Does he think erasing it will, will help him deny it existed??

idiotic despots, probably beginning with the pharoahs of egypt who destroyed likenesses of earlier rulers to cement their place in history, and like the taliban destroying buddhist statues to erase evidence of a superior culture, the ayatollahs of iran will do similar abominations to preserve their version of historical "facts" just like the palestinians who do not allow archeological digs anywhere in jordan or in many places in or near jerusalem. they do not want it known to the western world that they have absolutely no historical claim to the land in dispute. that would be bad for the "kill all the jews" business...