Life for Jews in Iran is now even more precarious

Iran’s Jewish community has survived by distancing itself from Israel. With the country at war, their situation became even more precarious.

On Sunday, Iran hanged a man accused of spying for Israel, and several others have been arrested since Israel began attacking Iran's nuclear facilities.

The US-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is urging Jewish leaders world-wide to begin planning safe and strategic exit routes for Iranian Jews who wish to leave, warning that time may be running out.

”Given the regime’s history of arresting Jews falsely accused of espionage for Israel and threatening to use the community as human shields in past confrontations with the Jewish state, the community is feeling especially vulnerable at this moment,” said Sharon Nazarian, ADL Senior Vice President for International Affairs.

“Now that the regime has been cornered and weakened, we need to consider this ancient community and the threats it faces.”

Persia, as it was once known, has been a place of both refuge and repression for Jews for more than 2,500 years.

Most of the community left after the 1979 Islamic revolution, but there remain an estimated 15,000 Jews living in Iran, spread between Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan. 

They are an insular community whose lives are marked by secrecy and political censorship.  

“They can’t share anything because it’s so censored,” said Dahlia Shirazi*, the daughter of Iranian Jewish immigrants to Los Angeles. “They completely dodge questions. Many people talk in code. On social media, they have fake names and never share anything political. It’s a very serious situation.”