The contest was created in response to the twelve cartoons published by the Danish newspaper "Jyllands-Posten" (see "Jyllands-Posten" Muhammad cartoons controversy) to challenge the championing of freedom of speech in the defense of the "Jyllands-Posten" cartoons. This was done under the notion that those who supported the "Jyllands-Posten"s right to free anti-Islamic speech would be placed in a precarious position were they to condemn the antisemitic cartoons targeted at one of the most sensitive of Jewish topics. In that introductory message for the contest, "Hamshahri" denounced what they called Western hypocrisy on freedom of speech, alleging that "it is impossible in the West to joke upon or even discuss certain topics related to Judaism, such as the Holocaust, and the pretexts for the creation of Israel."