Iran retells the story of Nazis and Israel on state TV

[bemildred]

Iranian state television has begun airing a drama series that claims that the Jews reached Palestine because of persecution during World War II. The episodes aired thus far are in line with the Iranian government's official stance that the Israeli-Arab conflict is essentially a European problem and therefore Jews in Israel should return to their home countries in Europe.

The series, "A Zero Degree Turn" is aired weekly at prime time. So far six of its 22 installments have apparently been shown. It tells the story of a young Iranian named Habib Parsan, played by a well-known Iranian actor, Shihab Hassini, who goes to Paris to study at university before the war. He befriends a young Jewish woman by the name of Sarah Struk, who fears the growing strength of the Nazis in Germany. The two friends are very embarrassed when a group of students jeer Sarah after seeing the two together on a public bench.

So far the series shows considerable financial investment. It was filmed in Tehran, Budapest and Paris, and includes dozens of actors, some of whose voices are dubbed in Persian.

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According to Amir Levy, director of the teleprocessing department of the
Satlink satellite company, who is following the series, the makers of the
series wish to relay a message that Iran has traditionally treated Jews well, as opposed to the racism and persecution they encountered in Europe. Levy says that other messages are emphasized as well, such as the claim that Iran is the cradle of civilization because ancient Persia and its philosophy predate Greek philosophy.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/866562.html

[Fredda Weinberg]

1. Should I make a movie about my Egyptian friend?

Talk about soft bigotry.

[Tom Joad]

5. We should refuse to tolerate any bigotry, from the likes of Duke, Ahmadinejad or Kahane.

Like three peas in a pod.

[still_one]

7. You are absolutely right /nt

[LeftishBrit]

11. I fully agree - except that , while Duke and Kahane (and their British equivalent Griffin) ..

are evil and dangerous, they are not actually the leaders of their countries. Ahmadejinad is, which makes him more dangerous.

[oberliner]

17. Kahane was killed by a member of al-Qaeda in 1990

His son and daughter-in-law were killed several years later.

[LeftishBrit]

18. You are right of course..

I was a little confused, because the parties 'Kach' and 'Kahane Chai' do still exist. However, IIRC, they are regarded as 'terrorist' by the Israeli government, let alone anyone else. Which is a bit different from being the people in charge of a country.

[still_one]

2. I guess the people in the U.S. EXCEPT Native Americans better go back to their country of origin

Of course if you want to go back to Abraham, we have a problem don't we Houston

[rayofreason]

6. Ask the Hopi about the Navajo.

The Navajo showed up about 800 years ago.

It is kind of tough to demand that people "go back where they came from" since everyone came from somewhere else - like Muslim Arabs that conquered Syria, Egypt, etc. in the 7th century or Jewish settlers who came to Palestine before and after WW2. We can't control the past and so we have to understand it and work in that context. What is more important is what kind of future we build and how you deal equitably with people in the here and now.

[iamjoy]

3. Except, They Tried Repatriation Didn't They

Didn't they try to retrun some of the Holocaust survivors to their homes in Europe? And didn't the pogroms continue? Of course, there had been Arab attacks on Jewish settlements in Palestine dating back to the mass immigrations following the Balfour Declaration. Apparently, the Muslim Arabs had a very good idea of what would happen if enough Jews came. And acted accordingly.

but I digress. Now back to our regularly scheduled program on Iran. Yes, indeed they have treated the Jews relatively well - who can forget King Ahasuerus? Too bad it has all been downhill since then.

[rockymountaindem]

4. Here you go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kielce_pogrom

[Ken Burch]

8. Well, no big surprise here.

The worst thing about the Iranian regime's policies here are that they help bring dishonor to what are actually legitimate points.

The sin of the Holocaust WAS exclusively a European sin(in significant measure a European Christian sin, unfortunately) and, while the Jewish people had as much right to a homeland as anyone else, the Palestinians should never have suffered for the sins of Europeans. You don't punish one people for another people's crimes.

And it is to the eternal shame and disgrace of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that those countries did not take in ALL the refugees from fascism that were begging for sanctuary in the 1930's. Those who could not have fought could have been given shelter. Those who could have fought could have been given military training and sent back to join the fight against Hitler. The Holocaust could easily have been prevented if only the "White Christian" democracies had been willing to do the right thing and fully embrace "The Other."

It gets harder to make that case when nutjobs like Ahmadinejab keep twisting the whole thing and screaming "death to Israel" and sponsoring Holocaust denial conferences and other acts of pointless shit-stirring.

[pelsar]

9. actually the "nut jobs"....are exactly the point...

'screaming "death to Israel"'

he is in fact nothing special in the "death to israel/jew catagory. It seems to have been sung in so many parts of the world at one point in time or another (including the arab world). Hes just one more.

[barb162]

16. Unfortunately, it's become common and acceptable parlance

as you mention here, it's "nothing special" any more.

[LeftishBrit]

10. Apart from the other things wrong with this...

over two million Israelis are 'Mizrahi Jews', who left or were kicked out of Middle Eastern countries, or are descended from those who did. How are they going to 'go back to Europe'?!

[UndertheOcean]

12. Yes so that entails Israel is majority oriental rather than majority European/White/Whatever

The whole I/P conflict is to a degree an internal displacement crisis, 60% of Israelis are not European, but rather Arab(nonJews) , Moroccans ,Iraqis , Persian , Yemenites , Egyptian ,Syrian and so on and forth.

To Iran's credit there are still 250,000 Jews in Iran , throughout the Arab world only Morocco has such a substantial number.

[barb162]

14. I think there are only about 25,000 left in Iran

1948 Jewish population: 100,000
2004: ~25,000
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/iranjews.html#1

While Jewish communities in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria have all but vanished, Iran is home to 25,000 - some here say 35,000 - Jews. The Jewish population is less than half the number that lived here before the Islamic revolution of 1979.
http://www.jewsnotzionists.org/iranianjews.html

[UndertheOcean]

13. Jingoinstic propaganda nonsense.

n/t

[barb162]

15. You nailed it. n/t