Seif
01-06-06, 12:53
The Iran Badge Hoax
By Hung Fu in Media
Thu Jun 01, 2006 at 02:45:28 AM EST
The world reacted with shock and dismay last month to the news that Iranian Jews were being forced to wear yellow badges, a policy made infamous by the Nazis. Canada's National Post featured the story on its front page with a headline reading "Iran Eyes Badges For Jews" above a photograph of Hungarian Jews wearing yellow Stars of David from 1944. The world media quickly followed the National Post's lead, with the reports repeated in major newspapers across the globe. The Simon Weisenthal Center confirmed the story, noting "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis". The Australian and Canadian Prime Ministers expressed outrage, with Stephen Harper observing that the Iranian regime was "very capable of this kind of action".
The only problem with this story? It was a complete fabrication.
Almost as soon as it was published, the story was debunked by experts, as well as the Iranian government and expatriates with contacts in the Iranian Jewish community. Indeed, Iran's only Jewish MP strongly denied the story, saying "This is an insult to the Iranian people and to religious minorities in Iran". As Juan Cole pointed out the legislation in question was actually concerned with the fashion of Muslim women. The National Post eventually apologized for publishing the story, but the damage may have already been done. After all, 70% of Americans came to believe that Saddam Hussein was involved in the September 11 attacks. It's not hard to imagine that the association of Iran with Naziism will become entrenched in the minds of many.
How did such an obviously fake story take hold of the world's imagination so quickly? To answer this question, we have to go back to the source. The National Post report was based upon a more thorough article, A colour code for Iran's "infidels", by one Amir Taheri, an Iranian expatriate and former editor of one of Iran's major newspapers, a man with extensive neoconservative ties. His article was astonishingly precise for a hoax; it describes in detail the proposed dress code, which also applies to Christians and Zoroastrians who must wear red and blue respectively. The article also claims that this "Islamic clothes revolution" will be spread by Hizb'Allah to Lebanon soon. Taheri appears to be another Ahmed Chalabi: an expatriate with a vested interest in regime change, whose "inside information" is almost entirely fabricated.
You don't have look far to see the neocon connection. Taheri is a client of Benador Associates, an agency whose other clients include prominent neocons such as Richard Perle, Michael Rubin and David Wurmser. Many of Benador's clients are also involved with the neocon think tank The American Enterprise Institute. There may also be an issue of pro-Israel bias. The paper that started the hysteria, The National Post, was sold by former owner Conrad Black to CanWest in 2003, a conglomerate owned by Israel "Izzy" Asper, who supported Israel's right-wing Likud party. CanWest has a policy of supporting Israel when it comes to reporting on the Middle East, and The National Post has become well known for its anti-Islamic bent.
To put the story in context, the incident comes at a time of ever-increasing tension between Iran, Israel, Europe and the United States. Iran continues to enrich uranium despite Western concern that it may use it's technology to develop a weapons program. Iran believes it is receiving discriminatory treatment, as other Middle Eastern countries such as Israel and Pakistan possess nuclear weapons and are not signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel fears Iran is a threat to it's security and may only be a few years away from nuclear weapon capabilities. Most experts put Iran 5 to 10 years away from nuclear weapons.
Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel rhetoric has been interpreted by some as a desire to attack or even commit genocide against Israel. However, the widely-reported statement that Ahmadinejad supposedly made, "Israel must be wiped off the map" was, in fact, a mistranslation. As Juan Cole has noted, Persian contains no such idom as "wiped off the map". A more accurate translation is "The occupation regime over Jerusalem should vanish from the page of time", a more passive statement. It's also worth noting that the Iranian president does not control the Iranian military, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini does, and the Iranian government has itself denied wanting to attack Israel. Documents have emerged that show in 2003, Iran secretly offered peace with Israel to the US, but was rebuffed.
The equation between Iran and the Nazis has become common rhetoric, particularly since Ahmadinejad questioned the veracity of the Holocaust. In response, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel likened Ahmadinejad to Adolf Hitler. Other commentators, such as Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post, who declared Iran's govenment "successors" to Hitler, have made the same connection. Some pundits believe Ahmadinejad is so dangerous that Israel should assassinate him. In general there is a tendency to equate Islamic opposition to Israel with the horrific tradition of European anti-Semitism, at the same time there is little recognition in the West of growing Israeli hatred towards Arabs.
Exploiting the memory of the Holocaust to trigger a war is, as Antonia Zerbisias puts it, "about as low as a newspaper can go". But it's easy to see why neoconservatives and pro-Israel organizations such as AIPAC feel the need to press for an attack against Iran. Although Iran doesn't represent a serious threat against Israel, a nuclear Iran may well upset the balance of power in the Middle East and strengthen the hands of the Palestinians and Hizb'Allah. So you can expect the wave of pro-war propaganda to continue. Another example is the "Iran Freedom Concert" that was held at Harvard without anyone bothering to contact Persian or Iranian student groups, featuring a strongly pro-war speaker. Although WMDs may remain elusive, the Weapons of Mass Deception are hard to ignore.
Bron: Kuro5hin (http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2006/5/30/113329/769)
By Hung Fu in Media
Thu Jun 01, 2006 at 02:45:28 AM EST
The world reacted with shock and dismay last month to the news that Iranian Jews were being forced to wear yellow badges, a policy made infamous by the Nazis. Canada's National Post featured the story on its front page with a headline reading "Iran Eyes Badges For Jews" above a photograph of Hungarian Jews wearing yellow Stars of David from 1944. The world media quickly followed the National Post's lead, with the reports repeated in major newspapers across the globe. The Simon Weisenthal Center confirmed the story, noting "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis". The Australian and Canadian Prime Ministers expressed outrage, with Stephen Harper observing that the Iranian regime was "very capable of this kind of action".
The only problem with this story? It was a complete fabrication.
Almost as soon as it was published, the story was debunked by experts, as well as the Iranian government and expatriates with contacts in the Iranian Jewish community. Indeed, Iran's only Jewish MP strongly denied the story, saying "This is an insult to the Iranian people and to religious minorities in Iran". As Juan Cole pointed out the legislation in question was actually concerned with the fashion of Muslim women. The National Post eventually apologized for publishing the story, but the damage may have already been done. After all, 70% of Americans came to believe that Saddam Hussein was involved in the September 11 attacks. It's not hard to imagine that the association of Iran with Naziism will become entrenched in the minds of many.
How did such an obviously fake story take hold of the world's imagination so quickly? To answer this question, we have to go back to the source. The National Post report was based upon a more thorough article, A colour code for Iran's "infidels", by one Amir Taheri, an Iranian expatriate and former editor of one of Iran's major newspapers, a man with extensive neoconservative ties. His article was astonishingly precise for a hoax; it describes in detail the proposed dress code, which also applies to Christians and Zoroastrians who must wear red and blue respectively. The article also claims that this "Islamic clothes revolution" will be spread by Hizb'Allah to Lebanon soon. Taheri appears to be another Ahmed Chalabi: an expatriate with a vested interest in regime change, whose "inside information" is almost entirely fabricated.
You don't have look far to see the neocon connection. Taheri is a client of Benador Associates, an agency whose other clients include prominent neocons such as Richard Perle, Michael Rubin and David Wurmser. Many of Benador's clients are also involved with the neocon think tank The American Enterprise Institute. There may also be an issue of pro-Israel bias. The paper that started the hysteria, The National Post, was sold by former owner Conrad Black to CanWest in 2003, a conglomerate owned by Israel "Izzy" Asper, who supported Israel's right-wing Likud party. CanWest has a policy of supporting Israel when it comes to reporting on the Middle East, and The National Post has become well known for its anti-Islamic bent.
To put the story in context, the incident comes at a time of ever-increasing tension between Iran, Israel, Europe and the United States. Iran continues to enrich uranium despite Western concern that it may use it's technology to develop a weapons program. Iran believes it is receiving discriminatory treatment, as other Middle Eastern countries such as Israel and Pakistan possess nuclear weapons and are not signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel fears Iran is a threat to it's security and may only be a few years away from nuclear weapon capabilities. Most experts put Iran 5 to 10 years away from nuclear weapons.
Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel rhetoric has been interpreted by some as a desire to attack or even commit genocide against Israel. However, the widely-reported statement that Ahmadinejad supposedly made, "Israel must be wiped off the map" was, in fact, a mistranslation. As Juan Cole has noted, Persian contains no such idom as "wiped off the map". A more accurate translation is "The occupation regime over Jerusalem should vanish from the page of time", a more passive statement. It's also worth noting that the Iranian president does not control the Iranian military, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini does, and the Iranian government has itself denied wanting to attack Israel. Documents have emerged that show in 2003, Iran secretly offered peace with Israel to the US, but was rebuffed.
The equation between Iran and the Nazis has become common rhetoric, particularly since Ahmadinejad questioned the veracity of the Holocaust. In response, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel likened Ahmadinejad to Adolf Hitler. Other commentators, such as Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post, who declared Iran's govenment "successors" to Hitler, have made the same connection. Some pundits believe Ahmadinejad is so dangerous that Israel should assassinate him. In general there is a tendency to equate Islamic opposition to Israel with the horrific tradition of European anti-Semitism, at the same time there is little recognition in the West of growing Israeli hatred towards Arabs.
Exploiting the memory of the Holocaust to trigger a war is, as Antonia Zerbisias puts it, "about as low as a newspaper can go". But it's easy to see why neoconservatives and pro-Israel organizations such as AIPAC feel the need to press for an attack against Iran. Although Iran doesn't represent a serious threat against Israel, a nuclear Iran may well upset the balance of power in the Middle East and strengthen the hands of the Palestinians and Hizb'Allah. So you can expect the wave of pro-war propaganda to continue. Another example is the "Iran Freedom Concert" that was held at Harvard without anyone bothering to contact Persian or Iranian student groups, featuring a strongly pro-war speaker. Although WMDs may remain elusive, the Weapons of Mass Deception are hard to ignore.
Bron: Kuro5hin (http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2006/5/30/113329/769)