National Director of Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Jonathan Greenblatt announced Friday on Twitter that the tomb of Esther and Mordechai in Iran was torched, according to a JPost report.
“Disturbing reports from Iran that the tomb of Esther & Mordechai, a holy Jewish site, was set afire overnight. We hope that the authorities bring the perpetrators of this antisemitic act to justice & commit to protecting the holy sites of all religious minorities in Iran,” Greenblatt tweeted.
According to a JPost report, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on Saturday that a suspect sought to enter the tomb. Radio Farda, the US government-funded news outlet that reports on Iran, wrote that IRNA “confirmed that there had been an attempt to break into the tomb of Esther and Mordechai, a holy Jewish site in Hamedan, but removed the report from its website two hours after its publication.”
The JPost reported that the Iranian American Jewish Federation of New York and Los Angeles, and the members of the Iranian Jewish community in the United States said in a statement that they “are shocked and truly saddened by the news of fire in the ancient and official Iranian Heritage Site, the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai in Hamedan.”
The statement continued that “We hereby ask the responsible members of the government of Islamic Republic of Iran to apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice for this barbaric act of insult to this holy site and take steps to protect other sites of religious and historic significance.”
Also issuing a statement about the destruction of the famous tomb was the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which is based in New York.
Arthur Stark, Chairman, William Daroff, CEO, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Vice Chair of the Conference said:
“This abhorrent and unconscionable act represents not only a blatantly anti-Semitic assault on Jews and Judaism, but an assault on all people of faith. It must be unequivocally condemned by the international community. The government of Iran must act to prevent further attacks and bring to justice those responsible.”
“As Chair of Muslims Against Anti Semitism, I unequivocally condemn such barbaric acts by the Tehran regime. The international community must immediately move to investigate & hold the regime responsible for any damage that may happen to the site of the Tzadikkim,” prominent human rights activist, Ghanem Nuseibeh, tweeted.
Karmel Melamed, an Iranian-American expert on the Jewish community in the Islamic Republic of Iran, tweeted: “My sources who have contacts with Iran’s Jewish community have confirmed that there was an ‘attempt’ to burn the synagogue at the Tomb. Some smoke damage but the fire was minimal. No arrests of suspects have been made yet by Ayatollah regime.” (JPost)
