Mike Wallace's Disciple? 
The New York Times columnist Roger Cohen’s continues to defend a series of columns he wrote over the last month on Iranian Jewry and how well the Iranian government treated him and the Jews he met. ["I'm a Jew and have seldom been treated with such consistent warmth as in Iran."] Even after meeting in Los Angeles last week with Iranian Jews who fled persecution in Iran and whose relatives were executed, Cohen argues, "Just how repressive life is for Iran's Jews is impossible to know."
His whitewash of Iranian intolerance of Jews and hatred for Israel actually has unfortunate precedence in the annals of American journalism. After visiting the Jews of Syria in 1975, CBS’ Mike Wallace reported on 60 Minutes that Jews were subject to special surveillance and restrictions, but “having said that all,” he continued, “it must be added that today life for Syria’s Jews is better than it was in years past.” Wallace also met with local Syrian Jews who claimed that assertions of mistreatment were mere “Zionist propaganda.”
In the case of Syrian Jews, almost the entire community of 4,500 subsequently fled the country.
Wallace also reported on Soviet Jews in 1987 and concluded, “One and a half million Soviets identified as Jews apparently live more or less satisfying lives.” Of course, more than a million Jews disagreed and emigrated the first chance they had. Wallace’s apparent motives were to swim against the currents of anti-Soviet and anti-Syrian attitudes in the U.S. in those times.
What is Cohen’s purpose in trying to kasher Iranian intolerance today? He explains that he seeks to mollify the concerns the West has over Iran's nuclear program and its leadership's call for Israel's destruction. "The hawks' case against Iran," Cohen claims, "depends on a vision of an apocalyptic regime — with no sense of its limitations — so frenziedly anti-Semitic that it would accept inevitable nuclear annihilation if it can destroy Israel first."
So Cohen is out to portray the Iranians as philo-Semitic.
Perhaps he should have read the State Department’s 2008 Report on International Religious Freedom which states:
“While the [Iranian] Government recognizes Judaism as an official religious minority, the country's Jewish community experienced official discrimination…. There was a rise in officially sanctioned anti-Semitic propaganda involving official statements, media outlets, publications, and books. The Government's anti-Semitic rhetoric, along with a perception among radical Muslims that all Jewish citizens of the country support Zionism and the state of Israel, continued to create a hostile atmosphere for Jews. The rhetorical attacks also further blurred the line between Zionism, Judaism, and Israel and contributed to increased concerns about the future security of the Jewish community…. Anti-American and anti-Israeli demonstrations included the denunciation of Jews, as opposed to the past practice of denouncing only ‘Israel’ and ‘Zionism,’ adding to the threatening atmosphere for the community. Jewish community members continued to emigrate, partially due to continued anti-Semitism by the Government and within society."
From the 2008 State Department Human Rights Report: "The Iranian-American Jewish Federation reported that 11 Jewish men who disappeared in 1994 and 1997 remained missing. In 2007 witnesses claimed they saw some of the men in Evin Prison."
International protests against Soviet and Syrian treatment of Jews helped relax draconian restrictions and eventually secured their freedom. If there is no similar public call to save Iranian Jews today it is because of a fear that the Iranian government will use them as pawns. Cohen’s naïve portrait of life for the Jews of Iran plays into the Ayatollahs' hands and may actually endanger their lives and worsen their plight.
Recommended reading: Roger L. Simon's account of the Cohen meeting with Iranian Jews in Los Angeles. Sphere: Related Content
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