Why is the Iranian president so anti-Jewish?

[still_one]

He has just announced that Iran will have a Conference on Holocaust:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060115/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_holocaust

This is more than "just preaching to his constituents"

This is a premeditated attempt to sway the world against the Jewish people, and use his oil as the bribe

The world should boycott them

[OKNancy]

1. My honest opinion?

I think he's a loon. A religious nut-case. We have our share of those too.

[still_one]

3. To a point you are right,, but I think it is more insidious than that

[TallahasseeGrannie]

12. What she said

he is a hate-filled loony toony

[applegrove]

2. He is a loon. And he wants to create nationalism among shiites

in Iraq. And the USA has been sending TV over to Iran to try and build up dissidents. But mostly - he is just a loon.

[Neil Lisst]

4. Most political demagoguery is aimed at the HOME constituency.

The level of antipathy toward Jews in general, and Israel in particular, is very high among mideastern Muslims.

I believe politicians are politicians wherever they are. In Iran, there are two groups that hold power. One group is the mullahs, and the other is the burgeoning middle class to upper class who are more nonsectarian.

Many commentators in America, both political and media, say the most stupid things about Iran. The most stupid one of all is that only the mullahs and their more radical religious followers want nuclear power and weapons, but the nonsectarian Iranians don't. It's the one area that both camps support, and why wouldn't they? Pakistan already has nuclear weapons, and that's all Pakistan has over Iran. In every other way, Iran is in a superior position to Pakistan. Iran has incredible oil reserves and revenues therefrom, and they are better located than Pakistan, who must also contend with China and India.

In my view, the leader of Iran is playing to the home crowd, just like Bush does when he talks tough to his favorite audiences. Unfortunately that plays into Bush's hand. Already, they're selling the need to do "something about the Iran nuclear problem."

[CJCRANE]

5. Maybe he's trying

to build up a fundamentalist wingnut base.

Seemed to work for Bushco.

[DBoon]

6. He's reaching out to his most xenophobic supporters

Sort of like what the US right wing does over Latin American immigration

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. The same reason that Bush is so anti-"terrorist".

Give the folks an enemy and wave the flag (or Bible, or Quran), and it helps keep them obedient.

[still_one]

9. being anti-terrorist is not the same as being against

an ethnic or religious group

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. It's just a broader brush with the same ends in mind.

Keep the folks in line by giving them a bogeyman to fear. In both cases the "leader" is playing on the existant fears of the populace by demonizing and dehumanizing the "enemy". i.e. "Gooks", "slants", "nips", etc.

[donsu]

8. he wants Israel to have a dialogue with it's self

and to face home truths.

that's what I got out of his Israel talk.

[still_one]

10. he is talking about a conference on the "myth" of the holocaust

not about Israel facing "home truths"

This is about spreading anti-Jewish sentiments throughout the world

[Spinzonner]

13. Tradition

[TreeMonkey]

17. Scapegoating

He is showing hes a good muslim. Although Muslims battle each other, and have a 50% marriage rate to their cousins/second cousins, because they literally dont trust 'outsiders', Israel is the invading non-muslim infidel, although Palestine was controlled by the British before they handed it over.


...Sort of like what the US right wing does over Latin American immigration

The US right wing SUPPORTS MASSIVE,ENDLESS levels of ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.


You do mean ILLEGAL immigration- dont you? IF you dont believe in ILLEGAL immigration, - we now have 300 million people in this country,-up from 280,000,000 when Clinton took office... and we will be at 500 million (1/2 a Billion) by mid century.

How many people is enough>? Why do you support right wing big businesses demand for "expensive" (to you and I) taxpayer funded cheap illegal labor?- Every "Liberal" social program is put under stress. ????

[prescole]

14. In part, he was elected in reaction to Bush's invasions of Afghanistan and

Iraq. Can you blame the Iranians for electing a hard-liner when they have US forces to the east and the west?

Which doesn't change the fact that he's a reckless extremist who'll use fundamentalist Muslim hatred for Israel to his benefit. And I agree, he's a lot like Bush.

[still_one]

15. no way, iran was happy when we invaded Iraq and Afganistan

they never got along with the taliban, and their the Shiite had be perseucted in Iraq under hussein

no that is not the reason. I think it is more to try and provoke an attack on Iran, knowing we don't have the resources, and unify the Shiites in Iraq to join in a civil war against the Sunni and us.

I certainly hope we do NOT fall into his trap

[Boojatta]

16. Iranian President to argue that Jesus, a prophet of Islam, did exist?

There's a court in Rome that is waiting for the Iranian President to speak.

If Islam includes a non-existent prophet, then maybe Islam itself is a complete fabrication (or "hoax").

[TreeMonkey]

18. Good publicity

Islam is a "psychological construct", as any religion is. Islam never denied the existence of Jesus. Islam is an Abrahamic religion, as is Christianity. More specific, it is based on caucasian psychology, rather than the Hindu/Buddhist/ East Asian based religions. I recommend Alan Watts on KGNU tuesday 9AM, if you want some good insight into the differences between East Asian religion and the West. Islam is similar, but more extreme, bizarrely extreme. Islam, for example, does not allow ANY drawings or depictions of animals or humans. And you've all heard the stories of "piggy banks", and pictures of "Piglet" being banned in England recently, because of pressure from a few muslims.

Hes just exerting his power, like any leader of any country. Is the the GOOD guy? No, hes the bad guy.


The US is seen as being hand in hand with Israel, so attacking Israel the US, goes hand in hand. They have a crappy economy, so theres not alot else they can do.

[Boojatta]

20. "Islam never denied the existence of Jesus."--> Correct. According to

Islam, Jesus was a prophet.

[Boojatta]

19. The history of free speech from July 1991 to January 2006

July 1991: Japanese translator of The Satanic Verses, Hitoshi Igarashi, is stabbed to death.

January 2006: Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said, "It is a strange world. It is possible to discuss everything except the Holocaust."

[carolinalady]

21. Kind of strange because there is a thriving Jewish community

in Iran. I wonder what there view of Israel is? That might be the key to why he is spouting off all the garbage. A second thought might be to incite more insurgents to fight in Iraq. He probably realizes that George is in trouble at home and he wants to make it more miserable for him in hopes we will leave and his religious followers can get established in the new "Democracy" over there. If he gets Iraq and a nuke I predict he will go after Saudi Arabia.

[11cents]

22. Hardly "thriving"

It's very small now, and very vulnerable. A few years ago bogus charges of espionage were brought against about a dozen Iranian Jews (one of them a 16-year-old boy).

"Modern" European-style racism, OTOH, has been thriving in Iran since the 19th century at least.