Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed to have Jewish past

[S and S 12]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed to have Jewish past

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's vitriolic attacks on the Jewish world hide an astonishing secret, evidence uncovered by The Daily Telegraph shows.

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.

The short note scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth.

The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Aradan, Mr Ahmadinejad's birthplace, and the name derives from "weaver of the Sabour", the name for the Jewish Tallit shawl in Persia. The name is even on the list of reserved names for Iranian Jews compiled by Iran's Ministry of the Interior.

Experts last night suggested Mr Ahmadinejad's track record for hate-filled attacks on Jews could be an overcompensation to hide his past.

Ali Nourizadeh, of the Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies, said: "This aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's background explains a lot about him.

"Every family that converts into a different religion takes a new identity by condemning their old faith.

"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 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 living in London. "Sabourjian is well known Jewish name in Iran."

A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in London said it would not be drawn on Mr Ahmadinejad's background. "It's not something we'd talk about," said Ron Gidor, a spokesman.

The Iranian leader has not denied his name was changed when his family moved to Tehran in the 1950s. But he has never revealed what it was change from or directly addressed the reason for the switch.

Relatives have previously said a mixture of religious reasons and economic pressures forced his blacksmith father Ahmad to change when Mr Ahmadinejad was aged four.

The Iranian president grew up to be a qualified engineer with a doctorate in traffic management. He served in the Revolutionary Guards militia before going on to make his name in hardline politics in the capital.

During this year's presidential debate on television he was goaded to admit that his name had changed but he ignored the jibe.

However Mehdi Khazali, an internet blogger, who called for an investigation of Mr Ahmadinejad's roots was arrested this summer.

Mr Ahmadinejad has regularly levelled bitter criticism at Israel, questioned its right to exist and denied the Holocaust. British diplomats walked out of a UN meeting last month after the Iranian president denounced Israel's 'genocide, barbarism and racism.'

Benjamin Netanyahu made an impassioned denunciation of the Iranian leader at the same UN summit. "Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium," he said. "A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies the murder of six million Jews while promising to wipe out the State of Israel, the State of the Jews. What a disgrace. What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations."

Mr Ahmadinejad has been consistently outspoken about the Nazi attempt to wipe out the Jewish race. "They have created a myth today that they call the massacre of Jews and they consider it a principle above God, religions and the prophets," he declared at a conference on the holocaust staged in Tehran in 2006.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...ewish-past.html

[S and S 12]

This guy really has a twisted mind. Its like he is overcompensating now that he is Muslim. No idea how you could turn your back on your own roots to the level he has though.

[almaty 19]

a turncoat chowderhead

[SMR 368]

a turncoat chowderhead

Hmm, the guy seems more and more like Hitler all the time.

[S and S 12]

a turncoat chowderhead

Hmm, the guy seems more and more like Hitler all the time.

I was thinking of that similarity myself.

[Ban Hammer 13,345]

maybe he'll nuke himself.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

a turncoat chowderhead

Hmm, the guy seems more and more like Hitler all the time.

I was thinking of that similarity myself.

Has he rounded up all the Iranian Jews and gassed them?

[mawilson 2,133]

a turncoat chowderhead

Hmm, the guy seems more and more like Hitler all the time.

I was thinking of that similarity myself.

Has he rounded up all the Iranian Jews and gassed them?

What Iranian Jews? There are fewer than 40,000 Jews left - in a country of 67 million.

Hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees (millions if you include other Arab countries) resettling

in Israel... something that Arabs never mention when they talk about Palestinian refugees.

Jewish exodus from Arab lands

[S and S 12]

I'm actually writing a paper about the 1948 war now. Before Zionism started there were no major problems for Jews living in the Middle East for many centuries. It only started with the creation of Israel and the loss of Palestinian lands. Considering the sentiments on both sides as a result of that war, it isn't surprising they each had a refugee problem. The main difference is the Arab Jews now have citizenship to Israel and most Palestinians (50 years later) still have no citizenship to any country. The only exception being a small percentage of Palestinians who obtained citizenship to Jordan.

[mawilson 2,133]

I'm actually writing a paper about the 1948 war now. Before Zionism started there were no major problems for Jews living in the Middle East for many centuries. It only started with the creation of Israel and the loss of Palestinian lands. Considering the sentiments on both sides as a result of that war, it isn't surprising they each had a refugee problem. The main difference is the Arab Jews now have citizenship to Israel and most Palestinians (50 years later) still have no citizenship to any country. The only exception being a small percentage of Palestinians who obtained citizenship to Jordan.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

By Salafi (dominant sect of Saudi Arabia, including royal family) "logic", Nejad is of Jewish descent anyway (Salafis teach "Shias are descended from Jewish converts"--and this tenet shows up in Saudi textbooks).

[S and S 12]

By Salafi (dominant sect of Saudi Arabia, including royal family) "logic", Nejad is of Jewish descent anyway (Salafis teach "Shias are descended from Jewish converts"--and this tenet shows up in Saudi textbooks).

Hmmm, interesting, I'm taking a class on Islam now, but we haven't gone into much about the Salafi school of thought.

[Darnell 8,478]

I caught this on the news this weekend, but was hesitant to post anything about it, here.

IMO, he's a double wanker, now that it's been revealed his immediate family converted from Judaism .

Film at 11 ?

[HYENA 4]

ahhh it's like the preacher preachign fidelity and sleeping with young boys...nothing new under the sun.

I think he should be prez of the US. I think he'd be better than the republocrats.