Iranian Holocaust Denial and the Internet

Delegitimizing Jews and Israel in Iran's International Holocaust Cartoon Contest

“…Given their systematic conflation of Judaism and Zionism, the cartoons depict the hybrid "Jew-Zionist" as the key protagonist who is evil and brutal; fabricates Holocaust knowledge; and conspires to dominate the world. Crucially, the central theme of Holocaust denial in the cartoons was surely intended to shock sensibilities and to provoke protest from the West, which would in turn provide the Iranian regime with an opportunity to represent the West as impeding "freedom of speech" and themselves as struggling to safeguard it (Küntzel 2012). Moreover, Western protest to the Holocaust cartoon contest would enable the Iranian regime to point to "Zionist domination" of the West.…”

“…This intention was undoubtedly facilitated by the fact that cartoonists from many non-Muslim countries participated (see Figure 1), the international publicity that the contest received, and the widespread dissemination of the cartoons on the Internet (Bounegru and Forceville 2011). A core goal of the contest was also to normalize Holocaust denial as a tool for delegitimizing the State of Israel and challenging its raison d'être (Küntzel 2012). This undoubtedly formed part of President Ahmadinejad's hardline government's policy of reversing the "liberal" reforms of the outgoing government of former president Mohamad Khatami.…”

“…Yet, the contest clearly exhibited the extent of anti-Semitism in the Iranian regime and its willingness to use anti-Semitism for political ends (Küntzel 2010). It is likely that Holocaust denial was selected as the theme of the cartoon contest due to its ability to shock sensibilities and to provoke outrage in the West, which would in turn "evidence" the Iranian regime's claim that the Western world silences D E L E G I T I M I Z I N G J E W S A N D I S R A E L "scientific debate" concerning the Holocaust and impedes freedom of speech (see Küntzel 2012).…”