Jewish World Review May 8, 2000 / 3 Iyar, 5760
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
ALL YOU HAD TO DO was look at Hamid
Tefileen's terrified face to see that his
"confession" was less than voluntary, his
"guilt" more than questionable.
Tefileen is one of 13 Iranian Jews being tried
behind closed doors for treason charges most foreign
observers in Tehran dismiss as trumped up. Nonetheless, the other
day, officials in the Iranian city of Shiraz paraded Tefileen before
government TV cameras (without his lawyer present).
"I am charged with being a spy for Israel," announced the
31-year-old, a salesman in his father's shoe store. "I admit to that
charge."
In fact, while Iran's ayatollahs claim Tefileen and the others were
trained by the Mossad, Israel's intelligence corps, "to get
information from Muslims," the only crime the Shiraz 13 may be
guilty of is some innocent but clandestine contact with relatives
living in the Jewish state.
To put it plainly, this is a show trial being put on by Iran's
archconservatives to undermine the recent electoral advances of
the country's reformists under President Mohammad Khatami.
And what better scapegoats than a few local Jews?
The Persian Jewish community goes back thousands of years
remember the story of Queen Esther? Seeing the writing on the
wall, many Iranian Jews left in the years before or since the Islamic
revolution of 1979. The 30,000 who remain are citizens of a
country where hatred of Israel is so much a national dogma that
Jews are sometimes restricted in teaching their children the sacred
Hebrew language.
Of course, it's not much fun either to be an Iranian Christian, a
member of the Baha'i faith or even a Muslim who doesn't adhere
to the strictures of the ayatollahs and their flunkies. Which brings
me to my main point: No matter what the wishful thinkers in
Washington tell us, there's not a lot that has fundamentally changed
in Iran.
Yes, the followers of Iran's reformist president won strong
positions during recent parliamentary elections. But the Seekers of
Change have little real power. It is the extremist camp led by
the likes of Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and
former President Hashemi Rafsanjani that actually determines
policies and controls crucial areas of government.
The Iranian court system and the state broadcasting authority, for
example, are parts of the ultraconservative bailiwick. And there's
been no visible lessening of Iranian support for global terrorism.
What's more, the mullahs have questioned the election results and
delayed the next round of voting. They've also had 16 newspapers
closed and journalists arrested including the president's brother,
Reza Khatami. There are also dangerous warnings from Iran's
extremist Revolutionary Guards; reformists, one radical right-wing
group announced, will soon have to "begin writing their wills."
Historically, response to anti-Semitism is a litmus test of justice.
The trial of the Iranian Jews is important not only because 13
apparently innocent lives are at stake, but because hope for Iran's
future is at stake. Let everyone in the world demand real justice.
And let the mullahs be warned that they're playing with
By Richard Z. Chesnoff
JWR contributor and veteran journalist
Richard Z. Chesnoff is a senior correspondent at US News
And World Report and a columnist at the NY Daily News. His latest book is Pack of Thieves: How Hitler & Europe
Plundered the Jews and Committed the Greatest Theft in History.
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