Paper reprints Holocaust cartoons
A cartoon among those commissioned in Iran shows the letter L in Israel formed by a boot stepping on the world
The original cartoons are on display in Tehran
A Danish newspaper has printed cartoons about the Holocaust commissioned by Iran after cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad triggered violent protests.The newspaper - Information - published six of the cartoons, which are on display in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Several of the cartoons contrast the plight of the Palestinians with that of the victims of the Holocaust.
Editor-in-chief Palle Weis said he had thought carefully about publishing the cartoons and said it was not a stunt.
He told the BBC the cartoons accompanied a news story about the exhibition. He said they were "tasteless but predictable".
Another Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, sparked the international row last year after it published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, including one of him wearing a bomb on his head.
There were angry protests in Europe, the Middle East, and other parts of the world, in which at least 50 people died.
In response, a competition was organised in Iran inviting people to draw cartoons about the Holocaust. Organisers said they were testing the West's commitment to freedom of speech.
Information said it had decided to print the cartoons after consulting the main rabbi in Copenhagen.
"He said he had seen worse examples," editor-in-chief Mr Weis told the BBC.
"They are tasteless but predictable... they're pretty harmless. I don't think they would be called great art."
One of the cartoons, by a Moroccan cartoonist, shows a scene bisected by the barrier being constructed in the West Bank by Israel.
On one side, a gravestone reading "Holocaust" and bearing a Star of David stands in the sunshine. Underneath the ground is buried a single skull.
On the other side, it is night-time. A gravestone here says "Sabra and Shatila" - a reference to infamous massacres carried out in Lebanon in 1982 by Lebanese Christian militiamen allied to Israel - underneath a Palestinian flag. Underneath the ground are buried scores of skulls.
Mr Weis said he was not nervous about his readers' reactions to the decision to print a selection of the cartoons.
He said an interview with the rabbi was published alongside the cartoons, and an editorial inside explained the decision.
"Our readers would be disappointed if we didn't print the cartoons," Mr Weis said.
Iran has now had its retaliation, against the Muhammad cartoons by running a contest for cartoons about the Holocaust. These cartoons now have seen the light of day by being published in a Danish newspaper.
I am about as conservative as you can get, without crossing over the line into wack job arena and I must confess something.
Not for one second have I felt the urge to riot since seeing these cartoons. The guns are still locked in the safe except for those that I carry every day and I have sat down and smoked a cigar and thought about it for a while.
I wonder what is wrong with me, because these cartoons not even for a nano second have made me want to grab the guns and go on a terrorist rampage because my enemies have not show respect for the Holocaust.
The only shooting I want to do is with my new rifle that should be in my hot hand by this time next week.
Maybe I am just too in touch with my feminine side to want to go carry out random acts of violence for a bunch of stupid cartoons.
But if I feel this way I really don't think the guys I sit with in synagogue, a bunch of lawyers, doctors and assorted other professionals will be howling at the moon and seeking ways to spread riot and mayhem this Jewish Sabbath.
