After Khomeini’s taking power in Iran, another Hitler emerged in the Middle East and the world.
By FRED SABERIDemonstrators wave Iran's flag and hold up a picture of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a ceremony to mark the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, in Tehran's Azadi square February 11, 2012.(photo credit: REUTERS/RAHEB HOMAVANDI)
After the end of World War II in Europe and the victory of the Allies over the Nazis, any return to Nazist symbols and behaviors was prohibited. Considering the widespread crimes of the Nazis in Europe, which led to the killing of more than 50 million people during the war, European countries, and later the European Union, laid down rigorous laws to condemn and ban the adoption of Nazi behaviors and symbols in Europe.One of the most important Nazi behaviors that was banned after the war in Europe was “antisemitism.” But antisemitism in Europe is not specific to Hitler and his National Socialist party; and contrary to the general perception, antisemitism has a long history in Europe. In fact, Nazism and all other antisemitic currents in Europe take their doctrines from the medieval Catholic Church. In other words, Hitler and his friends and followers are only the distilled version from the entrenched antisemitism in Western European civilization.However, since today any hint of Nazism in Europe is harshly criticized by governments and civil societies, and it is also highly costly with regard to both credit and finance, Nazi views tend to emerge in other ways that are seemingly unrelated to Nazism and, consequently, are less dangerous for their holders. In my opinion, today “Islamism” is the true descendant of Nazism in Europe. Both the Shi’ite Islamism of the Ruhollah Khomeini-dominated Iran and the Islam of Abu Bakr Baghdadi’s Islamic State are “religious supremacist” ideologies, and both would commit any crime to prove their supremacy.Thus, although in today’s world Hitler is condemned by human societies, and on the face of it racism seems to have been uprooted, religious/Islamic Hitlers are fast growing. By claiming proximity to God and expressing the will of God, they openly threaten other believers, especially the Jews, to death and call it “jihad” in the cause of God and endanger the world through their Islamist supremacy.After Khomeini’s taking power in Iran, another Hitler emerged in the Middle East and the world. The Islamist regime that he founded would exploit the national wealth that the previous system had brought to the people of Iran and use it to promote terrorism, jihadism and antisemitism in the Middle East and Europe and the rest of the world.In the direction of antisemitism, the Iranian regime began its work with the support of the Palestinian anti-Israeli forces, continued with the establishment and equipping of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and today it launches missiles against Israel from Syria, southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, and threatens Jews with annihilation.However, it is strange, that why in Europe not a fraction of sensitivity to Nazist antisemitic behavior is focused on Islamist antisemitism? And why is not even a small amount of the budget that is devoted to the elimination of Nazism allocated to eradicating Islamism?As noted above, the reason for this may be that since today there are rigorous laws in Europe against any Nazi behavior, the clandestine Nazis prefer to promote their antisemitic positions through Islamists.It is in fact the hand of European racists, Nazis and antisemites that comes out of the Islamists’ sleeve during the assassination of Jews and attacks on synagogues in Europe and in the threats made against Israel. This convergence between Nazism and Islamism developed even to the point that the Khomeinist regime, with the favorable opinion of some European currents, succeeded in creating “nests” in most European countries for antisemitic propaganda and taking action against Jews. Through a wide-ranging series of mosques and Islamic centers, the Islamic Republic spreads antisemitism across Europe.Thus, in Europe, Jewish communities are experiencing the highest pressure since Hitler’s time. The situation has become so dangerous that even some Jews are not willing to reveal their religion, lest they should be harassed and terrorized.
It is precisely with regard to these facts that the founding of the Swedish-Israeli Friendship Association becomes a necessity so that a way can be found out of this pitfall, which threatens the common interests of both Israel and European countries.The writer is a Middle East analyst, Swedish-Iranian political activist and a member of the board of the Sweden-Israel Friendship Association in Stockholm.
