Shoah, Claude Lanzmann’s epic documentary about the Holocaust, dubbed into Farsi, is to be broadcast on a satellite channel in Iran as part of a campaign to promote understanding between Jews and Muslims and to fight Holocaust denial.
While it’s true that TV satellite dishes are illegal in Iran, probably to prevent broadcasts like this, enforement of the ban is not strict and there is a real possibility that many people will see this film. I wonder how those who see it will react, especially those who may buy into the Iranian President’s repeated denial of the Holocaust.
My own experience with Iranians teaches me that it is a far more complex culture than many people often imagine, one in which even “hard-liners” are for more nuanced in their views than we are lead to believe they might be.
I find myself wishing that I could be in Iran to watch this broadcast with some of those very people, and having the opportunity to discuss it with them. Of course, that’s easier said than done for an American rabbi, but that is another story.