U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Amb. Deborah E. Lipstadt condemned Iran for forcing its Jewish citizens to stage protests against the State of Israel during the current war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization.
"Truly abhorrent that Jews in Iran are coerced into staging anti-Israel protests. It is reprehensible that the Iranian regime continues to pressure Jews and other religious groups to advance their propaganda," Amb. Lipstadt wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
On Friday, a US State Department spokesperson told VOA News that the American government is aware that Iranian authorities have "coerced Iranian Jewish leaders and their communities" into holding and attending anti-Israel rallies.
"It is reprehensible that the Iranian regime continues to pressure religious groups to advance their propaganda," the spokesperson said. "Iran’s apparent exploitation of this conflict to advance its repression and propaganda against its Jewish community is abhorrent."
Iranian news agencies have published photographs and videos of Jews attending anti-Israel rallies in Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Yazd and Kermanshah in recent days. At these rallies, local rabbies gave speeches condemning the "Zionist regime," using the language of the Iranian government rather than using the name of Israel.
Last week, The UK-based Persian language television channel Iran International reported that the Iranian government has been threatening its Jewish minority since the outbreak of the war between Hamas and Israel.
Jews of Iranian origin in Israel have been reporting that their relatives in Iran have left family Whatsapp groups and are even blocking the numbers of all their Israeli contacts.