The Simon Weisenhall Centre (SWC) has ranked the Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie as the biggest anti-Semite of 2012, followed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. Third on their list is Carlos Latuff, a well-known Brazilian political cartoonist.
The inclusion of Badie and Ahmedinejad is not surprising, as Badie is credited with speeches calling for the liberation of Palestine and the destruction of Jews through Jihad, while Ahmedinejad and Iran are outspoken opponents of the state of Israel.
The SWC quoted Badie as saying the Jews had “dominated the land, spread corruption on earth, spilled the blood of believers and in their actions profaned holy places.” The quote ends with Badie calling for a holy Jihad as the only means to defeat the Zionists, which “only understand the language of force and will not relent without duress.”
Latuff was included because of his political cartoons, which are more often than not critical of Israel. His latest cartoons surrounding the most recent Hamas confrontation with Israel last November portray Israel as the aggressors.
One cartoon, which the SWC used in their report, depicts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wringing out votes from the corpse of a dead Palestinian over a ballot box.
Latuff has lashed out against the use of the term anti-semitism for those who disagree with Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He drew several cartoons depicting a person or an anthropomorphised earth in Palestinian colours yelling “anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism” at the Gaza Strip barrier.
Silvio Tendler, a renowned cinematographer in Brazil, defended Latuff in an open letter: “I dared you to come with me to Israel and Palestine, but you told me you would not be allowed in and if you were, you would not be allowed out. I doubted you, and unfortunately you were right.”
Latuff outranked the Golden Dawn Party, Greece’s emerging neo-Nazi party that promotes intolerance of foreigners and an admiration for Hitler.
“Anti-Zionist, yes; anti-Semitic no, also because through your Arab heritage you are a Semite,” Tendler summed up.
The SWC was initially founded to track down Nazis that had fled Germany after the Second World War. Today its primary function is to confront anti-Semitism and to promote pro-Israeli causes. The centre has several holocaust museums around the world, including one recently built in Jerusalem atop an old Muslim cemetery.
Last year, the SWC demanded president Barack Obama cut all ties to Egypt after Badie’s comments, which the Brotherhood spokesperson Waleed Shalaby denied were ever made.
Nevertheless, the SWC founder and dean Marvin Hier said Badie’s “rant confirms our long held view that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is the most dangerous anti-Semitic organisation in the world today.”
