Jews can't be taught Hebrew in Iran? Baloney!

"Several families waiting in the arrival hall of the airport for the immigrants hotly contested [ Yossi Shraga, director of Middle East immigration at the Jewish Agency] statement. They claimed there was no ban on studying Hebrew in Iran, and that Jewish schools have not been forced to shut down."
Read more: http://www.iranaffairs.com

Hass:

We have looked at your link and with all due respect, we are not convinced that propaganda for the Jew hating Islamic Republic of Iran is terribly reliable. Thanks so much for your comment.

" ... Read more: http://www.iranaffairs.com ... "

hardly an impartial site,

and judging by the accuracy of the site's position on other issues posted there,

i'm more prone to worry about the state of Iranian Jewish freedom

from the few Iranian Jews whom i've been close to at work,
the only 'freedom' they have,
is when they can pretend to be non-Jewish Iranians

Ummm....the quote I posted was originally published in the Jerusalem Post.

The JERUSALEM POST.

All the other articles on IranAffairs.com are also published in Israel and the US.

Don't shoot the messenger.

Hass:

G-d forbid we should shoot anybody on this blog.

The Jerusalem Post article makes it quite clear that the Persian Jews are fleeing Persia because conditions for Jews have become intolerable, the future is uncertain and quite frightening for the small Jewish community that remains.

Let me also add a personal note. I live in Los Angeles. There is a large emigre Persian Jewish community here. Many are my friends and they tell me that they are in contact with relatives who remain in Persia where conditions are steadily deteriorating for the Jewish community.

As always, the Persian Jews are caught between a rock and a hard place. They are forced to take part in government demonstrations where they must chant "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." If they refuse they will be arrested as Zionist spies. They must also tell journalists that life under Islamic rule is just wonderful. In short, they must lie—or be arrested as, you guessed it, Zionist spies.

If the Persian Jews make applications to emigrate, from Iran their wealth and property are stripped by the Islamic Republic. The Mullahs divide the spoils among their relatives and henchmen.

The 25,000 Jews of Iran are the last Jews of any sizable number still living under Muslim rule.

All other Muslim states are Judenrein.

In about 5 years, the Shia state of Iran will also be Judenrein and for the first time since the 7th century Islam will have succeeded in making life so intolerable for their Jewish citizens that all 23 Muslim states on planet earth—and I'm including Gaza for that is the Pali state—are rendered Judenrein.

Okay, there are about 2,000 Jews in Morocco. Woo-hoo. They will be gone in one generation.

No Jews in Jordan. No Jews in Algeria. No Jews in Tunisia. Saudi Arabia officially bars Jews from setting foot on Saudi soil. Charming local custom. Yemen, maybe 100 old and dying Jews. Syria, the same. Egypt, the same. Libya, none. Iraq, done. Afghanistan, one crazy old Jew who lives in the Kabul synagogue all by himself. No Jews in the UAE.

That's quite a track record for the religion of peace.

Is it any wonder the Muslim world is a swamp of ignorance, disease, and an economic basket case. In fact, the only growth industry in the Muslim world is transnational terrorism.

So once again, with all due respect, don't tell us how we exaggerate the Jew-hatred in the Islamic Republic of Iran. If anything, we hold back in our reporting for fear of endangering innocent Jewish lives.

Gosh, next thing you'll be telling us that there are no homosexuals in Persia.

We thank you for your comment and for bringing a different perspective to our discussion. Please come back anytime.

This exchange with "Haas" reminds me of a valubale publicity stunt some Jewish group should pull. Let's call the Muslim countries' bluff when they say there is no Anti-Semitism in their lands.

Get 100 Orthodox, Reform, totally secular Jews.

The Orthodox should be visibly carrying Hebrew sacred texts.

The Reform should all be dressed in Talitot, men and women, with male and female Rabbis, etc.

The secular Jews should be dressed provocatively.

Have them fly into Damascus, Riyadh, Tehran, etc.

Then they should all ask to apply for resident status and/or citizenship in these "ecumenical paradises."

Bring TV cameras.

Watch as they get escorted out of the country on the next plane.

Your claim that Jews who emigrate from Iran are "stripped of their assets" is discredited by the same Jerusalem Post article that says teaching Hebrew in Iran is not prohibited either.

Apparently in your rush to tar everyone as a raving anti-Semite, you didn't bother reading the article.

Rabbis in Iran aren't exactly a rare thing. The and Hebrew sacred texts are considered to be sacred in Islam, and all of the same One God.

I'm not sure what "dressed provocatively" means -miniskirts? Topless? But don't forget that Iranian Jews are sepharic not Orthodox so naturally those who dress differently may get some looks but nothing more.

- http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0427/p01s03-wome.html

- http://www.garyschwartzarthistorian.nl/schwartzlist/?id=115

Stop with the bashing and hate-mongering. Its not proper or becoming of those who speak on behalf of Judaism.

Oh, and here's s'more reading:

http://www.sephardicstudies.org/iran.html

And oh, the former President meeting with a rabbi
http://www.iranjewish.com/News_e/22-1.htm

Hass:

Let's cut through these reports and the "statistics."

Please don't tell me 2+2=5, just because some newspaper says so.

I want to ask you a question.

I hope you answer honestly.

If you were a Jew, would you want to live, or even visit, Tehran in 2007?

Come on, the answer is obvious.

Hass:

I know that Jews from Iran are stripped of their assets. My friends in Los Angeles have confirmed this to me over and over again. As I said, Persian Jews dare not tell the truth to reporters.

We don't bash or hate monger.

We simply report on the Islamic Republic of Iran, a country that hangs homosexuals, stones suspected adulterers in public, and a country whose President denies the Holocaust, and calls for a world without Zionism, code for genocide.

As for Jewish scripture being sacred to Islam, well, that makes all the Jews who have been expelled from Islamic countries so much better.

Here's the main point which you cleverly avoid: the Muslim world is roiling with Jew-hatred and is now Judenrein. That says it all.

Persian Jews dare not tell the truth to reporters...of the Jerusalem Post?

LOL!

Lots of Jews visit Iran - as do atheists, bhuddists, confucians, Christians...

You may be interested in visiting sites such as the tombs of Ester & Mordechai, or the tomb of the prophet Daniel in Susa. All are in Iran, all are well-traveled tourist sites, and regularly visited by Muslims and Jews on pilgrimage.

http://picasaweb.google.com/kaipford/Iran/photo#5103040056467050082

(and in fact many conservative, religious Jews would appreciated the islamic republic's social codes!)

Happy New Year and G"bye now.

Hass:

This may surprise you, but even talking to reporters to the Jerusalem Post is dangerous. Word leaks back to Persia and Jews are imprisoned as Zionist spies.

No one outside of Persia is going to visit the tombs of Mordechai and Esther. Don't be silly. Jews are trying to leave the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Jews do not appreciate the ahem, conservative codes of Iran. That's like saying that Jews appreciated the trains running on time in Nazi Germany. What you call conservative are in fact, murderous and tyrannical codes that make life miserable for Jews and for all minorities. That's why the Jews of Iran are desperately trying to leave.

Really, this is silly, do you see any Jews trying to move to Iran? Of course not.

That's why there are no Jews in any Islamic country because Islam is an intolerant and oppressive religion.