Language:
English
Year of publication:
2012
Titel der Quelle:
The Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs
Angaben zur Quelle:
6,1 (2012) 43-52
Keywords:
Arab-Israeli conflict
;
Holocaust denial
;
Iran Foreign relations
;
Israel Foreign relations
Abstract:
Holocaust denial in Iran under the rule of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has acquired new facets and dimensions lacking to this phenomenon elsewhere. Obviously, it helps Ahmadinejad's Iran to attract the sympathies of the Arab world and is seen in Iran as an additional argument for the destruction of the State of Israel. However, by denying the Holocaust, the Iranian leadership also pursues global goals. By declaring Auschwitz a myth, Ahmadinejad portrays the Jews as the enemy of humankind, who have duped and exploited the rest of humanity for the past 60 years, and also portrays the Western world as being controlled by Jews and sealed off from the "historical truth". Thus, Holocaust denial in Ahmadinejad's view is part of a "liberation" of humanity, and the deniers are no less than freedom fighters. Compares ideological tenets of Ahmadinejad's Iran with those of the German Nazis: like Hitler's utopia, the Iranian leadership's "Islamic utopia" depends upon the elimination of Israel and Jews. Ahmadinejad's Iran disseminates its strain of Holocaust denial through the Internet, e.g. Iranian "Holocartoons" can be downloaded everywhere in the world. The Iranian propaganda campaign contributes to the erosion of the ostracism of Holocaust denial; recently some international networks, such as Facebook and Wikipedia, took up a neutral tone toward this kind of hate speech.
DOI:
10.1080/23739770.2012.11446486
URL:
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