The BBC's Newsnight programme carried a report on Iran's Jews recently. You can watch it here (click on 'Special reports)
The TV report, by Frances Harrison, is generally more balanced than the article on the same subject that appeared on the BBC website (Here, *with thanks: Albert).
A Jew complains that as a child he had to avoid brushing against Muslims in the rain - reflecting the age-old Shi'ite prejudice that Jews are unclean. Moshe Katzav, the Iran-born president of Israel (who has a surprisingly youthful red-haired mother) says he would love to revisit his place of birth, Yazd. Jewish families still living in the city complain that family occasions just aren't as jolly as they used to be now that the community has dwindled to just a few people. The Jews have been prevented from building a wall to protect the cemetery. The report also reveals that that there were two violent incidents against the Jewish community in Shiraz and Tehran during the Hezbollah war after an Iranian newspaper falsely claimed that Jews in Iranian synagogues were waving Israeli flags.
*Frances Harrison's article is ably 'fisked' on the weblog 'Biased BBC' (Tuesday 26 September entry).
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