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January 27, 2025 Special Dispatch No. 11795

Iranian Regime Mouthpiece 'Kayhan,' Iranian Officials Express Their Antisemitic Worldview: Hitler's Approach To The Jews Was Correct; Some Israelites Were Turned Into Dogs, Others Into Apes; 'The Mark Of Humiliation And Rootlessness Has Been Etched On Their Forehead'

January 27, 2025
Iran | Special Dispatch No. 11795

Antisemitic rhetoric and Holocaust denial are commonly used by Iranian regime officials and mouthpieces, exposing the antisemitic worldview that is an inherent part the philosophy of the Islamic Revolution.

Iran's Islamic regime has adopted and spread the idea that the Jews the enemies of humanity and that they have used their wealth and their mischief to seize control of world politics, economy, and culture. It has asserted that the Zionists are putting this idea into action, and its messages are characterized by: expressions of disgust at the Jews; attributing to the Jews unique negative qualities; and describing the Jews as an eternal force of evil that has been the root of evil in the world since ancient times and to this day, while relying on theological principles found in Islam's most ancient traditions.

Noteworthy is the fact that regime officials and mouthpieces openly identify Zionism with Judaism, sometimes referring to Jews as a religious demographic and sometimes referring to them in the context of their national-ideological identity – that is, as Zionists.

A recent example of this trend can be seen in the January 5, 2025 editorial in the Iranian regime mouthpiece Kayhan, titled "Media And Culture Are The Key To Victory In The War," which asserts that the Disney cartoon figure Mickey Mouse was created to improve the image of the Zionists. It should be noted that Walt Disney, whom Kayhan claims was Jewish, is not, and has even been accused of antisemitism.

The Kayhan editorial stated: "They say that the popular cartoon figure of Mickey Mouse, a cute, loveable mouse, was created by Jews at Disney [studios] with the aim of gradually erasing from people's minds the 'dirty mouse' label used to describe the Zionists a century ago, because in those days, whenever someone said 'dirty mouse' anywhere in the world, everyone knew they were talking about the Zionists. Walter Elias Disney, together with his brother Roy Oliver Disney, who were American businessman of Jewish origin, established the Disney Brothers studio, and Mickey Mose was this company's first cartoon character! This media-culture company has assisted the Zionist regime with millions of dollars in the current Gaza war..."[1]

(For more about this deliberate blurring of the lines between Zionists and Jews in statements by Iranian officials and outlets, see: MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1687, 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion' As Part Of Iranian Antisemitism, April 17, 2023; MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 922, The Image Of The Jew In The Eyes Of Iran's Islamic Regime – Part I: Theological Roots, January 25, 2023; MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1499, Antisemitism In Iran – Part II: Supreme Leader Associate Mehdi Taeb In Lecture Series On The Jews: Your Greatest Sworn Enemy The Jews; If The Spearhead Is Aimed At The Jews, The World Will Be Freed, January 27, 2023.)

A unique characteristic of the antisemitic rhetoric in Iran is that it asserts that the Jews or the Zionists cooperate with Satan and with his demons. The regime's narrative refers to Israel as "Little Satan," and many speakers – particularly Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his close affiliates – refer to the Jews as agents or servants of Satan. In this vein, the Jews are referred to as "strange creatures" or "mischievous and mysterious creatures" that are not human.

(For more on the subject, see: MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 8658, IRGC Cyber Division Confirms Supreme Leader Khamenei's Assertion That 'Demons Are Assisting The Enemies' With Statements That 'The Israeli Mossad Is... Using Demons' And 'The Jews Are Experts At Sorcery And At Creating Relationships With Demons', March 26, 2020; MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 5288, Iranian Official: The Jews Use Sorcery Against Iran, April 28, 2013; MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11405, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei Tweets 'Death To Israel' Seven Times, Instructs Followers To Stone The Satan Israel, June 18, 2024.)

An earlier Kayhan article, from November 2, 2024, claimed that the State of Israel – described as a "germ" and a "cancerous growth" – must be destroyed along with the Zionists and the Jews due to their plans and actions, all in accordance with the Iranian regime's narrative that the Zionists/Jews are colonialists, imposters, murderers, and falsifiers of history who rebelled against God and plundered the land of Palestine from the Palestinians, while exploiting the "myth" of the Holocaust and committing genocide against the Palestinians.

Kayhan editor-in-chief Hossein Shariatmadari also denied the Holocaust in a November 2, 2024 article, asserting that the German public is beginning to realize that the Holocaust is a "myth."

In an October 4, 2024 interview with Iranian TV, senior Iranian regime official and religious decisionmaker Reza Taghavi said that "Hitler was right in his approach towards the Jews," and called for the killing of all Zionists.


"The Holocaust is part of the Jewish and Zionist process of historical fabrications over time" – Iranian author Mohammad-Taghi Zahedi, Iranian state TV, November 25, 2024

Iranian researcher and author Mohammad-Taghi Zahedi also said in a November 18, 2024 TV interview that the Jewish holiday of Purim, which is based on the events in Persia written in the Book of Esther, is fabricated and is an expression of animosity towards the Aryan people. He added that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion discuss subjects such as the killing of women and children.

IRGC Deputy Chief of Operations Gen. Mohammad-Reza Naghdi warned, on November 29, 2024, of a second "Al-Aqsa Flood" attack which will be even greater than the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led invasion and massacres in southern Israel. This, he said, will "finish off" Israel.

This report will provide an overview of recent expressions of antisemitism and Holocaust denial by Iranian regime officials and mouthpieces.

Kayhan: The Jews' Evil Characteristics Include "Oppressing Prophets And The Righteous, Secrecy And Espionage, Brutality… Fraud, Extreme Sensuality, Weaving Conspiracies, Factionalism, Secularism, Falsification Of History, Corruption Of Religious Texts, Lies, Adultery, Charging Interest, Corruption, And Witchcraft…"

On September 25, 2024, the Iranian regime mouthpiece Kayhan published an article about Israel's wars in Gaza and against Hizbullah, provided an overview of the supposed history of the Jewish people, and accused the Jews and Zionism of racism, fraud, slaughter, and more, asserting that in order to rescue humanity from the dangerous "germ" that is Israel, it must be wiped out for good.

The following is a translation of the article's key points:

"'You will find that the people strongest in enmity towards the believers [i.e. the Muslims] are the Jews and the polytheists. [Quran 5:82]'

"One must not take lightly this verse and many other verses in the Quran about the Children of Israel and the Jews. The Children of Israel and their unique [Scriptural] works are so important that they can be explored and studied in depth, [but] one should avoid tackling them naively. In terms of narrative, the stories of the Children of Israel are so attractive and exciting that they can constitute a lesson for all the cultures and sects.

"It has been said many times that [references to] the Children of Israel and the Jews [are in fact a reference] to Zionism, which may not be limited only to Judaism [i.e. it is supported by members of other religions], and maybe it doesn't include all Jews...

"The Zionists and the Children of Israel have received 'special subjectivity,' in the sense that they have a strange way of thinking and a combination of special and unique qualities. They have a collection of ugly and strange characteristics which are manifested in them in an extreme fashion, and, believe it or not – although they have illegitimate media, influence, wealth, and power – they have in fact been hated and cast out throughout history.

"It can be said that in the current era, one of the important reasons for the unequivocal support for the establishment of the State of Israel from the West, America, the former USSR, and so on was, in principle, their honorable expulsion [of the Jews] – or actually their distancing of the chronic threats [that the Jews constitute] – from their [own] countries, and their elimination of the great many sources of harm and the economic, political, cultural, and security problems with which [the Jews] confront their people. This move was referred to by the Imam [Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Revolution] as 'removing the cancerous growth' – and this is justly and correctly the heart of the matter. There is no other.

"The Children of Israel are never to be trusted, ever since their scheme to murder their brother Joseph, which resulted in his torture and in the psychological agony of their father, the Prophet Jacob that lasted 37 years. In order to cause them to believe and to obligate them to not be traitors or to be lax in their faith, God threatened them – but they rebelled [against Him] anyway. They saw different prophets, and became accustomed to killing them, and were known for this activity. The various miracles that they experienced – such as the splitting of the Red Sea, the turning of the waters of the Nile into blood, and the sending down of the roasted birds and the heavenly nectar [i.e. the quail and manna that sustained the Children of Israel for 40 years in the desert] – never happened to any nation – but they still would not believe [in God]. They enjoyed various blessings, the greatest of which was the emergence of Moses, the savior of the Children of Israel, and his brother Aaron, who rescued them from the humiliating oppression of Pharoah – yet they were again unappreciative. They tasted the special favors of God, such as the shade of the cloud above their heads that protected them from the oppressive sun as they wandered the desert – yet they remained unappreciative and were unbelievers.

"The weak faith of the Children of Israel was such that [even] after they saw all those miracles within a short period of time, when their prophet Moses was away [ascending Mount Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments], they turned away from worshipping God and turned to worshipping the [Golden] Calf. The command of 'kill yourselves,' or mass suicide, came only to this nation, and it means punishment and compensation for their great sin. They saw the revival of the dead many times, and they experienced it miraculously. The violation of God's command to enter the Promised Land, and [their punishment to] wander [in the desert] for 40 years is unique to them. This is the short history of the Children of Israel – some of whom were transformed into dogs and some into apes, and the mark of humiliation and rootlessness has been etched on their forehead, and they still suffer the torment of having no homeland and of wandering…

"The advanced superpowers supported the establishment of the State of Israel in order to be rid of the evil of these disgusting and exhausting creatures, these mischievous and mysterious creatures. The evil qualities seen among many of this nation, and for which they have been criticized, include: unbelief; ingratitude; speaking evil against God, the angels, the prophets, and Miryam [i.e. Mary]; oppression of the prophets and the righteous; secrecy and espionage; brutality; recklessness; stubbornness; making excuses; racism; superstition; selfishness; bullying; fraud; extreme sensuality; weaving conspiracies; factionalism; secularism; falsification of history and corruption of religious texts; lies; adultery; charging interest; corruption; witchcraft; and more.

"Today, Zionism is the most important cause of anxiety in the world. [It comprises] a group of radicals who first cheated the Jews and led them astray with regard to 'moving to the Promised Land,' and bringing them to that very land that was plundered and to a false national [identity]. In fact, they [the Jews] were brought as 'soldiers' to a shack called the occupied territories [i.e. Israel]. [Such is] the thinking of people with no nationality, and of a nation with no language, culture, or shared customs – with the exception of the language of religious ritual – which attempts to 'create its own back story' with the power of money, terrorism, threats, falsification of history, and the influence. This is the exact recreation of the establishment of the new America, and from the moment the call went out to build this nation and to this day, it tortures and plots, kills, and expels, in various ways, the land's main occupants – Arabs, Muslims and Christians – and the truth is that they are aiming to establish not a state but a 'province.'

"On the pretext of the 'Al-Aqsa Flood' [Hamas's name for the October 7 attack and its aftermath] they [the Jews/Zionists] have been murdering the Palestinians by means of famine, thirst, fear, and terror, for a whole year, to the extent that the entire world, the infidels, and the [Zionist] occupiers themselves [are expressing] opposition to this move [i.e. Israel's fighting in Gaza]. Even many European countries, along with the allies of Zionism that have paid ransom to the [Israeli] regime [i.e. reparations] since the myth of the Holocaust, have been unable to remain silent and are forced to recognize the independent State of Palestine and to condemn the genocide of the  Palestinians.

"The consensus of the UN member states, the condemnation of the unprecedented crimes of the Zionists, and the plan for a weapons embargo against it, despite the fact that this has been and will be vetoed many times by the American vote, and is invalid, but... this is a sign of the general disgust of the world. It can be conceived that if the prophets – and primarily Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad – were among us today, what would they have done with this germ [called] Israel, and what would they want of us?

"Perhaps we can mention something else that the Prophet Mohammad said: 'No tribe bothered me like the Jews did.' How can we update the words of truth of the martyr [Morteza] Motahari [Islamic Revolution ideologue and student of Ayatollah Khomeini, assassinated in 1979], who years before the Revolution swore that the soul of the Prophet of Allah [Mohammad] is suffering because of the crimes of Zionism, the recent crimes of Israel?

"'Cancerous growth' is the most appropriate description for this regime and its way of thinking, and the world community must quickly do something about this malignant growth. This is because every day this disease becomes more dangerous, and inflicts greater harm on human society, and it is inconceivable that the world can be saved and the future of humanity preserved without uprooting Zionism.

"Today, the threat posed by Israel to the world is greater than ever, and in the face of this dangerous and radical entity, we cannot propose naïve, superficial, or poetic solutions [referring to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's statement in New York that if Israel puts down its weapons, so would Iran, and that security in the region could be provided by an international force]... Can a thief be told, 'Put down your pistol and I will let you remain in my home?' Can a serial killer be told, 'Put down your weapons so that the oppressed ones will relinquish [avenging] the blood of their dear ones, their past life, and their plundered assets'? Is it reasonable to compare a rootless, nationless regime [Israel] to a respectable country [Iran] with a 10,000-year-old civilization? Is it fair that dear Iran should be the one, of all these countries, to negotiate with British nomads [i.e. the Zionists] who were humiliated by Moscow and French pickpockets [i.e. the Zionists] who gathered in Israel?...

"The reality of Zionism is evil, incitement, bloodshed, and plundering, that robs its victims of any thought other [than] itself, and expels all those it considers in[sufficiently] extreme. [The Zionists assassinated] even [Israeli prime minister] Yitzhak Rabin' [in 1995], and [the current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] understood his fate and therefore does not give up.

"The new and unprecedented crime carried out by Israel in Lebanon [i.e. the Hizbullah pager attacks], has, in addition to tarnishing the name of the industrial output of Israel, America, and their allies in the world, caused everybody, even those who know nothing about politics, to realize that Israel is untrustworthy. It is a cancerous growth, and destruction will come upon it; it is a losing horse [a reference to a similar statement by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei]."[2]

Kayhan Editor-In-Chief Shariatmadari: The German Government Is In The Hands Of The Zionist Regime… The Falsification Of The 'Holocaust' Myth Is One Of The Greatest Lies, And Many People In Germany Today Realize This

In a November 2, 2024 article, Kayhan editor-in-chief Hossein Shariatmadari, a close associate of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, expressed a similar antisemitic worldview, even denying the Holocaust. The following is a translation of his references to Jews in Germany:

"… In the 2023 census, Germany's population numbered close to 90 million. The number of Jews living in Germany, most of whom are not of German descent, stands at approximately 150,000. Are you not surprised that the number of Jewish representatives in the German parliament is nearly 115 [this assertion has no basis in fact]?!... Even Germany's economic channels, along with large and profitable factories, are in the hands of the Jews. Considering the presence of 100 Jewish non-German individuals – out of a population of 150,000 Jews – as representatives in this country's parliament, and considering the role of parliament, it is easy to guess that the German government is in the hands of the Zionist regime... The falsification of the myth of the 'Holocaust' is one of the greatest lies, and many people in Germany today realize this..."[3]

Iranian Official Reza Taghavi: Hitler's Approach To The Jews Was Correct; The Zionists Must Be Persecuted, Deported, And Killed Everywhere; Soon The Zionists Will Eradicate America And Europe

Iranian regime official Reza Taghavi, a former Majlis member and a current member of the Iranian presidency's Council for Coordination vis-à-vis Seminaries and Clerics, said in an October 4, 2024 interview on Iran's IRINN TV that "Hitler was right in his approach towards the Jews." Adding that that the Jews must be "tried, deported, and killed everywhere," he warned that the Zionists aim to create strife in the West and will destroy the U.S., Europe, and the "arrogant" countries that now support them. It should be noted that Taghavi is a member of the council that sets guidelines for the content of Friday sermons in Iran.

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, click here or below:

Iranian Author Mohammad-Taghi Zahedi: Purim – A Holiday Of Enmity Towards The Iranians And The Aryan Race That Was Created To Fabricate Jewish History And Victimhood; The Holocaust Is "A Fabrication" And "The Final Piece In The Puzzle Of Lies" Aimed At Enabling The Jews And Zionists To Claim Victimhood"

On November 18, 2024, Iranian researcher and author Mohammad-Taghi Zahedi asserted, on Iran's Channel 3, that the Jewish holiday of Purim, that marks events that took place in Persia and are recorded in the Book of Esther, is a holiday of animosity towards the Iranians and the Aryan race. The Jews, he said, invented the holiday in order to fabricate proof of their existence during the Achaemenian Empire period. Claiming that the antagonist in the story, Haman, was the first antisemite, and opposed Jewish victimhood and oppressed the Jews, he added that an Israeli general had threatened to slit the throats of Iranians, as he claimed the Jews did in the Purim story.

Zahedi also referred to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, asserting that it discusses the killing of non-Jewish women and children and Jewish manipulation of women in non-Jewish societies. He called the Protocols a handbook that Jews use, along with the Torah and Talmud, to destroy non-Jewish families by promoting liberal ideologies among women in Gentile societies.

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, click here or below:

The following week, on November 25, Zahedi called the Holocaust "a fabrication" and "the final piece in the puzzle of lies" aimed at enabling the Jews and Zionists to claim victimhood. Exterminating six million Jews would have taken 68 years, he argued, adding that the process of killing people one by one in gas chambers and transferring their remains to crematories would have been impossible within the timeframe of the war. He went on to claim that the number of Jews in Europe prior to World War II was less than six million and that the migration of Jews to Israel after the war disproved the claim that six million had been killed.

Top IRGC General Mohammad-Reza Naqdi Threatens Israel With 'Al-Aqsa Flood II': The Past Year Will Feel Like A 'Walk In The Park' Compared To What Is Coming

In a November 29, 2024 address that aired on IRINN TV, IRGC Gen. Mohammad-Reza Naqdi, the deputy IRGC commander-in-chief for coordination, warned Israel about a second "Al-Aqsa Flood" that would completely "finish off" Israel. The October 7, 2023 Al-Aqsa Flood attack, he said, had shown the need for offensive action against Israel, and he warned that the failure to push on with the attack to Tel Aviv and to liberate Jerusalem would lead to Israel's killing of civilians. Responding to questions about a third "Operation True Promise," as a follow-up to the two Iranian missile and drone attacks against Israel in April and October 2024, Naghdi emphasized his focus on a second "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation, which he claimed would surpass the October 7 attack. This, he said, would make the past year seem like a "walk in the park" for Israelis. The audience chanted: "Death to Israe!"

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, click here or below:

 

[1] Kayhan (Iran), January 5, 2025.

[2] Kayhan (Iran), September 25, 2024.

[3] Kayhan (Iran), November 2, 2024.

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