Islamic regime arrests Iranian Jews for alleged cooperation with Israel

The Iranian regime has ordered the arrest of local Jews including rabbis and community leaders for alleged cooperation with Israel. Iranian activists living abroad, revealed that Iranian security has focused its efforts on detaining Iranian Jews in the capital Tehran and the city of Shiraz. Naz, an Iranian activist based in the U.S., warned in a post on Instagram that Iranian security forces entered local Jewish homes and took Jews to an undisclosed location.

The anti-Jewish Iranian policy follows Israel’s recent Operation Rising Lion military offensive, which severely degraded much of Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities. In a specific case, Iranian security officials reportedly confiscated computers and phones belonging to one detained Jewish family. While the female family members were eventually released, the men are reportedly still detained. 

Dr. Tamar Eilam Gindin, an Iran expert at Israel's Haifa University, assessed that the Iranian regime uses Iranian Jews as hostages in its propaganda. 

"Jews in Iran are sort of hostages held for propaganda purposes. The alleged fair treatment of Jews, the fact that they are represented by a lawmaker in parliament and are free to work in any profession, is so that the Iranians can claim that they are not antisemitic, only anti-Zionist,” Gindin explained. 

The Iranian ayatollah regime officially denies that it is anti-Semitic. Yet, the ayatollahs openly call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state, deny the Holocaust and embrace classic anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. 

The Jewish community in Iran predates Islam and is one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world.

Prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the Iranian Jewish community was thriving and numbered at its peak some 100,000 people. However, the majority of the Iranian Jews fled the country and most settled in Israel and in the United States, especially across California and particularly in Los Angeles. Some 9,000 Jews are believed to still reside in Iran under the Islamic ayatollah regime. The majority of the remaining Iranian Jews live in the capital Tehran and smaller Jewish communities also exist in Isfahan, Shiraz and Kirmaşan.

Jewish community leaders in Iran have for years condemned Israel in public due to fears of anti-Jewish repercussions from Iranian authorities. 

Dr. Homayoun Sameh, the official Jewish representative in the Iranian parliament, recently condemned Israel and claimed that local Jews are “grateful” for the ayatollah regime. Sameh specifically urged Iran to respond to the “Zionist aggression.” He recently warned local Jews against holding any celebratory events such as weddings, bar mitzvahs and family gatherings amid the Israeli strikes on Iran’s military and nuclear facilities. 

"I strongly advise you to take this final warning very seriously,” Sameh warned. 

David Nissan, an Iran expert and former Israeli intelligence officer recently explained the complex reality that Jews in Iran face today.

“Jews in Iran face increased suspicion, yet they remain deeply proud of their heritage,” Nissan said.

Zahava, an Iranian Jew living in the Israeli city Haifa, said her childhood friend revealed that Iranian authorities had detained local Jews who face accusations of collaboration with the Jewish state. 

“In Persian, she wrote that the police had taken the cantors and rabbis in for questioning. They were suspected of collaborating with Israel. To this day, we don’t know if they’ve been released,” she said.

"The Jews are staying inside, too afraid to go out for fear it could cost them their lives,” Zahava continued. “We’re careful not to reach out, to avoid giving the regime any excuse to harm them."