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.” >>>
