In a tweet on Thursday the White House National Security Council condemned "anti-Semitic rhetoric and threats by Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei against Israel".
"We stand with our friends in Israel and recognize Israel’s absolute right to defend itself," the White House National Security Council declared.
Another tweet that followed quoted President Donald Trump who in March 2019 said: "We will not avert our eyes from the dictatorship that chants ‘Death to America,’ ‘Death to Israel,’ and calls for genocide against the Jewish people. We won’t let them even consider that". The remarks had been made at signing of a presidential proclamation recognizing Israel's sovereign rights over the Golan Heights.
On May 19 the official website of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei published a poster in Persian and English in which the term "final solution" had been used in reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Khamenei's official Twitter account promptly replied when the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "final solution" evokes Nazi slogans, by declaring that "eliminating the Zionist regime doesn’t mean eliminating Jews".
"We aren’t against Jews," the tweet said declared that abolishing Israel means that Muslim, Christian and Jewish Palestinians can choose their own government and "expel thugs like Netanyahu," another tweet by Khamenei said.
On Thursday U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Khamenei's remarks "disgusting and hateful". "They have no place on Twitter or on any other social media platform. We know Khamenei’s vile rhetoric does not represent the Iranian people’s tradition of tolerance," Pompeo said in a tweet that quoted Khamenei's posts.
The Foreign Policy Chief of the European Union Josep Borrell also took to Twitter to condemn the threat against Israel "in the strongest possible terms", calling it a threat to international peace and security.
Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi reacted to the stance taken by the foreign policy chief of the EU on Friday. "Stunning is Europe's captivity to Zionist lobby," he wrote in a tweet.
"Europe has historically failed to stop Zionist regime's violation of International law (i.e. Palestinians' suppression, lands' annexation) committed in the name of Israel's security," he charged and added: "Why afraid of 'referendum' in Palestine as a lasting solution?"
Many Iranian social media users have been criticizing the controversial poster and condemning the use of the "final solution" slogan. Some also say the Islamic Republic must first hold a referendum in Iran to see if the people want to maintain the Islamic system of government.
