The first group of 526 Persian Jews landed today in Haifa after three weeks of a long journey by buses, train and ship. The group, consisting mostly of young people and including about 100 children up to the age of three, reached Israel with almost no luggage.
They left the Jewish Agency refugee camp in Teheran into which they came from the interior of Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq. In order to reach Israel, they had to cross Turkey and proceed to the Turkish port of Alexandria where they were picked up by an Israeli ship.
The immigrants reported that more than one-half of the 70,000 Jews in Iran are willing to emigrate to Israel. They specially fear the results of the forthcoming elections which might bring extremist elements into power.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
