Special Dispatch - Iran/Arab Antisemitism Documentation Project
January 28, 2005
No. 855

Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial in the Iranian Media

An increase in anti-Semitism and expressions of Holocaust denial has been
recently observed in the Iranian media, including several television drama
series'.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry-affiliated Tehran Times published an op-ed by
columnist Hossein Amiri titled 'Lies of the Holocaust Industry,' released to
coincide with the international commemoration of the liberation of the
Auschwitz concentration camp on January 27. The op-ed denied that the
Holocaust took place, claiming that such large-scale use of gas would have
been impossible, and that the Allies and Zionist leaders "formulated strange
conceptions about the killing of Jews at Nazi camps" and "conjured up images
of gas chambers." It accused Israel and Europe of exploiting the Holocaust
to justify the Palestinians' suffering, and claimed that the "issue of the
Holocaust is only being highlighted to cover up Israel's crimes in
Palestine."

Over the past month, the official Iranian news agency MEHR has published a
series of antisemitic articles, including interviews with two leading
European Holocaust deniers. On December 29, 2004,, Holocaust denier Dr.
Fredrick Toben of the Adelaide Institute in Australia claimed that "the
state of Israel is founded on the 'Holocaust' lie" and that "exposing this
lie" would help "dismantle the Zionist entity." In his interview on December
18, 2004, French Professor Robert Faurisson spoke about the "alleged
'Holocaust' of the Jews."

A review of the movie 'Exodus' by Mojtaba Habibi, in which he accused the
Jews of collaboration with the Nazis and of orchestrating a grand scheme of
world domination together with Joseph Stalin, was also recently published by
MEHR, on December 29, 2004.

Claiming that the Jews are "exploiting a great historic lie called 'the
Holocaust'" in order to expand their influence in Europe another article
published by MEHR discussed the French ban of Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV
channel.

Professor Heshmatollah Qanbari characterized the Jews as a "subversive
element in human history" and as "satanic" and "anti-human" in another
interview, broadcast on Iran's Channel 1 TV on November 11, 2004. The Jews,
according to Qanbari, are "dangerous to both Christians and Muslims," as
well as to monotheism in general. Qanbari characterized the Jews as the
source of "all corrupt traits in humanity" and said that throughout history
they have exhibited expansionist tendencies, coveting and usurping other
nations.

Several antisemitic TV drama series' are currently being aired on Iranian
TV. Two of them, "Zahra's Blue Eyes" and "The People of the Cave", are
Iranian-produced, and a third, 'Al-Shatat,' although Syrian-produced, is
also supported by Iran in that it was originally broadcast by Hizbullah's
Al-Manar TV channel worldwide.

In 'Zahra's Blue Eyes,' airing weekly on the Iranian Sahar TV channel, the
"Zionists" are graphically portrayed as kidnapping little Palestinian
children and harvesting their organs. Traditional antisemitic stereotypes
are interwoven in the series, such as Jewish racial superiority, as well as
anti-Israeli political propaganda.

Sahar TV is currently broadcasting the historical drama series, 'The People
of the Cave.' In a recent episode, the Jews are portrayed as maliciously
abusing Christ on the cross and as bribing the Romans to turn a blind eye.

'Al-Shatat,' originally broadcast by Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV channel, is
currently being aired on the Iranian Sahar TV channel. It portrays the Jews
as controlling the world through a secret global government and as being
responsible for all the ills of the world, through political, economic, and
sexual conspiracies, war-mongering, and political assassinations. Blood
Libels - such as the slaughtering of a Christian child for ritual Passover
needs - are graphically depicted, as are gruesome executions of
transgressing Jews and of non-Jews alike.

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