As a book read by nearly every child in Britain at some point, ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ is one of the most important ways in which children can be introduced to the horror of the Holocaust. And, given many Arab and Middle Eastern countries’ horrific levels of Antisemitism, it was great news when Paris-based Aladdin Project announced that they were distributing Farsi and Arabic translations of this profoundly influential book.
Naim al-Qalaani from Hezbollah’s Committee for the Boycott of Zionist Goods in Lebanon told the TV the book’s distribution was a flagrant violation and a move toward normalization with Lebanon’s archenemy, Israel.
The diary of Anne Frank has been sold in Lebanon for years, both in English and in earlier translations into Arabic, and it was not clear why Hezbollah’s TV chose to highlight its existence in the country now.
Al-Manar officials were not available for comment on Wednesday.
The Aladdin Project said in a statement it condemns this campaign of vilification and intimidation by Hezbollah’s TV.
The Project is an initiative of the Paris-based Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah (Holocaust) which aims to spread awareness of the genocide among Muslims. It organizes conferences and has translated key Holocaust writings.
Al-Manar launched a similar campaign against a school textbook two weeks ago, when it forced a leading Lebanese school to remove pages from a history book that described Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
Remind me again, how can anyone who claims to stand up for human rights support Hezbollah, an organisation that bans books in this way?
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Following are excerpts from a Lebanese TV report on the incorporation of an English reader recounting the diary of Anne Frank in Lebanese schools. The report aired on Al-Manar TV on October 30, 2009.
Reporter: A new book, with indications of normalization [with Israel], has been monitored by Al-Manar TV. The English reader is taught in eighth grade in several schools in Beirut. The 60-page book recounts, in one of its chapters, the diary of a Jewish girl during World War II, who hid, along with her family, in Holland, to flee the Nazi persecution of the Jews, and out of fear of being killed or burned.
To avoid confusion or distortion, we purchased a copy of the book from a Beirut bookshop.
[In the bookshop]
Reporter: I asked Mr. Abbas to get me “Interactive Reader Plus.”
Saleswoman: What grade is it for?
Reporter: For eighth grade.
Saleswoman: This is English for eighth grade.
Reporter: This is it? He told me it costs 30,000 [Lebanese lira]. It’s “Advantage.” It comes with a CD.
Is it taught in other schools as well?
Saleswoman: Of course.
[Reporter leaves bookshop with the English reader]
Reporter (holding the book): This is the book that is taught in several schools in Beirut, which recounts the diary of an Israeli girl during World War II. Let’s delve together into the details of this diary.
There is an entire chapter, titled “Drama,” at the top of which there is a Star of David, along with clarification measures not found in other chapters, which aim[s] to focus on the notion of the persecution of the Jews during World War II. Even worse than this is the dramatic way in which this diary is emotionally recounted.
Emphases added, AF
Naim Kalaani, Chairman of the Authority for Banning Zionist Products: Such a book is definitely in violation of the penal code. This is clearly a violation, and they must be prosecuted. This is tantamount to running towards normalization. The prosecution must automatically take action, because this is a criminal offence taking place in a school.
Hizbullah MP Hussein Al-Hajj Hassan: Nobody teaches from a textbook without checking its content first. These respected schools teach the so-called “tragedy” of this girl, but they are ashamed to teach the tragedy of the Palestinian people, the tragedy of the Lebanese people, the history of the resistance, the history of the resistance in Lebanon, and the suffering of the South Lebanese, and the Lebanese in general, at the hand of the Zionist occupation.
[...]
Reporter: Al-Manar tried unsuccessfully to obtain the response of the Education Ministry. So it contacted General Wafiq Jazini, Director-General of the General Security, who said he knew nothing about the issue, and ordered an investigation into the details, and into the necessary measures to be taken.
Until then, the question remains: Until when will the cultural scene in Lebanon be wide open to a Zionist cultural invasion, and were those involved in the matter aware of it, or not?
Source: http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/2264.htm
What utter anti-Semitic scum Hizbullah and its minions are.
Hussein al-Haj Hassan came to attention in Britain earlier this year, when along with the repellent Dyab Abou Jahjah, Jacqui Smith not only allowed both entry to the United Kingdom but then acquiesced when they spoke to a “pro-Palestinian” meeting organised inside the House of Commons by Jeremy Corbyn.
Perhaps al-Haj Hassan’s latest foray into the vile world of Middle Eastern anti-Semitism and the targeting of Anne Frank was sponsored by his rubbing shoulders with the Belgian, Jahjah. After all, it was Jahjah who earlier this year published a cartoon showing Hitler in bed with a naked 15 year-old Anne Frank with the caption:
“Write that in your diary, Anne”.
Presumably this is the sort of thing al-Haj Hassan thinks should be taught in Lebanon’s schools instead?
A photograph of the repellent al-Haj Hassan is published here:
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/250527/Home-Secretary-Jacqui-Smithrsquos-department-is-under-fire-for-allowing-two-leading-terrorist-sympathisers-to-enter-Britain-during-G20.html
For French speakers (and to confirm the accuracy of MEMRI’s transcript), the story is briefly recounted on the French-language section of al-Manar’s website, here:
http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=109301&language=fr
Non-French speakers will save themselves the disgust of reading the anti-Semitic comments left by readers of this story on the al-Manar website.
This definitively shows that the cretins from Hezbollah/Al-Manar have no understanding at all of the differences between Jews, Judaism, Israel and Zionism – to them they are entirely one and the same.
Corbyn is a pro-racist.
Hence the scare marks around ‘pro-palestinian’, DavidT.