Israel Matzav

Iran holds 'International Wall Street Downfall Cartoon Festival,' anti-Semitic cartoon wins

Iran has held an 'International Wall Street Downfall Cartoon Festival' (referred to in some places as the 'Occupy Wall Street' cartoon festival) and the anti-Semitic cartoon at top left won.

The anti-Semitic cartoon was declared the winner of Iran’s first annual "International Wall Street Downfall Cartoon Festival," co-sponsored by the Iranian media outlet Fars News. According to reports, the contest’s jury consisted of seven judges from Iran, Turkey, Poland and Romania who judged more than 1,600 cartoons. The winning artist, Mohammad Tabrizi, was awarded 5,000 euros for his image of Jews praying in front of "Wall Street."

The ADL's Abe Foxman blasted the contest.

"Once again, Iran takes the prize for promoting anti-Semitism," Anti-Defamation League (ADL) director Abraham H. Foxman said in response to the results of an Iranian cartoon contest, in which the winning entry depicts three religious Jews praying in front of a representation of the Western Wall in Jerusalem labeled "New York Wall Street."

"The winning cartoon takes the most sacred site in Judaism and perverts it into a shrine of greed. It is offensive on so many levels," he said.

...

"Here is a trifecta of anti-Semitic notions – of Jews worshipping money, the canard that Jews ‘control’ Wall Street, and a cynical perversion of the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism," Foxman added.

"This contest not only puts virulent anti-Semitism on a pedestal, but in posting the images online and involving judges from other countries, helps promote classical anti-Semitic notions before a global audience of potentially millions," he argued.

So does this mean that the ADL will start spending more of its budget fighting Islamic extremism and Muslim anti-Semitism? We can only hope.

Labels: Abe Foxman, ADL, Iran, Islamic anti-Semitism

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:30 PM