When the Daily Telegraph and Spiegel Magazine printed articles attacking the legacy of Cyrus the Great-کوروش بزرگ– in 2008, supporters of these articles proceeded to vandalize articles pertaining to Cyrus in Wikipedia. The main impetus for these attacks have been a select group of Eurocentric professors – for more on this topic, see article by Tara Farhid-Gallo in Iranian.com entitled: “Anti-Iranian Campaign during American Tour and Exhibition of Cyrus the Great Cylinder”.

Less known is the fact that numbers of Jewish persons joined Iranians in defending the legacy of Cyrus the Great in Wikipedia. Two of these persons are known by the Wikipedia user names of Khoi-Khoi and Tundrabuggy. Despite the heavy Eurocentric (or anti-Cyrus) bias presently prevalent in Wikipedia, Khoi-Khoi has posted this short article in Wikipedia: User Khoik Khoi: Cyrus Cylinder

Ren Hakim and Farrokh signing

best-history-book-of-2008-persian-golden-lionness-award2

Kaveh Farrokh during the book signing ceremonies at the WAALM-2008 events (reported in the BBC). The gentleman about to receive a copy of Farrokh’s text “Shadows in the Desert Ancient Persia at War” (awarded with WAALM’s Best History Book Award of 2008) is a member of London’s Jewish community. In the background is another WAALM winner, Iraqi-American Ms. Ren A. Hakim, for her historical novel “Xerxes”. Jewish users have supported Iranians in defending against the politically motivated edits of Eurocentrists against Cyrus the Great in Wikipedia (see article (pdf) by Koorosh Ahmadi: Vandalization of the Cyrus Cylinder article in Wikipedia by Eurocentirsts).

 

ACUNS-WAALM-NobelThe Nobel Peace Prize nominated World Academy of Arts, Literature and Media (WAALM) has acknowledged the works of Jewish artists and academics, with photographs below providing a snapshot of numbers of these who have been bestowed with the Persian Lioness Award. The photographs were forwarded to Kavehfarrokh.com by WAALM.

 

Cyrus Street-Hafez-IsraelWhen history negates petty politics: At left is “Koresh (Cyrus) Street” in Israel and at right is a Hebrew translation of  Persian poet Hafez’s (1325/1326–1389/1390) Book of Poems.

 Idan Reachal-Rita jahanforouz-WAALMIsraeli pop stars who have received the Persian Lioness Award: (left) Israeli songwriter and singer, Idan Raichal (2006 Awardee for Fusion Music) (right) Iranian-born Israeli pop singer and actress, Rita Jahanforouz (2012 Awardee for Pop Music). Rita sings in Hebrew, English and Persian (for more see the Wall Street Journal).

Professor Erdei-WAALMRecipient of Persian Lioness Award (2012), Hungarian-Jewish Professor Peter Erdei of the Zoltan Kodaly Pedagogical Institute of Music in Hungary.

Shahram FasazadehRecipient of Persian Lioness Award (2006), Iranian-Jewish Grand Violinist: Shahram Fasazadeh.