Israeli veteran statesman Shimon Peres, responding to the latest verbal attack on the Jewish state by Iran’s president, said on Saturday that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would end up like Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. In a speech to a conference on the Palestinian issue on Friday, Ahmadinejad said: “The Zionist regime is a decaying and crumbling tree that will fall with a storm.”
Peres, in a statement quoted by Israel Radio, called Ahmadinejad’s comments a direct threat to Israel’s existence. “His statements are reminiscent of those voiced by Saddam Hussein. Ahmadinejad will end up like Saddam Hussein,” he said, referring to the Iraqi leader ousted by a US invasion in 2003 and on trial for the killings of 148 Shi’ites two decades ago. “Ahmadinejad represents Satan, not God,” Peres said. “History has denounced the madmen and those who waved the sword.”