Badger Gate

Some updates to Shame, shame, shame below, about the National Post's disgraceful invocation and exploitation of the Holocaust yesterday to incite the west against Iran. (By the way, you should really read the reader comments. They're great!)

1. Here is the letter sent from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre to UN secretary-general Kofi Annan. Note that it is dated Thursday:

I am writing you on a matter of grave concern regarding a new Iranian “National Uniform Law” that was discussed in the Iranian Parliament, the Majlis, on Monday.  The law was drafted two years ago and held up in the Iranian Parliament.  It has now been revived and pushed forward by President Ahmadinejad.

According to an editorial that was to appear in Friday’s National Post, by Amir Taheri, a well known and well respected analyst on Iranian affairs, a consensus has developed regarding color badges to be worn by non-Moslems: yellow for Jews, red for Christians, blue for Zoroastrians and other colors for other religions.   This would make religious minorities immediately identifiable and allow Moslems to avoid contact with non-Moslems.

If this is true, it would move Iran even closer to the Nazi ideology of the 1930s which also began with yellow badges and ended with the Holocaust that led to the murder of six million Jews and millions of other innocent civilians.

As I blogged last night, what this indicates is that either somebody at the Post or, perhaps Iranian-born analyst Amir Taheri Taheri himself, flipped a copy of Taheri's op-ed in advance of its publication to the SWC. Indeed, that's what sources at the Post say.

From the SWC, it got broadcast to Jewish community groups in Canada which, quite properly, reacted with fear and outrage. (A similar, although post-Post story, reaction was seen in the U.S.)

That chain of events apparently gave the Post the story that wasn't.

I emphasize that I have not had confirmation on that but this letter is the smoking gun.

2. The Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post ran Taheri's commentary today (more about who Taheri is in yesterday's blog post below). It also had a news story which referred to the ''Fourth Reich'' in the headline.

Concerned U.S. officials and Jewish groups yesterday demanded answers from Iran after a shocking report that Tehran's radical leaders passed a Nazi-style law requiring Jews and Christians to wear identifying badges.

Renowned Iranian-affairs expert Amir Taheri reports that the law, approved by Iran's parliament last week, "envisages separate dress codes for religious minorities, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, who will have to adopt distinct color schemes to make them identifiable in public."

Jews would be forced to wear yellow cloth strips - like the Star of David that Jews were made to...

Murdoch also owns Fox News.

3. Some right-wing bloggers have complained that I unfairly maligned them by saying that I did not note that they had updated their posts to reflect that doubts had been cast on the original Post story by Chris Wattie.

The Toronto Star’s stupidest (and most anti-Israel) columnist, Antonia Zerbisias, also joins the chorus, attacking LGF for our post without mentioning our update that specifically says the story is in doubt: Shame, shame, shame.

They are correct. I should have noted that.

4. Juan Cole at Informed Comment offers more on the controversial Iranian law at the center of this story.

The actual legislation passed by the Iranian parliament regulates women's fashion, and urges the establishment of a national fashion house that would make Islamically appropriate clothing. There is a vogue for "Islamic chic" among many middle class Iranian women that involves, for instance, wearing expensive boots that cover the legs and so, it is argued, are permitted under Iranian law. The scruffy, puritanical Ahmadinejad and his backers among the hardliners in parliament are waging a new and probably doomed struggle against the young Iranian fashionistas. (The Khomeinists give the phrase "fashion police" a whole new meaning).

There is nothing in this legislation that prescribes a dress code or badges for Iranian religious minorities, and Maurice Motamed was present during its drafting and says nothing like that was even discussed.

The whole thing is a steaming crock.

5.  I can hardly wait for CAMERA, the Committee for ''Accuracy'' in Middle East Reporting in America, to be all over this, demanding corrections and retractions from the Post, both National and New York, as well as all the other papers and sites that carried their story.

Note that I once received a ''notice of libel'' from CAMERA because it did not take too kindly to what I had written regarding water in the West Bank after a tour I took through there.

Last time I checked its website, there was no mention of the Iran badges story at all.

6. I wonder if ''Honest Reporting'' in Canada will put Wattie in the stocks as it has me and other reporters in Canada who have written stories and commentaries that have conflicted with its views of the Middle East.

Strangely enough, it doesn't mention the story at all.

Comments

[sooey]

uh oh. identity crisis: i'm anti-arab-brotherhood (especially iran - yuck) AND anti-nat-post-printing-made-up-stuff-as-front-page-news...

[sooey]

but i saw a comment on a previous entry and get this: "they found iraq's weapons of mass destruction and they were right where rumsfeld said they were!"

[thickslab]

Good grief, and Warren Kinsella is trotting out that Robert Mclelland "fuck the jews" thing again. Doesn't he ever get tired of that? Get a new routine already, Kinsella.

[Maz]

The role of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in the dust-up over false allegations of yellow badges for Iranian Jews recalls the Aesop fable “The Trumpeter Taken Prisoner.”

A TRUMPETER, bravely leading on the soldiers, was captured by the enemy. He cried out to his captors, "Pray spare me, and do not take my life without cause or without inquiry. I have not slain a single man of your troop. I have no arms, and carry nothing but this one brass trumpet." "That is the very reason for which you should be put to death," they said; "for, while you do not fight yourself, your trumpet stirs all the others to battle."

Speaking of trumpeter, inciting others to ride madly off in all directions and do battle, even Judith Miller joined the ranks of Jews unhappy with the Simon Wiesenthal's Center’s shameless exploitation of the Holocaust. Miller:

"The enormous success of the Simon Wiesenthal Center has given new meaning to what was once a macabre in-house joke ... 'There is no business like Shoah business,'" Shoah being the Hebrew word for Holocaust (cf. One, by One, by One: Facing the Holocaust [New York: Simon and Schuster/ Touchstone, 1990], p. 237).

It’s a small world, Antonia.

[Bill-Muskoka]

Antonia,

Statements like 'The Toronto Star’s stupidest (and most anti-Israel) columnist, Antonia Zerbisias' just illustrate how little they know you, your positions, or family.

Ignore the ignorant BASTARDS! They cannot even copy and paste your name correctly!

[Bill-Muskoka]

BEAT THE DRUMS! BEAT THE DRUMS! Get those war hormones flowing.

Let's try looking at this entire matter with open eyes, minds, and hearts towards TRUTH!

Every two bit 'I wannabe respected' clown jumped on it like flys on doo.

National leaders spoke before asking, thinking or considering their words. Especially, and I say this because it is OUR Prime Minister, knowing the story may have NO BASIS!

All the yipyap about WDC learning from Harper, here is the critique: Learn to say 'NO COMMENT' Mr, Harper! You represent Canada and every Canadian citizen Sir, Not George W. Bush! GOT IT?

The bottom line is the story would probably not have had the impact it has without the demeaning and totally unnecessary picture included with it!

Congratulations Canada has now been targeted as a repository of Zionistic fanatics thanks to the National Compost! I hope you are proud Mr. Asper and the rest of your staff! The damage has been done.

I sincerely hope the self policing organizations of the media take this one and make sincere examples of those involved!

[Maz]

A newspaper's currency is to a large extent its own credibility. That National Post should allow its credibility to be damaged in the way it has over the Iran's-yellow-badge-for-Jews report suggests that it has lost its way. Or, more disturbingly, that the wider culture is at a point where truth is no longer as valued as it once was. Something the James Frey episode on Oprah might be a clear reflection of.

As for the theory (see above) that "Zionist fanatics" are beating the drums to spur us on to war with Iran, Mossad, Israel's secret service, does have as its motto, "By way of deception, thou shalt do war." Deceit goes with the territory, they say. Maybe this is a case of National Post deciding to get with the program (a la Judy Miller and the New York Times and going to war in Iraq) - and suck up the damage to its credibility? I'm just "thinking out loud" here; I hope we're at least still free to speculate - to think out loud, as it were.

[Mark-Alan Whittle]

Come on AZ, dissing everyone's reaction to that nut job Ahmadinejad's Intolerant and racist dress code for Muslims, to the exclusion of all others, shouldn't surprise anyone, nor the references to Adolf Hitler.

It's exactly what Hitler did to his own population, those foolish enough to admit they were homosexuals.

As I recall, It was a pink triangle symbol for those poor slobs.

Does it really matter who is targeted for overt religious identification, Jew or Muslim?

The harm these usurious policies do to a society has exactly the same cause and effect as they have in the past.

Do the Iranian people not see the harm Ahmadinejad's policies are doing to their own culture and way of life?

Ahmadinejad has gone completely insane, just like that guy in Apocalypse Now.

He's way, way out there, that's a fact.

His God-like delusions of grandeur are frightening, like those of Allah, the Muslim way of life. I find it incredibly naïve that the people of Iran would support such an evil man.

Pretty soon they will have nobody to blame for their plight, only Ahmadinejad.

[Demosthenes]

I can't wait until Mark-Alan finds out that the story was false. Which should be obvious, but apparently not to at least one wingnut.

[Paleo]

People need to open their eyes to the neo-con network that is able to propogate outright lies in an effort to change policy. There is the "Post" chain--National, New York, Jerusalem. There is Drudge. And there is Faux News. Plus, there a group of publicists like Benador Associates, that aids with finance and publicity. This echo chamber is quite dangerous, as we saw in Iraq and as we constantly see in the I/P conflict, and must be taken on by those interested in truth, fairness and a reasoned policy debate.

[arthurdecco]

"Pretty soon they will have nobody to blame for their plight, only Ahmadinejad." Posted by: Mark-Alan Whittle

(What kind of a mind thinks thoughts like this and then has so little good sense that they go to the trouble of typing them out and broadcasting them for all to see?)

Yeah, sure, Mark-Alan - it's all the Iranian citizens fault that their government is threatening the US's control over oil revenue, (and by extension, threatening the voracious appetites of the "American way of life"), by selling their country's oil in Euros instead of American dollars. That's certainly a good reason to murder them in their beds by dropping bombs from the skies just before the November American elections, don't you think, Mark-Alan? (Forgive my informality, but I now refuse to call racist and masturbatory warmongers like you, Mr. - you haven't earned the respect required.

You, (and the pathetic cadre of keyboard warriors to which you belong), will bear some of the responsibility for their deaths. You could be raising your voices in opposition to another war crime like Iraq. You could be shouting down the madmen advocating nuclear strikes against a country who poses not a speck of a threat against any of their neighbours. You could have investigated the truth of the lies you've adopted as gospel, instead of mindlessly regurgitating them on command from your controllers and button-pushers. But noooo - you're not bright enough, are you, or sufficiently caring of anyone other than yourself and yours.

Pathetic, is what you are – all of you who continue to advocate for unspeakable violence in the face of good sense and morality.

Talk about "god-like delusions of grandeur"!

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

[sooey]

gosh, i agree the president of iran is quite insane, mark-alan whittle. and like most arab countries of the region, iran would seem to hold dear an official anti-israel government policy. and could, any day now, institute a dress code for "infidels" - it ain't paradise - it's a theocracy. but as the gosh darn FACTS would have it - it didn't. so the story right here, right now is about the national post saying it did. i mean, it's not rumsfeld going on national television to say that not only did iraq have weapons of mass destruction (which it may well have had) but that the u.s. government knew where they were. but we're not the u.s. either with its high stakes in the region. in spite of what seems increasingly clear could be the real hidden agenda of our current prime minister...

[sooey]

having said all that - sure, iran is making it really hard not to wipe IT off the face of the map. sort of like saddam hussein in iraq with the "maybe i have weapons of mass destruction, and maybe i don't" routine. i dunno. these arab countries really misunderestimate the insanity of american republicans, eh? ...well, not libya... anymore... so yeah - iran COULD institute an official infidel uniform. but heck - so could the new government of iraq. so could a lot of countries. i just hope our next flag day here IN CANADA!! isn't mandatory and come with stars and stripes...

[sooey]

oh yeah - so... if iran DOES institute an infidel uniform, nobody on the right gets to say: "the natpost called it already" because you can't call it until AFTER it happens. 'kay?

[Sean Pelette]

In the interests of 'more on Taheri' rather than 'more adhominems on Taheri', here's a little biographical info courtesy of wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Taheri

See wikipedia for more info on the about the Iranian sumpuary law. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Iranian_sumptuary_law

[spek]

Mark-Alan, you seem to have missed the part about the National Post story not being true.

[Stephen Reeves]

Arthurdeco, please relax, no one here is advocating bombing Iran,or starting wars.They are just critical of the regime, a regime which you seem to hold as a model for our society.

[Antonia Z.]

I am posting this link both here and in the comments section of Shame shame shame below. It is to a blog which carries a translation of the Iranian law at the centre of the this story. Read it and it's pretty clear that it was grossly distorted in the National and New York Post. Ain't no badges here.

http://kmgr.blogspot.com/2006/05/badges-for-jews-hoax.html

[Maz]

It’s interesting that in 2004 Amir Taheri published an article that dwelt on the prevalence of false rumours and urban myths in the U.S. public sphere.

See: http://www.counterpunch.com/taheri10262004.html

Near the end of it Taheri made these eye-cocking observations:

“Well, there will be no ‘October Surprise’, and Bin Laden, as far as I know, has been dead since December 2001.

“It is important to remember all this because of the steady growth of the market for conspiracy theories in the United States.”

Perhaps, Taheri was testing “market forces” in our Marketplace of Ideas by floating as fact this bogus tale of Iran’s yellow badges for Jews. No mention was made, I notice, whether these badges were to be like the World War Two era Star of David. Maybe Mr. T. decided, canny chap, to leave that to his readers’ imagination.

[Adam in Whitby]

So:

1) The Nat Post messed up big time, went back and rewrote the story. Antonia, you busted em good, but like the Star screw-up about the internet virgin, once a paper prints the true story, seems to me you get off their case. Like, say, Dan Rather and Memogate -- which, if I recall, you et al. still always addend with "...and the Prez is STILL a Draft Dodger anyways!" Well the Iranian prez is still a Holocaust-denying, Israel-threatening, nuclear power-acquiring nutbag. I feel little comfort knowing this story is false, except for the non-Muslims in Iran.

2) As per usual, the standard gaggle of anti-semites, "anti-zionists" and the like come scuttling out to make their statements about media-controlling "zionist jews" and "trumpeters" and all other manner of historical slanders. What a suprise. Enjoy the rally, boys.

3) Those who believe this is a part of a neo-con plot to start war are dreaming. Let's say, for the sake of argument, the belief that Saddam had WMD's was a "plot" to get us into war -- the only way to prove or disprove it was to invade. Here, the way to disprove was to...look at the law! Which the Nat Post and experts did! And changed their story! As did countless others! Some "hoax." Simmer down now.

[Mark Federman]

I can hardly wait until this false story resurfaces in the justification to bomb Iran and depose Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during the run-up to the next "War on ..." (tm)

[Bill-Muskoka]

Antonia,

I just finished looking through the NP and cannot find a retraction of the story? Do you have a link?

I am still shaking my head over the 'accurate but fake' line. I thought the encyclopedia of situational ethics was full...obviously not!

I will earmark that one right after 'genuine imitation', 'real faux', and 'virtual flat screen'

[Ti-Guy]

I'm surpised that Stephen Reeves thinks Canadians haven't paying attention to the blogosphere for the last 3 years.

Odd, that.

[Antonia Z.]

Regarding Adam in Whitby's reference to the Toronto ''Star'' screw-up on the Internet virgin. It was the Toronto SUN that blared the story on its front page as if it were true.

[Stephen Reeves]

I'm surpised that Stephen Reeves thinks Canadians haven't paying attention to the blogosphere for the last 3 years.

Odd, that.

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