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Intelligence expert says Iranian Education Ministry textbooks preaching violence used in Farsi classes funded by Canadian public school system

The next Muhammed Merah may be from Canada.

Whilst the above poster has been banned and has been a notorious troller, I thought I'd look into the accusation.

Unsurprisingly, yet again we find that an unreferenced accusation when investigated reveals more hype than substance.

However, in this case the hype traces back to an opinion by David Harris that a picture in a Persian language text book makes the Israeli soldiers look like apes. The text book does not call Jews apes, but Harris says the picture accompanying a story about Palestine looks to HIM like some other 'Islamist' descriptions of Jews as 'son of apes'.

Here's the image:


And here's Harris' take on it (note, no actual words 'Jews are like apes' )
Meanwhile, a cartoon with racist overtones depicts hunched, ogre-like brown-faced Israeli soldiers -- dead-ringers for the common Islamist description of Jews as "sons of apes" -- menacing with bayonets a diminutive, light-skinned Palestinian child. The associated fictional story tells of six-year-old "Khaled," a Palestinian child who teaches brother Mohamad, age three, to stone Israeli soldiers. Here is how precocious Grade 3 weekenders were prepared for Canada's bridge-building multiculturalist future: "The Israeli officer hit Mohamad's head with his gunstock and his warm blood splashed over Khaled's hands."
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/david-b-ha ... 77752.html

As for the other objections in his piece - it boils down to whether the Iranians are justified in venerating their former leaders and people who they think acted heroically in the Iran/Iraq war (which Iraq started). There is a valid argument to not glorify war and actions which can be viewed as war crimes - indeed, some people say that Bomber Harris, Hiroshima etc should not be 'glorified' in school text books dealing with WWII - because whilst the Allied side view the mass bombings and killings of civilians as 'justified' others may view them as war crimes.

However, this is remains a matter of opinion - but having stories about the Iran/Iraq war is no different from reading about teenagers dying in the trenches of France in WW1. I did so at school in England, it was a part of history.

Anyway, Harris thinks the picture above depicts the soldiers in the story as apes. Perhaps to him it does. Iran clearly has more sympathy for those living under Military Occupation rather than the soldiers doing the occupation, but to me the 'apes' comment and spin by bloggers is more hype than substance.

Cheers,
Shafique