the biblical decree demonstrate the Persian tendency to co-opt local religious and political traditions in the interest of imperial control."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: According to the Bible, Cyrus ordered rebuilding the Second Temple in the same place as the first; however, he died before it was completed. Darius the Great came to power in the Persian empire and ordered the completion of the temple. According to the Bible, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah urged this work. The temple was ready for consecration in the spring of 515 BCE, more than twenty years after the Jews' return to Jerusalem.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: According to the Book of Esther, during the reign of Persian King Ahasuerus, generally identified as Xerxes the Great (son of Darius the Great) in 6th century BCE, the vizier Haman instigated a plot to kill all the Jews of ancient Persia. The plot was thwarted by Queen Esther who ordered the hanging of Haman and his ten sons. This event is celebrated as the holiday of Purim.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In 1947, Iran was one of the 11 members that formed the Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) charged to investigate the cause of the conflict in Palestine Mandate, and, if possible, devise a solution. After much deliberation the committee presented a Partition Plan for Palestine, which had the support of 8 of the 11 members of UNSCOP. Iran along with India and Yugoslavia opposed the plan, predicting it would lead to an escalation of violence. Arguing that peace could only be established through a single federal state, Iran voted against the partition plan when it was adopted by the UN General Assembly. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi predicted that the partition would lead to generations of fighting.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: After the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948, Israel and Iran maintained close ties. Iran was the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel as a sovereign state after Turkey. Israel viewed Iran as a natural ally as a non-Arab power on the edge of the Arab world, in accordance with David Ben Gurion's concept of an alliance of the periphery. Israel had a permanent delegation in Tehran which served as a "de facto" embassy, before Ambassadors were exchanged in the late 1970s.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: After the Six-Day War, Iran supplied Israel with a significant portion of its oil needs and Iranian oil was shipped to European markets via the joint Israeli-Iranian Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline. Trade between the countries was brisk, with Israeli construction firms and engineers active in Iran. El Al, the Israeli national airline, operated direct flights between Tel Aviv and Tehran. Iranian-Israeli military links and projects were kept secret, but they are believed to have been wide-ranging, for example the joint military project Project Flower (1977–79), an Iranian-Israeli attempt to develop a new missile.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: As at 1979, Israel owed about a billion dollars to Iran for business conducted before the Iranian revolution. Some of the debt arose from oil purchased by Israel, and a larger amount from the operation of the Trans-Israel oil pipeline and associated port facilities, which were a joint venture between Israeli companies and the National Iranian Oil Company. Israel decided against paying the debt at a meeting in 1979 and granted legal indemnity to Israeli companies which owed it. At least one Israeli bank account is known to hold $250 million owed to Iran.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Since the 1980s, Iran has been suing in the European courts for payment of the debts and has won several cases. However, payment of the debts is legally complicated by the international sanctions against Iran and by the fact that Israel classifies Iran as an enemy state. In May 2015, a Swiss court ordered the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company to pay $1.1 billion to Iran, which Israel refuses to do.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Following the Iranian Revolution and the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979, Iran adopted a sharp anti-Israel stance. Iran cut off all official relations with Israel; official statements, state institutes, and events. Iran ceased to accept Israeli passports, and the holders of Iranian passports were banned from travelling to "the occupied Palestine"’. The Israeli Embassy in Tehran was closed and handed over to the PLO. Ayatollah Khomeini declared Israel an "enemy of Islam" and the "Little Satan". The United States was called the "Great Satan" while the Soviet Union was called the "Lesser Satan".


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: According to Trita Parsi, Iran's strategic imperatives compelled the Khomeini government to maintain clandestine ties to Israel, while hope that the periphery doctrine could be resurrected motivated the Jewish State's assistance to Iran. However, at the same time, Iran provided support for Islamist-Shia Lebanese parties, helping to consolidate them into a single political and military organization, Hezbollah, and providing them the ideological indoctrination, military training and equipment to attack Israeli and American targets.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Israel sold Iran US$75 million worth of arms from stocks of Israel Military Industries, Israel Aircraft Industries and Israel Defense Forces stockpiles, in their Operation Seashell in 1981. Material included 150 M-40 antitank guns with 24,000 shells for each gun, spare parts for tank and aircraft engines, 106 mm, 130 mm, 203 mm and 175 mm shells and TOW missiles. This material was transported first by air by Argentine airline Transporte Aéreo Rioplatense and then by ship. The same year Israel provided active military support against Iraq by destroying the "Osirak" nuclear reactor near Baghdad, which the Iranians themselves had previously targeted, but the doctrine established by the attack would increase potential conflict in future years.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Arms sales to Iran that totaled an estimated $500 million from 1981 to 1983 according to the Jafe Institute for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University. Most of it was paid for by Iranian oil delivered to Israel. "According to Ahmad Haidari, "an Iranian arms dealer working for the Khomeini government, roughly 80% of the weaponry bought by Tehran" immediately after the onset of the war originated in Israel.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: According to Mark Phythian, the fact "that the Iranian air force could function at all" after Iraq's initial attack and "was able to undertake a number of sorties over Baghdad and strike at strategic installations" was "at least partly due to the decision of the Reagan administration to allow Israel to channel arms of US origin to Iran to prevent an easy and early Iraqi victory."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Despite all the speeches of Iranian leaders and the denunciation of Israel at Friday prayers, there were never less than around one hundred Israeli advisers and technicians in Iran at any time throughout the war, living in a carefully guarded and secluded camp just north of Tehran, where they remained even after the ceasefire.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Israeli sales also included spare parts for U.S.-made F-4 Phantom jets. Ariel Sharon believed it was important to "leave a small window open" to the possibility of good relations with Iran in the future.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In December 2000, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Israel a "cancerous tumour" that should be removed from the region. In 2005, he emphasized that "Palestine belongs to Palestinians, and the fate of Palestine should also be determined by the Palestinian people". In 2005 Khamenei clarified Iran's position after an international furor erupted over a remark attributed to President Ahmadinejad according to which Israel should be "wiped off the map" by saying that "the Islamic Republic has never threatened and will never threaten any country."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 15 August 2012, during a meeting with veterans of the Iran–Iraq War, Khamenei said that he was confident that "the fake Zionist (regime) will disappear from the landscape of geography." In addition, on 19 August, Khamenei reiterated comments made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which members of the international community, including the United States, France, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned, during which he called Israel a "cancerous tumour in the heart of the Islamic world" and said that its existence is responsible for many problems facing the Muslim world.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Under reformist Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, elected in 1997, some believed Iran–Israel relations would improve. Khatami called Israel an "illegal state" and a "parasite," but also said in 1999 Jews would be "safe in Iran" and all religious minorities would be protected. A report indicates that Iran tried in 2003 to initiate a rapprochement with Israel by recognizing its existence in a proposal to the United States. The report claims that Iran's peace proposal with Israel was not accepted by the United States. In January 2004, Khatami spoke to an Israeli reporter who asked him on what grounds Iran would recognize Israel. This was believed to be the first time he had spoken publicly with an Israeli. At the funeral of Pope John Paul II in April 2005, Khatami was seated close to the Iranian-born Israeli President Moshe Katsav, who is from the same province, the Yazd Province, as Khatami. Katsav said that he shook Khatami's hand and the two had a brief conversation about Iran. However, Khatami denied this.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: The election of Mahmud Ahmedinijiad, a hardliner of Iranian politics, relations with Israel became increasingly strained as the countries engaged in a series of proxy conflicts and covert operations against each other.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: During the 2006 Lebanon War, Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) were believed to have directly assisted Hezbollah fighters in their attacks on Israel. Multiple sources suggested that hundreds of IRGC operatives participated in firing rockets into Israel, and secured Hezbollah's long-range missiles. IRGC operatives were allegedly seen operating openly at Hezbollah outposts during the war. In addition, IRGC operatives were alleged to have supervised Hezbollah's attack on the INS "Hanit" with a C-802 anti-ship missile. The attack severely damaged the warship and killed four crewmen. It is alleged that between six and nine IRGC operatives were killed by the Israeli military during the war. According to the Israeli media their bodies were transferred to Syria and from there, flown to Tehran.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: During and immediately after the Gaza War, the Israeli Air Force, with the assistance of Israeli commandos, was reported to have carried out three airstrikes in Sudan against Iranian arms being smuggled to Hamas through Sudan, as Iran launched an intensive effort to supply Hamas with weapons and ammunition. Israel hinted that it was behind the attacks. Two truck convoys were destroyed, and an arms-laden ship was sunk in the Red Sea. On 4 November 2009, Israel captured a ship in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and its cargo of hundreds of tons of weapons allegedly bound from Iran to Hezbollah.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In 2010, a wave of assassinations targeting Iranian nuclear scientists began. The assassinations were widely believed to be the work of Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service. According to Iran and global media sources, the methods used to kill the scientists is reminiscent of the way Mossad had previously assassinated targets. The assassinations were alleged to be an attempt to stop Iran's nuclear program, or to ensure that it cannot recover following a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. In the first attack, particle physicist Masoud Alimohammadi was killed on 12 January 2010 when a booby-trapped motorcycle parked near his car exploded. On 12 October 2010, an explosion occurred at an IRGC military base near the city of Khorramabad, killing 18 soldiers. On 29 November 2010, two senior Iranian nuclear scientists, Majid Shahriari and Fereydoon Abbasi, were targeted by hitmen on motorcycles, who attached bombs to their cars and detonated them from a distance. Shahriari was killed, while Abbasi was severely wounded. On 23 July 2011, Darioush Rezaeinejad was shot dead in eastern Tehran. On 11 January 2012, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan and his driver were killed by a bomb attached to their car from a motorcycle.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In June 2010, Stuxnet, an advanced computer worm, was discovered. It is believed that it had been developed by US and Israel to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. In a study conducted by Institute for Science and International Security it is estimated that Stuxnet might have damaged as many as 1,000 centrifuges (10% of all installed) in the Natanz enrichment plant. Other computer viruses and malware, including Duqu and Flame, were reportedly related to Stuxnet. Iran claims that its adversaries regularly engineer sales of faulty equipment and attacks by computer viruses to sabotage its nuclear program.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 15 March 2011, Israel seized a ship from Syria bringing Iranian weapons to Gaza. In addition, the Mossad was also suspected of being responsible for an explosion that reportedly damaged the nuclear facility at Isfahan. Iran denied that any explosion had occurred, but "The Times" reported damage to the nuclear plant based on satellite images, and quoted Israeli intelligence sources as saying that the blast indeed targeted a nuclear site, and was "no accident". Hours after the blast took place, Hezbollah fired two rockets into northern Israel, causing property damage. The Israel Defense Forces reacted by firing four artillery shells at the area from where the launch originated. It was speculated that the attack was ordered by Iran and Syria as a warning to Israel. The Israeli attack was reported to have killed 7 people, including foreign nationals. Another 12 people were injured, of whom 7 later died in hospital. The Mossad was also suspected of being behind an explosion at a Revolutionary Guard missile base in November 2011. The blast killed 17 Revolutionary Guard operatives, including General Hassan Moqaddam, described as a key figure in Iran's missile program. Israeli journalist Ron Ben-Yishai wrote that several lower-ranked Iranian missile experts had probably been previously killed in several explosions at various sites.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In response to Israeli covert operations, Iranian agents reportedly began trying to hit Israeli and Jewish targets; potential targets were then placed on high alert. Yoram Cohen, the head of Shin Bet, claimed that three planned attacks in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Thailand were thwarted at the last minute. On 11 October 2011, the United States claimed to have foiled an alleged Iranian plot that included bombing the Israeli and Saudi embassies in Washington DC and Buenos Aires. On 13 February 2012, Israeli embassy staff in Georgia and India were targeted. In Georgia, a car bomb failed to explode near the embassy and was safely detonated by Georgian police. In India, the car bomb exploded, injuring four people. Amongst the wounded was the wife of an Israeli Defense Ministry employee. Israel accused Iran of being behind the attacks. The following day, three alleged Iranian agents were uncovered in Bangkok, Thailand, thought to have been planning to kill Israeli diplomatic officials, including the ambassador, by attaching bombs to embassy cars. The cell was uncovered when one of their bombs exploded. Police responded, and the Iranian agent present at the house threw an explosive device at officers that tore his legs off, and was subsequently taken into custody. A second suspect was arrested as he tried to catch a flight out of the country, and the third escaped to Malaysia, where he was arrested by Malaysian Federal Police. Thai police subsequently arrested two people suspected of involvement. Indian police arrested a Delhi-based journalist in connection with February's car bomb, which injured four Israelis including the wife of an Israeli diplomat. Syed Mohammed Kazmi the journalist was arrested on 6 March 2012, he is said to have been in contact with a suspect police believe might have stuck a magnetic bomb to the diplomat's car. It is said Kazmi was an Indian citizen who worked for an Iranian publication.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In late February 2012, WikiLeaks published confidential emails from Stratfor, a US-based private intelligence company, which were stolen by the hacking group Anonymous. Among the information released was a claim that Israeli commandos, in collaboration with Kurdish fighters, destroyed several underground Iranian facilities used for nuclear and defense research projects. According to a "New Yorker" report, members of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq received training in the U.S. and Israeli funding for their operations against the Iranian government.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 18 July 2012, a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria was destroyed in a bombing attack that killed five Israeli tourists and the driver, and injured 32 people. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran and Hezbollah for the attack. In July 2012, a senior Israeli defense official stated that since May 2011, more than 20 terrorist attacks planned by Iran and Hezbollah against Israeli targets worldwide had been foiled, including in South Africa, Azerbaijan, Kenya, Turkey, Thailand, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Nepal, and Nigeria, and that Iranian and Hezbollah operatives were incarcerated in jails throughout the world.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 6 October 2012, Israeli airplanes shot down a small drone as it flew over northern Negev. Hezbollah confirmed it sent the drone and Nasrallah said in a televised speech that the drone's parts were manufactured in Iran. On 24 October 2012, Sudan claimed that Israel had bombed a munitions factory, allegedly belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, south of Khartoum. In November 2012, Israel reported that an Iranian ship was being loaded with rockets to be exported to countries within range of Israel and that Israel "will attack and destroy any shipment of arms". In January 2013, the Fordo nuclear plant was hit by an explosion. Iranian officials suspected Mossad or CIA were responsible. On 25 April 2013, Israeli aircraft shot down a drone off the coast of Haifa, allegedly belonging to Hezbollah.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 30 January 2013, Israeli aircraft allegedly struck a Syrian convoy transporting Iranian weapons to Hezbollah. Other sources stated the targeted site was a military research center in Jamraya responsible for developing biological and chemical weapons. Two additional air strikes reportedly took place on 3 and 5 May 2013. Both targeted long-ranged weapons sent from Iran to Hezbollah. According to anonymous US officials, Israel launched another airstrike or cruise missile attack on 5 July. It targeted Russian-made Yakhont anti-ship missiles near the city of Latakia, and killed several Syrian troops.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 7 May 2013, residents of Tehran reported hearing three blasts in an area where Iran maintains its missile research and depots. Later, an Iranian website said the blasts occurred at a privately owned chemical factory.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Several incidents have taken place on the Israeli–Syrian ceasefire line during the Syrian civil war, straining the Iran–Israel relations. The incidents are considered a spillover of the Quneitra Governorate clashes since 2012 and later incidents between Iran-supported Syrian Arab Army and the rebels, ongoing on the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan and the Golan Neutral Zone and the Hezbollah.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Since the onset of the Syrian War, the Israeli military is reportedly preparing itself for potential threats should there be a power vacuum in Syria. "After Assad and after establishing or strengthening their foothold in Syria they are going to move and deflect their effort and attack Israel," an Israeli official told The Associated Press in January 2014. Some experts say that while the encroaching militant forces on Israel's border will heighten security measures, the advancements are not likely to create significant changes to Israel's policy disengagement in the Syria crisis. IAF has been suspected of a number of airstrikes on Syrian soil, allegedly targeting Iranian and Hezbollah targets.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: According to the Israeli military, since 2017 it has carried out over 400 airstrikes in Syria (and other areas in the Middle East) targeting Iran and its allies.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: A court in Jerusalem has sentenced an Israeli man, Yitzhak Bergel to four-and-a-half years in prison for offering to spy for Iran. Bergel belongs to the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect which is vehemently opposed to the State of Israel's existence.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 5 March 2014, the Israeli navy intercepted the Klos-C cargo ship. Israel stated Iran was using the vessel to smuggle dozens of long-range rockets to Gaza, including Syrian-manufactured M-302 rockets. The operation, named "Full Disclosure" and carried out by Shayetet 13 special forces, took place in the Red Sea, 1,500 kilometers away from Israel and some 160 kilometers from Port Sudan.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 6 May 2014, it was reported that a blast shook the Iranian city of Qazvin. "Los Angeles Times" reported that the city might be home to a secret nuclear facility.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Iranian state media reported that on 24 August 2014, IRGC had shot down an Israeli drone near Natanz fuel enrichment plant. Israeli military did not comment on the reports.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Two workers were killed in an explosion that took place at a military explosives factory southeast of Tehran, near the suspected nuclear reactor in Parchin. In what was claimed by a Kuwaiti newspaper to be a response ordered by Iran, Hezbollah set off an explosive device on the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-controlled side of the Shebaa farms, wounding two Israeli soldiers. Israel responded with artillery fire toward two Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In April 2022, President Ebrahim Raisi declared in the speech for military parade that "Iran's armed forces will target Israel's heart if it makes 'the slightest move'".


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In May 2022, Colonel Sayad Khodayee was killed outside his home in Tehran by two gunmen on motorcycles. Iran blamed Israel for this. The spokeswoman of the Israeli prime minister refuse to "comment on the killing". But an unnamed intelligence official of Israel reported to NYT that Israel was responsible for the killing.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: As NYT reported, Iran accused Israel of killing two Iranian scientists by "poisoning their food", according to an Iranian official who did not want to be named. The two scientists were Ayoub Entezari, an aeronautical engineer who worked for a military research center, and Kamran Aghamolaei, a geologist. Israeli media and Persian news channels abroad claimed that "Mr. Aghamolaei worked at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility".


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in office from August 2005 to August 2013, at the October 2005 "World Without Zionism" conference in Tehran adopted a sharp anti-Zionist stance. On 8 December 2005, during a summit of Muslim nations in Islam's holy city of Mecca, Ahmadinejad told Iran's Arabic channel Al-Alam a complicated story on the Holocaust and the establishment of Israel. Since then, the Iranian president has made statements pertaining to these topics.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In April 2006, CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer interviewed Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's Permanent Representative to the IAEA, who said, in regards to whether there should be a state of Israel, "I think I've already answered to you. If Israel is a synonym and will give the indication of Zionism mentality, no. But if you are going to conclude that we have said the people there have to be removed or we [said] they have to be massacred or so, this is fabricated, unfortunate selective approach to what the mentality and policy of Islamic Republic of Iran is."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In a speech at a tourism convention in Tehran in July 2008, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Vice President and Head of Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran, proclaimed, "No nation in the world is our enemy, Iran is a friend of the nation in the United States and in Israel, and this is an honor. We view the American nation as one with the greatest nations of the world." He also added that Iran "wants no war with any country," insisting that Iran's actions during the Iran–Iraq War were purely defensive.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Hard-liners close to the government harshly attacked Mashaei's remarks. President Ahmadinejad, however, defended Mashaei and spoke in his favor. At a news conference, he said, "The Iranian nation never recognized Israel and will never ever recognize it. But we feel pity for those who have been deceived or smuggled into Israel to be oppressed citizens in Israel."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: The issue prompted Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei to "spell an end to the debates" on Israel. During a Friday sermon in Tehran, he stated, "It is incorrect, irrational, pointless and nonsensical to say that we are friends with the Israeli people... we are on a collision course with the occupiers of Palestine and the occupiers are the Zionist regime. This is the position of our regime, our revolution and our people."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In August 2012, a senior cleric and Tehran's provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, speaking about Qods Day, called for the annihilation of the "Zionist regime," emphasizing that the spread of the "Islamic Awakening" in the Middle East "heralds annihilation of the Zionist regime."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In August 2012, Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, who heads Iran's Passive Defense Organization, said ahead of Al-Quds Day that Israel must be destroyed, saying, "[Al-Quds Day] is a reflection of the fact that no other way exists apart from resolve and strength to completely eliminate the aggressive nature and to destroy Israel." Jalali added that the Muslim world is required to support the "oppressed people of Palestine" against "the Zionist usurpers" and that the Islamic Revolution was a "beacon of light." Jalali also said that the "Islamic front in Syria" had strengthened.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In response to these remarks, an Israeli government official said that these remarks were a "reaffirmation of what we continually hear from the Iranian leadership" and that Israel was taking the Iranian threat seriously. The official said that the continual announcement of these remarks show how Iran's leaders believes in them, and that Iran's leadership must end these comments to reduce international pressure.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 22 September 2012, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, said that eventually a war with Israel would soon break out, during which Iran would eradicate Israel, which he referred to as a "cancerous tumour".


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: After the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, most oil companies left Iran and the Iranian government had major difficulties selling oil in the international markets. In the meantime, Marc Rich, an Israeli-Swiss businessman with international ties, entered Iran through his Glencore company headquartered in Switzerland. Rich ignored US and international sanctions on Iran and became the major trader of Iranian oil for 15 years. He claimed that the oil he bought from Iran was shipped to Israel and both countries were aware of this transaction. Rich provided the Iranian government with weapons and missiles through the Iran–Iraq War. For his actions, United States government found him guilty of more than 65 counts of criminal offenses including money laundering and violating Iran sanctions. Rich was on FBI most wanted fugitives for many years, until President Bill Clinton pardoned him on the last day of his office in 2001. This pardon was very controversial and Clinton later regretted this act in his memoirs. There have been reports that former Mossad heads, Avner Azulay and Shabtai Shavit both personally wrote to Clinton arguing for Rich's pardon. Furthermore, Rich's first wife, Denise Rich (née Eisenberg) personally donated more than 1 million dollars to Clinton charities.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In 1998, the "Seattle Times" reported that pistachio makers in California were unhappy about the fact that Israel imported most of its pistachio from Iran. The head of Iran-China economic room, Asadollah Asgaroladi said in the article that such transactions are easily possible. Based on the article Israel imports only a quarter of pistachios from US and about half of its pistachios from Britain and Germany, whereas these two countries are not producers of pistachio at all and the source is very likely to be from Iran. Furthermore, in 1998 Israeli government punished the Hamama Brothers Co. for illegally importing 105 tonnes of pistachio from Iran. Israeli newspaper Ynet reported in 2007 that US government once again asked the Israeli government to stop importing pistachios from Iran. In 2008 US ambassador to Israel, Richard H. Jones wrote a letter to Israel's finance minister Ronnie Bar-on demanding Israel to stop importing Iranian pistachios from Turkey. Similar reports have been published by Haaretz.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In 1998, Israeli businessman Nahum Manbar was sentenced to 16 years in prison in Israel for doing business with Tehran, and in the course of the investigation, "hundreds of companies" were found to have illegal business dealings with Iran. The fall-out reached the United States as some transactions were alleged to have been part of the Iran–Contra affair. A controversy over Israeli-Iranian business links erupted in mid-2011. Israeli company Ofer Brothers Group was subject to U.S. sanctions after it was revealed that it sold ships to Iran via a third party, and that its ships also docked at Iranian ports. However US government cleared Ofer Brothers Group from the list three months later. In 2006 Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" reported the Israeli refinery Paz reportedly purchases crude oil coming from Iran. The article reported that the oil from Iran arrives to Israel through a port in Rotterdam. Another article in "Haaretz" in the same year reported that the Israeli energy minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer said: "Every attempted contact with an enemy state that serves Israeli business and economic interests, strengthens the stability of the region." And the Israeli foreign ministry said that it was not their business to look into the sources of oil.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: "Ynet" reported that Israeli–Iranian trade, conducted covertly and illegally by dozens of Israeli companies, totals tens of millions of dollars a year. Much of this trade is conducted through a third country. Israel supplies Iran with fertilizer, irrigation pipes, hormones for milk production, seeds, and fruit; Iran, meanwhile, provides Israel with marble, cashews, and pistachios. Based on the same report in November 2000, the Iranian government asked an Israeli company, which built Tehran's sewage pipes 30 years earlier, to visit the country for renovations. Shortly afterwards, the assistant director-general of Iran's Ministry of Agriculture visited Israel secretly and stayed at the Tel Aviv Hilton Hotel. He expressed an interest in purchasing irrigation pipes, pesticides and fertilizers.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In April 2009 a large batch of oranges carrying stickers of an Israeli company were distributed in the Iranian market. Based on the investigations the oranges were imported from Dubai. In December 2011 Bloomberg reported that most of the filtering equipment currently in use in Iran were bought from an Israeli company called Allot Communications. The system called NetEnforcer allows the government to monitor any device that is connected to the internet. The devices were shipped to Denmark, where the original packaging was removed and replaced with fake labels. Al-Monitor reported in 2013 that the Iranian government asked Israeli experts to visit the earthquake stricken areas in the province of Sistan in 2006. Based on the report the Israeli experts spent the passover of 2006 in Iran.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: "The Observer" estimated that Israel's arms sales to Iran during the Iran–Iraq War totaled US$500 million annually, and "Time" reported that throughout 1981 and 1982, "the Israelis reportedly set up Swiss bank accounts to handle the financial end of the deals."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: According to the report of the U.S. Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran–Contra affair issued in November 1987, "the sale of U.S. arms to Iran through Israel began in the summer of 1985, after receiving the approval of President Reagan." These sales included "2,008 TOW missiles and 235 parts kits for Hawk missiles had been sent to Iran via Israel." Further shipments of up to US$2 billion of American weapons from Israel to Iran consisting of 18 F-4 fighter-bombers, 46 Skyhawk fighter-bombers, and nearly 4,000 missiles were foiled by the U.S. Department of Justice, and "unverified reports alleged that Israel agreed to sell Iran Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, radar equipment, mortar and machinegun ammunition, field telephones, M-60 tank engines and artillery shells, and spare parts for C-130 transport planes." Israeli arms deals to Iran continued after the Iran–Iraq War, although sporadically and unofficially.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Iran provides political and financial support and weapons to Hamas, an organization committed to the destruction of Israel by Jihad. According to Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, "Hamas is funded by Iran. It claims it is financed by donations, but the donations are nothing like what it receives from Iran."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Iran has also provided support to Hezbollah, another enemy of Israel, with substantial amounts of funding, training, weapons, explosives, political, diplomatic, and organizational aid while persuading Hezbollah to take an action against Israel. Hezbollah's 1985 manifesto listed its four main goals as "Israel's final departure from Lebanon as a prelude to its final obliteration" According to reports released in February 2010, Hezbollah received $400 million from Iran.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: The nuclear program of Iran with its potential to develop nuclear weapons, together with the anti-Israel rhetoric of the President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his desire for "the regime occupying Jerusalem" to "vanish from the pages of time," has led many Israelis to expect an eventual attack from Iran.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In May 2012, Iran's Military Chief of Staff declared: "The Iranian nation is standing for its cause and that is the full annihilation of Israel."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In August 2012, Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, who heads Iran's Passive Defense Organization, said ahead of Al-Quds Day that Israel must be destroyed, saying, "[Al-Quds Day] is a reflection of the fact that no other way exists apart from resolve and strength to completely eliminate the aggressive nature and to destroy Israel."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Iran's repeated threats against Israel, particularly in 2012, led Canada, a close ally of Israel, to close its embassy in Iran on 7 September 2012, and giving Iranian diplomats 5 days to leave Canada.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 21 September 2012, at a military parade in Iran to mark the beginning of the Iran–Iraq War, and in which a new air defense system was unveiled, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the Iranian air force chief, said that should a conflict between Iran and Israel break out, Israel would "manage the beginning of the war, but the response and end would be in our hands, in which case the Zionist entity would cease to exist. The number of missiles launched would be more than the Zionists could imagine."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 22 September 2012, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, said that eventually a war with Israel would break out, during which Iran would eradicate Israel, which he referred to as a "cancerous tumor."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 23 September 2012, Hajizadeh threatened to attack Israel and trigger World War III, saying that "it is possible that we will make a pre-emptive attack" which would "turn into World War III." In the same statement, Hajizadeh threatened to attack American bases in the Middle East as well. Hajizadeh said that as a result of this attack, Israel would "sustain heavy damage and that will be a prelude to its obliteration." On the same day, Deputy Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Brigadier General Hossein Salami said that while Iran isn't concerned by Israeli "threats" to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, such an attack would be "a historic opportunity for the Islamic Revolution to wipe them off the world's geographic history."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 2 October 2012, Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Shirazi, the representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the Iranian Qods Force, alleged that Iran required only "24 hours and an excuse" in order to eradicate Israel. Shirazi alleged that Israel was "close to annihilation," and allegedly sought to attack Iran out of desperation.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Iran's actions, nuclear program, and threats have been viewed by Dr. Gregory Stanton, the founder and director of Genocide Watch, as having taken 6 out of 8 steps on the "path to genocide." Stanton urged the international community to take action against Iran and to isolate it, in order to "curb its genocidal intent." He said that "one of the best predictors of genocide is incitement to genocide ... and I believe that is exactly what Iran is doing today." Incitement to genocide is a crime under international law. He stressed that it is important not to dismiss "the early signs" as "diabolical rhetoric or as a tactic meant to advance a different goal," and doing so would "enable the perpetrators." Stanton also said that Iran has classified and symbolized Israel via hate speech and an ideology of exclusion, and has dehumanized Israel by portraying potential victim as "cancer" that should be wiped out. In addition, Stanton said that Iran has organized "fanatical militas," such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while stifling dissent in Iranian society. He added that by denying a previous genocide, the Holocaust, by working on weapons of mass destruction, and through global terrorism, Iran has prepared for genocide.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In January 2013, Iran warned that any Israeli attack on Syria would be treated the same as an attack on Iran. After Israel attacked Syria, Iran simply stated that Israel would "regret this recent aggression".


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In March 2015, the commander of the Basij militia of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that "erasing Israel off the map is not negotiable."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In November 2003 a Scottish newspaper claimed that Israel ""warned that it is prepared to take unilateral military action against Iran if the international community fails to stop any development of nuclear weapons at the country's atomic energy facilities."" It cited then Israeli defence minister Shaul Mofaz stating, ""under no circumstances would Israel be able to tolerate nuclear weapons in Iranian possession."" In December 2005, a British newspaper claimed that the Israeli military had been ordered by then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to plan for possible strikes on uranium enrichment sites in Iran in March 2006, based on Israeli intelligence estimates that Iran would be able to build nuclear weapons in two to four years. It was claimed that the special forces command was in the highest stage of readiness for an attack (state "G") in December of the following year. Ariel Sharon reportedly said, "Israel – and not only Israel – cannot accept a nuclear Iran. We have the ability to deal with this and we're making all the necessary preparations to be ready for such a situation." Israeli military Chief of Staff, Dan Halutz, was quoted as responding to the question of how far Israel was ready to go to stop Iran's nuclear energy program with the statement "Two thousand kilometers." Seymour Hersh says U.S. Department of Defense civilians led by Douglas Feith "have been working with Israeli planners and consultants to develop and refine potential nuclear, chemical-weapons, and missile targets inside Iran."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 8 May 2006, then Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said in an interview with Reuters that "the president of Iran should remember that Iran can also be wiped off the map," Army Radio reported. Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, drew unusually stiff criticism from an analyst on Israel's state television, Yoav Limor, for talking of destroying another country. In May 2006, IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz stated that Iran's nuclear facilities can be destroyed, hinting at a possible plan to do just that. In September 2007, Israel repeated its policy concerning the development of nuclear capacity by its potential enemies. Shabtai Shavit, a former chief of the Mossad, said Iranian atomic facilities could be destroyed within a year, but has not ruled out going that direction. Isaac Ben-Israel, a former general of the Israeli Air Force, said an attack could be carried out at any time but only as a last resort. Iran's Shahab-3 missile exercises were conducted in early July demonstrating that Israel was within reach.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: According to "the New York Times", Israel sought help from the United States for a military attack against Iran. Israel reportedly asked for bunker-busting bombs for an attack on Iran's main nuclear complex and for permission to fly over Iraq to reach Iran's major nuclear complex at Natanz. The Bush administration rejected the requests. According to the article, White House officials never conclusively determined whether Israel had decided to go ahead with the strike before the United States protested, or whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel was trying to goad the White House into more decisive action before President Bush left office.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 27 July 2009, Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak during a press conference with Robert Gates, the US Defense Secretary, in Jerusalem, warned Iran that a military strike on its nuclear facilities was still an option: "We clearly believe that no option should be removed from the table. This is our policy; we mean it. We recommend to others to take the same position, but we cannot dictate it to anyone." The same day, Israel's Ambassador to US, Gabriela Shalev, during a special UN Security Council session held to discuss the situation in the Middle East, called Iran the "biggest supporter of terrorism. The Islamic Republic's nuclear program and its support of terrorism pose a threat to the entire Middle East."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In 2010, Gabi Ashkenazi and Meir Dagan balked at Benjamin Netanyahu's preparations for a strike on Iran.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 5 November 2012, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his willingness to mount a unilateral attack on Iran's nuclear facilities even without US support. This conflicts with experts' assessments that US support is needed in the form of the newer GBU-31 bunker busting bombs, which are required to penetrate some of Iran's reinforced nuclear facilities such as the Fordo site. Israel currently only has the GBU-28 bunker busting munitions, which are said to be insufficient. However, with the announcement by Netanyahu being made on the eve of the 2012 Presidential elections, tensions between the two allies are likely to rise.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In 2013, retiring defense minister Ehud Barak said that though it would be very difficult for Israel to operate alone, that Obama had ordered the Pentagon to prepare detailed plans for an American strike on Iran.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: Netanyahu said in September 2013 that President Hassan Rouhani is trying to acquire a nuclear weapon, and that his perception as a moderate makes him a "wolf in sheep's clothing."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In January 2014, during a plenary session at the 9th World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, the President of Israel Shimon Peres said in response to a question about the threat of Iran's nuclear program that "Iran is not an enemy", and there are no historical hostilities between the two countries. In that regard he added: "I don't see a reason to spend so much money in the name of hatred".


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In May 2018, it was revealed that Prime Minister Netanyahu had ordered the Mossad and military in 2011 to prepare for an attack on Iran within 15 days of receiving the order. According to Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, Netanyahu backed off after he and Chief of Staff Benny Gantz questioned Netanyahu's legal right to give such an order without Cabinet approval.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On May 29, 2022, Israeli Prime Minister warned that Iran will not go unpunished for inspiring assaults through its proxies.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On June 27, 2022, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz indicated that Israel will cooperate with world powers to influence any agreement that might result from Iran's nuclear negotiations.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: On 26 May 2006, then Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov reiterated Moscow's commitment to supply Iran with sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles. However Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President of F-35 Program Integration Tom Burbage indicated that once Israel has the F-35 it need not fear the S-300.


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: In June 2008, Israel conducted a major military exercise that American officials speculated might be training for a bombing attack on Iran. A senior Pentagon official said one of the goals of the exercise was to send a clear message to the United States and other countries that Israel was prepared to act militarily: "They wanted us to know, they wanted the Europeans to know, and they wanted the Iranians to know," the Pentagon official said. "There's a lot of signaling going on at different levels."


title: Iran–Israel relations

text: The Bush administration did agree to sell a thousand GBU-39 standoff bunker penetrating bombs to Israel, but a strike against Natanz would require hundreds of these bombs.