A couple of hundred French Jewish doctors interested in moving to Israel gathered in Paris on Sunday in a major immigration fair for medical professionals. The event was held during a time of global turbulence in the Jewish Diaspora, which is especially noticeable in the 450,000-strong community in France that is also home to the largest Muslim population in Europe, and where a recent survey showed that nearly four of five French Jews feel unsafe. “It is becoming more and more difficult to live here because of antisemitism,” said Raphael Mimoun, 26, a general practitioner in Paris who attended the event with his wife, who is a surgeon. “The majority of young people are thinking a lot about how they can live in Israel before it is too late,” said Eva Cohen, 30. “Our challenge is that Israel should be the top priority for those who decide to leave, and that means we do everything we can to facilitate a smooth absorption,” Israeli Minister of Aliyah and Integration, Ofir Sofer, told JNS. “I want to help Israel as it will be the only country that will be there for me if I need help,” said Melvin, 35, from Brussels, who is doing his residency in plastic surgery and hopes to move in about five years. “Here, I’m afraid to show I am Jewish because there is a lot of antisemitism. If you want to be successful, you need to hide your Judaism.” The Sanhedrin issued a formal letter to the Iranian people this week, making a claim that rewrites ancient history: the prophet Zoroaster, founder of Persia’s ancient religion, was none other than Mordechai the Jew— and the Iranian people are being called to remember it. Current events have made the Persian King Cyrus the Great and his Biblical status relevant to regional politics. For Iranians, Cyrus the Great — Koresh in Hebrew — is not merely a historical figure. He is the founding father of Persian civilization, the king who in 550 BCE unified the Persian tribes and built the Achaemenid Empire into the ancient world’s first superpower. For Iranians across the political spectrum, Cyrus represents a golden age of Persian greatness: tolerant, just, and sovereign. His tomb in Pasargadae in southern Iran remains a pilgrimage site to this day... The Hebrew Bible treats Cyrus with a reverence extended to almost no other non-Jewish ruler. Isaiah calls him Mashiach Hashem — God’s anointed — a title otherwise reserved for Jewish kings and priests. The Book of Ezra records that Cyrus issued a formal proclamation: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem.” Cyrus then authorized and funded the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon to the Land of Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple. No Persian leader before or since matched that record. The Sanhedrin’s companion document — drawing on research by Dr. Chaim Hafetz — argues that the Persian and Jewish historical traditions, long treated as separate accounts, are describing the same man. Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions, founded in ancient Persia and once the official faith of three successive Persian empires... Zoroastrians do not proselytize, maintain sacred fires in their temples as a symbol of divine light and purity, and believe in the resurrection of the dead, final judgment, and the ultimate triumph of good over evil. Their holy scripture, the Avesta, contains hymns called Gathas believed to have been composed by Zoroaster himself — hymns that, read alongside the Sanhedrin’s argument, sound strikingly familiar to anyone versed in the Hebrew Bible. The parallels between Zoroastrianism and Judaism are not coincidental, the Sanhedrin argues. They are causal. The Sanhedrin’s letter to the Iranian people makes this case at length: “In the days when the Jews were in Persia, the prophet Zoroaster was accepted by the Persian kings, who taught the Persians to believe in one God who created everything. All the core beliefs of the original prophet Zoroaster correspond to Judaism: the struggle between good and evil, free choice, the vision of the end of days, good thought, good speech, and good action.” The letter closes with a direct call to the Iranian people: “We, descendants of Mordechai the Jew (Zoroaster), instruct you this day to abandon Islam, which sows murder, theft and chaos, and return to the path of your fathers. Leave them and fight them. Walk in the good path in which your fathers held, and God will be with you.” “With blessing of peace and truth — the Elder Brother, the Rabbis of the Mount Zion Sanhedrin Court.” [More at the link.] Isreal needs to move toward a future where it moves into partnership with the United states instead of simply receiving aid, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. During an interview broadcast on the CBS show “60 Minutes,” Netanyahu was asked by interviewer Major Garrett if he thought it was “time for the state of Israel to reexamine and possibly reset its financial relationship to the United States? “ “Absolutely. And I’ve said this to President Trump. I’ve said it in– to our own people. Their jaws drop,” Netanyahu said in a video posted to X. The top American military commander in the Middle East told Congress on Thursday that months of sustained military operations have effectively cut Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis off from the weapons and logistical support that Iran has spent decades building for them, a claim that, if it holds, would represent one of the most consequential strategic shifts in the region in a generation. Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, delivered the assessment in testimony that was striking both for its confidence and its candor about what American forces have endured to reach this point. “Today, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis are completely cut off from Iranian weapons supplies and support from Tehran,” Cooper told lawmakers. The testimony amounted to a formal declaration that the so-called “Ring of Fire”, Iran’s strategy of encircling Israel with armed proxy movements capable of striking simultaneously from multiple directions, has, at least for now, been broken. The nations that herded Jews into ghettoes, expelled them from their cities, and handed them over to Nazi death camps have now found a new cause: sanctioning Jews for the crime of living in Judea and Samaria. On Monday, the foreign ministers of all 27 European Union member states convened in Brussels and reached a political agreement to impose sanctions on Israeli settler leaders and organizations, equating them, in the same diplomatic breath, with Hamas terrorists. The sanctions themselves consist of two specific measures: an asset freeze and a travel ban. An asset freeze means any funds or economic resources owned or controlled by the sanctioned individuals or organizations within EU jurisdiction are locked; banks in EU member states cannot process transactions for them, and any property or holdings in Europe cannot be accessed or transferred. A travel ban means the sanctioned individuals are barred from entering or transiting through any of the 27 EU member states. Regavim’s head, Meir Deutsch, put it plainly: the sanctions are not really designed to change the behavior of the individuals named. Their real purpose, in his assessment, is to pressure the State of Israel into accepting the framework of a Palestinian state. The names on the list are instruments, not targets. Europe has tried before to sever the Jewish people from their land through expulsion, inquisition, pogrom, and genocide. As Sa’ar put it plainly: “Israel has, is, and will continue to defend the right of Jews to settle in the heart of our homeland.” Europe would do well to remember that every previous attempt to uproot the Jewish people from their land ended not in European triumph, but in European shame.
‘No future for Jews of France:’ Scores of French Jewish doctors prepare to immigrate to Israel:
Sanhedrin makes stunning claim: Persia’s founding prophet was biblical Mordechai:
Netanyahu Says Israel Should End Reliance on US Aid Starting Right Away:
CENTCOM chief declares Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis ‘completely cut off’ from Iran:
Europe’s long memory problem: The EU sanctions Jews for living in Judea: