December 26, 2007

by Margot Dudkevitch 

A group of forty Iranian Jewish immigrants arrived in Israel early Tuesday evening. Each family will receive the sum of $10,000 to assist them in settling in Israel. So far this year 200 Iranian Jews have arrived in Israel. In a telephone interview with Infolive.tv Avraham Dayan said he was waiting to see his son whom he has not seen for 11 years. "My son's name is Yosef , he is coming with his wife and children. They are from Teheran. I have not seen him in 11 years, we spoke on the phone. I am so excited." Dayan thanked the State of Israel and the government of Israel for helping to bring his family. Dayan could hardly speak as he was so choked up with emotion. "Thank you Israel," he said.

While all eyes are on Iran as President Ahamdinejad races to attain nuclear power, and Russia is assisting to construct the nuclear power plant in Busheher, the members of Iran's Jewish community have been left in the shadows.

Iran is home to approximately 25,000 Jews, some reports claim that the figure is closer to 35,000, and is one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. In Teheran alone some reports claim there are three functioning synagogues, a Jewish hospital,an old aged home and a cemtery. But as one writer said, while in their prayers Jewish worshippers refer to the desire to see Jerusalem, telephone and postal service between Iran and Israel is forbidden.

Since 1994 there has been no rabbi in Iran and the religious beit din no longer functions. Following the overthrow of the shah and the delcaration of an Islamic state in 1979, Iran severed relations with Israel. Since many of the Jewish schools were shut down, and Jewish principles were replaced by Moslem ones in the schools that continue to function.

In 1999 13 Jews from Shiraz and Isfahan in southern Iran were arrested and accused of spying for Israel and the United States. In September 2000, an Iranian appeals court upheld the decision to imprison ten of the thirteen, three were released. A year later one of the Jews was released and in the years following the remaining nine were subsequently released.

According to reports, at least 13 Jews have been executed in Iran since the Islamic revolution. Maurice Motamed was elected in 2000 and again in 2004 as a member of the Iranian Parliament, and represents the Jewish community. He also played a prominent role in the efforts to alleviate the sentences against some members of the Jewish community for alleged spying or illegally trying to flee the country. He also served as a member of the Parliament's Energy Committee. While on a trip to the US in 2000, Motamed claimed that the lives of Jews in Iran was far better than that of other Iranians and even invited the wealthy Iranian Jewish community to return to Iran.

While the Jewish population is considered to be the second largest in the Middle East, the community remains isolated from world Jewry. Reports regarding the condition and treatment of the existing Jewish community in the Islamic Republic remain extremely varied.12/25/07