Iranian Jews say republic safe for them

I've covered the lies being perpetuated by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews - concerning the supposed rescue missions they are carrying out for Iranian Jews - before, but a top Jewish community leader in Iran has felt the need to step forward and call their latest stories about the immigration of forty Iranian Jews to Israel as a "misinformation campaign".

Forty Iranians touched down in Israel on Tuesday after a secret journey which the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews have been keen to portray as people fleeing persecution in Iran.

Ciamak Morsathegh, who heads the Tehran Jewish Committee, claimed Wednesday that the immigrants were not Iranian because pictures broadcast on television in Israel on Tuesday did not show their faces. In Israel, the broadcasters did not show their faces because there was concern that publicity could lead to retaliation against their Jewish relatives or friends still in Iran.

"This is a misinformation campaign, a campaign of lies against Iran and its Jewish community. We can't confirm that 40 Iranian Jews landed in Israel," Morsathegh told The Associated Press.

A joint statement signed by Morsathegh and Morris Motamed, the only Jewish lawmaker in the Iranian parliament, also said the Iranian Jews have never been part of any "organized immigration" to Israel.

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews offers $10,000 to any Jewish Iranian who will immigrate to Israel, although so far there have been very few takers with the vast majority of Iranian Jews insisting that they are in no danger at all in Iran.

Iran's Jewish community of about 25,000 people is protected by the country's constitution and remains the largest in the Muslim Middle East. Synagogues, Jewish schools and stores operate openly.

"We are one of the oldest communities in Iran. We are free to practice our religion. Anti-Semitism is a Western phenomenon but Jews have never been in danger in Iran," said Morsathegh, who spoke in his office in the Sapir Charity Hospital, which is run by Iranian Jews.

Morsathegh said Iran's Jewish community disagreed with Ahmadinejad when he called the Holocaust a "myth" but insisted his policies do not endanger Iran's Jewish minority.

While some of the Iranian Jewish immigrants in Israel were quoted as saying that they were scared to wear a skullcap in the streets in Iran, Morsathegh said it was "sheer lies."

"We are Iranian Jews and are proud of our nationality. No amount of money can encourage us to give up Iran. Our nationality is not up for sale," Morsathegh said.

Of course, this attempt to demonise Iran is simply part of a larger plan to encourage the public to see Iran as an unstable regime. The National Council of Resistance of Iran is a group who, in cooperation with leading neo-con figures, has for over a decade spared no effort to destroy any chance of a U.S.-Iranian détente.

Their latest attack is on the NIE summary which stated that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons.

Eight days after the NIE summary assured the world that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons at this time international media reported that NCRI dismissed the report's findings. No other Iranian opposition group has actively challenged the new NIE's credibility.

Going even farther, NCRI's Washington spokesman, Alireza Jafarzadeh, claimed that Iran's nuclear program is managed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp's (IRGC) scientists during a Fox News interview. As the most trusted branch of Iran's armed forces, the IRGC was late this year designated by the White House as a sponsor of international terrorism. The exile group has also echoed the Washington war party's claims that Iran is arming Iraqi resistance groups with advanced weapons resulting in U.S. casualties.

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and the National Council of Resistance of Iran have one thing in common; it is in both of their interests for the US to attack Iran.

We heard false claims and lies prior to the Iraq war. Here we go again...

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Tags: Iran, International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, The National Council of Resistance of Iran, neo-cons