Israel Matzav

An Iranian Jewish officer in the IDF

This is one of the best stories I've seen in a long time.

A religious Iranian Jew escaped from Iran, came to Israel and joined the IDF and is now an officer in a paratrooper corps. Of course, everything about him has to be hidden because his family is still in Iran - they didn't know he was leaving until after he was gone (Hat Tip: Daily Alert).

Yosef's fears intensified as the end of his studies drew near. "At 18 everyone has to enlist in the Iranian army. Those who don’t enlist do not get a passport, are forbidden from getting married, cannot apply for a driver's license, cannot purchase a car or buy an apartment, nothing. For Jews the issue of enlistment is very difficult. Apart from the problem of kashrut, which of course is not kept in the army, no one wants to join an army that is an enemy of Israel. I dreamed of serving in the IDF."

In an effort to dodge the draft, Yosef approached a man who promised him an exemption in exchange for money. "I paid him a $3,000 bribe. That's three million in Iranian currency. It's a huge gamble. Very frightening. I gave him money and all my personal information. I was afraid he would turn me in to the authorities, but he gave me the exemption certificate. I went to the Interior Ministry to apply for a passport. I was told that if the exemption certificate was authentic I would be given a passport, and if not I would be arrested. I sat at home, anticipating my arrest. Two weeks later I went to the post office – my passport was waiting for me there."

Using a satellite dish, Yosef was able to follow the daily events in Israel on television. "When Gush Katif was evacuated, I could not understand what all the fighting was about. I saw Jews crying, and IDF soldiers. I did not understand why they were crying – why this evacuation was taking place. I would watch it every evening and go to bed sad."

Yosef was also able to follow the Second Lebanon War on Israeli TV. "Iranian television said Hezbollah destroyed more than 1,000 Israeli tanks, but I heard that Israel did not use that many tanks and realized that the Iranian media outlets were lying," he says.

...

Yosef managed to stay in touch with family and friends in Israel. "One of my relatives fled from Iran to Israel after the revolution. He would call once a year, and we would converse over the Internet. I would speak to friends who left Iran for Israel only on public phones because I was convinced Iranian intelligence wire-tapped phones in Jewish homes."

Yosef says his friends in Israel contacted the Jewish Agency, which helped plan out his escape to Israel. "I bought a plane ticket to another Arab country, as though I were going on a trip. The most important thing was to keep everything secret. That was the most difficult part – not being able to say goodbye to my parents and friends. My parents assumed I would leave one day, but they were not prepared for it. I surprised them."

"At the airport, the passport control officer looked at me with suspicion. 'Jew?' he asked. I answered 'yes'. 'Were you in the army?' I said I wasn't, and prepared to present the exemption certificate, but then he stamped the passport with a forcefulness that shook me."

Jewish Agency representatives greeted Yosef upon his arrival at the Arab country. "I spent the night in a hotel, at the agency's expense, and we flew to Israel the following day."

The rest of it is also awesome. Read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:28 AM