Iran’s Jewish MP says he looks forward to liberation of Jerusalem

Ahead of anti-Israel al-Quds day, Siamak Moreh Sedgh calls on Jews to protest Israeli control of capital city

By ToI Staff 31 May 2019, 4:44 am Edit

Iranian Jewish MP and representative of Iranian Jewish community Siamak Moreh Sedgh. (YouTube screenshot)

Iran’s sole Jewish parliamentarian said Thursday that he looks forward to the liberation of Jerusalem from Israel.

Siamak Moreh Sedgh, in a statement issued ahead of Friday’s annual anti-Israel al-Quds Day events, called for Jews around the world to participate in rallies to protest Zionism, and said Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories would soon be liberated.

“Jewish Iranians consider participation in Quds Day rallies as a national and religious responsibility… All walks of the honorable Iranian nation obey the orders of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution (Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei) and will shout slogans against the US and Israeli occupiers in a united and integrated manner,” Sedgh said in a statement carried by the semi-official Fars news agency.

Sedgh, a physician who also serves as director of the Tehran Jewish Committee, has represented his community in parliament since 2012 and has been a frequent critic of Israel.

The Iranian leadership established al-Quds Day in 1979 as a way of “expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and underscoring” the importance of Jerusalem to Muslims, Fars said.

Iranians burn an Israeli flag during a parade marking al-Quds (Jerusalem) International Day in Tehran on May 31, 2019. (AFP)

Anti-Israel events are held in Iran and other countries to mark the occasion, held each year on the last Friday of Ramadan, which this year falls on May 31.