Iran's state-run newspaper, Hamshahri, has sponsored an "international cartoon contest about the Holocaust" in retaliation for the Mohammed cartoons first run by a Danish newspaper last fall.
Graphics editor Farid Mortazavi explained, "the Western papers printed these sacrilegious cartoons on the pretext of freedom of expression, so let's see if they mean what they say and also print these Holocaust cartoons." Apparently Mr. Mortazavi, suffering from working in a totalitarian state, does not understand the difference between a nation's free press choosing to print something, and the requirement of a journalistic organization to print material they may or may not wish to present.
This is not an altogether shocking development, as Irani leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a staunch Holocaust denier who has "dismissed the systematic slaughter by the Nazis of mainland Europe's Jews as a myth used to justify the creation of Israel."
We cannot help but wonder how many Jews will riot and how many Iranian embassies will be burned to the ground in response to this. However, we cannot help but have a feeling that the answers to both will be about...zero.
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