February 26, 2009 | 2:22 am

NY Times columnist Roger Cohen is wrong about Iran’s Jews!

Posted by Karmel Melamed

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NY Times Columnist Roger Cohen

During this past weekend I was disturbed to come across a shameful opinion article written by New York Times columnist Roger Cohen who was regurgitating the usual lies Jews living in Iran are forced to give Western journalists who visit them because of the Jews fear of what will happen to them if they do not say what Iran’s Islamic regime’s leadership dictate to them. Cohen, who obviously is unaware of the duress under which the Jews of Iran live, recently travelled to Iran and tries to paint a positive yet inaccurate picture of their lives in his piece. I wrote the below letter to the New York Times in response to his ridiculous claims regarding Iran’s Jews, but unfortunately the Times lacked the courage to publish my response. However, through this blog the rest of the world can read my take on Cohen’s false claims:

February 23, 2009

Dear Editors,
As a journalist who has been exclusively covering Iranian Jewry in U.S. and in Iran for the last 10 years I was utterly shocked at the misrepresentation of the Jews of Iran after reading Roger Cohen’s piece “What Iran’s Jews Say” published in your paper on February 22nd. Unfortunately Mr. Cohen, has fallen for the long running façade the Iranian regime has put out in the Western media with regards to their treatment of religious minorities living in Iran. As an Iranian Jewish journalist who has more first hand knowledge about Iranian Jewry and had a family member executed by the Iranian regime in 1980, I feel compelled to set the record straight.

As a journalist who has close ties to the Iranian Jewish community in Los Angeles and New York, I am reminded by countless Iranian American Jewish leaders to “watch what I might be writing about the Iranian government” because of their fear that what I may report on may ultimately have negative repercussions on the Jews still living in Iran. So why on earth are Iranian American Jews so concerned about my articles and the safety of their brethren in Iran if everything is supposedly so fine and dandy for Jews in Iran? What’s real sad about Mr. Cohen and other apologists of Iran’s regime is that they have no other way to bolster the Iranian government than to point to the supposed “fine” condition of Jews in the country. The fact of the matter is that Iran’s economy is in shambles, there are gasoline and food shortages, skyrocketing inflation, and doubt-digit unemployment. The rogue regime is pursuing nuclear weapons and threatening its neighbors with annihilation. How else could anyone justify keeping any government in power with such disastrous conditions? As usual they can use the Jews as the perfect distraction and Mr. Cohen has done a fine job of helping them to do that.

February 24, 2009 | 12:00 pm

Iranian Jewish historical lecture event draws crowds at Nessah

Posted by Karmel Melamed

(left to right; Dr. Daniel Tsadik, Dr. Nahid Pirnazar, and George Haroonian, photo by Karmel Melamed)

Nearly 150 local young and older Iranian Jews as well as a handful of other Jews packed the Nessah Synagogue’s main sanctuary hall in Beverly Hills on February 5, 2009 for a unique lecture event on the largely unstudied 2,700 year history of Iran’s Jews. The gathering was the first of its kind in English language and organized by the L.A.-based Iranian Jewish Cultural Organization of California to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of Professor Amnon Netzer. “Tonight, we are doing what Professor Netzer loved the most— sharing the long and rich history of Iranian Jews with the community and with the young generation living here in Los Angeles who may not be aware of their heritage,” said George Haroonian, one of the event’s organizers. Nezter who died last year of cancer, was a professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem as well as one of the world’s foremost experts on Iranian Jews, Judeo-Persian language and literature and Iranian studies.

The event featured lectures about the secrets behind Jewish survival in Iran for more than two millennium and was given by two of Nezter’s long time protégés, UCLA professor of Iranian Jewish studies Dr. Nahid Pirnazar and Dr. Daniel Tsadik, assistant professor of Sephardic studies at Yeshiva University in New York. The gathering was also unique as it was one of the few in recent years where local Iranian Jews have openly discussed the forced conversions, public humiliations, persecutions and murders their ancestors experienced for 27 centuries at the hands of Iran’s clerics, kings and other Muslim authorities. “I was very pleased with the turn-out of this event, it’s always great to see members of the community taking an interest in their history and origins,” said Tsadik. Young Iranian Jews in their teens and 20’s said the event was eye-opening because they were unfamiliar with the hardships their ancestors had face for hundreds of years in Iran. Haroonian said his group plans to organized additional similar Iranian Jewish historical lecture series in the coming months. The evening’s event was also sponsored by Nessah’s Young Professional group and the L.A.-based 30 Years After organization.

My podcast last year regarding Nezter’s passing can be found here

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February 13, 2009 | 1:00 pm

Sam Nazarian seeking new SLS hotel in Tel Aviv

Posted by Karmel Melamed

Despite the downturn in the economy here in the U.S. and in Israel, successful Southern California Iranian Jewish entrepreneur Sam Nazarian has expressed interest in opening one of his popular high end SLS hotels in Tel Aviv during a recent interview with the Jerusalem Post newspaper in Israel. He told the Post; “I don’t see a project before 2011, but there could be a deal before. We are interested in an existing property or a joint venture. Traveling to Israel, people are often disappointed with the service. The composition of our brand is similar to the Hilton Hotel chain, adding European hospitality and high-end level of service and design.”

Nazarian who is 33, is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of SBE a company that owns and operates a number of popular high end hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, and other real estate ventures. I am not at all surprised that he has expressed a desire to invest in Israel because during his last interview with our blog’s podcast he stated his strong support for Israel. Over the past several years he has also opened his nightclubs here in L.A. for fundraisers on behalf of the “Friends of the I.D.F.” and to benefit Israeli victims of terror during the 2006 Hezbollah war. Likewise Nazarian comes from a Zionist Iranian Jewish family that has been well known for being very philanthropic to Israel related causes and universities in Israel for many years. On an interesting side note, his uncle Parviz Nazarian has been quite active in recent years in promoting his CECI organization which is based in Israel and was established five years ago with the objective of promoting more stable and effective governments in Israel through education as well as advocacy of the Israeli public.

Nevertheless, I applaud Sam Nazarian’s desire to invest in Israel because that country needs new capital and he sets a great example for others like himself to support Israel when it comes to business investments. It’s no secret that many real estate developers as well as other successful Iranian Jews often follow Nazarian’s lead when it comes to their business ventures. No doubt, Iranian American Jews have achieved tremendous success here in the U.S. and now it’s time for them to give back—both to Israel and America, which are new homes to the community. Kudos to Sam for being among the first in his generation of Iranian American Jews in aiding Israel through business and through philanthropy!

Read more about Sam Nazarian’s background and rise to success in our previous blog posting here.

You can listen to our November 2008 podcast program’s exclusive interview with Sam Nazarian here.

Sam Nazarian speaking at Hebrew Union symposium on Iranian American Jews at Sinai Temple on Nov. 17th, photo by Jon Vidar