New York, NY – American-Jewish Iranians Pass On Invitation To Meet With New Iranian President

New York, NY – After in-depth discussions between New York and Los Angeles-based groups, leadership for American-Jewish Iranians have decided to pass on an invitation from newly elected Iranian president Hassan Rouhani to meet with him while he is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

The JEWISH WEEK (http://bit.ly/16weg3h) reports that three specific recent developments weighed heavily on leadership’s decision to decline Rouhani’s invitation.

First, was Rouhani’s ambiguous answer to the question posed recently by an American journalist as to whether he views the Holocaust as historical fact.

Rouhani’s answer that he is a “politician, and not a historian” left much to be desired among Iranian American Jewish leaders.

One leader from the Iranian American Jewish Federation said, “When the president had a chance to redeem himself on the question of the Holocaust, he did not do that.”

Second is the fact that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif also raised eyebrows with his response to the same question.

Zarif said, “Iran condemns all murders, including the murder of Palestinians by Israelis” when asked what his beliefs were on the authenticity of the Holocaust.

“To compare accidental deaths to systematic murder shows that they don’t understand the world’s sensitivities to such a horrific event,” said Sam Kermanian, senior advisor to the Iranian American Jewish Federation in Los Angeles.

The third factor, according to Kermanian, is the fact that Rouhani has tabbed Iran’s sole Jewish parliament member, Siamak Moreh Sedgh, to accompany him to New York.

The 48 year-old Sedgh has long been an outspoken critic of Israel, and the concern was among Iranian American Jewish leaders that Sedgh may be employed as a propaganda tool, speaking out against Zionism and Israeli policies towards Palestinians while in New York.