Expert weighs in on Iranian Jews’ stance in Middle East conflict

MINSK, 5 May (BelTA) - Russian political scientist and orientalist Karine Gevorgyan discussed the position of Iranian Jews in the conflict with Iran in the latest episode of BelTA’s V Teme [On Point] project.

Reflecting on the conflict in Iran, Karine Gevorgyan noted: “Iranian Jews, of whom there were significantly more during the time of the Shah, largely left Iran due to the brutal war with Iraq. For economic reasons, not ideological ones. The attitude toward the Jewish community in Iran has always been very good. There has never been Judeophobia or anti-Semitism there. And Iranian Jews have always been very loyal to Iranian civilization. So for the most part, they are not a fifth column in the country.”

“It was Iranian Jews, who hold an honorary permanent seat in the Iranian parliament, there are about 15,000 of them, maybe even more, who initiated, especially the first time, the burning of an effigy of Baal," the orientalist said, adding that during the protests, the effigies were accompanied by portraits of American financier Jeffrey Epstein. “My friend Nikolai Goncharov and I wrote an article, Sparks of Darkness, which describes why Iranian Jews support the government and why they have now pledged allegiance to Mojtaba Khamenei. This is not some kind of game. And after the burning of the Baal effigy, the Great Synagogue of Tehran was struck. It was reduced to dust along with its medical center.”

Karine Gevorgyan noted that Iran has more than 50 active synagogues, all of which are maintained by the state. “Separate schools and medical centers directly adjacent to the synagogue are also supported by the Iranian state. Likewise, Jews who emigrated from Iran continued to receive dividends from their enterprises until the harshest sanctions put an end to that. So even Iranian Jews, or Jews in emigration, are not at all a group that supports this aggressive and inappropriate attitude toward the Islamic Republic,” she said.

“The notion of some kind of consolidated, malicious Jewish factor is so mistaken. They are just trying to fool us with this topic. We see real anti-Semitism in the West. Attacks on synagogues have begun, and the Iranians immediately expressed protest and condemned the matter,” the orientalist said.

“Iran will not carry out terrorist attacks. They have stated this. CNN has been working there this whole time, they allowed them in. They have brilliantly disseminated information on the resources and websites of their embassies in various countries. Interestingly, Western embassies not only did not recall their ambassadors, for example, the British ambassador and the entire mission and their families continued to live in Tehran, Spain returned its ambassador. And Iranian embassies around the world are working, and they have never engaged in terrorism. Because that is always a double-edged sword. They have stated this,” Karine Gevorgyan noted. “Secondly, they have stated: we have a good attitude toward the wonderful American people, so there will be no strikes on peaceful Americans from our side. But their hacker group, Handala, has issued a rather formidable warning, saying ‘you won’t get off lightly’. This means they have already demonstrated that they have the capability to penetrate strategically important dual-use facilities inside the United States itself. That is what they are talking about.”