How Iranian Jews failed to placate the Ayatollahs
With the war raging between Iran and Israel, fears grow for the safety of the Jewish community in Iran, which numbers between 5 – 8,000. At the time of the Iranian revolution there were 100,000 Jews thriving under the rule of the Shah.
After 1979, as the Ayatollahs began persecuting, jailing and executing their non-Muslim minorities, the community fled in large numbers for Israel and the US.
Did the community anticipate the Islamic revolution? It sees that the Iranian Jews did try to make overtures to the new order. Hamid Sabi, a human rights lawyer and former head of the Iranian-Jewish community in the UK, has given us rare testimony (see 11 minutes into the video) of what steps the Jews of Iran attempted to take to placate the new regime.
Hamid Sabi remembers the ‘good old days’ when Israel and Iran had excellent relations, and there were regular flights between the two countries. He was a young lawyer who married an Israeli in 1977 and returned with her to Iran. But in 1978, the rumblings of the anti-Shah revolution began, with street demonstrations and ever increasing violence, culminating in a massacre of thousands in September 1978.
Dr Beroukhim, director of the Jewish hospital in Tehran, opened its doors to allow the wounded to be treated. He kept in close touch with the revolutionaries.
That summer the Jewish community was alarmed enough at the deteriorating situation to set up an Emergency Committee, headed by the wealthy businessman Habib Elghanian. It was suggested that a youth organization promoting human rights should be created to represent Jewish intellectuals, independent of the pro-Shah main committee.
The idea was mooted of a march supporting human rights by Iranian Jews, with support from Chief Rabbi Shofet. ‘Over my dead body!’ cried the rabbi, whose loyalty to the Shah’s regime was unshakeable. His son convinced him to lend his support. Between 2 – 3,000 Jews took part in the march.
When Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile in Paris, a delegation of 10 Jews went to greet him at the airport, including a reluctant Chief Rabbi.
Within a week, a new government had been formed. Relations with Israel were at first not affected, but the regime soon decided to pursue an antisemitic and anti-Zonist policy. Israel did not predict that its 100 nationals, including its ambassador, would end up being stranded.
They were airlifted out, Sabi’s wife among them.
Habib Elghanian, whom Sabi describes as one of the most benevolent of men, was arrested. Dr Beroukhim pleaded for his life. But in May 1979, Elghanian was executed.
This terrible event was a watershed moment. It broke the back of the community and precipitated a mass exodus.
Hamid Sabi himself was arrested, but released. He fled Iran. “It cost me an apartment but I am still here and alive, for which I am very grateful,” he says.
