From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
US-based Israeli history prof. says he talked with Iran’s president at interfaith meeting today
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleA US-based Israeli academic says he met earlier today in New York with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, as part of an interfaith dialogue hosted by the president.
Lior Sternfeld, Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies at Penn State, says Pezeshkian knew he was Israeli and that he also told the UN delegation ahead of the session, and the invitation was not canceled.
The author of “Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth-Century Iran,” Sternfeld says he gave the president a copy of the book.
Channel 12 news reports that several rabbis also attended the meeting, along with Muslim and Christian representatives.
Iran’s Press TV posts photographs from the meeting, which indicate that members of the virulently anti-Zionist fringe ultra-Orthodox group Neturei Karta were also present.
President Pezeshkian has met with a number of religious leaders and scholars in New York. pic.twitter.com/IlZTP9Tklc
— Press TV ???? (@PressTV) September 24, 2024
Channel 12 says Sternfeld was invited by Iranian researchers with whom he has been in contact. It says he checked with officials in Israel, and got their approval to participate. It also says Sternfeld raised the issue of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
“It was interesting. It was difficult. It was respectful,” Sternfeld says of the meeting, and quotes Pezeshkian saying that “the war is terrible and has to stop.”
In partial remarks posted by the liberal Hebrew media outlet Relevant, Sternfeld claims: “Iran wants to play a mediating role on the issue of the hostages.”
He also says Pezeshkian said that when Israel and the Palestinians reach an agreement on an end to conflict that is acceptable to most Palestinians, Iran won’t carry the flag of the Palestinian struggle.
המרקם המזרח תיכוני סבוך עכשיו מאי פעם ובכל זאת נשיא איראן נפגש עם חוקר ישראלי.
בלעדי: פרופ׳ ליאור שטרנפלד בתגובה ראשונה על המפגש, על המלחמה שנכחה במרכז הדיון ועל איראן כמתווכת בעניין החטופים – @shlomieldar עם כל הפרטים. pic.twitter.com/mpltCrKwex— Relevant רלוונט (@relevant_il) September 24, 2024
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