Posted on 05/20/2006 1:07:32 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
The United States on Friday issued a strong condemnation of the reported proposal of a new law in Iran that, if passed, would require non-Muslims to visually distinguish themselves from other Iranians by wearing colored bands on their clothing.
US State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said any such measure would be "despicable" and carry "clear echoes of Germany under Hitler."
A new dress-code law reportedly passed in Iran this past week mandates the government to make sure that religious minorities - Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians - will have to adopt distinct color schemes to make them identifiable in public, the Canadian National Post reported on Friday.
Under the new law, which still awaits final approval from Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Jews will have to wear a yellow band on their exterior in public, while Christians will be required to don red ones. In addition, women would be discouraged from wearing western clothing.
If the law is approved, it is scheduled to go into effect at the beginning of next year.
Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter responded to the new law Friday night, saying, "Whoever makes Jews anywhere wear the yellow star again, will find themselves in a coffin draped in black."
Ophir Paz-Pines, minister-without-portfolio responsible for culture, sports, science and technology, who is also a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, called on the government's secretary to ensure the issue be immediately addressed during the next Cabinet meeting.
"The State of Israel was created after the Holocaust in order to ensure it would not be repeated. The yellow star is a bright red warning sign that obligates us to muster the entire world in the face of events there [Iran]."
Paz-Pines also called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to make the issue his top priority when he visits Washington D.C. next week to meet US President George W. Bush.
Meretz Chairman Yossi Beilin said, "Israel could no longer be satisfied with warnings, and that the moment Jews are forced to wear the yellow band, Israel must act to evacuate all Jews from Iran." He added that, "Israel must stand at the forefront of efforts to separate Iran's crazy and Hitlerite regime from government control."
"The new law resembles the Holocaust," said head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, Rabbi Marvin Heir, and warned that, "Iran was nearing Nazi Ideology."
According to Army Radio, Wiesenthal Center officials sent a letter to United Nations Director General Kofi Annan urging him "not to ignore" the new law, and reminded him that, "The world ignored Hitler for many years."
The new law was drafted during the presidency of Muhammad Khatami in 2004, but was blocked. That blockage, however, has been removed under pressure from current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In addition to the requirements on non-Muslims, the Iranian government has also envisioned that all Muslim Iranians wear "standard Islamic garments" designed to remove ethnic and class distinctions.
The purpose for the law was to prevent Muslims from becoming najis "unclean" by accidentally shaking the hands of non-Muslims in public.
According to Ahmadinejad, reported the National Post, the new Islamic uniforms will establish "visual equality" for Iranians as they prepare for the return of the Hidden Imam.
The final shape of the uniforms is yet to be established but there is consensus on a number of points.
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations released a statement saying, "We have been seeking to clarify these reports but do not yet have confirmation. There are clear indications that various Iranian government agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, are working on new uniforms to be introduced in the fall.
"While such legislation would be reminiscent of dark periods in the past, like the Nazi era when Jews and others had to wear identifying badges, it is also consistent with the racist and extremist ideology propagated by President Ahmadinejad.
We are monitoring the situation and seeking to ascertain the facts in order to determine the appropriate response."
Meanwhile, officials in Iran have denied the report.
Legislator Emad Afroogh, who sponsored the bill and chairs the parliament's cultural committee, told The Associated Press on Friday there was no truth to the Canadian newspaper report.
"It's a sheer lie. The rumors about this are worthless," he said, explaining that the bill seeks only to make women dress more conservatively and avoid Western fashions. "The bill is not related to minorities. It is only about clothing," he said. "Please tell them (in the West) to check the details of the bill. There is no mention of religious minorities and their clothing in the bill," he said.
Iranian Jewish lawmaker Morris Motamed told the AP: "Such a plan has never been proposed or discussed in parliament. Such news, which appeared abroad, is an insult to religious minorities here."
A diplomat at Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York called the report "completely false."
"We reject that. It is not true. The minorities in Iran are completely free and are represented in the Iranian parliament," the diplomat said, speaking anonymously because he was not allowed to make official statements.
They want to tag the cattle before the slaughter.
(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")
I believe the Afgahnis under the talaban did the same thing before the US overthrew them.
Jews, Christians and Hindus were required to wear identifying clothing.
Nazi's certainly weren't original here. The Moo's have been doing this since the beginning. the Dhimmini's were required under Sharia to wear distinctive clothing:
"Many times distinctive dress was specified to identify a dhimmi that he would be unable to either mix with a Muslim or even walk in a Muslim area of a city. Other rules specified such demeaning dress codes as not wearing shoes or sandals, not using certain colors, wearing stars on their clothing. Dhimmis were often prohibited from working in many occupations. Even rules were made as to how a dhimmi could ride a mule to distinguish him from a Muslim.
The non-observance of these rules would entail a severe beating. Often passing a Muslim on the wrong side would begin a beating that could leave a dhimmi mortally wounded. Since the dhimmis were denied the ability to testify against a Muslim, there was absolutely no recourse"
Jews and Christians Under Islam
http://www.jewishmag.com/57mag/dhimmi/dhimmi.htm
Amazing how you are ready to beleive reports in the MSM at face value when they don't conflict with predisposed notions.
Although I am no friend of Iran, my tendency is to be sceptical of the report.
Why does this get a big reaction while a promise to wipe the Jews off the face of the earth gets murmurs at most?
It seems to me the "world community" would be perfectly happy to see another Holocaust as long as it happens in a way that they can maintain (almost-)plausible deniability after the fact.
Is it a matter of "predisposed notions" or is it that this reported law fits the current direction and rhetoric of the Iranian government, which has recently centered on the return of the caliphate, and the attendant supremacy of Islam?
The report appeared in the Canadian National Post, accompanied by a rather long article by Iranian-born writer Amir Taheri, detailing at length the provisions of the law. I have found Taheri to be credible on Iranian matters in the past, and would think it very curious that he would stake his reputation on a false report of a proposed dress code.
It would also be curious for the DOS (not exactly known for wild speculation) to comment on a law that doesn't exist.
Judging by your tagline, I'd guess that you are "predisposed" to reject this report.
Nope. Just don't believe everything I read.
What about them and this story would make you skeptical?
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