UNESCO is set to challenge Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday over a contest in his country seeking submissions of cartoons of the Holocaust.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova sent a letter to the Iranian government last week, complaining about the contest after being urged to do so by Carmel Shama-Hacohen, Israel's envoy to the U.N.'s cultural agency, according to
The Jerusalem Post.
"I urge you to condemn this contest and the Iranian authorities who enable it,” Shama-Hacohen wrote. "It is incumbent to condemn this severe act of Holocaust denial, which badly offends the victims and survivors. It is time for UNESCO to demand accountability from the Iranian regime with regard to its malicious rhetoric, Holocaust denial and global negative activity."
With Rouhani set to address UNESCO staff on Wednesday, which is Holocaust Remembrance Day, Bokova is expected to raise the issue in person,
Newsweek reports.
The contest is scheduled for June and was announced in December by Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). It is set be held at the Tehran International Cartoon Biennial with a prize of $50,000.
The event's organizers say the purpose is to focus on a double standard over caricatures of Mohammed, the founder is Islam. A Draw the Prophet contest in Texas and the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo both have been attacked over caricatures of the Mohammed, with the Paris attack killing 11 and injuring 11 more.
Israeli officials say the contest is an example of anti-Semitism in the Islamic country. Iran has held two previous Holocaust cartoon contests.
Related Stories:
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.