December 26, 2007

TEL AVIV, Israel -- The Jewish Agency for Israel welcomed 40 Jewish immigrants from Iran amid allegations of an intolerant regime in the Islamic Republic.

The Jewish Agency for Israel welcomed the new immigrants at Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport Tuesday afternoon, marking the largest group of Iranian immigrants fostered by the agency.

Yossi Shraga with the Jewish Agency said Jewish people in Iran were "starting to feel the earth burn beneath their feet" and referenced a rising atmosphere of anti-Semitism in Iran, the Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday.

The immigrants receive $10,000 from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and a package of benefits from the Immigrant Absorption Ministry.

"The Jewish Agency has spared no expense in bringing the Jews of Iran and will work to bring the rest of them to Israel. The atmosphere in Iran has done the work for us. Anti-Semitism in Iran is growing from day to day," Shraga said.

The Anti-Defamation League told the Post it saw no increase in anti-Semitism in Iranian media outlets, and other anonymous sources told the newspaper the Iranian government imposed no restrictions on travel or immigration against Iranian Jews.