BANGKOK, Thailand -- Iran's foreign minister says the newly elected
government does not deny the Holocaust, is not anti-Semitic and
tweeted Rosh Hashanah greetings to all Jews, but is still against
political Zionism.
"We were never against Jews. We oppose Zionists who are a small
group," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the semi-official
Tasnim news agency in September, according to Tehran Times.
"We do not allow the Zionists to represent Iran as an anti-Semitic
country in their propaganda so they can cover up their crimes against
Palestinian and Lebanese people," Zarif said.
Zarif is a U.S.-educated former ambassador to the United Nations and
posted on his Twitter account "Happy Rosh Hashanah" on Sept. 5 to
welcome the Jewish New Year.
Twitter link
Christine Pelosi -- daughter of U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy
Pelosi -- responded to Zarif on her Twitter by writing, "Thanks. The
New Year would be even sweeter if you would end Iran's Holocaust
denial, sir."
Twitter link
"Iran never denied it," Zarif replied on his Twitter feed to
Christine, who is a San Francisco, California-based author, attorney
and political activist.
"The man who was perceived to be denying it is now gone. Happy New
Year," the foreign minister wrote, referring to the Islamic Republic
of Iran's former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who lost power on Aug.
2 after an election.
Twitter link
Iran is home to about 25,000 Jews who reside mostly in Tehran and form
the Middle East's biggest Jewish population outside Israel, but many
other Iranian Jews emigrated during the past 30 years because society
became increasingly Islamic.
Jews and Zoroastrians each enjoy one reserved seat in the majlis, the
country's parliament, thanks to a constitutional revolution in 1907.
Christians have three reserved seats based on their larger population.
After Hassan Rouhani became Iran's president in August, he wrote on
his purported English-language Twitter site: "As the sun is about to
set here in Tehran I wish all Jews, especially Iranian Jews, a blessed
Rosh Hashanah."
https://twitter.com/HassanRouhani/status/375278962718412800
Rouhani's statement on Twitter is illlustrated with a photograph of an
Orthodox Jewish man praying.
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Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist from San Francisco,
California, reporting news from Asia since 1978, and recipient of
Columbia University's Foreign Correspondent's Award. He is a co-author
of three non-fiction books about Thailand, including "Hello My Big Big
Honey!" Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing
Interviews; 60 Stories of Royal Lineage; and Chronicle of Thailand:
Headline News Since 1946. Mr. Ehrlich also contributed to the final
chapter, Ceremonies and Regalia, in a new book titled King Bhumibol
Adulyadej, A Life's Work: Thailand's Monarchy in Perspective.
His websites are:
Asia Correspondent
Flickr
(Copyright 2013 Richard S Ehrlich)
