Iran's small Jewish community urged its members this week to scrap Passover celebrations and partake in the annual pro-Palestinian Quds Day, during which demonstrators call for the destruction of the State of Israel.
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"Please do not go for picnics or pleasant activities on Quds Day," the Jewish community of Iran asked its 9,000 members on Telegram. They were further encouraged to be "mindful of Muslim sensitivities" and to not celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover.
The Jewish community in the Islamic Republic is constantly monitored and forced to prove its opposition to Zionism and its allegiance to the Mullah regime if it does not want to be disturbed," according to Beni Sabti, an expert on Iran from the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.
Their participation in the march on Quds Day – created in 1979 by the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini and referring to the common Muslim name for Jerusalem – is part of this survival strategy," Sabti told The Jerusalem Post.
"There is a silent pressure. Everyone knows their role in this regime, and the regime won't hurt you" if you demonstrate on Quds Day, he continued. "If you don't demonstrate, you will be harmed."
In a separate message to the Jewish community in Iran, members were encouraged to march in the event, held on the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
"According to our Holy Bible, every Jew must stand against the oppression of human beings. That is why, as Quds Day approaches, the Jewish community in Iran will participate in protests against the Zionist regime. Iranian Jewry has nothing to do with Zionists. We are with Iranians and Muslims," leaders of the Iranian Jewish community said on Telegram.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
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