The disputed president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, apparently converted to Islam at the age of four (4) from Judaism along with his parents.
No joke, the man wanting to “wipe Israel off the map” was born Jewish.
Earlier this morning the Daily Telegraph of London reported,
A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his family has Jewish roots.
A close-up of the document reveals he was previously known as Sabourjian – a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver.
…
“By making anti-Israeli statements he is trying to shed any suspicions about his Jewish connections. He feels vulnerable in a radical Shia society.”
A London-based expert [Ali Nourizadeh] on Iranian Jewry said that “jian” ending to the name specifically showed the family had been practising Jews.
“He has changed his name for religious reasons, or at least his parents had,” said the Iranian-born Jew [Ali Nourizadeh] living in London. “Sabourjian is well known Jewish name in Iran.”
Now that is revealing.
For more on this article from Damien McElroy and Ahmad Vahdat of the Daily Telegraph of London click here.
Maybe the Jews can take up a collection and send him some lox and bagels.
I recall that decades ago, a leader of the American Nazi Party committed suicide when it was revealed he was half-Jewish.
Man, bitter ex-Catholics have nothing on self- hating Jews. Former Catholics who hate the Church just want to destroy the Church, not a billion Catholics. Self-loathing Jews want to destroy the Jewish people.
Oh, man. Hitler comparisons in 5…4…3…2… 🙂
Anthony,
I was thinking that, but I didn’t opine on it to let the story tell itself.
Donna V.,
How right you are.
To think that American Jews do their best to vilify Israel at every turn is incredible.
Self-hating is accurate.
Why Hitler comparisons, Anthony? Like Hitler, Amadinejad hates Jews, but I’ve never read anything to suggest Hitler was Jewish himself.
Hitlers mother or father was Jewish I think, that or one branch of his grandparents were Jewish, hence the comparison of both men who exhibit their self-hate towards their Jewish past.
Oh, and of course, there’s the case of Bobby Fischer, fully Jewish by blood, who fervertly denied it and made blatantly anti-Semitic comments. When you consider how many chess grandmasters are Jewish (including many who taught and helped Fischer), it’s a bit mind-blogging. But then, Fischer was mad.
Tito, I’ve never heard that and I’ve read a far amount about the Third Reich.
Donna V.,
Let me take back those comments about Hitler being part-Jewish.
It has been alleged that he was Jewish but never proven.
To be fair to Hitler, IIRC he was born Catholic and quite hated the Catholic Church by his teens.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16218.htm
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/norouzi.php?articleid=11025
Folks, this type of thing produced by a British tabloid should be taken with a boulder of salt. I would love the irony if it were true, but, alas, as in the case of Hitler’s alleged Jewish ancestry, a myth that has been exploded time and again, I suspect that this is all hype and no substance.
Interesting. An adviser of Ahmadinejad claimed that Hitler was Jewish:
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53611
Nothing new here however. Attempts to link Jews to the Nazis are a staple of anti-Israeli propaganada throughout the Middle East.
In regard to the Ahmadinejad story, I’ll do some research and report back when I have something solid. I suspect that this is merely a charge thrown out be political adversaries and that it would not be possible for Ahmadinejad to get so far in Iranian politics if it were true, but I’ll reserve judgment till I have more information.
A prescient humor piece on the topic on July 14 by the Naked Loon:
http://nakedloon.com/news/us-world/2008/07/14/ahmadinejad-discovers-embraces-jewish-ancestry/
I’m torn. On one hand, I want to adhere to principle, take the high road, and say that the fact that Immadinnerjacket was once Jewish is of no political consequence. It’s something for the psychologists to mull over, but otherwise a footnote in the life of this mad man. On the other hand, I’m tempted to play into the idea of a mass Jewish conspiracy and try to convince the Iranian hardliners that he’s actually a Jewish sleeper agent, and should be dealt with post haste.
I am sure Gina that half of Iran is laughing about this and the other half is going, in Farsi of course, “Hmmm, you know, I always sort of thought he looked Jewish!”
Thank you Henry K. for that piece of information.
Though President Ahmedinejad has repeated himself twice after that incident, there’s no question that he did say he wants to erase Israel off the map through words and deeds.
I am not certain if Ahmedinejad is of Jewish origin or not. But the Daily Telegraph is the only paper in England that I have any reasonable amount of respect for.
I agree with Donald that most of the British press is sensationalistic, but there are a few gems and the Daily Telegraph is one of them.
If more information comes out to verify or to nullify this claim, I will post it.
I saw this posted at Hot Air:
“Professor David Yeroshalmi, author of The Jews of Iran in the 19th century and an expert on Iranian Jewish communities, disputes the validity of this argument. “There is no such meaning for the word ’sabour’ in any of the Persian Jewish dialects, nor does it mean Jewish prayer shawl in Persian. Also, the name Sabourjian is not a well-known Jewish name,” he stated in a recent interview. In fact, Iranian Jews use the Hebrew word “tzitzit” to describe the Jewish prayer shawl. Yeroshalmi, a scholar at Tel Aviv University’s Center for Iranian Studies, also went on to dispute the article’s findings that the “-jian” ending to the name specifically showed the family had been practising Jews. “This ending is in no way sufficient to judge whether someone has a Jewish background. Many Muslim surnames have the same ending,” he stated…
According to both Naji and Tait, Ahmadinejad’s father Ahmad was in fact a religious Shia, who taught the Quran before and after Ahmadinejad’s birth and their move to Tehran. So religious was Ahmad Sabourjian that he bought a house near a Hosseinieh, a religious club that he frequented during the holy month of Moharram to mourn the martyrdom of Imam Hossein.
Moreover, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s mother is a Seyyede. This is a title given to women whose family are believed to be direct bloodline descendants of Prophet Muhammad…
The reason that Ahmadinejad’s father changed his surname has more to do with the class struggle in Iran. When it became mandatory to adopt surnames, many people from rural areas chose names that represented their professions or that of their ancestors. This made them easily identifiable as townfolk. In many cases they changed their surnames upon moving to Tehran, in order to avoid snobbery and discrimination from residents of the capital.”
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/10/05/aw-ahmadinejad-doesnt-have-jewish-roots-after-all/
No matter if he is Jewish, Muslim or a left-handed cross-dressing lesbian there is still one serious concern about him:
He’s dangerous.