New US State Dept report blasts Iran’s Rouhani for antisemitism
NEW YORK – The US State Department on Wednesday criticized Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for stoking an anti-Jewish conspiracy theory that suggests Jews control the West.“In May, President Rouhani implied Jewish control over various Western interests, saying that speeches by foreign officials criticizing Iran were ‘written by Zionists word for word.’ Cartoons in state-run media outlets repeatedly depicted foreign officials as puppets of Jewish control,” the State Department wrote in its newly released report under the section titled “Antisemitism” covering Iran.The report said: “Members of the Iranian Jewish community are reportedly subject to government restrictions and discrimination. Government officials continued to question the history of the Holocaust, and antisemitism remained a pervasive problem.”Iran’s legal system recognizes Jews as a religious minority and allows for parliamentary representation. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the overwhelming majority of Iranian Jews fled the country due to repression. There were an estimated 80,000 Persian Jews who lived in Iran prior the revolution. There are now some 9,000 Jews in Iran, according to Tehran’s Jewish Committee.
Read More: Jerusalem Post