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If Israel keeps Jews safe, why did it bomb a synagogue? 

I had the privilege of visiting the beautiful  Rafi-Nia synagogue in Tehran as a government Minister in 2005. The Iranian government had placed it on my programme and I gladly accepted the opportunity.I was escorted around and shown the ancient scrolls by the Chairman of the Board. who was also an MP, representing the 20,000 Jews of Iran. He was a very urbane middle aged man, who was also chairman of the Iran-Australia Friendship Association, and frequently travelled to Australia. I was invited to an upcoming sabbath event but unfortunately my flight home had been arranged before that possibility.

I was shocked and angered when news of its destruction occurred. As I recall it was in a residential neighbourhood, nowhere near any Government building, military or otherwise.  No question of error. Unmistakably a target of the IDF. That it was such a willful act came as no surprise.  As your statement declares: A state which bombs Jewish holy sites cannot claim to speak for Jews.  Since when have Zionists, or Zionist Israel, showed any concern for deaths of anti-Zionist Jews or any manner of Jews, military or civilain, getting in the way of its agenda. Ask those slaughtered by the IDF in pursuit of the ” Hannibal Directive” on October 7th 2023.

Such expendible deaths are in keeping with Zionist atrocities on anti-Zionist Jews from the early days, of Jewish teachers  murdered for advocating equality with Palestinians; agents of Mossad bombing synagogues and Jewish centres in Baghdad to induce Jews to migrate to Israel. Support for the Argentinian dictatorship throughout the darkest days of repression (1976-1983), when three thousand left wing Jews were among the “disappeared” victims, saw not a hint of disapproval from Israel, a close ally of the fascist regime.

I commend your statement and join you in calling on Jewish communities worldwide to break their silence. Join humanity , speak out and act against all the genocidal operations and ethnic cleansing by the Apartheid State of Israel, its meticulous bombing and demolition of civilian centres, slaughter of women, children and the elderly in the thousands, from Iran to Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, among its grotesque crimes.

 

Ronnie Kasrils

 

If Israel keeps Jews safe, why did it bomb a synagogue? 

The recent US-Israeli bombing that completely destroyed the Rafi-Nia Synagogue in Tehran, scattering Torah scrolls under the rubble, reveals a profound and ugly truth: the state of Israel does not truly care about Jewish safety, Jewish holy sites, or Jewish life. If it did, it would not have destroyed one of the few remaining gathering places for the ancient Jewish community of Iran, during the Passover holidays. This act, which a Jewish representative in Iran’s parliament rightly condemned as showing “no mercy to this community,” exposes the cynical weaponisation of Jewish identity by a state willing to destroy Jewish heritage to advance its military agenda.

We also note the glaring double standard of Western media and political leaders. Had a synagogue been bombed in the United States, Europe, or in Israel itself, it would dominate global headlines for weeks, trigger condemnations from every Western capital, and be rightly condemned as an antisemitic atrocity. Quite likely, it would also be weaponised as a justification for continued US/Israeli aggression in the Middle East.

When a synagogue in Tehran is destroyed by US-Israeli bombs, however, with Jewish holy books buried under rubble, the event barely makes the news at all. This silence sends a chilling message: That the lives of Arabic Jews do not matter unless they are living in Israel and serving in its military, and that Jewish safety is only newsworthy when it can be used to justify more violence and fearmongering.

As Jews, we mourn the destruction of any synagogue, anywhere. We weep for the scattering of Torah scrolls. But we refuse to let our tradition be turned into a propaganda tool for the very state that commits such acts. Israel’s actions demonstrate that it will sacrifice Jewish communities, Jewish heritage, and Jewish lives whenever they stand in the way of its military objectives. That is not protection. That is predation.

We call on Jewish communities worldwide to break their silence. Condemn the bombing of the Rafi-Nia Synagogue as you would condemn the bombing of any synagogue, and recognise that a state which bombs Jewish holy sites cannot claim to speak for Jews.

Not in our name. Never again for anyone. Free Palestine!

https://sajfp.org.za/if-israel-keeps-jews-safe-why-did-it-bomb-a-synagogue/

 

Media contact: info@sajfp.org.za

 

 

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