March 4, 2008 | 11:35 pm

Jewish member of Iranian parliament “condemns” Israel

Posted by Karmel Melamed

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Recently a non-Iranian Jewish reader of this blog e-mailed me regarding this story put out by the Iranian state-run news agency about Maurice Motamed, the Jewish member of the Iranian Parliament along with Iran’s Jewish leadership condemning Israel for it’s Gaza operations against Hamas. In his email he asked me; “what the hell is going on with these Jews of Iran that are so anti-Israel?”. Here’s a particularly nasty portion of the brief story coming from Iran:

The Iran Jewish Committee’s statement said that the “latest crimes committed by Israel against the defenseless citizens of Gaza have distressed the faithful and godly people’s sentiments.”

My response to the reader of this blog regarding this story was simple…don’t always believe what you read that’s coming from the Iranian government! When you look at the history of Jews in Iran dating back to even biblical times during the Babylonian exile, they have always yearned for Zion. For the most part Iranian Jews in general worldwide have had a special love for the land of Israel and maintained a proud but often quiet sense of Zionism because of having endured centuries of pogroms, murders, rapes, and mass conversions from Iran’s Shiite Islamic rulers. So to think that Iran’s Jews would overnight or during the last 29 years suddenly condemn Israel is utterly absurd. I know I may sound like a broken record but this news release put out by the Iranian government run news outlet is pure propaganda the regime is putting out to attack Israel by using their Jewish population. So why have the leaders of the Jewish community in Iran made such a condemnation of Israel aside from the propaganda? PURE AND SIMPLE DURESS! Clearly if they don’t fall into line and say what the regime wants them to say, heads will roll and there will be “negative consequences” for the Jews of Iran. So again don’t believe the lies you read when it comes from the Iranian government… especially when the stories concern Jews or Israel.

Frankly the story also reeks of propaganda due to the fact that it lacks any solid attributable quote from an Iranian Jewish leader. To the contrary, this crazy story generally refers to the “The Iran Jewish Committee” giving a joint statement. To think that Iran’s Jews would have more sympathy for the supposed “suffering” of Palestinians rather than their own Jewish brethren in Sderot who were the first victims of rocket attacks from Hamas in Gaza, is ridiculous and completely illogical. It is simply shameful how the Iranian government is exploiting their Jewish population for this type of B.S. media attacks against Israel.

Likewise what’s even more saddening is the fact that the Iranian government is more focused on the supposed Palestinian suffering, but has turned a blind eye to the pains of its own 70 million population that is suffering from food shortages, high inflation and high unemployment. Instead the regime’s mullahs can always turn to their trusted scapegoat and perfect “whipping boy” Israel to divert the attention of the Iranian masses. The Iranian government can also furnish Hamas with the rocket technology and arms smuggled through Egypt to Gaza…what a great way for the regime to spend that oil money! Forget about the millions of hungry Iranians, the regime’s clerics want to strengthen terrorism in Gaza. After all the leaders of Iran’s government claim to be benevolent, peace-loving, and godly people…YEAH RIGHT!

(Maurice Motamed, the Jewish member of the Iranian Parliament during a 2006 visit to the Iranian American Jewish Federation synagogue in West Hollywood, photo by Karmel Melamed)