Evangelicals fund Jews departing Iran

THE WASHINGTON TIMES [News World Communications/Moon-Unification Church]By Joshua Mitnick - December 26, 2007 TEL AVIV - About 40 Jews who left Iran in secret arrived in Israel yesterday - one of the largest such defections - and got a Christmas present of $10,000 per person from U.S. evangelicals. The number of Iranian-Jewish emigrants to Israel more than tripled to 200 in 2007, according to officials from the Jewish Agency for Israel, the quasi-governmental organization that promotes immigration to Israel. A Jewish Agency spokesman credited the increase to a stipend program financed by donations to the Christian Zionist group International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ). "The money is a major consideration" to come to Israel, said Michael Jankelowitz, a spokesman for the agency. "These people come with the clothes on their back and their suitcase. Iranian money has no value." Family members of the Iranian emigrants screamed in delight and threw candy at the newcomers as they emerged into the reception hall at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv after a long bureaucratic procedure, the Associated Press reported. Officials from the Jewish Agency refused to divulge details of the immigrants' journey, such as the airline that brought them to Israel or stopover countries, and kept identities secret for fear of endangering Jews still in Iran. The $1.4 million donated in 2007 by IFCJ for Iranian-Jewish immigration is the latest example of the growing involvement of evangelicals in pro-Israel philanthropy that was once the exclusive turf of Diaspora Jewry. Numbering 28,000, the Jewish community in Iran is the largest in any Muslim country and enjoys a comfortable standard of living and generally good relations with fellow Iranians. But they are forbidden from visiting Israel, and the possessions left behind in Iran are subject to confiscation. Michael, 15 - one of the immigrants arriving yesterday - said he told all his friends where he was going, and they wanted to come along, the AP reported. "I was scared in Iran as a Jew," he said. No comment was available yesterday from the Iranian government. IFCJ President Yechiel Eckstein, an Orthodox rabbi who oversees philanthropic operations that have raised millions from Christian Zionists, said the Jewish Agency approached him earlier this year about the stipend program. The subsidies are intended to allay economic concerns among Iranian Jews mulling emigration to Israel. "The thing that is blocking them from coming is the fear that they won't have enough money to even rent an apartment," said Mr. Eckstein, who compared the situation for Jews in contemporary Iran with Jews who remained in Germany in the 1930s despite the rise of Nazism. "My feeling is that they're sitting on a time bomb. All it takes is an Israeli or American strike on Iran, and I am reasonably sure that if that happens in the next few years, the repercussions would come down on the Jewish community." Just last week, the Jewish Agency announced a deal that allows Mr. Eckstein to join its leadership in return for $45 million in evangelical money over three years - giving Christian Zionists an unprecedented toehold in an organization envisioned as a parliament of world Jewry. Evangelical backers of Israel say they are following a biblical prophecy that creation of a Jewish state here is a step toward the Messianic Age. Some Israeli critics say their ultimate goal is to convert Jews to Christianity, which the evangelicals deny. Meanwhile, one Israel-based Iran analyst, Meir Javedanfar, said the publicity given to the defection operation will ultimately hurt the Jews who remain in Iran. Publicizing the number of Jewish emigrants from Iran could place the community in the middle of a "tug of war" between Israel and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he said. While Mr. Ahmadinejad can hold up the Jewish community as proof his regime is not anti-Semitic, emigration to Israel suggests the community faces hardship. "The more high-profile it is, the more it endangers the Jewish community," said Mr. Javedanfar. "It's a positive development for Israel, but let's not throw it in Iran's face. It could have a negative impact on the relationship between the Iranian government and the Jewish community." http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071226/FOREIGN/553402321/1001&template=printart FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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