Holocaust cartoons draw few in Iran

An exhibit of cartoons on the Holocaust in Tehran has attracted few Iranians spectators. Three weeks after the works went on display, only about 50 people a day are visiting the exhibit, The Independent reports. When it first opened, the exhibit attracted fewer than 300 daily visitors. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested a Holocaust cartoon contest as a response to cartoons published last year by a Danish newspaper on Mohammed, which caused an uproar in the Muslim world.

The cartoons on exhibit ranged from overtly anti-Semitic to items that compared the plight of Palestinians to Jewish victims ofthe Holocaust. The Independent said few people on the street in Tehran seemed to share the president's denial of the Holocaust. "I'm sure the Holocaust was true -- I've heard all about it from newspapers and television," a woman who said she was from a religious family told the newspaper. "I don't know why some say it didn't happen."