Conflicting reports are emerging from Iran on the position of the Jewish community in that country, now tom by internal strife. Maariv special correspondent Shmuel Segev reported from Teheran yesterday that Iranian Jews are convinced that their lives and property are not endangered in the growing uprising by Moslem religious elements and others against the Shah.
But Jews who arrived here yesterday after visiting relatives in Iran said anti-Semitic leaflets were being distributed and that Iranian Jews received anonymous letters warning them to get out of the country. The arrivals, who asked not to be identified, said Iranian Jews do not leave their quarters except to shop for essentials and in some places they are even afraid to go shopping.
According to Maariv, there are 80,000 Jews in Iran, most of them in Teheran where the Jewish community is well-to-do. The newspaper reported that Sheikh Ayatullah Shariyat Madari, the exiled leader of the Shi’i Moslem sect, told his followers to differentiate between the Iranian Jews who deserve the fullest protection of all Moslems and the Israelis who he described as enemies of God and Iran. Some Iranian Jews contended that that remark was made for internal consumption, Maariv reported.
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.
