World Jewish News

Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei tops 2013 Simon Wiesenthal Center anti-Semitic and anti-Israel list

Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei tops the 2013 Simon Wiesenthal Center’s “Top Ten Anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel List” because of his continuous calls for Israel's destruction even during the announcement of the interim nuclear agreement.’’
The annual list by the Jewish human rights group exposes Jew-hatred by government leaders, movements, and cultural elites who are influential, have impact, and wield real power.
In November, Khamenei described Israel as the “rabid dog in the region,” adding, “Its leaders look like beasts and cannot be called human.” Khamenei said shortly before the Iranian election that “Zionists” were the real agents in control of the United States – an accusation with which he was “updating the old canard of a global Jewish conspiracy,” according to the center.
The number two on the list was Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who continued his verbal attacks on Israel, including blaming the Jewish State and the so-called ‘’interest rate lobby’’ for the anti-government Gezi Park protests. ”Erdogan has also accused Israel as being responsible for the Egyptian military’s ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
In next spot on the list one can find Richard Falk, the United Nations’ human rights expert who has a history of anti-Israel statements.
Others named include the American Studies Association (ASA) that voted in favor of academic boycott of Israel and Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, who compared Israel to Nazi Germany, the United Church of Canada, the Pine Bush New York school district for failing to protect Jewish pupils from “anti-Semitic slurs and physical abuse by bullies,” Pulitzer prize-winning novelist Alice Walker for her latest book which “is a diatribe against the Jewish state. Walker depicts Hamas-ruled Gaza as a benign place” and compares Israelis to the Nazis, and European anti-Semitism and racism in sports stadiums. ‘’The European soccer stadium has become a petri dish for various strains of bigotry, and Jews are once again, are among the majors targets,’’ says the SWC.
European soccer governing body UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) has opened disciplinary proceedings into the conduct of Italian soccer fans who chanted anti-Semitic slogans against an English club in November.

EJP