Introduction

This paper, the third in a series on the image of the Jew in the eyes of Iran's Islamic regime, deals with the Jew as reflected in cartoons published on official Iranian websites, and compares these cartoons with classic antisemitic European caricatures and depictions of Jews from previous centuries. An examination of these Iranian cartoons shows a clear intent to dehumanize Jews, with the aim of humiliating them and stripping them of their humanity – the better to foster emotional distance and alienation from them.

The cartoons depict Jews as or in conjunction with animals known for their cruelty and other negative attributes and for the fear and revulsion they evoke in humans – serpents, swine, wolves, disease-spreading vermin, and more, as if indicating that shunning or even killing them could be considered essential to protect human life.

The Iranian regime draws its inspiration for these cartoons from several sources. First, the motifs of physical characteristics originate without a doubt from classic European antisemitism – for example, the medieval depictions of Judensau, or Jews suckling from a sow, and the serpent, a main motif in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Second, the regime is inspired by Islamic motifs of Jews as descendants of apes and pigs, as mentioned in the Koran. Third is the uniquely Persian and Iranianmotif of Jews as dogs – in this culture, dogs are considered not only impure but also untouchable.

The following are examples of various forms of dehumanization of Jews, in cartoons published by official Iranian regime websites.

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In an article he published on April 30, 2013 on the website amad.ps, which is close to the PLO, former Hamas official Dr. Mustafa Al-Lidawi wrote that the Jews haven't changed since ancient times: in the past they used to drain the blood of Christian children in order to mix it into their Passover matzas, and today they sadistically torment and kill Palestinians. He added that Passover, which had once struck fear into the hearts of the Christians, was now a time of suffering and pain for the Palestinian people.

Dr. Mustafa Al-Lidawi