"A top Iranian Jewish community leader on Wednesday described the recent immigration of 40 Iranian Jews to Israel as a misinformation campaign and insisted that Jews living in the Islamic Republic were not in danger under hard-line policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
A group of 40 Iranian Jews landed in Israel on Tuesday, the largest since the fall of the Shah and Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979.
The immigrants, from Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan, each received a $10,000 grant from international Jewish organizations. No details about their route of exit from Iran were given, but it was assumed they came through a third country......
Ciamak Morsathegh, who heads the Tehran Jewish Committee, claimed Wednesday that the immigrants were not Iranian because pictures broadcast on television in Israel on Tuesday did not show their faces. In Israel, the broadcasters did not show their faces because there was concern that publicity could lead to harm of Jews still in Iran.
"This is a misinformation campaign, a campaign of lies against Iran and its Jewish community. We can't confirm that 40 Iranian Jews landed in Israel," Morsathegh told The Associated Press.
A joint statement signed by Morsathegh and Morris Motamed, the only Jewish lawmaker in the Iranian parliament, also said the Iranian Jews have never been part of any organized immigration to Israel.....
Iran's Jewish community of about 25,000 people is protected by the country's constitution and remains the largest in the Muslim Middle East. Synagogues, Jewish schools and stores operate openly. Morsathegh said in Tehran there are 20 synagogues, eight butchers, five schools, four youth organizations and two restaurants......
"We are one of the oldest communities in Iran. We are free to practice our religion. Anti-Semitism is a Western phenomenon but Jews have never been in danger in Iran," said Morsathegh, who spoke in his office in the Sapir Charity Hospital, which is run by Iranian Jews......
"We are Iranian Jews and are proud of our nationality. No amount of money can encourage us to give up Iran. Our nationality is not up for sale," Morsathegh said."
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