Iranian Jewish MP denounces Israel at annual Al Quds march

The Jewish community in Iran is under pressure to show their anti-Israel credentials.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The legislator who represents Iran’s Jewish community in parliament denounced Israel forcefully on Iranian media during the annual Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day march in Tehran, Israel National News reported Sunday.

The mass demonstration is “very important,” said Dr. Homayoun Sameih, “not only for Iranians, but also for all nations that want the end of oppression in the world.”

The Jewish MP castigated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he accused of “establish[ing] a dictatorship.” Referring to the mass anti-government demonstrations in Israel over the issue of judicial reform, he then added that “This dictatorship and the internal differences have caused instability within this regime and will bring the victory of the Palestinian people closer.”

“All the residents of Iran, as well as all the freedom-seeking people in the world, should encourage the oppressed people of Palestine by participating in the Al-Quds Day march,” said Sameih, who is a pharmacist by trade.

In the run-up to the day-long Israel hate-fest, i24 News reported that the miniscule community of 9,000 Jews was formally encouraged early last week by its leaders to attend the march.

“According to our Holy Bible, every Jew must stand against the oppression of human beings,” the message sent out on Telegram read. “That is why, as Quds Day approaches, the Jewish community in Iran will participate in protests against the Zionist regime. Iranian Jewry has nothing to do with Zionists. We are with Iranians and Muslims.”

As a group that is constantly monitored by the regime and afraid of adverse consequences, many Iranian Jews do appear at Al-Quds Day events. Without going into their hidden motivations, Sameih emphasized this fact to the media, saying, “Every year, Iran’s Jewish community participate in the Al-Quds march in various cities in our country,” declaring his own “disgust with the Zionist regime.”

Iranian media reported that “millions” participated in the annual march in over a thousand cities and villages throughout the country, under the slogan “Palestine is the axis of the unity of the Islamic world.” The demonstrators repeatedly shouted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America,” and displayed “their anger and hatred towards the Great Satan and the fake Zionist regime,” said one minister, “by burning the American flag and the [flag of the] Zionist regime.”

In keeping with the resolutions declaimed at the end of the day-long demonstration, the minister clearly stated that support for the Palestinian cause is equated with the destruction of Israel.

The streets of Tehran, he said, “are full of men and women who have come together to defend the cause of Palestine and emphasize the complete removal of the Zionist regime from the world map.”

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