Iranian Jews in Israel

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Iranian Jews in Israel
Flag of Israel.svg
Total population
200,000 - 250,000 [1]
Regions with significant populations
State of Israel Jerusalem, Netanya, Kfar Saba
Languages
Hebrew, Iranian languages (Persian
Religion
Star of David.svg Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Israelis Israeli Jews, Mizrahi Jews, Sephardi Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, other Jewish groups

Iranian Jews in Israel refers to the community of Iranian Jews who immigrated to Ottoman Palestine, Mandatory Palestine, and later the State of Israel. Iranian Jews in Israel number more than 200,000 and most of them are Israeli born. [2]

Contents

History

The first Iranian Jews to settle in Ottoman Palestine were from Shiraz. They left in 1815 in a caravan, making their way to the port of Bushehr and from there boarded a ship to Basra in southern Iraq. From there, they traveled by land to Baghdad and Damascus. Those who survived the difficult journey settled in Tzfat and Jerusalem, establishing the nucleus of the Iranian Jewish community in these cities. [3]

After the establishment of the State of Israel, immigration increased significantly. In 1952, approximately 30,000 Iranian Jews immigrated to Israel under the Israeli mission Operation Cyrus. [4] In the 1950s, the Israeli treatment of Iranian Jews was similar to the Israeli treatment of other Jews from the Middle Eastern and North African region. [5] Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, over 200,000 Iranians have settled in Israel. [6]

Many Iranian Jews immigrated to Israel after the Iranian Revolution in 1979. [7] Following the revolution, an additional 10,000 to 15,000 Iranian Jews immigrated directly to Israel. Many others migrated first to the United States or Europe and then to Israel, mainly out of fear of the Ayatollah's regime but also from lack of familiarity with Israel. [8] Some fled after Habib Elghanian was murdered after being accused of "Zionism." [9]

Israel continues to encourage the remaining Jews in Iran (less than 9,000) to immigrate, since Israel sees them as hostages of the Iranian regime. In 2007, Israel offered monetary incentives to Jews in Iran to encourage Iranian Jewish immigration to Israel. [10] Jews of Iranian descent in Israel are considered Mizrahim. [11] A Mizrahi Jew, broadly construed, is a Jewish person from North Africa and Asia.

Kol Israel transmits daily radio broadcasts to Iran in the Persian language and Menashe Amir, an Iranian Jew, hosts a talk show that draws callers from Iran. [7]

Notable Israelis of Iranian descent

Rita Kleinstein, an Israeli pop-star, of Persian descent Rita Yahan Farouz 1.jpg
Rita Kleinstein, an Israeli pop-star, of Persian descent

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zionism</span> Movement supporting a Jewish state in Palestine

Zionism is an ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century and aimed for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people through the colonization of Palestine, an area roughly corresponding to the Land of Israel in Judaism, and of central importance in Jewish history. Zionists wanted to create a Jewish state in Palestine with as much land, as many Jews, and as few Palestinian Arabs as possible.

This is a partial timeline of Zionism since the start of the 16th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish Agency for Israel</span> Zionist non-profit organization established in 1929

The Jewish Agency for Israel, formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO).

<i>Aliyah</i> Immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the Land of Israel

Aliyah is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally described as "the act of going up", moving to the Land of Israel or "making aliyah" is one of the most basic tenets of Zionism. The opposite action – emigration by Jews from the Land of Israel – is referred to in the Hebrew language as yerida. The Law of Return that was passed by the Israeli parliament in 1950 gives all diaspora Jews, as well as their children and grandchildren, the right to relocate to Israel and acquire Israeli citizenship on the basis of connecting to their Jewish identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mizrahi Jews</span> Jews of the East

Mizrahi Jews, also known as Mizrahim (מִזְרָחִים) in plural and Mizrahi (מִזְרָחִי) in singular, and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or Edot HaMizrach, are terms used in Israeli discourse to refer to a grouping of Jewish communities that lived in the Muslim world. Mizrahi is a political sociological term that was coined with the creation of the State of Israel. It translates as "Easterner" in Hebrew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iranian Jews</span> Jewish community of Iran

Iranian Jews constitute one of the oldest communities of the Jewish diaspora. Dating back to the biblical era, they originate from the Jews who relocated to Iran during the time of the Achaemenid Empire. Books of the Hebrew Bible bring together an extensive narrative shedding light on contemporary Jewish life experiences in ancient Iran; there has been a continuous Jewish presence in Iran since at least the time of Cyrus the Great, who led Achaemenid army's conquest of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and subsequently freed the Judahites from the Babylonian captivity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kol Yisrael</span> Domestic and international radio service of Israel

Kol Yisrael or Kol Israel was Israel's public domestic and international radio service. It operated as a division of the Israel Broadcasting Service from 1951 to 1965, and later the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) from 1965 to 2017. Following the IBA's closure, the radio stations it used to administer are currently operated by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Israel</span>

The Israeli population is linguistically and culturally diverse. Hebrew is the country's official language, and almost the entire population speaks it either as a first language or proficiently as a second language. Its standard form, known as Modern Hebrew, is the main medium of life in Israel. Arabic is used mainly by Israel's Arab minority which comprises about one-fifth of the population. Arabic has a special status under Israeli law.

Israel Radio International or Reka is the radio service of the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) for immigrants and listeners abroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Iran</span>

The history of the Jews in Iran dates back to late biblical times. The biblical books of Chronicles, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, contain references to the life and experiences of Jews in Persia. In the book of Ezra, the Persian kings are credited with permitting and enabling the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple; its reconstruction was carried out "according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia". This event in Jewish history took place in the late 6th century BCE, by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia.

Israeli Jews or Jewish Israelis comprise Israel's largest ethnic and religious community. The core of their demographic consists of those with a Jewish identity and their descendants, including ethnic Jews and religious Jews alike. Approximately 46% of the global Jewish population resides in Israel; yerida is uncommon and is offset exponentially by aliyah, but those who do emigrate from the country typically relocate to the Western world. As such, the Israeli diaspora is closely tied to the broader Jewish diaspora.

As an organized nationalist movement, Zionism is generally considered to have been founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897. However, the history of Zionism began earlier and is intertwined with Jewish history and Judaism. The organizations of Hovevei Zion, held as the forerunners of modern Zionist ideals, were responsible for the creation of 20 Jewish towns in Palestine between 1870 and 1897.

Muslim supporters of Israel refers to both Muslims and cultural Muslims who support the right to self-determination of the Jewish people and the likewise existence of a Jewish homeland in the Southern Levant, traditionally known as the Land of Israel and corresponding to the modern polity known as the State of Israel. Muslim supporters of the Israeli state are widely considered to be a rare phenomenon in light of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the larger Arab–Israeli conflict. Within the Muslim world, the legitimacy of the State of Israel has been challenged since its inception, and support for Israel's right to exist is a minority orientation. Pro-Israel Muslims have faced opposition from both moderate Muslims and Islamists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menashe Amir</span> Israeli journalist and radio personality

Menashe Amir is a long time Persian language broadcaster on Israel Radio International, a channel of Kol Yisrael. He is a former head of the Israel Broadcasting Authority's Persian language division. He is a former chief editor of the Foreign Ministry's Persian website.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carmela Menashe</span> Israeli journalist

Carmela Menashe is an Israeli journalist serving as a military reporter on IDF issues, on Israel's public radio Kol Yisrael.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Search Bureau for Missing Relatives</span>

Search Bureau for Missing Relatives was a department in the Jewish Agency that was active between 1945 - 2002 with the purpose of helping Holocaust atrocities' survivors locate lost relatives and acquaintances.

Lebanese Jewish Migration to Israel included thousands of Jews, who moved to Israel, similar to how 1948 witnessed the emigration of hundreds of thousands of Jews from Arab countries. Yet, "unlike Jewish communities in many other Arab states, the Jewish communities in Lebanon grew after 1948 and it was not until the end of the civil war of 1975 that the community started to emigrate." This "Lebanese difference" derives from two components: more positive Lebanese relationships with European authorities during the French Mandate than experienced by other Arab states, leading to a more pluralistic outlook in Lebanon than its neighbors; some elements in the Maronite Christian community who were tolerant of Zionism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iraqi Jews in Israel</span> Ethnic group

'Iraqi Jews in Israel',also known as the Bavlim, are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the Iraqi Jewish communities, who now reside in the state of Israel. In 2003, they numbered around 450,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Farsi section of Israel Radio</span> About Radio Israel

The Farsi section of Israel Radio was a Persian-language radio station that was broadcast from Israel from 1958 to May 10, 2017.

References

  1. Iranian Jews in Israel. fpri.org 2022-12-06.
  2. Jews, by country of origin and age
  3. Jadīd Al-Islām: The Jewish "new Muslims" of Meshhed, Raphael Patai
  4. Ram, Haggai (2008). "Caught Between Orientalism and Aryanism, Exile and Homeland: The Jews of Iran in Zionist/Israeli Imagination". Studies in Culture, Polity, and Identities. 8 (1): 86.
  5. Goldstein, Judith (1998). Iranian Ethnicity in Israel: The Performance of Identity. New Jersey: Rutgers University. p. 388.
  6. "Jews, by country of origin and age". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2009. Archived from the original on 2018-12-24. Retrieved 2015-01-20.
  7. 1 2 Bell, Bethany (2007-01-12). "Torn loyalties of Israel's Iranian Jews". BBC News . Jerusalem. Retrieved 2023-05-28.
  8. Ram, Haggai (2008). "Caught Between Orientalism and Aryanism, Exile and Homeland: The Jews of Iran in Zionist/Israeli Imagination". Studies in Culture, Polity, and Identities. 8 (1): 95.
  9. "A Reminder of How Iran Treats Its Jewish Citizens".
  10. Tait, Robert (7 Dec 2007). "Iran's Jews Reject Cash Offer to Move to Israel". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 Apr 2013.
  11. "Table 2.24 – Jews, by country of origin and age" (PDF). Israel Central Bureau of Statistics . Retrieved 22 March 2010.