Iranian American Forum, February 22, 2016

The Iranian regime has started a widespread campaign to portray the Saudi royal family as Jewish and at the same time, calling Jews filthy anti-Islamic conspirators responsible for all the Middle Eastern crisis and blood shedding. This campaign is well illustrated in a speech by panahian, the most renowned preacher close to the Supreme Leader and tied to revolutionary guards during a state organized rally in defense of Yemeni rebels. He declared: “For the last hundred years, the Jews in the region have been committing atrocities and killing Muslims. We blame anti-Islam Jews and Zionists for the plight of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain, and Yemen. We also blame the rich Jews and evil Zionists for all the troubles faced by people in Europe and America. Once we save the region from the evil oppression of the anti-Islam Jews, then we will have also saved the people of Europe and America from the oppression of the Zionists.”

As the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2016, Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei published a video titled “Are the Dark Ages Over,” on his official website that included one of his speeches from two years ago in which he questions the reality of the holocaust.

The publication of the video on such a day is a direct attempt to minimize Nazi crimes while clearly demonstrating the Iranian regime’s profound anti-Semitism.

Although the Iranian regime has consistently continued its anti-Semitic policies for the past 37 years, it has intensified it dramatically and become more blatant in the last few months.

Since the tensions between Iran and its regional rival Saudi Arabia has been mounting, the Iranian regime has started using the media, state-organized demonstrations and religious platforms to advance a widespread campaign to portray the Saudi royal family as Jewish and consequently calling Jews filthy anti-Islamic conspirators responsible for all the Middle Eastern crisis and blood shedding. Thus, the Iranian regime is inciting and exploiting anti-Jewish sentiments in order to weaken Saudi Arabia.

They claim that the Saudi royal family’s ancestors hail from the Khaybar tribe who were located near the city of Medina. The regime has also used its proxies in Iraq and several other countries to further the same campaign of portraying the Saudi royal family as Jewish.

According to the ruling mullahs in Iran, the Jews of Khaybar tribe conspired and started a war against Prophet Mohammad in the seventh century but justice was ultimately served when they were defeated by the army of Islam in battle of Khaybar. The regime is now attempting to portray its rivalry with the Saudis as a continuation of Prophet’s war against the Khaybari Jews.

Along with denouncing the Saudis as “Jewish, the Iranian regime has escalated its anti-Jewish hate campaign. The anti-Semitism being promoted by the Iranian regime combines both traditional Islamic prejudices such as regarding Jews as “wretched anti-Islamic conspirators” and the European – Nazi myth which depicts Jews as powerful , wealthy people who control Western governments and media, and who instigate crisis and wars to maintain their power.

The Iranian regime’s anti-Semitism is well demonstrated in an important speech given by Alireza Panahian, a well-known regime preacher during a rally staged by the security forces in Tehran in April 2015 in support of the Yemen Houthi rebels.

Alireza Panahian and Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

Panahian is one of the most renowned preachers with close ties to the Iranian leader and revolutionary guards. He is a regular speaker at the revolutionary guards and Bassiji force ceremonies, conferences or demonstrations. He is a member of High Council of Qom seminary. below is part of Panahian’s April 2015 anti-Semitic speech. A speech that highlights the Iranian regime’s increasingly extreme anti-Semitism: (Here is the Farsi  audio file of Panahian’s speech)

Panahian: “When Prophet Mohammad arrived at Medina, his eminence traded the Jews with the utmost mercy and kindness. Although the Jews in Medina were certain that Mohammad was the last prophet to be sent by God, they did not convert to Islam and while their denial was punishable, the prophet of Islam treated them with mercy.

Despite all this magnanimity, the Jews betrayed the Prophet a few years later and he had to endure their betrayal. As a result, Islam rose up against them; some of them converted to Islam, some were punished for their betrayal and some were scattered across the land.

And so we come to today. Now for the last hundred years, the Jews in the region have been committing atrocities and killing Muslims. Such atrocities are unheard of in human history.

It must be said that the Zionist Jews are weak at this juncture, with the latest crimes they have committed, the Zionists are reaching the end of their existence. The Islamic Nation’s patience with the anti-Islam Jews is over and we are facing the last wave of atrocities being committed by anti-Islam Jews in the region, who are killing the innocent people of Yemen

We blame anti-Islam Jews and Zionists for the plight of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain, and Yemen. We also blame the rich Jews and evil Zionists for all the troubles faced by people in Europe and America. Once we save the region from the evil oppression of the anti-Islam Jews, then we will have also saved the people of Europe and America from the oppression of the Zionists.

Even though the people of Europe and America vote in their fake democracies, they are still ruled by Zionists. The people of Europe suffer under the Zionists’ oppression more than anyone else, and they have no escape from the Zionist rule since all the leaders in America and Europe are soldiers and on the payroll of the international Zionism.

God forbid the day that the people of the world finally realise that this is the root of their problems. Lately, all the speculations have finally been proven to us and there is no doubt that the Saudi royal family are Jews and followers of the evil Zionists.

Dear God, the Kaaba and the city of Medina have been under the occupation of the Zionists for years. Dear God, free the holy land of Mecca and Medina in the hands of the people of Yemen

Enemies of Islam are stupid. If global Zionism, with its base in the ominous Israel and its slaves, the Saudis weren’t on the brink of destructions, they wouldn’t have caused Yemen to revolt against them.

Oh the people of Yemen, finish the job and free Mecca and Medina because the path to the liberation of Quds (Jerusalem) passes through Mecca and Medina.”