http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1051290.html
Iran Jews stage pro-Palestinian rally near UN offices in Tehran
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: gaza, hamas, israel news
(AP
Members of Iran's small Jewish community staged a demonstration outside
of the United Nations' office in Tehran, to protest the Israel Defense Forces'
operation in the Gaza Strip.
The official Iranian news agency, IRNA, reported that community members,
alongside Jewish parliamentarian Siamak Mara-Sedq, urged Israel to do its part
to return quiet and security to the region.
The chairman of Iran's Jewish Union, Rahmatullah Raafi, said the
community had come out in support of the Palestinian people.
"We are here to express out support and sympathy for the Palestinian
nation," he said, adding that Muslim nations could rise up as a single large
force against Israel. He also said that the victors of the current conflict
were the residents of Gaza.
Israeli sources familiar with the Iranian Jewish community suspect that
the demonstration was organized by the government in Tehran, and does not
represent that actual stance of Iranian Jews.
Some 25,000 Jews still live in Iran. Many have visited Israel, where a
large percentage of the community has immigrated in the past 30 years. Still,
others prefer to remain in Iran. There are rarely reports of the community
suffering from antagonism or aggression from their neighbors or from the
government.
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