Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesperson for Arab Media, Ofir Gendelman, recently accused the organizers of the Tehran International Book Fair of showcasing "dozens of anti-Semitic books on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day." Gendelman made the comment in a tweet along with pictures of the visit of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the book fair as well as covers of some books adorned with the Star of David. The hard-line Iranian Fars news agency reciprocated the allegation by saying that Tel Aviv never misses a chance to spread anti-Iran propaganda. Fars further accused Israel of having used the Holocaust for years "as an excuse to counter any criticism of the Zionist regime's policies." The statement was made while Iran marked Resistance Day on the third day of the book fair, which ended May 4.

These allegations help show how literature has become a coveted domain for opposing powers whose overt and covert conflicts threaten the prospect of peace in the world.

Last month, an American independent press, Dzanc Books, returned the rights of "The Siege of Tel Aviv" to Israeli American writer Hesh Kestin after social media users criticized his novel over what they described as its Islamophobic themes. The book, which depicts Iran as leading five Arab armies into Israel with a plan to kill Jews, was marketed by Dzanc as satire. 

In recent decades, Iran has increasingly succeeded in producing and promoting a literature that serves the values and goals of its political establishment. This literature is often broadly known as “resistance literature,” a term that can be traced back to Iran's Constitutional Revolution in the early 20th century when progressive intellectuals used literature as a tool against tyranny, injustice and the interference of the big powers at the time. In recent decades, however, and particularly since the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, this catchall phrase is specifically applied to works of literature that are strongly committed to the ideals of the Islamic Republic, including the teachings of the Twelver branch of Shiite Islam and the commemoration of martyrs.