Official Iranian media has released a Hebrew-language propaganda video featuring members of Irans Jewish community expressing support for the Islamic Republic and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in what appears to be a coordinated messaging effort aimed at Israeli and international audiences.
The video highlights the participation of Jewish community members in Irans annual Revolution Day march, held roughly two weeks ago to commemorate the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Among those prominently featured is Homayoun Samah, the Jewish representative in Irans parliament, who has previously voiced strong opposition to Israel. In the footage, Samah describes the Jewish communitys presence at the march as a strong blow to Irans enemies, especially America, adding that unity among the Iranian people enables them to confront the worlds strongest forces.
Also appearing in the video is Rabbi Younes Hamami Lalehzar, a physician and senior rabbinical figure within Irans Jewish community. Lalehzar speaks against Israel and the United States, asserting that religious minorities in Iran have consistently stood alongside the Islamic Republic.
If an attack occurs, a missile or bomb will not distinguish between a Muslim, Jewish, or Christian home the enemy is the enemy of all of us, Lalehzar says in the video.
Another Jewish participant declares: We Jews of Iran have always supported the Islamic Republics government, and now, in this historic time, we support the government and the leader of the revolution.
Irans Jewish community, estimated at approximately 10,000 people, is the largest remaining Jewish population in any Muslim-majority country in the Middle East. While the Iranian constitution formally recognizes Judaism as a protected minority religion and allocates a parliamentary seat to the community, critics argue that public expressions of loyalty from minorities in authoritarian systems may not fully reflect private beliefs.
(AP)
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7 Responses
No different than Russian Jews supporting Russia while Ukrainian Jews support Ukraine, in the Russia-Ukraine War.
of course they have a choice. they can leave for a better life like the hundreds of thousands of other jews who left instead of serving as mouthpieces for the most evil people in earth.
@besalel yeah but they must leave one family member behind…
Besalel – To leave Iran you need an exit visa. (Remember the ‘Iron Curtain’?) Jews are even more restricted, and even if individual Jews can somehow get permission to leave temporarily, they have to leave family behind, who can be imprisoned or killed if they don’t come back… Most of those who left did so either before or soon after the revolution, before the Islamic regime was fully in control. Some were smuggled out through dangerous deserts across the border with Turkey, and from there to Europe and the USA. Not everyone is physically or mentally capable of making such a difficult and risky journey. (Most who did so were young bochurim.) So daven for their safety and their release ?????? ??????, but don’t badmouth them. They really don’t have a choice.
They are treated better in Iran than religious Jews in Israel. The givernment of Iran lets them learn Torah.
Jews hold down the fort wherever they reside. Once the Jews leave, prosperity leaves.
ujm – There are a few differences.
1. The Jews in Russia and Ukraine don’t really care either way, they just want the war to end so life can go back to normal. They pledge allegiance to their country to avoid antagonizing the local yokels. The yokels for their part don’t have any particular suspicions about the Jews (this time at least), or ask them to go out of their way to show their “support”. In Iran, every Jew is potentially suspect of being a “Zionist”, and every so often (even in times of peace) the government “catches Zionist spies” and executes them. This “spontaneous outpouring of love” for the Great Protector and Benefactor the Ayatollah Shlita Yimach Shmo, was demanded of them on pain of death, torture, and who knows what.
2. Putin has some sevara why Ukraine, or at least a large part of it, rightfully belongs to Russia. Ukraine doesn’t agree with his sevara. It has nothing to do with religion or ideology, just regular greed ga’avah and conflict of interests. As long as either side thinks they have what to gain by keeping up the fight they will do so, and at some point one or both will lose their appetite for killing. Iran has nothing to gain materially (and everything to lose) by picking a fight with the USA. Same for their ‘fight’ with Israel. Israel has no reason to attack Iran, except because Iran insists on annihilating them. The USA has even less reason to attack Iran, if not that Iran insists on antagonizing them and attacking their interests. The reason Iran does these things is to prove that they (i.e. the Shiites) are the true “mamshich” of the “real” Islam. Therefore they volunteer to fight the Great Satan who they see as the embodiment of all values contrary to Islam, and the Little Satan who conquered rightfully jihadded Muslim real estate. The whole thing only makes sense from a religious point of view, specifically a “Twelver” Shiite POV where religious suicide to “avenge the blood of Hussein” is a ??????? option. [Which is why they aren’t deterred by M.A.D., or even one-sided Assured Destruction. It’s a national suicide attack.] So, regardless of what you (and I) think about Zionism, rooting for Iran is rooting for their religion, something no Jew should ever do. The local Iranian Jews who know all about the Shiite mentality certainly know this, and any “show of support” on their part is forced in the most literal sense of the word.