Iran eyes badges for Jews: Law would require non-Muslim insignia
Iran Looking Like Nazi Germany
Harper says Iran ‘capable’ of introducing Nazi-like clothing labels
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.”
When I first heard this story, it seemed credible…and outrageous. After all, given the tenor of political discourse in Iran, and given the government’s hatred of Israel and virtually all things non-Muslim, this sort of law seemed within the realm of possibility. Given the hardliners who run Iran (and line their pockets at the expense of those they rule and oppress), it wouldn’t be a stretch to figure that they could see their way clear to requiring non-Muslims to wear some sort of identification.
The odd thing about this law, though, is that it has attracted almost no attention in the mainstream international media. That’s not difficult to imagine, I suppose, but this proposed law is not the sort of thing that would nomally fly under the radar. If the most conservative Islamic regime in the Middle East is about to take the not insignicant step of requiring non-Muslims to wear ID badges, this is something you’d think would attract all sorts of attention, no? So why hasn’t it?
Well, a minimum of investigation would seem to indicate that this furor may well be much ado about nothing. Yes, there’s a bill in the Iranian Parliament that would require women to dress more conservatively, which hardly comes as a surprise. Somehow, it appears that this bit of fact was blown up into a rumor that the Iranian government wanted to force all non-Muslims to wear some sort of identification. Canada’s National Post and Matt Drudge’s Drudge Report both were convinced enough to run the story, which appears to have originated somewhere within Canada’s Iranian expatriate community. Never being one to let the truth stand in the way of a good story, even Rush Limbaugh is getting into the act. Gee, and I’d always thought that fact-checking was a GOOD thing….
Hey, if you repeat something often enough, it eventually becomes the truth…right??
[W]estern journalists based in Iran told their Canadian colleagues that they were unaware of any such law.
And Iranian politicians - including a Jewish legislator in Tehran - were infuriated by the Post report, which they called false.
Politician Morris Motamed, one of about 25,000 Jews who live in Iran, called the report a slap in the face to his minority community.
“Such a plan has never been proposed or discussed in parliament,” Motamed told the Associated Press.
“Such news, which appeared abroad, is an insult to religious minorities here.”
Another Iranian legislator said the newspaper has distorted a bill that he presented to parliament, which calls for more conservative clothing for Muslims.
“It’s a sheer lie. The rumours about this are worthless,” Emad Afroogh said.
Afroogh’s bill seeks to make women dress more traditionally and avoid Western fashions. Minority religious labels have nothing to do with it, he said.
“The bill is not related to minorities. It is only about clothing,” he said.
“Please tell them (the West) to check the details of the bill. There is no mention of religious minorities and their clothing in the bill.”
Then again, why let the truth get in the way of a good story, eh?
