Author: Nazila Golestan

I was only six years old when political Islamists formally established Khomeini’s official state in Iran.

Every morning before going to school, I used to see the Cyrus the Great Cylinder on the table that reminded me of respect and tolerance of others.  However, at school before classes started, we had to chant “Death to U.S.A.” and “Death to Israel” and we had to cross the Israeli and the American flags to get into our classrooms.

At the end of the day, as all media were under the control of the regime, our only contact with the outside world was the one-way radio programs. At night, my father would catch up with the Persian program of Israel’s radio so we could hear the real news.

Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) in 1979, the destruction of Israel has been one of the foundations of the regime’s ideology. An official anti-Semitic state with the slogan of eliminating the Israel from the world map which became an official state policy.

On May 09, 1979, the most well-known leader of the Jewish community Habib Elghanian, was falsely accused of Zionist espionage and executed.

The same year, al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) was invented as a result of Khomeini’s anti-Semitic propaganda as he declared the confrontation with Israel a “religious duty.”  Al-Quds Day is the annual anti-Zionist day. Islamic Republic commemorates this day by organizing marches and expressions of hatred towards Jews and the state of Israel. Accordingly, every year on the last Friday of Ramadan, al-Quds Day commemorates with mass parades led by the regime to emphasize hatred of the State of Israel and to publicize the regime’s intention of destroying the State of Israel.

Jews along with other official religions (Christian, BahaÏ, Sunnis and Zoroastrian) are treated as second-class citizens and subjected to humiliation. The Islamic Constitution has restricted their religious freedom. They need permission from, and are controlled by, the regime for performing their religious ceremonies.

The value of their lives is set at one-half of that of a Muslim. In case of non-Muslim women, the value reaches one quarter of the life of a Muslim. They are barred from many government and military positions.

The anti-Semitic propaganda of the Islamic Republic is getting more and more fierce. It has come to the point that the word “Jew” has become synonymous with humiliation.

The Ministry of Guidance and Culture, whose blade of censorship is sharp, not only permits publication of books and production of films of this kind, but also sometimes invests for their production. As an example, the film “Anti-Semitism” (l’Antisémite) was produced by cooperation of the Islamic Republic and a French company. The author and director of the film is “Dieudonné” who had previously made “Mahmoud.” Mahmoud is a play based on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s anti-Semitic remarks. The film Anti-Semitism, according to Mohsen Ali Akbari, was made with the invitation of Iran’s Deputy Director of Cinema and cooperation of French Laplum Company. Ali Akbari says of the film that Anti-Semitism is “a comedy that mocks Jewish Thought.” Further, the film mocks the Auschwitz camp. Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson plays himself in the film.

Many media outlets in Iran have been trained to spread lies and insults against Jews. From insulting beliefs to accusations of incest with their daughters or spread of corruption for the control of the world.

Indeed, the Islamic Revolution aroused fears among Iranian Jews such that nearly two-thirds of the community, despite having a 2700-year background, were forced to leave their homeland because of discrimination, restrictions, and negative propaganda.

However, wherever they went, Iranian Jews kept Iranian culture alive, and are one of the prides of Iran from Tel Aviv to the US vis a vis the Islamic Republic.

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Like Nazism, we must fight Khomeinism seriously. They formed many militias under the command of Qasem Soleimani in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon to get closer to Israel by occupying the region. Their main objective has been the export of the totalitarian ideology to the Middle East and elsewhere in the world. Soleimani became the great craftsman of the Al-Quds force. For him, human life had no value.  His only desire was to extend the ideological and military influence of the regime and ultimately to “wipe Israel off the map.”

Now that the terrorist Soleimani has been killed, Europe must stand with the Iranian people against the Islamic Republic. Europe, along with the current United States Administration, must join us in fighting terrorism and anti-Semitism.

The Islamic Republic must not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapon because, otherwise it will increase the possibility of a human catastrophe.  Maximum pressure campaign must continue from all sides.

Today, Iranian people, with the hope of achieving peace and friendship with other nations, are fighting the Islamic Republic’s ideology.  Thousands of human rights and political activists have been imprisoned and tortured because they have struggled against this theocratic kleptocracy and anti-Semetic regime. They refuse to walk on the flag of Israel, and they reject the anti-Semitic slogans from Islamic Regime.

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In memory of “Tehran Children,” a group of Polish Jewish children mainly orphans or separated from their parents who escaped the Nazi-Germany occupation of Poland. This group of children were later evacuated with several hundred adults to Tehran, after summer of 1942.

Once the children were gathered in Tehran, the camp, which rapidly became known as the “Tehran Home for Jewish Children,” received assistance from the local Jewish community and most of them recovered their health in the Tehran camp.

In 1943, the children with their adult escorts, crossed from Persian Gulf to the Sinai Desert by train, and arrived at the Atlit refugee camp where the Yishuv welcomed them.

Thirty-five of the “Tehran Children” died either as civilians or as soldiers in Israel’s War of Independence in 1948-1949.

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A large number of people in Iran strongly believe that Israel and Iran will be strong allies in the future after the fall of the Islamic Republic and establishment of secular democracy in Iran because of their cultural and historical commonalities and for the sake of peace and stability in the Middle East.  We hope to see Israel’s Embassy in Tehran and Iran’s Embassy in Jerusalem very soon.

I hope to see you all in the near future in Yusuf Abad Synagogue, one of the oldest synagogues in Tehran.

Am yisrael chai עם ישראל חי

Long live Iranian and Israeli Friendship!

#NotOnMyWatch 

 #EJAssociation