Iranian TV Report on International Holocaust Cartoon Contest Held in Tehran

On May 15, Al-Alam TV broadcast a report on the opening of the third International Holocaust Cartoon Contest in Tehran. The exhibition features caricatures of Israeli PM Netanyahu, comparing him to Hitler and to ISIS terrorists. The organizer, Shojai Tabtabai, said that the exhibition was "a response to the publication of cartoons by the French Charlie Hebdo magazine, which affronted the Prophet Muhammad, as well as an expression of [our opposition] to the massacres perpetrated against the Palestinian people."

Reporter: "As a form of expression of the Palestinian cause, and in the context of the massacres, perpetrated by the Zionists against the Palestinians, and in response to the French Charlie Hebdo's publication of cartoons, which affronted the Prophet Muhammad, an animation and cartoon contest was held in Tehran for the second time. The contest includes some 150 works of art, from 50 countries around the world."

Shojal Tabtabai, Organizer of the Contest: "This exhibition constitutes a response to the publication of cartoons by the French Charlie Hebdo magazine, which affronted the Prophet Muhammad, as well as an expression of (our opposition) to the massacres perpetrated against the Palestinian people. The winner will receive at a $12,000 prize."

Reporter: "The goals of the contest are to enhance the culture of freedom of speech by means of our modern art, and to open new horizons for cultural and artistic cooperation and exchange between Iranian and foreign artists. This is the largest and most symbolic picture in the exhibition. It depicts walls, which allude to the Israeli occupation's invasion of occupied Palestine. The kite represents Palestinian childhood and innocence. There is a section dedicated to drawings of people like Hitler and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of the Israeli occupation, who appeared in one painting wielding a sword, like an ISIS terrorist."

Mohammad Habibi, Executive Secretary of the Contest: "One of the most important aspects of the contest is to present the suffering and injustice. That is why we have chosen to express the Palestinian cause by means of cartoons and animated films."

Reporter: "Artists from countries like Australia, Brazil, China, Indonesia, and Colombia hastened to send their satirical works, in order to denounce the Israeli crimes through this competition, which is headed by three Iranian judges and by foreign overseers. Iran leaves no stone unturned - and that includes the various arts - in its efforts to expose the crimes perpetrated by the Zionist entity, and to highlight the injustice suffered by the Palestinian people. This is Salim Issa, reporting from Al-Alam TV from Tehran."