US Agency: Iran’s Regime ‘Propagates and Tolerates Antisemitism’
BERLIN – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on Tuesday published its 2020 report on states who persecute religious minorities. The Islamic Republic of Iran’s antisemitic targeting its tiny Jewish population, Israel, Christians and Jews in the Diaspora, was cited in the report.
“Iranian officials and clerics regularly call for the elimination of the State of Israel, and members of the Jewish community have been targeted on the basis of real or perceived ties to Israel,” the report stated, adding that “In December 2018, a group of Evangelical Christians were also arrested and charged with promoting ‘Zionist Christianity.”’
According to the seven-page section on the Islamic Republic, “In October 2018, Ali Reza Soltan-Shahi, an Iranian government official from the Office of the Iranian Presidency, organized an antisemitic conference in Tehran that accused Jews of manipulating the global economy and exploiting the Holocaust. Jews in Iran do not hold senior government or military positions and many are believed to be under government surveillance.”
The report said that between 15,000 and 20,000 Jews live in Iran and the capital city Tehran hosts 13 synagogues. The USCIRF report noted that “Although government-driven antisemitic sentiment in 2018 was not as pronounced as in previous years, the government continued to propagate and tolerate antisemitism. “
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