Habib added: “These days are very critical for us as citizens in the Islamic Republic, and I don’t know what will happen. There is talk of Mujtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Khamenei, as someone who will take the position, but I don’t think he is suitable. I think a more reformist leader should come, someone who will try to take Iran in a more modern direction. I find it hard to believe that this will happen because Khamenei Sr. is looking for someone who will meet exactly his demands and wishes.”
He described the atmosphere in the streets: “In the beginning, people, mainly the extreme supporters of the republic, went to Azadi Square to pray for President Raisi and hoped that he would be saved. When they told about his death on TV, I saw some who cried, some who were silent in the street but in the houses they were happy that he died. There are also those who rejoiced in public, especially the opponents of the regime who are not afraid.
Concluding his remarks, Habib said: “There are people who are sure that Israel or the United States did it or people from the opposition, but everyone knows that is not true. There are those who said that it is good that he died as a martyr. I cannot say that many citizens loved him. Many hated him because he was not Worried about the young, didn’t worry about the economy and thought that murder and violence could solve deeper problems. This is the policy, but it’s time for a change and I hope that a change will emerge from this tragedy.”
In the crash of the Iranian president’s helicopter on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian was also killed, as well as six other passengers and crew members. Raisi (63), one of the most brutal figures in the Islamic Republic, was called “the executioner of Tehran”, due to being one of the four people who were responsible for the executions of between 4482 and 30 thousand activists and supporters of the Shia terrorist organization Mujahideen al-Khalq and others. Raisi is considered A protégé of Ayatollah Ali Husseini Khamenei and served as the president of Iran for the past three years.
“Bad for the Jews”
Raisi is seen as one of the most hated leaders in Iran, not only because of his brutality, but also because of his conservative view as someone who supported gender segregation, the Islamization of universities and the imposition of censorship on Western culture. It goes without saying that he also claimed that he would establish relations with any country except Israel, and as a hater of Israel he is also seen as a Holocaust denier.
“This is a happy day for the Iranian people and especially for Iranian women,” says Fatma, a Muslim Iranian who claims to oppose the republican regime in Iran. “Raisi was a terrible person, a person who trampled on women’s rights and murdered civilians. He was one of the worst things that happened to Iran and maybe now there is hope or A chance for someone to be more attentive to the citizens. My friends and I opened champagne when we found out that he really died and I think that he had no respect for human rights and the rights of minorities, and he murdered or oppressed everyone who did not agree with him. We must not forget what happened in 2022 when he died Amini was murdered because she refused to wear a hijab.”
What do you think will happen now? “You can’t know, in a month and a half there will be elections and then we will know. I hope that the new president will be less bad than President Raisi, and especially promote the issue of women’s rights and minority rights, but I fear that this will not happen, because Khamenei is looking for a more brutal successor than Raisi.”
On behalf of the Jewish community in Iran, led by Iran’s chief rabbi, Rabbi Yehuda Garami, which currently numbers about 8,500 Jews, an official announcement was made: “We are filled with sadness and have tears in our eyes, for the martyrdom of Ayatollah Ibrahim Raisi, the president of the people and servant of the nation of Iran, together with statesmen and other officials of Islam. Undoubtedly, the history of Iran will never forget the memory of the humble and tortured president.”
“This announcement by the head of the community is only to avoid drawing fire,” says C, a Jew from Iran. “We did not shed a tear. On the contrary. He was one of the leaders who took care to harm the rights of the Jews in Iran, praised the massacre by Hamas on the seventh of October and denied the Holocaust. He It was bad for the Jews, and in general for all minorities. Although he was cruel and horrible, I don’t know who will replace him. Sometimes it is better to stay with someone who knows his cruelty and is used to it, than to have someone who can suddenly decide that Jews or other minorities have no right to exist. It is impossible to know where it will go, this is the main concern of the Jewish community at the moment.”
According to G., alongside the opponents of the government who rejoiced over Raisi’s death, other angry voices are also heard in the streets: “Since yesterday you can hear people shouting that the time has come for a president to remove the Jews from Iran, to take revenge on Israel for what it has done, and to take revenge for the crimes that Israel commits against the people the Palestinian It’s a small group of people, but it’s very noisy and that’s exactly what scares us – that we, the Jews, will be the first to pay the price for the tensions between Iran, Israel and the United States. I don’t know what will happen, there is great uncertainty among the members of the Jewish community now.”
“The Jews are afraid of the future”
A, a Jew from Iran, also claims that there is concern among members of the Jewish community: “There is no doubt that Raisi is one of the most hated presidents in Iran and in the world in general, but because of the complexity of the relationship between Iran and the United States and Israel, and because of the war, the fear is that Mujtaba Khamenei , Ali Khamenei’s son, will take his place, and because he is his father’s son – it can be more brutal towards us. There is also talk on the ground about Ali Larijani (former Speaker of the Iranian Parliament), Ahmed Khatami (conservative cleric and head of the Council of Experts) and Sadek Amoli Larijani (former head of the judiciary) who could be elected.”
A. adds: “I think Ali Larijani is better than the rest, because he understands the issue of human rights and the consequences of suppressing these rights in the long term, but I believe that Khamenei’s son will be elected, which is very bad. Regarding the Jewish community, like As I said, there is concern about what will happen next. I don’t think there will be a significant change in the Iranian regime, although I hope so.”