Iran publishes and promotes explicit anti-Semitism

The Muslim world has always insisted that it is not anti-semitic, simply anti-Zionist.

The current Iranian regime in particular has stressed this argument, using useful pawns like the New York Times' Roger Cohen to point to the Iranian Jewish community as proof it is not against Jews.

The Aladdin Project, an initiative to promote peace between Jews and Muslims, has demolished Iran's claims.

The Aladdin Project has catalogued more than 160 books with strongly anti-Semitic content published since 2005 and displayed in Tehran’s 23rd International Book Fair in May this year.

The books range from newer editions of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Holocaust denial literature to works that deal with alleged Jewish domination of world finance and U.S. politics. Many of the books have been brought out by the Iranian government, such as “Jews, Zionism, and the Holocaust,” a textbook published by Iran’s Ministry of Education for use in schools. “Death of a Myth: Views of President Ahmadinejad on the Holocaust” was put on display by the Office of the President.

While many of the anti-Semitic books were exhibited by privately-owned publishers, the government and state-affiliated institutions, such as the Political Studies and Research Institute (PSRI) and the Islamic Revolution Documentation Centre, remain the most prolific producers and exporters of anti-Semitic literature in Iran. Many of their books have been translated into Arabic and other languages of the Muslim world and sent to libraries and bookshops around the world.

Some of the books are translations of works by Western Holocaust deniers or neo-Nazis, almost invariably accompanied with lengthy commentaries by the translators. These included the new Persian translation of “My Awakening,” penned by American white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, and works by Robert Faurisson, Roger Garaudy, Mark Weber, Fredrick Toben and Ernst Zundel.

While so many anti-Semitic books were exhibited at the fair, Iran's Writers Association said in a statement that a number of prominent Iranian publishing houses were not allowed to have a stand at the fair and books by a number of well-know Iranian authors were banned.

According to a Tehran-based conservative Web site, Tabnak, “special examiners of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance” combed through the exhibitors’ catalogues and banned many of the works, including “all books about the Holocaust”. Books denying the Holocaust, however, were clearly exempted from the ban.

The Aladdin Project published a list of the explicitly anti-semitic books at the fair, using only the publishers' descriptions, and showing only the ones that were written in Farsi, not Arabic.

Anti-Semitic-books-in-Tehran-Book-Fair-2010.xlsx
(h/t Alice W)