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Iranian Jews Condemn Emigrant Stunt

CNN | 28.12.2007 22:38 | Anti-militarism | World

Another LIE by the Zionist Extremists is soundly refuted.

Iranian Jews Condemn Emigrant Stunt

(CNN) -- -- The well-publicized (staged) landing of 40 Iranian Jews in Israel on Tuesday spurred glee among some Israelis and the immigrants themselves (and our Plant) and drew public scorn from a surprising quarter in Iran -- two officials from its centuries-old Jewish community.

Iranian Jews arrive at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, on Tuesday.

One of them described the emigration as a "misinformation" campaign and defended their lives under the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The arrival in Israel was publicized as the largest single group to arrive in Israel from Iran since Iran's Islamic Revolution, and the immigrants traveled via an undisclosed third country. Other Iranian Jews have immigrated to Israel over the years.

Anti-Semitism has been a worldwide phenomenon for centuries and the state of Israel became a homeland for Jews to escape anti-Semitic persecution.

(Or at least, this was the excuse to frighten Jews, who opposed Zionism, to embrace this racist ideology. The purpose of the state was to empower Zionism, pure and simple.)

The group that sponsored the immigration is the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, based in Chicago. It says it wants to help Jews flee such persecution. The group receives money from evangelical Christians.

(However, since 'such persecution' rarely occurs these days, it appears that they invented some, towards the Zionist goal of attacking Iran.)

Its founder, Rabbi Yehiel Eckstein, believes Iranian Jews face dangers, citing the words of Ahmadinejad, who has urged Israel's destruction but not by military means.

(He hasn't urged 'Israel's destruction', but at least this journalist attempts to right the wrongs committed by a media repeating this lie ad nauseum.)

There has been great criticism of Ahmadinejad by Jews across the globe for his remarks about Israel, for the government's stance toward Israel, and for the regime's sponsorship of a recent Holocaust denial seminar.

Eckstein said immigrants received $10,000 each because they left behind possessions to go to Israel.

(Iran's Jewish community referred to this as bribery, as their organizations condemned the action.)

Noting the evangelical support from his group, Eckstein, in fact, believes it's no "coincidence" that the people came to Israel on Christmas Day, which Eckstein describes as "kind of a Christmas present to these folks from Christians in America who seek to tell Israel and the Jewish people that they're not alone."

(You bet it was not a 'coincidence', since this was a carefully-staged publicity stunt. Those are not "Cristians", they are Christian Fundamentalists. There is a huge difference, just as there is between Zionism and Judaism.)

The immigration comes at a time of great tension between Iran, whose president stoutly rejects the Jewish state's existence, and Israel, which asserts that Iran is funding terrorism, has ambitions to develop nuclear weapons, and is intent on destroying the Jewish state.

(Ahmadinejad rejects the existence of Israel as an Apartheid state on stolen land, and its continued occupation and expansion. As do most people concerned with the conflict. Israel is plotting a war against Iran, and their plot precedes any of the baseless allegations they're now trying to use to start one.)

But the account of the mass immigration was vehemently disputed among Jewish officials in Tehran who defend Jewish life there.

The man representing Iranian Jews in Iran's parliament on Wednesday disputed the notion of an organized immigration of Iranian Jews to Israel, saying he would have known about such a development.

("The man representing Iranian Jews in Iran's parliament", "The man representing Iranian Jews in Iran's parliament", "The man representing Iranian Jews in Iran's parliament" ...)

Iranian MP Morris Motamed told CNN that he and Ciamak Morehsadegh, the director of the Tehran Jewish Community, had issued a statement condemning the spread of false news about an evangelical organization facilitating the immigration of 40 Iranian Jews to Israel.

Iranian Jews can travel anywhere they want, anytime they want, but like other Iranians they are not allowed to go to Israel, Motamed said.

Even with that, some Iranian Jews may decide to travel to and from Israel via a third country to visit their families or to visit for religious reasons.

However, Motamed called the news a "misinformation" campaign aimed at creating an atmosphere of distrust between the Muslim and Jewish communities in Iran. He said it is meant to make Iranian Jews feel unsafe and vulnerable in their own country.

(But most of all, it's designed to create this illusion in the West, as Israel tries desperately to gain support for another disastrous, illegal war in the region.)

He said that before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iranian Jews numbered more than 100,000, but like other minorities their numbers diminished because of immigration.

He said almost 95 percent of Iranian Jews went to the United States and as a result there is now quite a sizable Iranian Jewish community there. The remaining 5 percent, he said, went to Europe and Israel.

There are as many as an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 Jews remaining in Iran, the largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside Israel, according to CNN's Shirzad Bozorghmehr.

The U.S. State Department's 2007 report on religious freedom says the Iranian government's "rhetoric and actions created a threatening atmosphere for nearly all non-Shi'a religious groups, most notably for Baha'i's," who are based in the Israeli city of Haifa. It also cites "Sufi Muslims, evangelical Christians, and members of the Jewish community."

Jews by Iranian constitutional law have the right to practice their religion and "with some exception," there has been scant government restriction and interference with religious practices, the report said.

However, "members of these recognized minority religious groups have reported government imprisonment, harassment, intimidation, and discrimination based on their religious beliefs."

Jewish education has been tougher to carry out, there has been a rise in anti-Semitic rhetoric, and assaults on two synagogues, the report said. Their contact with or support for the state of Israel has been squelched "out of fear of reprisal."

"Recent anti-American and anti-Israeli demonstrations included the denunciation of Jews, as opposed to the past practice of denouncing only 'Israel' and "Zionism," adding to the threatening atmosphere for the community," the report said.

(But the report was written by allies of Israel, if not Israelis themselves.)

In the Islamic Republic's Jewish community, there is a different view from voices emerging.

Morehsadegh described the Jewish community in Tehran as alive and well, with 20 synagogues, more than eight butcher shops, two restaurants, and four youth groups.

"There is no doubt that the Holocaust happened," he said. "But we disagree with the superpowers who have misused this incident to their own benefit."

CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this report

edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/12/26/iran.israel.jews/?iref=hpmostpop

Israel's Jewish Problem in Tehran
So why hasn't Iran started by wiping its own Jews off the map?
by Jonathan Cook
www.antiwar.com/orig/cook.php?articleid=11394

CNN

Comments

Hide the following 23 comments

Scary

29.12.2007 16:40

I never want to imagine what it must be like to live in Jordan Thornton's mind.

General Public


gehrig

30.12.2007 00:10

I thought posts from mainstream news organizations were hidden on Indymedia UK.

gehrig


Another Zionist LIE Exposed

30.12.2007 02:00

Not when they contain commentary, and are accompanied by others.

Why? Were you hoping the exposure of these LIES, which you posted to several IMCs, would be Censored?

How Many Is That?


Hardly a repost

30.12.2007 11:11

I was about to hide this, given previous comment, and the fact that it starts (CNN)... then I realised most of it is commentary. Hardly a repost. Possibly clutter on the single newswire we are forced to run, but certainly commentary about news, and not repost.

imc'er


CNN eh?

30.12.2007 11:18

Funny. I don't recall seeing much of this rubbish on CNN, despite that being very clearly indicated at the top.

Thank heavens for UK Indymedia bringing us the "truth" that they want "censored" eh?

Sigh


Sarcasm alert

30.12.2007 11:33

I can't imagine for one moment why Jews living in Iran, with familiy in Iran with all their assests in Iran would ever speak in support of the Iranian state. I mean what on earth would be their motivation !

General Public


Hardly a repost ?????

30.12.2007 11:37

Errr it's a straight repost from the CNN site with a single line of comment added !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The efforts some IMC admins will go to to defend an anti Jewish post to the newswire never cease to amaze me.

KOR


It really isn't a repost

30.12.2007 11:57

The original  http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/12/26/iran.israel.jews/index.html

Now the comments may or may not be rubbish. They certainly manage to use the word Zionism more times than the original, bound to cause a flame war on the comments here. The article may also be pure commentary and not original reporting that Indymedia was started for. But we have one newswire, and the mix with commentary on news is (to a point) part of the IMC UK newswire.

Frankly I think some of you should get off the Internet and onto the streets if you think posts like this are even important. This admin has wasted long enough looking at it.

imc'er


"This admin has wasted long enough looking at it. "

30.12.2007 12:46

And the collective has decided to at best turn a blind eye to blatant antisemitism and reposts from extreme right wing sites. Just because the antisemitism is food for pro-Israel trolls doesn't make the antisemitism acceptable: my enemy's enemy is not my friend.

You should consider the comments these postings generate and the waste of resources as a rod you made for your own back.

Gentile


New blood needed by the looks of it

30.12.2007 16:23

Perhaps if the admin wno has posted here as "imc'er" can't be bothered to do the job he or she would care to step down at the network meeting coming up soon and let those who wish to fight the current anti-semitism on the newswire have a go ?

I am getting sick to my back teeth with how the newswire is being ruined by some admins. Either do the job or sod off and let others do it.

KOR


ROK I HAVE TO ROL

30.12.2007 17:47

ME was thinking Indymedia NEEDED new admins. then there is you making the WORK. ROFL

ghost of spanner
- Homepage: http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Alists.indymedia.org+spanner+riseup.net+hidden


Yes it does need new

30.12.2007 18:12

IMC in the UK does need new admins, in fact I doubt if IMC will survive much longer with the ones it has at the moment. I feel like crying when I see what has been done to the newswire by the present bunch however the next meeting, which is being held at Sumac in Notts should finaly bring all the crap to an end and new admins will be elected and the old ones booted out once and for all.

new broom


voting?

30.12.2007 18:53

some of you will never get it but that's why you fight all the time and have been getting nowhere for years

consensus!
- Homepage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_decision-making


Not a good idea

30.12.2007 19:15

Ah yes consensus decision making. Described by George Washington as,

"Force of personality deciding" the current problems at the UK IMC kollective where one individual blocked the hiding of a known anti semite and his work shows how weak that system is.

voter


Consensus, the forthcoming Network Meeting, and the Atzmon debate

30.12.2007 21:25

I'm not going to comment on this thread anymore than to explain a few things that people seem to consistently misunderstand. Any specific discussion I want to have face to face with comrades.

If your position is that consensus doesn't work and that it leads to the power of an individual that is the point that you as an individual won't be able to take part in any decision of Indymedia UK. The IMC is not going to consense about stopping to consense. If the case is it needs to work out the block of an individual (which has only been suggested by one person in this thread) even the continual block, it will keep working at it. It's not like it hasn't happened in the past, and it's tooth-pullingly-slowly-painful, but the consensus remains.

The suggestion the solution to the discussion is to make pain and agony for admins (no telling what their position is) by trolling round the comments on Indymedia for hours is counter productive, and more likely will lead to stiffled debate as people have to deal with the 'threat from outside' as well.

Generally most of the well meaning through to purposeful counter-information discussion in the comment threads goes nowhere. It's just you with your steadfast opinions, spending time arguing with people of similar mindsets. Neither would really be welcome in a meeting that works by consensus. If the world is that simple, others opinions have only the shades and backgrounds you express in these discussions you simply won't be able to take part.

For everyone else who doesn't live in a binary world, and can have constructive, imaginative, or just slow and patient discussions and has some real affinity with what Indymedia UK is doing and where it could go in the future can I recommend  http://seedsforchange.org.uk/free/consens

ekes


consensus versus editorial policy

30.12.2007 22:34

You can't be suggesting that you need consensus to hide posts that clearly contravene editorial policy, surely?

This post was made by an antisemitic serial spammer. It is a repost from a site run by Republicans and hosts material from people like Pat Buchanan.

The poster also recently posted from a site with staff links to outright holocaust denial and the KKK. It's till there!

Is that what is now considered suitable material? Because when it is plainly visible on the Newswire that is what is looks like: an endorsement and an encouragement.

You may say that fighting in the comments section is pointless, but some people think that such dubious material should not go unchallenged, and the trolls probably jump for joy every time crap like this appears.

Do you think reposts from extreme right wing sites should be left on the wire?

Gentile
- Homepage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Buchanan


Purpose of Hasbara

30.12.2007 23:08

Notice how nobody's actually discussing what the article says ... ?

That's the point of the Plant's Hasbara.

It wants this censored, because it is yet another example of the Extremists in Israel LYING to Israelis, to the world, and the world's media, with the ultimate goal of duping people into supporting its plot for an illegal, disastrous strike on Iran.

From the Zionist standpoint, this simply MUST be pushed down the Memory Hole ...

Lies To War


consensus and anti-racism

30.12.2007 23:43

Among other things, some notes on the flaws of consensus as a tool for fighting racism.

Geniza
- Homepage: http://geniza.wordpress.com/topic-index


The joy of zionist trolling

31.12.2007 01:52

"Among other things, some notes on the flaws of consensus as a tool for fighting racism.

 http://geniza.wordpress.com/topic-index"

Hurrah - a link to the zionist gehrig's 'anonymous' blog.

The interesting thing about your blog gehrig (who claims to only ever post under his own name), is that you keep highlighting the fact that you want admins to 'decode' posts, using your own zionist mindset.

There isn't a guideline for 'decoding posts' - so its another ham-fisted attempt at smoke and mirrors.

geniza IS gehrig


Havin' a laugh

31.12.2007 07:45

Hey Jordan all this vast organisation of Jews and still there you are spamming the internet every day with your stories. They can't be a very good can they ?

Is Thornton bonkers, you decide


Decoding

31.12.2007 11:22

"Plant's Hasbara" = all those people who can tell the difference between legitimate critisism of Israel and crossing the line into anti-semitism.

Bletchly Park


That Sword's Dull, Plant

01.01.2008 00:28

Notice how nobody's actually discussing what the article says ... ?

That's the point of the Plant's Hasbara.

It wants this censored, because it is yet another example of the Extremists in Israel LYING to Israelis, to the world, and the world's media, with the ultimate goal of duping people into supporting its plot for an illegal, disastrous strike on Iran.

From the Zionist standpoint, this simply MUST be pushed down the Memory Hole ...

Yet Another Zionist Lie Exposed


Uhh

01.01.2008 01:47

Are you implying that the Jews in Iran, who exposed this as a stunt by the Zionists still desperately trying to start a war with Iran, are 'antisemites'?

You Troll(s) really know no bounds ... !

Lies to War