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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antisemitism by country | 4/15 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_by_country | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T15:35:42.435843+00:00 | kb-cron |
India is home to several communities of Jews. Over the course of the twentieth century, several important Hindu leaders, scholars and politicians, such as Veer Savarkar, Sita Ram Goel, Arun Shourie and others have vocally condemned antisemitism and they have also expressed their support for Israel and the Jewish people's right to self-determination. Of the few antisemitic incidents that were reported, most of them were related to antisemitism which was imported by Portuguese Catholic colonists and missionaries during the 16th century. In India, Christian antisemitism was practiced by the Goa Inquisition, resulting in the expulsion of the Jews from Goa, and the persecution of South Indian Jews by the Portuguese in Kerala. Many European Jews who were known as Paradesi Jews were given shelter during the era of the Portuguese inquisition in Kerala.
=== Iran ===
The Islamic Republic of Iran has long employed antisemitic discourse at the highest levels of its political and ideological apparatus. According to scholar Meir Litvak, although Iranian officials and apologists have frequently claimed a separation between Judaism and Zionism, their rhetoric often targets Jews as a collective. Iranian state media and affiliated institutions have regularly disseminated narratives that demonize Jews, with Holocaust denial serving as a prominent expression of this antisemitic ideology and as a rhetorical device to undermine the legitimacy of Israel. The Islamic Republic's founder and first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, described Jews as "burdened with the wrath of God" and condemned to "eternal humiliation" for their "evil deeds." Ali Khamenei, Iran's second supreme leader, has repeatedly doubted the validity of the reported casualties of the Holocaust. In one meeting he claimed that the Zionists have had "close relations" with the Nazi leaders and that "providing exaggerated statistics [of the Holocaust] has been a method to justify the Zionists' cruel treatment of the Palestinians". The Principalists is dominant conservative political faction in Iran, have been characterized by scholars as promoting antisemitic ideologies under the guise of anti-Zionism. While officially distinguishing between Judaism and the "Zionist regime", the faction has frequently utilized classical antisemitic tropes and Holocaust denial as tools of statecraft. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran between 2005 and 2013, has frequently been accused of denying the Holocaust. During his tenure as president, the regime hosted a 2006 conference titled "Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision," claiming to foster open academic debate. However, the presence of well-known Holocaust deniers like David Duke and Robert Faurisson exposed its actual purpose. In 2012, Ahmadinejad said that a "Zionist clan" had been controlling world affairs for 400 years (though modern Zionism was founded in the late 19th century). At a 2012 UN-backed anti-drug conference in Tehran, Iranian Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi blamed the Talmud for the global drug trade and stated that Zionists control it, citing the absence of "addicted Zionists" as proof. He also accused Zionists of ordering gynecologists to kill Black babies and claimed Jews started the Russian Revolution, while asserting none died in it. Prominent religious figures, like Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami and Grand Ayatollah Hossein Noori Hamedani, have linked "Zionists" to crimes dating back to the 7th century, praising the mass killing of Jews in Medina labeled "the center of Zionists." Holocaust inversion also features prominently: Dr. Hasan 'Abbasi reimagined the Purim story as a massacre of over 70,000 Persians by Jews, branding it an "Iranian Holocaust." This narrative has been amplified by semi-official websites and state historians. Antisemitic tropes such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, blood libel myths, and claims of Jewish control over the global drug trade, finance, and political power have appeared in Iranian media, state-run academic institutions, and even international forums. In July 2012, the winner of Iran's first annual International Wall Street Downfall Cartoon Festival, jointly sponsored by the semi-state-run Iranian media outlet Fars News, was an antisemitic cartoon depicting Jews praying before the New York Stock Exchange, which is made to look like the Western Wall. Other cartoons in the contest were antisemitic as well. The national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, condemned the cartoon, stating that "Here's the anti-Semitic notion of Jews and their love for money, the canard that Jews 'control' Wall Street, and a cynical perversion of the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism," and "Once again Iran takes the prize for promoting antisemitism." ADL/Global 100 reported in 2014 that 56% of Iranians hold antisemitic beliefs, and 18% of them agreed that Jews probably talk too much about the Holocaust. However, the reported results (56%) were reported to be the lowest in the Middle East. Iranian Jews along with Christians and Zoroastrians are protected under the Constitution and have seats reserved for them in the Iranian Parliament, However, de facto harassment still occurs. A 2021 report by ADL found antisemitism in Iranian textbooks, including characterizing Jews as the "enemies of Islam", inciting non-Jews to "annihilate Muslims", as stirring up "resentment and enmity among Muslims", as well as calling for Israel to be "wiped out."
=== Iraq ===