Posted on 05/19/2006 2:55:11 AM PDT by Squawk 8888
Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.
"This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis."
Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear almost identical "standard Islamic garments."
The law, which must still be approved by Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect, also establishes special insignia to be worn by non-Muslims.
Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth.
"There's no reason to believe they won't pass this," said Rabbi Hier. "It will certainly pass unless there's some sort of international outcry over this."
Bernie Farber, the chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said he was "stunned" by the measure. "We thought this had gone the way of the dodo bird, but clearly in Iran everything old and bad is new again," he said. "It's state-sponsored religious discrimination."
Ali Behroozian, an Iranian exile living in Toronto, said the law could come into force as early as next year.
It would make religious minorities immediately identifiable and allow Muslims to avoid contact with non-Muslims.
Mr. Behroozian said it will make life even more difficult for Iran's small pockets of Jewish, Christian and other religious minorities -- the country is overwhelmingly Shi'ite Muslim. "They have all been persecuted for a while, but these new dress rules are going to make things worse for them," he said.
The new law was drafted two years ago, but was stuck in the Iranian parliament until recently when it was revived at the behest of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa refused to comment on the measures. "This is nothing to do with anything here," said a press secretary who identified himself as Mr. Gharmani.
"We are not here to answer such questions."
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has written to Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, protesting the Iranian law and calling on the international community to bring pressure on Iran to drop the measure.
"The world should not ignore this," said Rabbi Hier. "The world ignored Hitler for many years -- he was dismissed as a demagogue, they said he'd never come to power -- and we were all wrong."
Mr. Farber said Canada and other nations should take action to isolate Mr. Ahmadinejad in light of the new law, which he called "chilling," and his previous string of anti-Semitic statements.
"There are some very frightening parallels here," he said. "It's time to start considering how we're going to deal with this person."
Mr. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly described the Holocaust as a myth and earlier this year announced Iran would host a conference to re-examine the history of the Nazis' "Final Solution."
He has caused international outrage by publicly calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
Iran does not yet have nuclear weapons, but Tehran believed by Western nations to be developing its own nuclear military capability, in defiance of international protocols and peace treaties.
The United States, France and Israel accuse Iran of using a civilian nuclear program to secretly build a weapon. Iran denies this, saying its program is confined to generating electricity.
Before I criticize this absurd law, I'd like to know if this story is true. If this was in fact an act of the Iranian parliament, why is the story coming out through "Iranian expatriates living in Canada"?
I viewed on the History Channel that the Mongols worked in tandem with Muslims during the 1300s to force the spread the Black Plague to Europe. The Black Plague started in
Asia and the Middle East, and they catapulted dead bodies of Black Plague victims into a fortress that was being defended.
The Soldiers returned to Messina with soldiers who had been infected with the black plague.
It is considered the world's first occurence of biological warfare.
Bingo.
Actually, I think Hitler got the yellow star thing from the Arabs who required Jews some many years before to do the same thing.
This is un effin' believable. These idiots have to be stopped. I imagine the young educated Iranians will go for this so called "dress code" /s
The great irony here is that Shiites are the minority in islam and have a long history of being persecuted themselves.
I just read the article on my Bloomberg machine ... and on UPI:
http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20060519-105912-5198r
Sooner or later, we're going to have to bomb the heck out of Iran. It's like watching a train wreck. No amount of denial and pious PC handwringing will save the situation.
"Are we Americans, or republicans and democrats, squabbling over votes, while the wolves are contemplating a nice feast?"
When what they say doesn't match what that do, go with what they do. - We are not a cohesive unit. I know that there was division in this country before WWII, but my sense is that it is far worse now. Why? Because not only do we squabble at every turn, but we also value profit over God, country and humanity.
These are dark times. My evening prayers have taken on much deeper meaning to me in the past few months.
See post 145
<< I think they will end up nuking something at some point in time. But shortly after it will be over them.>>
NO, it won't.......
The West no longer has the Stones to do anything about it.....
Leftists will force us to bow down and "Understand: thier hate and anger, not retaliate...
After all, it was JUST Israel they erased.....
Thanks. The MSM will give this 1/100th the play they give to the latest Bush-bashing story.
How do we move this story into the Breaking News section?
With all due respect, because "Go ye therefore" doesn't end with "wherever it is comfortable".
That's why. God bless 'em. They're in my prayers.
Click "click to add topic" at the top and type in "breaking"
In my more wacko moments, I think that the only way to stop the Iraqi insurgents and Palestinian terrorists is to tell them this: One more - ONE more - suicide bombing, and Mecca is toast. And - using the logic they use against us - we will say it is their fault, because our action was a response to THEIR actions. We will say: If you folks can blow up mosques, so can we; you are our teachers in blowing up mosques. I think the Islamic world be more stunned than angered by the destruction of Mecca - it is unthinkable to them. But not to me.
Master race/master religion....fantatics in charge = the same thing as the 1930's moving towards the Holocaust.
Okay, we have said for decades, "never again"...
Here in the USA, since 9/11, we have been saying "never forget"...
Seems in this case, they are entwined...and looking under rocks for a nuke weapon could make us blind to what is going on in the other parts of the country, if you know what I mean.
The time to act on the Iran problem is now. The west must not wait.
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