Text of report in English by Croatian state news agency HINA

Zagreb, 19 November: The president of the Jewish religious community Beth Israel, Ivo Goldstein, said on Wednesday that the community had prepared materials for the Chief Prosecutor's Office which would be requested to launch an investigation into the Iranian Cultural Centre for disseminating anti-Semitic literature - the book "International Jew" by Henry Ford at the recent Zagreb Interliber book fair.

"The book is not directed against the State of Israel, which is barely mentioned but only alluded to, but it is directed against Jews as a nation and against their religion," Goldstein said, adding that the book was directed against international Judaism.

Goldstein went on to say that the book would not have provoked such criticism if it had been published as a document accompanied with a critical commentary, as was the case with Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and Mussolini's "La dottrina del fascismo".

Ford's book "International Jew" is a pamphlet based on "The Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion", which he said was denounced as a forgery in the 1920s.

"After he was exposed to public pressure, Ford apologized in the late 1920s, and his pamphlets were recorded as the biggest anti- Semitic incident in 20th century USA," Goldstein said.

Commenting on the English edition of the book having been put on display at the Iranian stand at the Zagreb book fair, Goldstein said that it was a case of "aggressive anti-Semitism of the Iranian state policy".

When asked if he considered the distribution of the book a part of the policy of radical Islamic circles, Goldstein said that it was "part of their strategy which has many opponents throughout the world".

"We have nothing against moderate Islam," Goldstein said, adding that the Jewish community in Croatia had good relations with the Islamic community.

Rabbi Kotel Da-Don announced plans for Beth Israel and Croatia to sign an agreement which would recognize religious marriage alongside civil marriage.

"The agreement will also regulate the financing of our primary school," the rabbi said.

Goldstein said that the Zagreb city authorities and the state authorities were conducting intensive negotiations with the Jewish Municipality Zagreb and Beth Israel on the construction of a synagogue and a Jewish cultural centre in Zagreb.