A new wave of persecution of Jews in Iranian Kurdistan which has left at least 12 dead and several thousand refugees in its wake was reported by teh Associated Press today from Toheran, capital of Iran.
(A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy here told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he was “completely uninformed” about an outbreak of Jewish persecution in Iranian Kurdistan.)
The dispatch said that 300 Jewish refugees arrived in Teheran yesterday after trudging 300 miles from their homes. A spokesman for this group said 12 Jews have been murdered and Jewish women have been assaulted by Moslem tribesmen egged on by local religious leaders. The spokesman said that the Iran Government was not at fault, and had ordered local Kurd authorities to protect the Jews.
The Associated Press dispatch also reported that some 2,000 Jewish refugees who arrived in the Teheran area in the last two months are encamped in a Jewish cemetery on the outskirts of the city. It reported that the Jews, who have been supported by donations from the 3,500 Jews living in the Iran capital, are nearly out of food. The 300 who arrived yesterday are being sheltered in a local synagogue.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
