Vice President Mike Pence accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of anti-Semitism, prompting swift denials by Tehran, clarifying opposition to Israeli policies, not Jews. Iran denies any animus toward Jews, despite hosting a Holocaust deniers’ conference in Tehran Dec. 11, 2006 over the strong objections from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamadinejad antagonized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, gathering Holocaust deniers in Tehran for the purpose of provoking Israel. Only the year before, Ahamadinejad said he wanted to “wipe Israel off the map,” something Iran denies or says it’s been misinterpreted by the Western press. Calling Israeli a “killing machine against Palestinians,” Tehran continues the hateful rhetoric that left Iran reeling last week after Sunni terrorists killed 27 members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
U.S.-Iranian relations hit a new low when 72-year-old President Donald Trump cancelled former President Barack Obama’s July 15, 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPA] AKA “The Iranian Nuke Deal” May 8, 2018. Trump cancelled the deal because since collecting billions of dollars from the U.S., Iran embarked on aggressive military adventurism in the Mideast, including starting a proxy war in Yemen supporting Shiite Houthi rebels to fight Saudi Arabia. Trump wanted to re-impose sanctions in order to pressure Iran to stop its aggressive military activities, including funneling rockets to Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanaon. Trump complained that the Iranian Nuke Deal, which was supposed to contain Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities, was never verified, with Iran refusing to allow U.N. inspectors into its sensitive military installations.
Meeting in Poland for a security conference, Pence complained about Iran’s anti-Semitic activities, something prompting Tehran’s denials. Threatening to “wipe Israel off the map” and hosting a Holocaust deniers’ Conference, hardly shows sensitivity to Jews. It’s no accident that 80% of Iran’s historic Jewish community immigrated after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khamenei’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. While it’s true that Jews lived peacefully in Iran for centuries, it’s also true that the Islamic Revolution made life more difficult for everyone, including Jews. Once 85,000 strong, the Jewish community is now estimated at around 10,000 to 20,000. “Iran’s historic and cultural record of coexistence and respect for divine religions, particularly Judaism, is recorded in reliable historic documents of various nations,” said Iranian Foreign Minister spokesman Bahram Qasemi.
When Ahmadinejad declared Iran a nuclear state Feb. 11, 2010, Israel took it seriously. Netanyahu called Iran an “existential threat,” April 8. 2012, three years before Obama signed the Iranian Nuke Deal. With Ahmadinejad saying he wanted to “wipe Israel off the map” and Iran furiously enriching uranium, what was Netanyahu supposed to think about Iran’s nuke and ballistic missile programs? Visiting the Nazi death camp Auchwitiz in Poland, Pence said Iran had to stop its anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli talk. When Ahmadinejad boasted about his Holocaust Deniers’ Conference in 2006, Merkel said Germany knew the reality and took complete responsibility for the Holocaust. Ahmadinejad said Israel uses the Holocaust to justify occupying Muslim territory in the Holy Land. He urged Europe or the U.S. to relocate Israel to sovereign lands in Europe and America.
Calling Pence’s claims “laughable,” Iran’s 56-year-old U.S.-educated Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zairif told Germany’s Der Spiegel that “Iran has always support the Jews. We are just against Zionists. The Holocaust was a disaster.” Zarif didn’t speak up when Ahamadinejad threatened to “wipe Israel off the map,” hosting a Holocaust Deniers’ Conference in Tehran in 2006. Zarif doesn’t accept that in the Middle East you can’t separate Jews from Zionists. Many Persian Jews have families living in Israel. Iran knows that Palestinians are Sunni Muslims, the same groups that attacked an Iranian bus killing 27 elite Republican Guards last week. Iran backs Palestinians hoping to garner support from oil-rich Gulf States like Saudi Arabia, with whom they’re at war in Yemen. Under Mullah rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, showing support for Jews is strictly prohibited in Iran.
Instead of burning U.S. and Israeli flags, Iran would be far better off making peace with the U.S. and Israel. No one from the U.S. or Israel mass murders Iranian citizens like Sunni Wahhabi extremists from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. Iran doesn’t like it when U.S. leaders like Pence call them on the carpet for unacceptable behavior, like anti-Semitism. Visiting Auchwitz Pence knows first hand the horrors of the Holocaust, something Iran denies, despite open admissions by the German government. There’s nothing “laughable,” as Zarif says, about Iranian anti-Semitism. Iran’s Islamic Revolution was against Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Bahais—all religions except Islam. If Iran wants to join the international community, it needs to denounce not only anti-Semitism but its antagonism toward Israel—what it prefers to call Zionists.
