#57. Isu : Harry Potter part of Zionist conspiracy

Wednesday, January 28th 2009, 7:58 PM
Daily News
Eliot Olshansky

Not everybody has fallen under Harry Potter's spell.

A short Iranian documentary recently translated by the Middle East Media Research Institue and published on the Jerusalem Post's website claims that the teen wizard hero of J.K. Rowling’s best-selling books and movies is being used to promote Zionist propaganda.The five-minute segment (video below), which aired on Iranian news channel IRINN on December 15, shows clips from 2002's "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" while several commentators offer their explanations of the symbolism in the series.

"Now more than ever," the Iranian film's narrator says, "this tool serves to spread the dark and evil essence of Zionism and its goals."

The commentators point to several different elements of the story as evidence of a Zionist agenda - pointing to the themes of witchcraft and wizardry, which the documentary ties to Kabbalah, the study of Jewish mysticism.

"[The Zionists] are trying to convince viewers that because there is no easy way to distance oneself from witchraft, Satan and the like…they are saying indirectly, 'Join us,'" says Ali Asghar Sa’adati, billed as an Iranian expert on religious cinema.

The IRINN piece also looks to the battle over "pure" wizarding blood as evidence of a Zionist subtext.

"Propaganda for purity of blood and race, one of the principles of global Zionism, is openly portrayed and emphasized in the second Harry Potter film," the documentary's narrator says, alluding to the films' villains' obsessions with blood purity. "If we add this [film] to the other pieces of the puzzle – the beliefs depicted in the other propaganda and political products of the Ziono-Hollywoodists, the Satanic features of this inhumane movement will become more evident."

Iranian film critic Sa'id Mostaghasi, meanwhile, sees Harry raised up as a Messianic figure, and his final battle with the Dark Lord Voldemort as being akin to the End of Days.

"[The Zionists] support Harry Potter because he is the promised Messiah," Mostaghasi says. "As you can see, he has the same traits and wants to defeat a dark force, which in this film is depicted as Voldemort. In the sixth episode, there is even mention of the War of Armageddon.

Surprisingly, nobody in the documentary latched on to the half-Jewish background of actor Daniel Radcliffe, who plays the titular wizard.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the sixth film in the series, is scheduled to arrive in theaters on July 17, with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" set for a two-part release in 2010 and 2011.