fufor's unregelmässige news

Holocaust awareness group criticizes Hezbollah
2009-11-05
Associated Press

An international organization fighting against Holocaust denial condemned on Wednesday a campaign of "intimidation" by the militant Hezbollah group over the distribution of Anne Frank's diary in Lebanon.

The world-famous book was recently translated into Arabic and Farsi by the Paris-based Aladdin Project, which aims to spread awareness of the Holocaust and counter racism and intolerance.

The Lebanese militant group raised a fuss over the diary, the second campaign recently by Hezbollah against books it deems offensive.

The Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar TV last week called on Lebanese judicial authorities to prosecute those responsible for the distribution of the book here, blasting it's "theatrical and dramatic narration ... in an emotional way."

Naim al-Qalaani from Hezbollah's "Committee for the Boycott of Zionist Goods in Lebanon" told the TV the book's distribution was a flagrant violation and a "move toward normalization" with Lebanon's archenemy, Israel.

The diary of Anne Frank has been sold in Lebanon for years, both in English and in earlier translations into Arabic, and it was not clear why Hezbollah's TV chose to highlight its existence in the country now.

Al-Manar officials were not available for comment Wednesday.

The Aladdin Project said in a statement it "condemns this campaign of vilification and intimidation by Hezbollah's TV."

The Project is an initiative of the Paris-based Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah (Holocaust) which aims to spread awareness of the genocide among Muslims. It organizes conferences and has translated key Holocaust writings.

Al-Manar launched a similar campaign against a school textbook two weeks ago, when it forced a leading Lebanese school to remove pages from a history book that described Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

Hezbollah, which has fought Israel for more than two decades, is active in the country's politics and holds one seat in the Cabinet and 11 in the 128-member parliament.
http://tinyurl.com/ycenqgo

Ahmadinejad appoints leading anti-Semite as new official in charge of the press
03 November 2009
WJC

Mohammad-Ali Ramin, a top advisor to Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and considered by many as ‘the brain’ behind the president's repeated Holocaust denial, has been appointed as the Iran’s new deputy culture minister, in charge of media and communications. Ramin is the regime's most hard-line Holocaust denier and anti-Semite. He currently serves as secretary-general of the Tehran-based World Holocaust Foundation, which was established at an international conference of Holocaust deniers in Tehran in 2006. A number of controversial figures, including former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, attended that conference.

Ramin, who reportedly lived in Germany for a number of years, was quoted as saying in a 2006 interview with a an online newspaper that Adolf Hitler was Jewish and that Hitler's policies were aimed at bringing about the establishment of a Jewish state. In another interview with the ‘Shahrvand’ publication, Ramin said that he had never denied nor confirmed the Holocaust. "My slogan is: allow the claim of the Holocaust to be studied." He also expressed hope that one day when "Europeans will guarantee freedom of expression," the headquarters of his foundation could be transferred to Berlin.

On another occasion, he was quoted as dubbing Jews filthy people who spread lethal disease: "Through history, there were many claims against the Jews. They were the source of lethal disease such as the Plague and typhoid fever, because they are extremely filthy people." In his current post as official in charge of communications and the press, Ramin will be able to influence Iran’s media agenda.
http://tinyurl.com/y8rmmr9