Holocaust Denial in Iran and anti-semitic discourse in the Muslim world

Abstract

Holocaust Denial was seen in the past in relation to anti-Semitic propaganda, but in today’s world it has become a new political force in the hand of religious and radical ideologies. Raising doubts about the veracity of the Holocaust is used both as a major and integral tool of contemporary anti-Semitism and as a trend for relativism and subjectivism in historical view. The persistent Holocaust denial by the Arab and Iranian leaders in the Middle East is a new attempt to demonize the Jews. In the past decades the theories of Holocaust denial of Western scholars have been adopted strongly by some intellectuals and political activists in the Middle East. Anti-Semitic propaganda has been a marginal phenomenon in the Muslim world for a long time, but unfortunately it has been gaining strength in several countries over the past 5 years. This worrying development can contain the positive action of those who are paving the way in the world for better Muslim-Jew relations. Holocaust education in the Middle East, directed especially toward younger generation, can help to nurture the better men and women, who have the capacity to struggle for justice and to replace violence by dialogue. A more profound understanding of the Holocaust as a singular, but not incomprehensible, event, could promote awareness in the Middle East to diminish the amount of violence in human affairs and to reduce prejudice and discrimination.