About 1000 Iranian Jews are waiting at Teheran Airport to be flown to Israel, according to Jews who arrived here on an El Al flight from the Iranian capital last night. They include several families who have indicated a desire to settle in Israel, the arrivals said. One of them, Yehuda Mordechai, urged Israel to “send out as many planes as you can, five or six a day, to Teheran to bring the many Jews who are now willing to come to Israel.
The new exodus was apparently spurred by the return to Iran of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic leader who ended his 15 – year exile and returned to Teheran today. But even though the situation in Iran remains turbulent and the future of the Jewish community there is uncertain, many Iranian Jews who came to Israel in recent weeks are now returning.
The El Al plane that brought in refugees last night had flown to Teheran yesterday with 132 passengers, children among them, al most all of them Iranian Jews who had decided to return. There was no El Al flight to Teheran today.
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