(JTA) — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was No. 1 on the list of Top Ten Anti-Semitic/Anti-Israel Slurs assembled by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Khamenei referred to Israel as the “rabid dog in the region,” according to the list released on Tuesday.
“Its leaders look like beasts and cannot be called human,” he also said.
A late addition to the list was NBA star Tony Parker, who the center called on last week to apologize for performing the quasi-Nazi quenelle salute, which is widely seen as anti-Semitic. Parker apologized on Tuesday.
Parker was coupled with European sports venues, which the center said are “hijacked for hate.”
The list included the ultranationalist Jobbik party in Hungary, citing its deputy leader, Marton Gyongyosi, as calling for a registry of all Jews in Hungary as a security measure. Gyongyosi also was quoted as saying that “Jews are trying to build outside Israel. There’s a kind of expansionism in their behavior.”
Several groups calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions on Israel shared one spot on the list, including the American Studies Association, musician Roger Waters and The United Church of Canada.
The list also includes Recip Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey; Richard Falk, the special rapporteur for the United Nations on Palestinian human rights ; those who view Hitler as a hero (Lebanese pop star Najwa Karam, Dutch social worker Mehmet Sahin, Yusuf al Qaradawi of the Muslim Brotherhood and Saudi poet Muhammad al Farraj); the French cartoonist Zeon; the Pine Bush, N.Y., school district; and writers showing the power of the poison pen, Alice Walker and Max Blumenthal.
