"Both Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani and Nateq-Noori have been defeated in the last elections and therefore are not entitled to speak on behalf of the Iranian interests", Mr. Ahmad Zeydabadi, an independent journalist in Tehran close to the now banned Nationalist-religious movement told the Persian service of Radio France Internationale (RFI), commenting the latest anti-Israeli campaign by senior conservatives clerics.

In an address during the Friday sermons at the Tehran University, Hojjatoleslam Ali Akbar Nateq-Noori, the former Speaker of the Iranian Majles, or parliament, said that the existence of Israel was in contradiction of Iranian national interests and the Islamic Republic should resist the survival of the Jewish State".

"As the ruling authorities are accused by the people to place ideology above the national interests, probably Mr. Nateq-Noori had tried to correct that opinion by saying that the existence of Israel was against the national interests of Iran, otherwise, why they (the authorities) do not allow this subject to be debated at national level and with the participation of experts and analysts?", Mr. Zeydabadi argued.

Mr. Nateq-Noori, who is both a member of the leader-appointed Assembly for Discerning Interests of the State (ADIS) and an advisor to the leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, said not only support for Palestine is "Iran's national exigency", but also under Iran's Constitution, support for Muslims and the oppressed is an ideological and national discipline, therefore, Iran’s stance vis-a-vis the Palestinian issue is not merely defence of Palestinian people".

For his part, former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told the worshippers, who were bussed by the revolutionary guards to the university campus, that "the architects of the Zionism-Christianity coalition plan to bring about a big rift in Iran and to make deeper the gap between seminaries and universities".

"They want to alienate the Iranian youth from the revolution and they have of course failed in all their conspiracies", he further said, advising the nation, particularly the youth, to be vigilant and not to show simplistic attitudes towards such sensitive matters.

Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is the Chairman of the powerful ADIS, warned the students who are protesting a death sentence imposed by the Judiciary on Mr. Hashem Aqajari, saying: "God forbid, I do not want to witness any bad and dirty conflicts in the future that would favour and please the enemy, or the Basijis would foil the enemies' hostilities, as they did in recent incidents".

In the opinion of Mr. Zeydabadi, one must not think that what officials like Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani say, is "well calculated and carefully thought". "It is possible that someone has talked to Mr. Rafsanjani about the existence, in the nineteenth century, of a Christian-Zionist phenomena and that he has used that report as an argument against the American pro-Israel radicals", Mr. Zeydabadi explained.

"Qods is a region which lies on the crossroads of the Asian, European and African continents and is of geopolitical and strategic significance, thus Israel was formed to dominate energy resources of the region for the sake of the US and British interests", Mr Nateq-Noori said, confusing, in the one hand, Qods, which in Arabic jargon means Jerusalem, with the entire State of Israel and ignoring that Israel, or former Palestine, had not borders with any oil producing counries in the region and lacked strategic position, on the other.

Iranian ruling conservatives increased their anti-Israel rhetoric after Israeli tourists were attacked near the Kenyan port of Mombassa on Thursday and an Israeli jet liner, with 270 passengers, escaped two anti-aircraft missiles, fired from the Mombassa airport.

"After the Thursday attacks, no Israeli would be in safety anywhere in the world", Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani said in his sermon, echoing an article in the radical daily "Keyhan" urging Muslim revolutionaries to "hit Israeli interests everywhere they can". ENDS IRAN ANTI ISRAELI CAMPAIGN 291102