Ayatollah tirade tops center's list of biggest anti-Semitic slurs of 2013

June 12, 2009: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks live on television after casting his ballot in the Iranian presidential election in Tehran. (Reuters)

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's infamous reference to Israel as a "rabid dog" tops the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of the top 10 anti-Semitic/anti-Israel slurs of the year.

The Jewish human rights group released its year-end list on Monday. The round-up ranges from the inappropriate to the outright bigoted.

Atop the list was a remark made by Iran's supreme leader, calling Israel the "rabid dog in the region" whose leaders "cannot be called human." It was remarks like this that, for Israel and others, undermined claims that Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, represented a moderate shift for Tehran -- and cast doubt on the interim nuclear deal struck among Iran, the United States and five other world powers.

Also on the center's list, in the No. 4 position, was the push by the American Studies Association to launch an academic boycott on Israeli institutions. The American academic group has garnered widespread criticism for the move in the U.S., and top institutions like Harvard and Yale have rejected the proposed boycott.

"The ASA vote reeks of bigotry and a dangerous double standard," the Simon Wiesenthal Center said in its report.

The examples toward the end of the list came from lesser-known sources, but were just as inflammatory. In upstate New York, students in one school district claimed they were targeted with anti-Semitic abuse -- and parents, who are taking the school district to court, said officials did little to stop it. "Jewish kids traveling on school buses have been forced to endure Nazi salutes and shouts of 'White Power,'" the report said

Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd fame, was also called out for putting a Jewish star on a giant floating pig during his summer concert tour.

And several celebrities and spiritual leaders in the Middle East were cited for appearing to promote Adolf Hitler. One, Lebanese singer Najwa Karam, was asked on a show to choose admirable attributes from six men -- "she chose Hitler's for 'persuasive' speaking ability."

"There never was an apology -- or even a clarification," the report notes.

The report also called on NBA star Tony Parker to apologize for using a "Nazi-like" gesture called the "quenelle."

French media reports earlier this year showed a photo of the San Antonio Spurs player using the gesture alongside its creator, a French comedian.