Anti-Semitic books displayed at Frankfort fair, watchdog says

Posted: 10/14/2014 11:37:00 PM
Author: Marissa Newman
Source: This article first appearted on The Times opf Israel website on Oct. 14, 2014.

Anti-Semitic books displayed at Frankfurt fair, watchdog says

Qatari, Palestinian, Egyptian and Iranian publishers said to be the top offenders at world’s largest publishing gathering
by Marissa Newman

Several publishers from Arab countries displayed books featuring anti-Semitic content, Holocaust denial, and terror glorification, at the Frankfurt Book Fair last week, an annual report from the Simon Weisenthal Center said.

The worst offenders were Qatar, a Palestinian publisher, Egypt, and Iran, the report indicated, with examples including children’s books condoning jihad, a text honoring child murderer Sami Kuntar, and an adaptation of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

Turkey, however, “for the 3rd year, remained hate-free,” Dr. Shimon Samuels, director for international relations of the organization’s Paris branch, said in a statement.

The report accused the publishers listed of “violating European Union and German provisions against incitement, and thereby contravene their contractual obligations to the Book Fair.” It called on the book fair to “confiscate offensive texts and blacklist delinquent exhibitors from participation in 2015.”

At the Qatar booth, three books delineating Jewish conspiracy theories were displayed, including a pamphlet on “The Battles of Mohammed.”

“This booklet, now published in English for children, begins with the plots of the Jews against the Prophet, their slaughter at the battle of Khaybar and a survivor’s subsequent attempt to poison him. This distilled hatred necessitates direct intervention to ensure that Qatar takes measures for a hate-free display to participate in the 2015 Fair,” the report said.

The Nablus-based Palestinian Bait Almaqdes Centre featured its texts at a Kuwaiti stand, including the volumes “Jewish Terms: Beware of them!” and “The Zionist Deception Dictionary,” the latter an adaptation of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” The “Jewish Terms: Beware of them!” book, authored by Issa Qaddoumi, recommends the term “Islamic East” in place of “Middle East,” “surrendering” instead of “normalization,” “Jews” instead of “Israelis,” and “The Myth of Nazi Crematory” rather than “Holocaust.”

“These terms could not have been so common had the international Jewish media not played its role so cunningly. This is, virtually, one aspect of the cultural Judaization which is meant to be imposed on the world as a whole,” its preface states.

The Palestinian publisher also displayed the 2011 volume, “The Buraq Wall,” which featured allegations of “Jewish subversion,” asserted that “worshiping at the Wall is a new heresy in the religion of the Jews,” and called for Muslim control over the Western Wall.

“Promotion of Resistance Culture,” an Iranian publisher, presents a series of children’s books on terrorism, including a new edition on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The books are titled: “Children and Soldiers,” “Children and Bravery,” “The Shoes of the Martyrs,” and “We Fight the Enemy.” An Iranian booth also included a title on “The Exchange, Lebanon, 2005-2008,” in which Samir Kuntar, a terrorist convicted of murdering a 4-year-old Israeli girl and her father and released in a 2008 prisoner swap deal, features prominently and positively.

“Such iconization of monsters, for display to Fair visitors, is a whitewash for terrorism,” said Samuels.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest trade convention in the world, drawing thousands of visitors and international publishers every year.


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