Iran eyes badges for Jews

National Post ^ | May 19, 2006 | Chris Wattie

[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.

[agrace]

On the plus side, remember that most Muslims are Sunni and think the Shia are heretics and hence worse then infidels, and the shia retun the favor. Maybe promoting a Moslem civil war would not be a bad thing.....

The only exception to that scenario might be the uniting of the two sects under the Mahdi, which is exactly who Ahmadinejad wants to bring out - he's said it plainly several times. This is what I think they are doing - according to Muslim eschatology, the Imam Mahdi will emerge on the heels of major conflict and war. He then will unite the Muslim world and set up a new caliphate. Sunnis and Shiites are obligated to follow him, and I believe, despite their differences, they will come together on it for the most part.

So Ahmadinejad is deliberately and methodically gunning for war in order to bring about the circumstances needed for such a geopolitical shift, and I think he truly believes it is the will of allah that he be the one to make it happen.

[#1CTYankee]

"The Iranian people would never stand for it."

Yeah, like they've got a lot to say in the matter.

[fanfan]

placemark

[Alissa]

when it was revived at the behest of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

He's obviously a good student of history. He knows damn well that he'll get away with this, because NO one will stop him, definitely not the Useless Nations.

[Sam Gamgee]

Seems like it. I wonder what Israel's response is going to be?

[abu afak]

Unbelievable.

More later

[Sic Luceat Lux]

...recognize this threat and translate that into action against this monster in Iran.

Don't despair, the Israelis have the fingers on their neutron weaponry.

[MARKUSPRIME]

I thought so. People like him come here to probe and see what the reaction is. Never trust a muslim. Turkey screwed us leading up to Iraq and the US military has'nt forgotten. They are'nt our friends and are turing to islamofacists.Screw Islam. Brainwashed fools the lot of'em.;)Mohammed was a swine humper. :D

[Cindy]

OPINION: THIS IS HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF.
I am not surprised that it includes Jews AND Christians.

http://www.persecution.org

http://www.truthusa.com/911news.html
http://www.truthusa.com/911news2.html



===
===

Thanks to Smartass for the Canada.com article:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1617489/posts?page=2184#2184

http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=11fbf4a8-282a-4d18-954f-546709b1240f&k=32073

"Iran eyes badges for Jews
Law would require non-Muslim insignia"

Chris Wattie
National Post

Friday, May 19, 2006

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "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.""

[TVenn]

The link doesn't work and the story has been pulled.

Looks like you were conned.

[TVenn]

This does highlight the potential effect of misinformation.


http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=11fbf4a8-282a-4d18-954f-546709b1240f&k=32073

This story is no longer available

[fire and forget]

Please add me to the ping list. I'm still waiting for some tangible back up for this other than "Canadian expatriots"

[usmcobra]

[TVenn]

Your thread has served as invaluable case study on the effects of propaganda on the masses(ok, small mass).

Now that we know this was a hoax, start at the first reply and read through them all.

The thread is very educational.

[Cindy]

It also could be the bandwidth use was too high.
Time will tell.

When I get a chance, I'll check for a new url.

[Buck W.]

"It would make religious minorities immediately identifiable and allow Muslims to avoid contact with non-Muslims. "

It's not the avoidance of contact that's of concern here...

[TVenn]

http://www.drudgereport.com/

Drudge pulled it, also.

[Squawk 8888]

Looks like it was either (a) disgruntled expats exaggerating the nature of the legislation or (b) Iranian clerics floating a trial balloon. I'm betting on (a) but not with everything I have.

[fire and forget]

Well said. A lot of people are so very excitable. If this does prove a hoax, I hope the Mods only remove it from Breaking News, not delete it entirely.

[Tarantulas]

Time for a little Googling...

http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nl/content.asp?c=fwLYKnN8LzH&b=312458&content_id={385AF430-D3F8-4C1D-9BD9-303104551FD8}&notoc=1

May 18, 2006

The Honorable Kofi Annan
Secretary General of the United Nations
United Nations
New York, NY 10017

Dear Secretary General Annan:

I am writing you on a matter of grave concern regarding a new Iranian “National Uniform Law” that was authorized 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.

Given President Ahmadinejad’s record of labeling the Holocaust a myth and calling for the obliteration of the State of Israel, we must urgently take action. Now is the time for the United Nations and the international community to launch an immediate investigation, to seek clarification from the Iranians themselves on whether or not the new “National Uniform Law” would single out non-Moslems and require them to wear a color-coded identification patch. If that is not their intention, then let President Ahmadinejad tell the world it is not so.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Marvin Hier
Founder and Dean