Posted on 06/26/2004 10:33:39 PM PDT by F14 Pilot
After meeting with Likud MK Gila Gamliel and Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz last week, Austrian Interior Minister Ernst Strasser promised to use his leverage in Iran to help the Jews of Iran make their way to Israel.
Perhaps the only country permitted by the Iranian government to issue exit visas, Austria has until now assisted the immigration of both Christians and Jews from Iran to Austria, where the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), a non-Zionist American NGO has helped the incoming population get to their final destination in North America.
According to Johaanes Rauch, spokesperson for Strasser, the problem with applying the same philosophy of using Austria as a transit point between Iran and Israel has been the absence of an NGO body akin to HIAS, which could help the incoming popuation get to Israel. "If an Iranian Jew wants to go to Israel, we told them that we would help them," says Rauch, from his office in Austria. "We will help to get them here, but we can't build a base. Once they arrive here, they will become Israel's responsibility."
MK Gamliel says she is currently in the process of initiating the establishment of such an infrastructure. "The process is very difficult and it costs a lot of money," she says she will release a letter on Sunday urging the Foreign Ministry to work out an arrangement with the Austrian Embassy in Israel.
Gamliel says there are currently 25,000 Jews in Iran. But, according to the Jewish Agency, whose spokesman refused to comment on the Jews of Iran given that they are a population in danger, the number of Jews in Iran is estimated to be about 15,000.
JEWISH IRANIAN PING!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.