25,000 Jews live in Iran
By Mike Whitney
August 17, 2010 "Information Clearing House" --
25,000 Jews live in Iran. It's the largest Jewish population in the
Middle East outside of Israel. Iranian Jews are not persecuted or
abused by the state, in fact, they are protected under Iran's
constitution. They are free to practice their religion and to vote in
elections. They are not stopped and searched at checkpoints, they are
not brutalized by an occupying army, and they are not herded into a
densely-populated penal colony (Gaza) where they are deprived of the
basic means of survival. Iranian Jews live in dignity and enjoy the
benefits of citizenship.
Iranian
president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is demonized in the western media. He is
called an anti-Semite and the "new Hitler". But if those claims are
true, then why did the majority of Iran's Jews vote for Ahmadinejad in
recent presidential elections? Could it be that most of what we know
about Ahmadinejad is just baseless rumor and propaganda? This excerpt
appeared in an article by the BBC:
"(Ahmadinejad's) office recently donated money for Tehran's Jewish
hospital. It is one of only four Jewish charity hospitals worldwide and
is funded with money from the Jewish diaspora - something remarkable in
Iran where even local aid organizations have difficulty receiving funds
from abroad for fear of being accused of being foreign agents."
When did Hitler ever donate money to Jewish hospitals? The Hitler
analogy is a desperate attempt to brainwash Americans. It tells us
nothing about what Ahmadinejad is really like.
The lies about Ahmadinejad are no different than the lies about Saddam
Hussein or Hugo Chavez. The US and Israel are trying to create the
justification for another war. That's why the media credits Ahmadinejad
with saying things that he never really said. He never said that he
wanted to "wipe Israel off the map". That's another fiction. Author
Jonathan Cook explains what the Iranian president really said:
"This myth has been endlessly recycled since a translating error was
made of a speech Ahmadinejad delivered nearly two years ago. Farsi
experts have verified that the Iranian president, far from threatening
to destroy Israel, was quoting from an earlier speech by the late
Ayatollah Khomeini in which he reassured supporters of the Palestinians
that "the Zionist regime in Jerusalem" would "vanish from the page of
time."
He was not threatening to exterminate Jews or even Israel. He was
comparing Israel's occupation of the Palestinians with other
illegitimate systems of rule whose time had passed, including the Shahs
who once ruled Iran, apartheid South Africa and the Soviet empire.
Nonetheless, this erroneous translation has survived and prospered
because Israel and its supporters have exploited it for their own crude
propaganda purposes." ("Israel's Jewish problem in Tehran", Jonathan
Cook, The Electronic Intifada)
Ahmadinejad poses no threat to Israel or the United States. Like
everyone else in the Middle East, he just wants a breather from US and
Israeli aggression.
This is from Wikipedia:
"The U.S. State Department has made claims of discrimination in Iran
against Jews. According to its study, Jews may not occupy senior
positions in government and are prevented from serving in the judiciary
and security services and from becoming public school heads. The study
says that Jewish citizens are permitted to obtain passports and to
travel outside the country, but they often are denied the multiple-exit
permits normally issued to other citizens. Allegations made by the U.S.
State Department have been condemned by Iranian Jews. The Association
of Tehrani Jews said in a statement, "We Iranian Jews condemn claims of
the US State Department on Iranian religious minorities, announced that
we are fully free to perform our religious duties and we feel no
restriction on performing our religious rituals."
Who should we believe; the Jews who actually live Iran or the
troublemaking US State Department?
There are 6 kosher butcher shops, 11 synagogues and numerous Hebrew
schools in Tehran. Neither Ahmadinejad nor any other Iranian government
official has made any attempt to close any these facilities down.
Never. Iranian Jews are free to travel (or move) to Israel if they
chose. They are not imprisoned by an occupying army. They are not
deprived of food and medicine. Their children do not grow up with
mental disorders brought on by the trauma of sporadic violence. Their
families are not blown up by gunships lobbing rounds on the beaches.
Their supporters are not crushed by bulldozers or shot in the head with
rubber bullets. They are not gassed and beaten when they peacefully
demonstrate for their civil liberties. Their leaders are not hunted
down and killed in targeted assassinations.
Roger Cohen wrote a very thoughtful essay on the topic for the
New York Times. He said:
"Perhaps I have a bias toward facts over words, but I say the reality
of Iranian civility toward Jews tells us more about Iran — its
sophistication and culture — than all the inflammatory rhetoric. That
may be because I’m a Jew and have seldom been treated with such
consistent warmth as in Iran. Or perhaps I was impressed that the fury
over Gaza, trumpeted on posters and Iranian TV, never spilled over into
insults or violence toward Jews. Or perhaps it’s because I’m convinced
the “Mad Mullah” caricature of Iran and likening of any compromise with
it to Munich 1938 — a position popular in some American Jewish circles
— is misleading and dangerous." ("What Iran's Jews Say", Roger Cohen,
New York Times)
Things aren't perfect for Jews living in Iran, but they're better than
they are for Palestinians living in Gaza. Much better.
Satrio Arismunandar
Executive ProducerNews Division, Trans TV, Lantai 3
Jl. Kapten P. Tendean Kav. 12 - 14 A, Jakarta 12790
Phone: 7917-7000, 7918-4544 ext. 3542, Fax: 79184558,
79184627 http://satrioarismunandar6.blogspot.com
HP: 0819 0819 9163
"Janganlah mengira kita semua sudah cukup berjasa dengan turunnya si tigawarna
(Belanda). Selama masih ada ratap tangis di gubuk-gubuk, belumlah pekerjaan
kita selesai! Berjuanglah terus dengan mengucurkan sebanyak-banyaknya keringat"
(Pidato Bung Karno, 17 Agustus 1950)
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