Haaretz
Shvat 12, 5766
The World Jewish Congress
has launched a campaign against Iran following the nuclear crisis and the
anti-Semitic statements of Iran's president, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad.
In its biannual gathering in Jerusalem on Thursday the
WJC called on Jewish communities throughout the world to pressure their
governments to act against the Iranian nuclear program and urge economic
and political sanctions against Iran.
The WJC also called on Jewish
communities to act to change their countries' energy policy so that they
decrease the dependence on oil.
President of the Euro-Asian Jewish
Congress Alexander Mashkevich called on the WJC to prepare for the
possible emigration of Iran's Jews. "It's our responsibility to prepare
for the unexpected. It is not clear what their condition is and what their
fate will be, and if they want to leave, we should not be surprised," he
said.
He said an estimated 30,000 Jews live in Iran, and that it is
extremely hard to maintain contact with them.
Mashkevich, who
emigrated from Kazakhstan, said the former Iranian foreign minister had
authorized his visit to the Jewish communities in Iran, but after
Ahmadinejad's election, the visit was canceled.
The WJC is a world
Jewish organization, not a Zionist one, and sees itself as the diplomatic
arm of the Jewish people.
The chairman of the WJC's Policy Council,
Rabbi Israel Singer, told Haaretz on Thursday that despite the risk of the
Iranian regime's harming the Jewish community, the congress decided to
debate the issue.
"The Jews in Iran have been living there for
2,700 years, from the days of Queen Esther. They remained there despite
the wars and Zionism, and are aware of their situation. We are working for
them, not against them," he said.
Singer said Jewish communities
around the world must make it clear to their governments that the Iranian
regime threatens not only the Jews with its utterances and nuclear
activity, but all the countries in the world.
The WJC's strategy is
not to spearhead the move against Iran, but to encourage countries to act
themselves against Iran.
"The Iranian nation is very civilized and
its majority doe not support the regime's acts. We must convey the message
that it endangers the whole world in sophisticated methods, like blogs and
other means to prevent another world war," Singer said.