History of the Jews in Iran

Persian Jews have lived in the territories of today's Iran for over 2,700 years, since the first Jewish diaspora when the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V conquered the (Northern) Kingdom of Israel (722 BCE) and took some of the Israelites into captivity at Khuzestan.

In c. 732 BCE, the Assyrian king, Tiglath-Pileser III sacked Damascus and Israel, annexing Aramea[9] and Transjordan territory of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh in Gilead including the desert outposts of Jetur, Naphish and Nodab.

[10] Lester Grabbe argues that the immigration would probably only have amounted to a trickle over decades, with the archaeological record showing no evidence of large scale increases in population at any time during the Persian period.

He also wrote that "appeals to Marduk in the cylinder and to Yahweh in the biblical decree demonstrate the Persian tendency to co-opt local religious and political traditions in the interest of imperial control.

When the allied armies defeated the Parthians (129 BCE) at the Great Zab (Lycus), the king ordered a ceasefire of two days on account of the Jewish Sabbath and Shavuot.

[19] A priestly Zoroastrian inscription from the time of King Bahram II (276–293 CE) contains a list of religions (including Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism etc.)

The most famous such convert was Rashid al-Din Hamadani, a physician, historian and statesman, who adopted Islam in order to advance his career at Öljeitü's court.

Examples of such professions included dyeing (which contained strong unpleasant odors), scavenger work, cleaning excrement pits, singers, musicians, dancers and so on.

[33] Under Nadir Shah, an ostensibly Sunni leader, Jews experienced a period of relative tolerance when they were allowed to settle in the Shi'ite holy city of Mashhad.

Stern who was a Jewish-Christian missionary wrote that all merchants in Vakil Bazaar are ethnic Jews who, in order to save themselves from death, rebuke the faith of their fathers constantly.

In the middle of the 19th century, J. J. Benjamin wrote about the life of Persian Jews: "they are obliged to live in a separate part of town … for they are considered as unclean creatures.

"[40]In 1868, British chargé d'affaires in Iran Sir William Taylour Thomson[41] wrote Iranian Jews are "mostly very poor and excepting in Tehran and some major cities, are much prosecuted and oppressed by the Mahometans (muslims).

[46][47] A representative of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, a Jewish humanitarian and educational organization, wrote from Tehran in 1894: "every time that a priest wishes to emerge from obscurity and win a reputation for piety, he preaches war against the Jews".

Muslim dwellers of the city plundered the whole Jewish quarter, the first to start looting were the soldiers sent by the local governor to defend the Jews against the enraged mob.

During the great famine of Persia in 1917-1919, JDC representative Albert Lucas successfully convinced US government to donate 15,000 dollars (200,000 in 2015 USD) to Persian Jewry.

[citation needed] The Jews of Persia understood that "Zion" is the biblical name of Jerusalem and Zionism demonstrates that end of exile and the beginning of redemption.

Many Persian Jews were poorer than their European brethren but nevertheless they enthusiastically bought Shekels, contributed to the national funds, and sought to be represented at Zionist Congress held in Europe.

The rumors stated that Hitler had a necklace depicting the picture of Imam Ali and was planning to reveal his true religion after defeating the deceitful British, the godless Russians and the Jews.

[72] Mohammad Ali Foroughi, who was a powerful figure during the reign of Reza Shah, was of Baghdadi Jewish origin and was looked upon with suspicion among the Iranian elite circles.

[83][84]Anti-Jewish sentiment occurred after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and continued until 1953, due to the weakening of the central government and strengthening of the clergy in the course of political struggles between the Shah and Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh.

Although Jews accounted for only a small percentage of Iran's population, in 1979 they comprised two of the 18 members of the Iranian Academy of Sciences, 80 of the 4,000 university lecturers, and 600 of the 10,000 physicians nationwide.

[88] Even though Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was very positive towards religious minorities, and especially Jews, in the beginnings of his reign as king, he displayed antisemitic tendencies in the last decade of his rule.

During an interview with Mike Wallace in 1976, Shah spoke of a highly organized and influential Jewish lobby in the United States that controls banking, politics and media and is pushing people around for the interests of Israel.

Other non religious leaders of the Persian Jewish community such as Aziz Daneshrad, Haroun Yashayaei, Yaghoub Barkhordar, Hoshang Melamed, Manuchehr Eliasi and Farangis Hasidim also participated in the protests.

[110] Ynet reported that Israeli-Iranian trade, conducted covertly and illegally by dozens of Israeli companies, totals tens of millions of dollars a year.

Based on the same report in November 2000,[citation needed] the Iranian government asked an Israeli company, which built Tehran's sewage pipes 30 years earlier, to visit the country for renovations.

Jewish film producer Haroun Yashayaei is active in arguing on behalf of a benevolence view of the Iranian Islamic government and society toward Jews.

Even the current chief rabbi of the Islamic Republic, Yehuda Gerami, who often shows pro revolutionary and anti-Zionist views, has studied in Yeshivas Ateres Yisrael in Jerusalem.

"[136] Later on, two weeks before the festival of Purim, a woman who met Khamenei alleged that he proclaimed that if Israel attacks Iranian nuclear facilities, Iran would retaliate against Jewish communities in the diaspora.

[138] On July 31,2024 the Tehran Central Jewish committee issued a statement condemning the elimination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and called for an Iranian response.