UPDATE, 12 August 2013

The Urania cancelled the contract with the Iranian Regime. STOP THE BOMB applauds the decision of the URANIA - there is now an official statement, which you can find here. 

Open letter to the URANIA: No stage for the Iranian Regime!

Dear Dr. Bleyer,

On Friday, 16 August 2013, a propaganda event of the Cultural Department of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran which is directed against the existence of Israel will take place in the premises of the URANIA, a science and event center, based in Berlin.

We hereby ask you as the executive director of the URANIA to cancel this event and prevent the Iranian regime from using the URANIA for their propaganda.

The title of the planned event contains the wording "Peace based on justice". What the Cultural Department of the Iranian embassy means by this is the eradication of Israel from the Middle East map.

This becomes evident in the invitation, in which the organizers speak of "seven decades of occupation." This makes clears that the event is directed against a Jewish State of Israel as such.

The aim to destroy Israel is the official policy of the Iranian regime since the Islamic revolution three decades ago. Just recently, supreme religious leader Khamenei has tweeted that Western governments are under Zionist control, and that “Palestine is from the river to the sea”.  Elsewhere, Khamenei called Israel a cancer that must be cut out. 

The invited speakers are also known for their anti-Zionism: German and Palestinian enemies of Israel, among them Yavuz Özoğuz, an Islamist whose webpage "Muslim market" supports the terrorist organization Hezbollah and spreads hatred of Israel.

What the Iranian regime means when it speaks of "culture" becomes clear in the death fatwas - against the author Salman Rushdie in 1989 and against the singer Shahin Najafi who lives in Germany in 2012. The diplomatic missions and embassies of the Iranian regime abroad are also terrorist centers, where attacks against Iranians living in exile and opponents of the regime are planned. [1]

We hardly believe that the agitation and propaganda of the Iranian regime is compatible with the aims and mission of the URANIA – which are, according to your webpage to foster “scientific education" as a "democratic mission". We therefore call upon you to draw the necessary conclusions and to cancel the event.

Sincerely, 

Michael Spaney, Ulrike Becker, Jörg Rensmann and Andreas Benl

for the STOP THE BOMB Campaign

[1] Compare the documentary „Zeuge C: Genf, Stadt der Schatten“ (in German)