Sam Kermanian is currently the senior advisor of the Federation of Iranian Jews, having previously served as its president. The Federation of Iranian Jews was formed in America shortly after the February 1979 revolution and the beginning of pressure on this religious minority.

We asked Mr. Kermanian about the history of the federation and the relationship between the Jewish community and human rights organizations…

Please briefly define the nature and goals of the Iranian Jewish Federation at the beginning.

The Iranian Jewish Federation was formed in 1980 in Los Angeles, and the circumstances that led to its formation were the execution of the then-leader of the community, Habibollah Elghanian, by the new regime. This was a warning sign for all Iranian Jews, as Elghanian had truly dedicated his life to serving the Iranian people and the perception that arose in the Iranian Jewish community was that the Islamic Republic was an anti-Jewish regime and therefore Jews in Iran were in danger. At that time, a few months after the revolution, a group of activists and leaders of the Iranian Jewish community who had left Iran and were living abroad, came together to address this issue and the only conclusion they reached was to draw the attention of the international community to the situation of Iranian Jews. This became a common ground for other Iranian Jewish organizations (at that time there were only one or two small organizations in Los Angeles) to come together and establish a central organization. At that time, the

The population of Iranian Jews inside the country is estimated to be around twenty thousand, do you have any statistics on the population of Jews outside the country as well?

There is no accurate statistics available, neither for inside Iran nor for outside. Especially outside, because when you want to gather statistics from a society, you first have to define that society. For example, let’s assume that there are people in our society who were born in America and have four or five-year-old children who are considered the second generation of Americans, and in fact, they were born to an Iranian-Jewish father and mother. Now, when it comes to statistics, should we count them or not? If we want to gather statistics in this way, we have to call it the Iranian-born community, who consider themselves Iranian in terms of culture or history, but in reality, they have never seen Iran and are not born in Iran, and some of them can’t even speak Persian. In Iran, there is also no accurate statistics because even though religion is asked in some official surveys, some people either don’t want to reveal their religion or are afraid to say it and mention the

Mr. Kermanian; it seems that we cannot deny the deprivation and problems of the Jewish community in Iran, especially within the country; however, why do we hear less about this issue?

This matter of hearing voices is like a double-edged sword; deprivation and problems must be examined in a relative manner. For example, we know that other minorities are also oppressed in the country and perhaps Jews, as fellow citizens, are more harassed and abused, so they are less likely to speak up. But this is an issue; in Iran, apart from the issues of deprivation related to religious minorities, unfortunately, human rights issues exist at all levels of society. Now we hear that even in the past three or four months, more than a hundred people have been executed. When one talks about deprivation, one must measure oneself in relation to the society in which one lives. Aside from these issues, if one wants to speak up about any issue, after a while, it becomes the case that those communities that you want to draw their attention to, lose their interest. Therefore, for any issue, speaking up is a double-edged sword, one must know when to use this sword and when

To what extent can we consider the statements of individuals such as Mr. Mareh Sadegh, who is the representative of Kalimian in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, as reflecting the views of Kalimian inside Iran? Is the process of these elections transparent and acceptable?

In this regard, I must explain a few points: Mr. Mareh Sedaghat does not have credibility outside of Iran and among Jewish communities outside of Iran. They were chosen by the community inside Iran, but if I’m not mistaken, they were the only candidates allowed to receive votes from the community and, like other elections that take place inside Iran, the candidates have already been determined and not everyone can run, including the Iranian Jewish community. On the other hand, both he and a large part of the leadership of the Iranian Jewish community are individuals who have been approved by the regime and can act within the framework set by the regime.

Is the Federation of Iranian Jews willing to cooperate with human rights activists and organizations? Is there any limitation in this regard?

There is no restriction whatsoever, but any kind of cooperation must be within the framework of bilateral policies; for example, human rights organizations may want to do a lot of advertising in a certain case, but the federation may not be ready for it. In any case, there are issues that are a cause for concern for us, or vice versa; there are issues that we are interested in raising, but you may not be interested in. For example, in the past few decades, especially in the past ten to fifteen years, there have been countless cultural products such as television programs, films, newspapers, and books that have a clear anti-Semitic aspect and are regularly published with the approval of the regime in Iran. These are truly worrying and frightening for us, and issues that we discuss with our friends abroad and inform the US government and other European governments, as far as we have access. From your perspective, this may not directly relate to human rights, but for the Jewish community as a whole,

We thank you for the opportunity you have given us to be featured in the monthly magazine, “Line of Peace”.

Thank you for your love and I am grateful for the activities you do. I truly appreciate your efforts. The work you do is not easy, it requires a lot of honesty, which I am sure you possess. I wish you success.