Iran accuses its Jewish community of spying for Israel whenever it feels like threatening its remaining few thousand Jews. Apparently, Iran actually is recruiting Iranian Jews who emigrated to Israel but who return to visit relatives. And by “recruiting” I mean “blackmailing them into spying for Iran.”
Over the past two years the Iran’s security servicies have made at least 10 attempts to recruit Israeli citizens of Persian descent visiting their relatives in Iran, Shin Bet sources said. By law, Iran is not defined an enemy state and Israeli citizens are permitted to travel there.
According to Shin Bet, Iranian intelligence officers try to recruit Israelis seeking entry permits to Iran at their Istanbul consulate. Permit applicants undergo extensive questioning in which Iranian officials test their political stance and other criteria.
Israelis deemed suitable for recruitment are then arrested by Iranian police when they arrive in Tehran and held for questioning. In some cases, Iranian authorities hold them for a number of months and threaten to hold them indefinitely unless they cooperate with Iranian intelligence services.
In the Reuters news report about this, they felt it necessary to add these words:
Iran is home to 25,000 Jews, who while subject to state scrutiny, seldom complain of serious persecution.
Iran arrested 13 Jewish citizens in 1999 and tried them for espionage in a case that drew international condemnation. Israel denied any links to the alleged cell, all of whose members were eventually released from prison.
Avi Yigay, an Israeli of Iranian descent who visited Iran last year, told Israel’s Army Radio that he had not experienced any pressure from the authorities in Tehran to switch sides.
“They received me very nicely. I wasn’t afraid,” Yigay said. “My passport has a five-year visa, so I can go back there without contacting anyone. I have family there. I may go back.”
In the first two paragraphs, Reuters manages to insist that even though Iranian Jews are being arrested for spying for Israel on false charges (they were all ultimately released), they don’t say they’re being persecuted. In the last two paragraphs, Reuters found an Iranian expat who was not recruited by the Iranians. There, you see? It’s all fiction, all overblown by the Israelis. And Reuters has the proof.
I just love how they will take the words of a captive population as proof they’re not being persecuted. Iranian Jews cannot emigrate. They are prisoners in Iran. But then, the news services are becoming very fond of uncritically reporting captives’ words. Look what they did regarding the British sailors’ propaganda videos and letters.
Darn it, Meryl, once again you’re jumping to conclusions and not being fair to Reuters. You’re criticizing them for something they didn’t write.
They clearly said that Iranian Jews seldom complain of persecution and that happens to be right; they seldom complain.
That may because they’re afraid to do so but Reuters didn’t talk about that.