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23 Tammuz 5759 - July 7, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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News
Prayer Rallies for Iranian Jews Held on 17th of Tammuz

by Betzalel Kahn and Yated Ne'eman Staff

On the fast of the 17th of Tammuz, prayer services on behalf of the imprisoned Iranian Jews were held in a number of synagogues in Eretz Yisroel.

The main service took place in Jerusalem at 5 P.M. in the large Yeshuos Yaakov shul in Mea Shearim. At the service, the entire sefer Tehillim was read and the prayers of Habet miShomayim ure'ei and Ovinu Malkeinu were recited. The shofar was blown.

At 6 P.M. prayer services on behalf of the Iranian Jews were also held in the following Jerusalem synagogues: Or Hatzafon in the Neve Tzvi neighborhood, the Beis Yisroel shul in Ezras Torah, Be'er Shmuel in Unsdorf, Heichal Shmuel in Mattersdorf, Zupnick in Givat Shaul, and Imrei Shefer in Har Nof.

Prayers were also held in the Ashkenazi shul in Beitar Illit, the Perushim shul in Beit Shemesh, and the Beis Hillel shul in the Vishnitz section of Bnei Brak.

The president of France's National Assembly, Laurent Fabius, warned Iran that Western governments could break diplomatic ties with Tehran if it executed 13 Jews arrested on charges of spying for Israel.

Calling on Tehran to spare the 13, Fabius, a former prime minister, said: ``If that is not the case, they (Iran) can no longer hope for normal relations with the international community, for whom the rules of law, justice and freedom of conscience are inextricably linked to democracy.''

Western concern over the Jews' arrest and pressure for their release has mounted, but Iran has said it would not accept meddling in the case.

Iran's hard-line press lashed out at France and its parliamentary speaker Laurent Fabius over their support for 13 Iranian Jews accused of spying for Israel.

"Mr. Fabius is probably under the influence of Zionists," charged the conservative English-language Teheran Times, calling on the Iranian foreign ministry to "tackle with full force" the growing campaign in France seeking the release of the 13.

Fabius, speaker of the French National Assembly, described the death sentence hanging over the suspects as "barbaric" and said the accusations of spying were unfounded

Conservative Iranian officials including judicial chief Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi have spoken of the suspects, who were arrested several months ago, as spies who deserved to hang.

The arrests threaten to undermine efforts by moderate President Mohammad Khatami to end 20 years of estrangement with the West.

In another development, the 13 spoke to their families last week for the first time since their incarceration, Israel Radio reported.

Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, said that while he welcomes the gesture, the Iranian authorities are merely granting the Jewish prisoners their rights.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi has claimed that the 13 Jews passed on secret military information to foreigners.

Kharrazi revealed the charges in separate letters to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, foreign ministers of unnamed countries, and other U.N. and European Union officials.

The letters, sent in an apparent attempt to ease Western concern over the arrests and mounting pressure on Iran to release the Jewish prisoners, also "assured" that the accused would get a fair trial.

Officials say those arrested in connection with the case include Moslems, but they have not revealed the names of the suspects or the nature of the evidence against them.

JTA correspondent M. Dorf adds:

The future of the Clinton administration's diplomatic dance with Teheran could depend on the fate of 13 Jews who face execution in Iran.

President Clinton's overtures to Iran began two years ago when the Islamic Republic elected Mohammad Khatami, a relative moderate, as president.

Now, members of the U.S. Congress who are skeptics of that policy have put Iran on notice that the United States will exact a price if the Jews are convicted on charges of working as "Zionist spies."

But just what is the world going to do?

America's allies do not appear to be willing to stake their relations with Iran on the situation of the 13 Jews. Although leaders of more than a dozen countries, some with diplomatic relations with Iran, have voiced concern over the arrests and called for the prisoners' release, business deals continue unfettered.

European states have shown no signs of slowing their efforts to improve relations with Iran, a process that began last year when Iranian clerics lifted an order to assassinate author Salman Rushdie. And with regard to Iran, Europe, and not the U.S., is the key player. "The American threats are of some utility but more important is what the Europeans do," said Daniel Pipes, the editor of Middle East Quarterly.

"The United States looms large in terms of ideology and myth in Iran but is rather small in practical matters," he said, citing the low level of trade compared to Europe.


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