French anti-Semitic comic Dieudonne
French anti-Semitic comic DieudonneIsrael news photo

French comic-politician Dieudonne, who has been convicted more than once for anti-Semitic speech, has teamed up with Iran, which is funding his production of a new anti-Israel comedy. Dieudonne recently visited Iran and met with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Deputy Culture Minister for Cinematic Affairs.

“We received a substantial budget allowing us to make movies on par with Hollywood, which serves as the long arm of Zionist culture,” he told the Tehran Times.

Dieudonne told his hosts, “It is forbidden to talk about the Holocaust in France [sic], but I have arranged the comedy in such a way that it ridicules the issue of the Holocaust. Comedy is an influential tool and now that we cannot speak directly about it, this is the best approach to use. Today, there are only a few countries like Iran that are open to joint productions on these types of issues.”

He said that in his meeting with Ahmadinejad, “We also discussed that the world is dominated by imperialism and that one cannot make use of art to depict this. We also discussed the censorship conducted by the Zionist lobby in Europe and their influence on the media.”

He charged that the “Zionist lobby" has caused the cancellation of 200 performances he had scheduled. “To get around this, I bought a big bus in which I can travel to different districts and then perform my plays when I get there."

Dieudonne, who previously ran for the European Parliament as head of an anti-Zionist party, was fined earlier this year after he invited a convicted Holocaust denier to receive an award from someone dressed as a Nazi concentration camp victim.

French judges also fined him two years ago for comparing Jews to “slave-traders.”