Wiesenthal Centre Report on Hate at the Frankfurt Book Fair
October 17, 2011
CENTRE SIMON WIESENTHAL - EUROPE
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Tel:+33(0)1 47 23 76 37
Fax:+33(0)1 47 20 84 01
"'Worst Offender 2011' goes to Malaysia"
Frankfurt
For the 9th year,the Simon Wiesenthal Center was the only organization to monitor incitement to hate and violence on the display stands of the Frankfurt Book Fair. With 7,400 exhibitors and over 300,000 visitors this is the largest international gathering of the publishing industry.
In his Report to the Fair's President, Juergen Boos, the Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr.Shimon Samuels, praised the Fair's intervention - based upon our report of heavily antisemitic literature on Turkish stands - that has resulted in somewhat greater caution.
Turkey
Samuels noted that "despite worrying developments in that country, a representative of Turkey's Publishers’ Association informed me that due to the Wiesenthal Centre, they were warned by Frankfurt authorities not to breach their exhibitor contracts by displaying hate literature that could be illegal under German law”.
Nevertheless, he discovered a more covert form of antisemitism under the guise of anti-Americanism, is available on the governmental collective exhibition, Hall 5.1.C972 entitled "The Dark Forces [of America] that Rule the World" (Derin Dunya Devletinin Adamlari") by Erol Bilbilik, Kirmizikedi, Istanbul,2011, on the Pinar shelves.
The Publishers' Association representative added that "the book's thesis that America threatened the Middle East was prevalent in Turkish opinion as the US is governed by a certain group impugn to any control". The text offensively singles out politicians, media figures and intellectuals popularly identified as Jewish
Iran
The Report pointed to Iran as more careful this year on its chidrens' literature stands.Yet, a state publisher specializing in the Iran-Iraq war,Revayat Fath Institute,Hall 5.0.D 349, prominently displayed a lavish photo album,"The Exchange - Lebanon 2005-2008" by Vahid Faraji and Saeed Faraji, Revolution and Holy Defence, Tehran, 2011.
This volume extolls the heroism of "Sami Kuntar and 4 other Hezbollah fighters who were among those exchanged for three Israelis, two of whom were handed over as corpses. It should be noted that Kuntar had slaughtered a family of five, slitting the throats of the babies in their cot, exclaiming that this was the fate for all Jews...
Such iconization of a monster, in full view of visitors to the Fair, is a whitewash for terrorism that demands a public condemnation to the Iranian authorities and a reevaluation of their participation in 2012"
Samuels lamented that "despite the expectations of the Arab Spring, caution was not reflected on the Arab stands listed below, among them, publishing houses that are annual recidivists.
Egypt/ Palestine
- The Arab Publishers'Association, Hall 5.D 933, featured English and Arabic versions of "Buraq Wall: Documented and Illustrated Historical Outline" by Jehad J.Al Ayesh, Bait Al-Maqdis Documentary Center in Cairo, Gaza, Nablus and Nicosia, 2011.
"Buraq" refers to the "Wailing" or Western Wall of Solomon's Temple,Judaism's holiest site.
This blatently antisemitic screed claims that "Worshipping near the Wall is a new heresy in the religion of the Jews"(p.16 );"Jewish
subversive acts"(p.31);"Jewish aggressions to Judaize the Wall"(p.37);"Conclusion : Buraq Wall is the Property of Muslims(p.40)
AL AHRAM Publishing Centre of Cairo (of which Egypt's most influential newspaper is part), Hall 5.0.E 940.
Al Ahram stand, featuring from left to right examples of conspiracy literature :
- "The Mossad - The Hidden Dimension" by Dr. Youssef Hussam Youssef, Al Nafidha, Cairo.
- "Jews Who Refuse Israel : Neturei Karta", by Dr. Mustafa Abdul Ma'abud, Al Nafidha, Cairo.
- "Recalcitrance of the Jewish Woman" by Haydayr al Safuri, Madbouli, Cairo, 2011. Depicts Jewish women from the ancient Israelites till today as victims of male cruelty and human rights violations.
- "The Israelites in the Quran - Their Secrets", Mohammad al Ghul, Al Nafidha, Cairo.
- "The Old Testament Critique", Dr. Sharif Hamed Salem, Madbouli, Cairo, 2011.
- "The Talmud - The Religious Law of the Israelites : Truth and Facts", by Muhammad Sabri, Madbouli, Cairo, 2011.
- "The Jewish Source in the Torah", Dr. Sharif Hamed Salem, Madbouli, Cairo.
- "The Talmud" by Ala Tayseer Ahmad, Madbouli, Cairo.
Arab Publishers Association,Hall 5.0.D929
- "Camp David", Dr. Sharif Hamed Salem, Madbouli, Cairo. A characterization of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat as a puppet of the Jews.
- "The Palestinian and the Fall of the Taboos", by Imad Seid Ahmad, Al Ahram Publishing Centre.
The cover depicts a seated grotesque Israeli soldier sharpening his knife, while two small chickens (marked "Hamas" and "Fatah") are fighting each other in a cage alongside him. This book is an extreme example of antisemitic propaganda.
Qatar
Qatari Governmental Stand, Hall 5.0.D 959,displayed "The Supernatural Burns of Jerusalem" by Munir Akash and Fouad Moughrabi, Jusseer, Doha ,2010". The Jewish connection to Jerusalem is here superceded by a 'Palestinian autochtonous identity'.
The Centre was astonished that the worst offender of 2011 is Malaysia in the sheer number of antisemitic conspiracy theory texts on the shelves of its official state Pavillion, Hall 5.D 934, presented by Saba Islamic Media of Kuala Lumpur e.g.
- "The New Jerusalem:Zionist Power in America"
- "The Golem:A World Held Hostage - Israel's Nuclear Hell Bomb and the
Road to Global Armageddon"
Road to Global Armageddon"
- "Final Judgment:Israel's Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Assassination of John F.Kennedy - Non-American Version"
-"The High Priests of War : The Secret History of How American 'neo-conservative' Trotskyites Came to Power and Orchestrated the War against Iraq as the First Step in their Drive for Global Empire". The cover is decorated with photos that depict Sharon and Kissinger with the Roman Arch of Titus relief of the Jewish exile from Jerusalem.
All of these eyesores are by American expatriate, Michael Collins Piper, and are hardly appropriate to an Islamic publisher or Malaysian multiculturalism.
Another such volume on the same stand is "Countdown to 9/11:Islam under Siege" by Tahir Mohammad Zai, Saba Islamic Media. The cover is unsurprisingly replete with Stars of David".
The Report stressed that the above – mentioned stands include chronic annual recidivists, who have ignored previous warnings that their publishers and exhibitors are in violation of their Book Fair contracts and of German law against incitement."
The Centre urged Boos "to vociferously protest to the governments of Egypt, Qatar, Iran, Turkey and now Malaysia".
"It is useless for the Frankfurt Book Fair to hold such roundtables as, this year, on 'Publishing to serve the Arab Spring' or 'Islam and Democracy', when these very concepts are undermined in the eyes of exhibitors, media and the public", argued Samuels.
The Report concluded that "it is hightime to see that the German authorities adopt measures, as were launched with Turkey : first to confiscate offensive texts and to unambiguously blacklist their respective exhibitors from participation in 2012."
We call on its organizors and sponsors to proclaim "Zero tolerance for hate at the Frankfurt Book Fair".
For further information contact Dr. Shimon Samuels on 0033(0)609770158
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