Iranian Jews on 'limited parole'
Dr David Morrison (Letters, September 24), in quoting Iran's government-nominated sole Jewish MP, is actually unwittingly making my point for me.
He quotes the former MP Maurice Motamed as saying of Iranian Jews who travel abroad that "when they come back they face no problems".
This is precisely the point that I and others in your newspaper have been making to Dr Morrison: that these Jews are forced to return to Iran because they are fearful of what will happen to their family members whom they were obliged to leave behind.
But Dr Morrison quite disingenuously persists in equating the ability of Jews to travel abroad with their right to stay abroad, that is, to emigrate.
It is akin to claiming that a prisoner who has prison leave for a set period of time is the same as one who has been released altogether. Thus, by virtue of the restriction that they are obliged to return to Iran, the 24,000 Iranian Jews are in effect all being held on a tight leash, tantamount to being out on limited parole.
Dr Ivor Shorts
Dublin 16
Irish Independent
