Members of Iran’s Jewish community are trying to project a sense of calm from their shuttered homes in Shiraz and Tehran, but fear lurks under the surface, Ynet reported. The report quoted Zahava, an Israeli from Iran who received what may be the last WhatsApp message from a childhood friend in Shiraz. “In Persian, she wrote that the police had taken the chazanim and Rabbanim in for questioning. They were suspected of collaborating with Israel. To this day, we don’t know if they’ve been released,” Zahava said from her home in Haifa, “She told us it’s best not to contact the Jews there right now—the situation is extremely fragile. We used to be in touch daily. There’s a very active WhatsApp group that keeps everyone updated, but since the war started, there’s been complete silence.” “The Jews are staying inside, too afraid to go out for fear it could cost them their lives. They’ve disconnected from the internet so that no messages or information can leak out. During times like these, we’re careful not to reach out, to avoid giving the regime any excuse to harm them,” Zahava explained. Lydia left her parents’ home in Tehran almost 30 years ago. Speaking to Ynet from her home in Holon, she revealed details of an unusual phone call she had last week with her brother and his wife. Her brother, a resident of northern Tehran, told her they were warned that Jews with ties to Israel would be arrested and sent to prison. His wife added, “We had nowhere to go, so we went to an aunt’s house in the western part of the city. It’s safer there. It’s a big house where all the children and grandchildren are staying together.” Her brother also told her that from his balcony, he saw Israeli planes bombing targets nearby. “We waved to the pilots and loved seeing the Israeli army in action,” he said. “Redemption has arrived. We thank the Creator. Now that Israel has come to help us, there will finally be peace in Iran.” Lydia added that even before the October 7 massacre, some of her relatives tried to flee to America, about five years ago. She said that they sold their belongings and packed one suitcase each, “as if they were going on vacation.” But then, everything fell apart: “Four members of the family were killed,” Lydia said. “When I spoke to them, they sounded fine. Family members who visited said they just had a mild flu—and the next day they were gone.” “Now everyone there is living in fear, not understanding how all of this suddenly fell upon them. The Iran-Iraq War was 40 years ago—most of them don’t even know what air raid sirens sound like. They’re living under existential chaos. And yet, all of that doesn’t scare them as much as the regime itself does. I’m talking about the leadership that, over the years, slaughtered, murdered, raped, cut women’s lips for wearing lipstick, issued massive fines for nothing, and turned people’s lives into hell.” Noga, a New Yorker who left Shiraz after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, said that there are still about 7,000 Jews in the city. “When there’s a conflict in Israel, the government forces the Jews to publicly declare that they’re against Zionism,” she explains. “It’s […]