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Iran Jews "calm" after spy case

By Tom Hundley
Chicago Tribune
July 16, 2000

The Jews of Tehran live on Palestine Street. That twist only begins to suggest the complexities faced by Iran's durable Jewish community, the largest in the Middle East outside of Israel.

Some 30,000 Jews still live in Iran. Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution--before fundamentalist zealots insisted on changing the name of Palace Street to Palestine Street--the number was 80,000.

Many feared that that this month's conviction of 10 Iranian Jews on charges of spying for Israel would trigger another exodus.

Kurosh Baradarian, 23, doesn't think so. Standing outside his father's kosher butcher shop, Baradarian, an engineering student at Tehran's Azad University, discussed the implications of the verdict with an American reporter and a group of Jewish and Muslim acquaintances from the neighborhood.

"It was calm before the verdict. It's calm now. Jews are free to stay or leave, but nothing serious has happened to make them leave," he said.

The others agreed. Yusef Beroukhim, 48, who is Jewish and owns a cosmetics shop on Palestine Street, said he knew of several families that were planning to leave, but not because of the spy trial.

"It's for economic reasons. Or because they are lonely because all their relatives are living in America," he said. "I've been to France, Italy and England, but the feeling I have here is that this is my home. Iran is a nice place."

Western governments, Jewish groups and human-rights organizations were quick to denounce the verdict, which saw 10 of the accused Jews sentenced to prison terms ranging from 4 to 13 years. Three other Jews were acquitted while two Muslims involved in the case received 2-year sentences.

A Revolutionary Court conducted the trial behind closed doors in the southern city of Shiraz, where most of the accused lived. No evidence was ever made public, although confessions of two of the defendants were broadcast on national television. All but one of those convicted signed confessions, admitting to accusations of contact with Israel, belonging to an illegal group and espionage.

While relieved that none of the accused was sentenced to death, the U.S. and other countries criticized the trial's secrecy and warned Iran that the case could hurt its efforts to restore ties with the West. Israel denies having any contact with the accused and said their only crime "was that of being Jewish."

Iran's Jews are not sure what to think.

"If they were real spies, they should have been executed," said Baradarian, the student. "I don't know if the judge was trying to be kind to them or what, but the light sentences prove they couldn't have been spies."

Parviz Ahoubim, a businessman and frequent spokesman for Tehran's Jewish community, pointed out that most of the accused were simple shopkeepers with limited education.

"I don't think Israel would want such men as spies. A spy should be someone very intelligent who has years and years of training," he said.

Others in the closely-knit Jewish community said they knew some of the accused, and that while they were skeptical of the spy allegations, they believed several may have been involved in other illegal activities.

Jews have lived in Persia, what is now modern-day Iran, since the 6th Century B.C. when Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon, modern-day Iraq, and freed its Jewish slaves.

Jews are perhaps most closely associated with the Iranian city of Hamadan, where the tomb of Esther is located. But only about three dozen Jews currently live in Hamadan. Tehran has the largest Jewish community in Iran, with about 10,000 members and 23 active synagogues.

In the 19th Century and early 20th Century, when Iran was ruled by the Qajar dynasty, Jews were often the targets of Russian-style pogroms and vicious persecutions.

Things improved under the Pahlavis. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah, maintained good relations with Israel.

The creation of Israel in 1948 and the enmity this bred among the Arabs brought about the demise of large Jewish communities that had thrived for centuries in Morocco, Yemen, Syria and Iraq. Between 1950 and 1980, an estimated 1 million Jews from Arabic countries left their homelands. Most resettled in Israel.

In the Middle East, Iran and secular Turkey are the only Muslim countries that retain a significant Jewish minority.

In Iran, the reign of the ayatollahs began in 1979 and Jews were subject to the same rigid social restraints imposed on everyone--the head-to-toe-covering of women, strict separation of the sexes for many activities, the prohibition of many books and films and types of music.

The Islamic constitution, however, recognizes Jews as a protected minority and gives them a guaranteed seat in the parliament. They are allowed to practice their religion and teach Hebrew in their schools. They also receive a partial dispensation from the ban on alcohol.

"This is an Islamic country, and we have to obey their laws. If you don't violate any laws, you will not suffer here," said Beroukhim.

Others acknowledged it was not always that simple. Iran's Jews are in the awkward position of sharing a religious identity with Israel, a nation with which Iran is in a virtual state of war.

"It's a dispute between governments. I don't know who is right," said Baradarian. "I have never seen an Israeli person. I have never talked to one. Religiously, we are the same, but you find good people and bad people from all religions."

In general, Iranian Muslims are proud of the official tolerance accorded the Jewish minority, and despite the government's ceaseless harangues against Israel, the Jewish community here has not been viewed as any kind of fifth column.

The spy case could change that. A recent editorial in one hard-line Islamic newspaper questioned the loyalty of Iran's Jews, warning ominously that they "had failed their test."

According to the newspaper, Jomhuri Eslami, "It was expected that the Jews would want these spies to pay for their crime more than anyone else, but instead they have defended them vigorously."

The Jewish Association of Tehran, a community group, responded with a statement accusing Israel of orchestrating public opinion against Iran in order to provoke an exodus of Iranian Jews.

"We love our country ... and that is why we condemn once more all the propaganda campaigns against the Jews and the Islamic Republic and proclaim our loyalty to the interests of Iran and the Iranian government," the statement said.

Although there are ominous rumblings among some fundamentalist Muslims, Iranian Jews on the whole feel rooted and safe in the wake of the secret trial of 10 of their brethren.

GRAPHIC: PHOTOS 2PHOTO: In one of Tehran's 23 active synogogues in April, an Iranian Jew prays at the onset of Passover. Of the country's 30,000 Jews, 10,000 live the capital. So far, the spy trial has not prompted an exodus. Agence France Presse photo by Henghameh Fahim.; PHOTO: In Shiraz, where the trial was conducted behind closed doors, a Jewish merchant sells residents sugar in the city's Jewish quarter. Agence France Presse photo by Behrous Mehri.

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