Frankfurt – Several publishers from Arab countries displayed
books featuring antisemitic 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.
