student reads book in high school
student reads book in high schoolReuters

The Simon Wiesenthal Center called on the organizers of the Buenos Aires Book Fair to publicly condemn the “House of Islam” stand for its promotion of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

Among the books displayed, the stand highlighted “Iran, the country which the U.S. wants to destroy – an urgent portrait of a ‘convicted to be executed’”, published in 2008 by the Eastern Cultural Foundation, Elhame Shargh Editors, addressed in a P.O Box in Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran.

Its author is a Uruguayan journalist, Julio César Martínez, a.k.a. “Juma”, who moved to Iran in 2006 and died in 2011.

The cover of the book shows the Statue of Liberty with the face of George W. Bush. The raised arm of the Statue of Liberty holds a Menorah and, in the other hand, it holds a shield with a Star of David. On page 31, there is a photo of the World Trade Center under attack and the explanation “New York’s Twin Towers, the most tragic and repulsive staging by the CIA and the MOSSAD to put the world down to their feet.”

“Our Center has monitored the Frankfurt and Casablanca Book Fairs for the past nine years to identify abuses by exhibitors bent upon fomenting hate and violence. The ‘House of Islam’ stand at the Buenos Aires Book Fair exposes the hypocrisy of Tehran’s so-called ‘truth commission’ offer to Argentina as a cover-up for its complicity in the AMIA Jewish Center bombing. It also reveals Iran’s true agenda for Latin America,” stated Dr. Shimon Samuels, Director for International Relations of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

“The ‘House of Islam’ abuses freedom of expression to promote conspiracy theories about an alleged Jewish control over the United States and thus incite anti-Semitic hatred. We call for a condemnation by the Book Fair organizers and a warning that Iran be banned from participation in the 2014 Fair,” declared Sergio Widder.