SWC Applauds Iranian MP For Condemning State TV?s Antisemitic Miniseries

April 13, 2005

WIESENTHAL CENTER APPLAUDS IRANIAN MP FOR CONDEMNING STATE TV’S ANTISEMITIC MINISERIES

The Simon Wiesenthal Center commended Gholamali Haddadadel, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament for publicly speaking out against a number of miniseries on Iranian state television that echoes the medieval European "Blood Libel," conspiracies of global Jewish domination and other horrific antisemitic themes. The Speaker’s comments came in response to MP Morris Motamed,  the sole Jewish lawmaker in the 290-seat body, (pictured with Rabbi Cooper during a visit to the Wiesenthal Center in October 2000 to discuss the plight of Jews from the Iranian city of Shiraz wrongfully imprisoned on suspicion of espionage). Motamed charged that these miniseries misrepresented Jews and sparked the massive migration of the country’s ancient Jewish community.

"The Wiesenthal Center is grateful that there is at least one prominent Iranian official with courage to condemn state-sanctioned hatred of Jews," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Center.

"In addition to Tehran’s relentless opposition to the State of Israel in recent years, State-sponsored television has aired miniseries that accuse Jews of removing healthy eyes from Palestinian children to implant them into blind Jewish kids; portray as fact the debunked Protocols of the Elders of Zion alleging a worldwide conspiracy to control the world, along with other classic ant-Jewish themes reminiscent of the Nazi propaganda machine of the 1930s and 40s," Cooper continued.

Cooper also noted that Tehran is not the only regime in the region to use antisemitism as statecraft. "Syria’s President Assad greeted the late Pope John Paul II to his country by charging the Jews with the murder of Jesus. Egyptian, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar and Saudi media, among others in the Arab media world, have also regularly invoked vile antisemitic imagery in broadcasts and articles," he said.

"We hope that Speaker Haddadadel’s public admonishment to the state media to respect the rights of religious minorities will be heeded," concluded Rabbi Cooper.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center recently published Dismantling the Big Lie, which refutes the Protocols of the Elders of Zion point by point. An Arabic translation is set to be published online this month at www.wiesenthal.com. There are additional plans for translations into Turkish and Farsi.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe. For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036 or visit www.wiesenthal.com.