Iran’s Jews – Opposite Jewish views

Rehmat's World

Posted on December 15, 2010 by rehmat1|

“Giving a State to the Jews was a stupid idea. But to keep supporting it is no less than sinister! The world better wake up and face the Israeli crimes,” Gilad Atzmon, in Tears of Gaza, December 13, 2010.

The pro-Israel Jewish magazine, Tablet, published (December 13, 2010) an article, titled ‘Personal Revolution’ by US-born Illinois Jewish attorney and writer of Iranian parents, Pejman Yousefzadeh. The article is packed with the usual Zionist Hasbara (propaganda) lies about the Islamic Republic -when it’s compared with Roger Cohen’s (a British-born Jewish journalist) OP-ED, titled What Iran’s Jews Say, published in the New York Times, on February 22, 2009.

Pejman Yousefzadeh, in his self-denial, claims that he is proud to be a citizen of “the greatest, and freest country (United States) in the history of humankind”. To which I tend to agree on the condition that the US-citizen happens to be Jewish – NOT a Muslim or an Afro-American.

“Plenty of Iranians abroad have made trips to and from Iran ever since the revolution, of course. But as Iranian Jews, we have had to endure a greater sense of insecurity and a relationship with the Islamic regime that has been fraught with tension. That tension has only increased in recent years, with the regime having become increasingly hardline,” claims Pejman Yousefzadeh. Contrary to that, a Jewish Iranian store-owner told Roger Cohen: “Let them say ‘Death to Israel. I’ve been in this store 43 years and never had a problem. I’ve visited my relatives in Israel, but when I see something like the attack on Gaza, I demonstrate, too, as an Iranian.”

“The images from Iran made me intensely political in 1978, at the tender age of 6. My family and I believed that something was happening in Iran that would be profoundly destructive to the country. Because of our religious identity, our concerns were heightened by the theocratic aspect of the revolution. Sadly, those concerns turned out to be justified; while Iran’s Jewish population has some rights, the Jews of Iran are forced to denounce Israel with great frequency and fervor,” says Pejman Yousefzadeh. Contrary to that, Roger Cohen wrote: “The reality of Iranian civility toward Jews tells us more about Iran – its sophistication and culture – a Jewish community living, working and worshipping in relative tranquillity – than all the inflammatory rhetoric.

“I try to be patient, waiting for change to come to Iran. But even as the regime gives observers every reason to be outraged at its actions, global indifference seems to outweigh any sense of justified indignation regarding the actions of the regime. I am impatient with an American society that would rather focus on Bristol Palin’s appearance on Dancing With the Stars than on Iran. I am impatient with the current U.S. administration, which has done little to speak up for the proposition that people should not be beaten up, that their votes should not be stolen, and that their political and human rights ought to be respected, for fear of appearing to be imperialist,” Pejman rants Israel Lobby’ (AIPAC) views on Iran. Roger Cohen wrote: “I asked Morris Motamed, once the Jewish member of the Majlis, if he felt he was used, an Iranian quisling. “I don’t,” he replied. “In fact I feel deep tolerance here toward Jews.” He said “Death to Israel” chants bother him, but went on to criticize the “double standards” that allow Israel, Pakistan and India to have a nuclear bomb, but not Iran”.

Roger Cohen further added: “Double standards don’t work anymore; the Middle East has become too sophisticated. One way to look at Iran’s scurrilous anti-Israel tirades is as a provocation to focus people on Israel’s bomb, its 41-year occupation of the West Bank, its Hamas denial, its repetitive use of overwhelming force. Iranian language can be vile, but any Middle East peace – and engagement with Tehran – will have to take account of these points. Realism about Iran should take account of Esfehan’s ecumenical Palestine Square. At the synagogue, Benhur Shemian, 22, told me Gaza showed Israel’s government was “criminal,” but still he hoped for peace.

Iranian Jewish community is one of world’s oldest Jewish communities (over 3,000 years old). A Jewish Persian Queen Esther is mentioned in Jewish holy book of Esther (Purim). Under King Muhammad Reza Shah (1941-79), the Jewish community which numbered 80,000 (60,000 lived in Tehran) gained enormous power in finance, politic, governance and media. The Jewish historians have claimed the period as the “Jewish Golden Age” in the Middle East. They all belonged to the middle or upper-class. However, after the 1978 protest rallies against the Shah’s corrupt regime – the Jewish influence began to see its downfall, due to their close links with the Shah, the Zionist entity and the US. A great majority of wealthy and the ‘royalist’ Jews immigrated to the US, Canada and Britain along with their Iranian loot. The Iranian Jewish billionaire Robert Tchenguiz (son of Victor Tchenguiz, the Iranian Royal Jeweller) along with the Israeli Jewish wife of the President of Iceland, Dorrit Moussaieff, played a major part in the bankruptcy of that small European nation.

On February 1, 1979 – on the return of Imam Khomeini to Tehran – 5,000 Iranian Jews led by Iran’s Chief Rabbi Yedidia Shofet, greeted the Leader of the Islamic Revolution. Some of the Jews were seen carrying pictures of the Imam and signs proclaiming “Jews and Muslims are brothers”.

Since the Islamic Revolution (1979) – only a few hundred Jewish families have left Iran – not for Israel but to the West. In 2007, a Jewish-Christian organization advertised a bribe of US$10,000 to every Iranian Jew who decides to immigrate to Israel. However, the bribe was rejected by the Jewish community leaders as an “insult to Jewish faith” and proclaimed that they prefer to live in their birth land.

Currently, there are 30,000 Jews living in Islamic Republic which is house to 20 functioning Synagogues. It’s the largest Jewish community outside the Occupied Palestine in the Middle East.

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