Afghanistan’s last Jew arrives in Israel three years after fleeing Taliban rule
Zebulon Simantov’s younger brother says he was surprised to hear his sibling had arrived, saw him over weekend for first time in 25 years
Zebulon Simantov, Afghanistan’s last Jew, has arrived in Israel after fleeing the Taliban’s rule three years ago, media reports said Tuesday.
Simantov, 65, fled Afghanistan in September 2021 with the help of businessman Moti Kahana to Istanbul, Turkey to continue on to Israel, but enjoyed living there and remained until now, The UK Jewish News reported.
Kahana told The Jewish News that Simantov, increasingly ill due to the move and living in a wheelchair, found it a challenge to continue living in Turkey and has now moved to Israel.
Simantov’s older brother Binyamin told the Walla news site he was surprised to receive a call on Thursday night that his brother had arrived in Israel.
“I couldn’t believe what I heard. On Saturday evening we drove to see him in the place he lives in southern Israel,” Binyamin said. “We haven’t seen each other for almost 25 years.”
Simantov has five siblings and two daughters in Israel.
The Jewish Agency of Israel told Walla they don’t comment on specific cases of aliyah.
Simantov left Afghanistan by trekking across the border in September 2021 with the help of Kahana and lived in Pakistan for a short while. There, Simantov granted his wife, who lives in Israel, a divorce after refusing for more than 20 years.
He reportedly had in the past refused to leave Afghanistan and travel to Israel in order to avoid dealing with his divorce and with rabbinic authorities, who sanction those who do not grant a Jewish divorce.
After the United States’ complete withdrawal from Afghanistan at the end of August 2020, Simantov finally agreed to leave. Kahana’s rescue operation of Simantov also brought out some 30 Afghan women and children, he said at the time.
The operation was funded by Moshe Margaretten, an American ultra-Orthodox fixer whose passion is bringing Jews out of danger.
Kahana, who helped extract people from war-torn Syria, attempted to get Simantov out amid the US withdrawal, on behalf of Margaretten. But Simantov refused to leave at the time, reportedly because of the divorce situation.
Aaron Boxerman and Agencies contributed to this report.
