Britannia Radio

MEMRI Daily: March 6, 2013   MEMRI | MEMRI TV | JIHAD AND TERRORISM THREAT MONITOR | SOUTH ASIA STUDIES PROJECT

The Image Of The Jew In The Eyes Of Iran's Islamic Regime – Part II: The Blood Libel And 'The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion' Iranian Ayatollah: If Elected President, I'll Restore Iran's Sovereignty Over Tajikistan, Armenia, And Azerbaijan Inquiry & Analysis No. 944 The Image Of The Jew In The Eyes Of Iran's Islamic Regime – Part II: The Blood Libel And 'The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion' By: E. Zigron and A. Savyon* This document, the second in a series on the image of the Jew as presented by the Islamic regime in Iran, will focus on antisemitic stereotypes common in Europe in the 19th and early 20th century in use today by Iranian regime officials and the Iranian media against the Jews. The two themes discussed in this paper are the blood libel, that is, Jews' alleged use of the blood of non-Jews for ritual purposes, and the 19th-century "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,"according to which the Jews seek world domination by various means. For example, in a June 2012 speech, Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi reiterated the European blood libel according to which the Talmud teaches how to "suck the blood of non-Jews." In an October 2011 speech to Iranian intellectuals in the city of Kermanshah, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that the Western media is clearly run by the Jews, under the guidance of the "Protocols." In August 2012, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the Jews were responsible for World Wars I and II; in June 2012, the Iranian daily Resalat said that the "Protocols" were "the most dangerous collection of laws and regulations in history." Furthermore, in July 2012, the regime's English-language website Press TV published articles attributing the current economic crisis in Europe to a scheme by the "Jewish Banking Cartel." These statements attest that spokesmen for the Iranian regime use the terms "Jew" and "Zionist" interchangeably; this undermines their propaganda claims that they differentiate between the two and that the regime has nothing against Jews. The following is a review of antisemitic statements in the past year by Iranian regime officials and media that refer to the blood libel and to "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." Click here to read the full report Special Dispatch No. 5219 Iranian Ayatollah: If Elected President, I'll Restore Iran's Sovereignty Over Tajikistan, Armenia, And Azerbaijan  Recently, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqr Kharrazi, secretary-general of the Hezbollah-Iran organization and part of the Iranian regime elite, announced his candidacy for the upcoming Iranian presidential election set for June 2013. He has promised that if elected he will restore Iranian sovereignty over the territories of Tajikistan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, which it lost under the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay with Russia. It should be noted that already in 2010, Ayatollah Kharrazi had outlined his vision to restore these territories to Iran, and stressed the need to reestablish "Greater Iran" from Palestine to Afghanistan, based on the pre-Islamic Persian Empire (see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 3021, The Iranian Supremacy Manifesto of 'Greater Iran': Hezbollah-Iran Secretary-General Lays Out Plan, Strategy for Reestablishing 'Greater Iran' as Prelude to Establishment of Global Government Led by the Mahdi, June 10, 2010). Kharrazi's comments were criticized by Iranian Ambassador to Armenia Mohammad Raisi, who explained that he is a cleric whose statements lack official status, and by the website Entekhab, which questioned whether he was really an ayatollah, and said that his statements were not be taken seriously because they were intended solely as a provocation.   Ayatollah Kharrazi Ayatollah Kharrazi: Iran Must Regain The Territories It Lost Under The Treaty Of Turkmenchay On February 3, 2013, the Iranian website Teribon published Ayatollah Kharrazi's speech from the previous day, in which he announced his presidential candidacy. Among his statements, Kharrazi promised his audience that "if I am elected president, I will regain Tajikistan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan for Iran." Along with Kharrazi's announcement that he would run for president, the website also published an image of the December 15, 2012 front page of the newspaper of the Hezbollah-Iran organization, which featured a map with arrows pointing to Tajikistan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The map's caption read: "The next Hezbollah[-Iran] government will undertake legal-political and even military action to end the shameful Treaty of Turkmenchay." Click here to read the full report Please remember the environment before printing.