Iran's Jews reject cash offer to move to Israel
The cash incentives - ranging from £5,000 a person to £30,000 for families - were offered from a special fund established by wealthy expatriate Jews in an effort to prompt migration to Israel. The offers were made with Israel's official blessing and were additional to the usual state packages it provides to Jews emigrating from the diaspora.
However, the Society of Iranian Jews dismissed them as "immature political enticements" and said their national identity was not for sale. "The identity of Iranian Jews is not tradeable for any amount of money," the society said in a statement. "Iranian Jews are among the most ancient Iranians. Iran's Jews love their Iranian identity and their culture, so threats and this immature political enticement will not achieve their aim of wiping out the identity of Iranian Jews."
The Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv reported that the incentives had been doubled after earlier offers of £2,500 a head failed to attract any Iranian Jews to leave for Israel.
Despite the absence of diplomatic ties with Israel Iranian Jews frequently go to Israel to visit relatives.
Iran's sole Jewish Member of Parliament , Morris Motamed, said the offers were insulting and put the country's Jews under pressure to prove their loyalty.
"It suggests the Iranian Jew can be encouraged to emigrate by money," he said. "Iran's Jews have always been free to emigrate and three-quarters of them did so after the revolution but 70% of those went to America, not Israel."
Iran's Jewish population has dwindled from around 80,000 at the time of the 1979 Islamic revolution to about 25,000 but remains the largest of any country in the Middle East apart from Israel. Jews have lived in Iran since at least 700BC.
Jews are free to practise their religion and have their own schools, although they are forced to open on Saturdays, the Jewish sabbath.
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Comments: 13
Personally I believe Bush has fallen prey to "The curse of the Peter Principle" He continues to rise to a higher level of incompetence - and no one is calling him on it...
A notable example of this were the (once upon a time) jews in pakistan. They became so few & the with their decline meant that the populations were isolated from any associations with jews or jewih cultures, not to mention tensions within the middle east added to threats tothe community wisely going under ground & most of them migrating to israel. The parsi community out there too now live in small numbers and i believe when numbers grow to small, its time to leave or else intergrating within larger mainstream populations becomes terribly difficult.
I think these jews should take this offer
What do the wealthy expatriate pro-Israel Jews know about US Corporatocracy/Pentagon plans to attack Iran? The date must be nearing - all that's required is some trumped-up incident to fool the American people into OK-ing another invasion.
But wait! Wait! On July 17 there is a global meditation, "FIRE THE GRID" http://www.firethegrid.com/eng/plan.htm
which could greatly assist us all in ridding ourselves of the corp/pent mental illness, and similar mental imbalance in governments all over the planet - and a way could open for all soldiers everywhere to come home and be healed.
They will even war with others over 'places' such as Jerusalem that 'represent' a deeper spiritual essence of historic 'value' (relative).
But such dealings are truly shallow when compared to the esoteric spiritual which is the REAL connection to God and each other ... when oh when will they ever come to realize this deeper essential transcendent truth ? It is only via that recognition, will the conflicts ever end ... their 'religion' is really counterproductive, worse than worthless as compared to the spiritual potentials of love that God has always offered them ... if and when they can come to see the REAL light.
Yup. All throughout the Internet there are hundreds of planted stories about Iran's supposed involvement in fomenting terrorism in Iraq. I have repeatedly demanded proof of this claim but my calls for it have been repeatedly ignored.
The criminal and treasonous Bush regime continues to plant stories and people stupidly believe that garbage but don't have enough sense to demand proof. We will continue to have more wars until people decide to wake up. It's all a matter of choice.
The sooner, the better!