46 Comments

1. Promoguy:

Did these Iranian Jews pay to bring him out and speak? If they did it was a big waste of money.

Mar 13, 2009 - 9:19 am 2. Roger L Simon:

Fortunately, Promoguy, Cohen was not paid. They made a big deal about that.

Mar 13, 2009 - 9:36 am 3. ShrinkWrapped:

When people have a deep emotional investement in their world view, in the contest between reality and their world view, reality almost always loses.

Mar 13, 2009 - 9:38 am 4. tim maguire:

It’s an odd thing, that Cohen would come out on his own dime to talk to people who disagree with him, many of whom know better than he of what they speak. I can’t quite put it into words, but there is something there, not entirely disreputable about him.

Surprsing that someone who would do that would have no original or interesting thoughts to share.

Mar 13, 2009 - 9:42 am 5. Roger L Simon:

I agree, TIm. It is odd. He just came and shared his rather banal views. He also repeatedly said he understood the audiences pain, but there was something distinctly disingenuous about it. It was all quite odd.

Mar 13, 2009 - 9:43 am 6. Barry:

The Augean Stables did a post on his NYT article “Middle East Reality Check” which would perhaps provide some light on the psyche at work:

http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2009/03/09/breathtaking-folly-surprise-on-the-pages-of-the-nyt-roger-cohens-black-hole/

Mar 13, 2009 - 10:18 am 7. Pajamas Media » Roger Cohen’s Inexplicable Views on Iranian Jews:

[...] Read the rest of the story here. [...]

Mar 13, 2009 - 10:21 am 8. Pops in Vienna:

It’s too bad that when Holocaust II comes along that people like Cohen will be the ones rounded up and gased instead of righteous people like you Roger.

Don’t these idiots get it? Don’t they understand that the crazy Iranians really mean to exterminate them? By the time Mr. Cohen has enough proof to change his opinion, he’ll be in a box car headed toward his doom.

I can’t believe that these people can even manage to get a public forum, much less a Jewish one. Too bad that crazy nut George Lincoln Rockwell still wasn’t around. He’d be on all the MSM shows these days. Who knows, Obama might even had made him ambassador to Israel.

Mar 13, 2009 - 10:26 am 9. Johanna Lapp:

Peking Duck is definitely my favorite of your books. This piece makes me wonder if you would write it differently from today’s perspective.

Mar 13, 2009 - 10:32 am 10. Marc Malone:

I can just hear the comments of the attendees afterwards. Useful idiot would have been one of the more printable phrases.

Mar 13, 2009 - 10:50 am 11. BiBiJon:

Any comments on the following:

http://rabbibrant.com/2009/02/23/the-jews-of-iran-beyond-the-rhetoric/

http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/02/a-rabbis-reflection-on-iran.html

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118912609718220156.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5367892.stm

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/954647.html

Mar 13, 2009 - 10:58 am 12. jjkrn:

he’s aiming for Head Kapo….

Mar 13, 2009 - 10:59 am 13. Roger L Simon:

Johanna Lapp, thanks for your kind words. I wrote that book close to thirty years ago (gasp!) so it is almost impossible to say what I would do now. I write a lot about the experience on my trip in Blacklisting Myself. In retrospect, the best parts of Peking Duck may be that it gives a relative accurate picture of those arranged tours in People’s Republic at that time, when China was still mostly closed to the West and people were almost all in Mao suits.

Mar 13, 2009 - 11:01 am 14. JH Spyker:

It’s too bad that when Holocaust II comes along that people like Cohen will be the ones rounded up and gased instead of righteous people like you Roger.

Pops, you almost sound hopeful, as if you relish the prospect of this occurring.

Mar 13, 2009 - 11:02 am 15. Kondratieff:

Remember that Jews have lived in Persia since ancient times. Persia also has many ethnic groups and religions, now dhimmis of course. It’s a tragedy, yet to fully unfold, that Carter sold them out. In the meantime we have to tolerate the Richard Cohens.

Mar 13, 2009 - 11:04 am 16. Roger L Simon:

Speaking of dhimmis, there were many Bahais in the audience last night. Their religion has suffered, if anything, worse than the Jews under the Islamic Republic.

Mar 13, 2009 - 11:14 am 17. Paul B:

Really good article Roger. You are right when you say than nobody really wants to bomb Iran. I hope they leave us a choice. As far as Jews in Iran are concerned…and their contented life in Iran…I wonder how many of them would stay if they really had a choice, and how many of them stay, as you say, because they are aged, and it really is just too hard to go someplace else. I was never there, and never really studied the subject, but would bet a sizable amount of money that the Jews of Iran were happier under the Shah than they are under the Ayatollahs. The other element I’d put forward is that almost everybody in Iran would be happier with the Ayatollahs gone and not ruling every aspect of their lives.

Mar 13, 2009 - 11:15 am 18. Gilbert Weinstein:

Someone sent me Roger Cohen’s first column and unfortunately despite it being in the NYT, I went ahead and skimmed through it. The thing that really go to me is the following quote:

“Let them say ‘Death to Israel,’ ” he said. “I’ve been in this store 43
years and never had a problem. I’ve visited my relatives in Israel, but
when I see something like the attack on Gaza, I demonstrate, too, as an
Iranian.”

My take on it: Imagine a northern African-American during the civil right struggle saying, “Let them burn crosses in the south; here in the north I never had any problems. I even visit my relatives in the south sometimes.” Would the NYT would write about it in a sympathetic tone?

–
GW

Mar 13, 2009 - 11:31 am 19. Promoguy:

http://www.jewishvirtu
allibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/iranjews.html

Interesting google find although a bit dated at 2004.

Bibi, thanks for the good Jewish news. I’m not a betting man but if I was I’ll bet the deal is “look Jews don’t ef with us and we won’t ef with you”

Mar 13, 2009 - 11:35 am 20. David Thomson:

Roger Cohen is simply adhering to the nonnegotiable doctrine claiming soft power is our only real option. No dissent is allowed within the left-wing community. Cohen knows full not to irritate Pinch Sulzberger if he wishes to renew his likely six figure annual contact with the New York Times. Ross Douthat could be the only columnist employed by the Old Grey Lady who will be allowed to even hint that a more violent approach may be required to resolve the Iranian crisis.

Mar 13, 2009 - 11:44 am 21. BiBiJon:

Promoguy, You’re right in a glass-half-empty way. The half-full version is ‘love thy neighbor’.

Here is another link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jul/13/iran.israel

Mar 13, 2009 - 11:47 am 22. ricpic:

Liberals will say anything, support anything, do anything, in order to be comfortable with themselves. That is what makes them the cruelest people on earth.

Mar 13, 2009 - 11:59 am 23. Pops in Vienna:

#14, quite the contrary. I’ll confess to being a poor writer. The thought I wanted to convey was that it’s too bad that when things go terribly wrong that the people who brought it about aren’t the only ones who suffer.

Mar 13, 2009 - 12:07 pm 24. JD:

Fun fact of the day:

Iran rightfully claims to have the largest Jewish population in the Middle East, aside from Israel.

But they number at most 25,000. Out of a total population of 65,000,000.

So 0.04% of the Iranian populace is Jewish.

What incredible tolerance by Iran.

http://trackacrat.com/

Mar 13, 2009 - 12:16 pm 25. EdSki:

Excellent post Mr. Simon!

Mar 13, 2009 - 12:44 pm 26. DavidN:

I’ve never understood the compulsion to negotiate with people like President Ahmedinnerjacket. He wants to kill all the Jews. We don’t want him to kill any. What’s the negotiated compromise? He only gets to kill some? If we talk him into a position where he doesn’t kill any, his supporters (he must have some, he *was* elected, even though said election was semi-rigged) will go ballistic, and howl that the Jews have tricked them again. I don’t get any of this. What’re the negotiations supposed to be about?

Mar 13, 2009 - 1:43 pm 27. Mike_K:

The depressing conclusion is that Obama will do nothing about Iran and the nukes so Israel is on its own. More and more, it will be necessary to consider that our president sees things as a Kenyan as much as an American. His reception of Gordon Brown is only one indicator. It isn’t just his father; he has been involved in Kenya politics the past several years. I suspect he is actively anti-Semetic under that empty smile.

Mar 13, 2009 - 1:44 pm 28. davod:

It is worse than Isreal is on its own. Obama will attack Israel in all the crrect political venues. Oh. It will look benign, but it will be obvious to the ratbags.

If Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear facilities the the US will be the first with the boycotts and embargoes. Obama may be force by Congress to pull back but the actions will be on the tabl in public before this happens.

Mar 13, 2009 - 2:37 pm 29. Amir:

Well at least he had the guts to go to Iran and see for his own eye’s and after he did he realized that all this BS your talking about is just propaganda made up by you

Iran does not execute Homosexuals that propaganda made up by people like you
Iran does not execute women for Adultery another propaganda made up by you

In Saudi Arabia women don’t even have the right to Drive yet Iran is Evil when over 60% of our University Students, Engineers, Scientists, Teacher, etc are women

Iran’s been under sanctions for 30 years & fought an 8 year war against the world through Saddam’s Army
yet within that 30 years we were able to go from a country that couldn’t build anything to a country that Builds & sends Sat. in to space, Produces over 95% of all its new weapons, is the first Muslim country to Clone, is among the top 10 in the world in stem cell research, Is the Largest car maker in the M.E., Build Super-Computer, Mass Produces Advanced Scanning Microscopes(STM) & can build almost anything
all this while Iran’s under sanctions that prohibit the sale of Super computers, Advanced Microscopes, Carbine fiber, GPS,….

Iran’s GDP(ppp) $816Billion vs Israel $186
Iran’s 08 Gov. Budget was ~ $300 billion vs Israel ~ $70Billion vs
Turkey Budget that is under $200 Bill

like it or not Israel is not nor will it ever be the major power in the M.E.

You must be scared …… of a good relations between Iran & the U.S. because if Iran was able to do all this with 30 year of sanctions what would happen if there were no sanctions
o i bet that scares you to death

[links added by editor]

Mar 13, 2009 - 3:37 pm 30. James Just:

The Carter presidency was decades ago but I still remember it vividly. At that time my opinion was that Carter was destroying America and that due to his stupidity as President in dealing with dictators the political and military problems he was creating for future generations of Americans was going to take years to repair. It seemed that to get the world to like us- the USA, Carter set out to dismantle the CIA and the military. Another way of getting the world to like US yet never mentioned by contemporary pundits was that then CIA Director Stansfield Turner used Carter’s budget cuts to let go all of America’s Middle Eastern assets. An action that deprived America of any covert response toward Iran. So now the world is has to deal with evil Iran, and with Hussein Obama, we are stuck with Jimmy Carter Part II all over again. But this time the situation is much worse.

Cohen is a useful idiot for Iranian propaganda. Cohen obviously does not remember American history.

Mar 13, 2009 - 4:52 pm 31. David Thomson:

“Cohen obviously does not remember American history.”

But Cohen knows what is good for his pocketbook. What would happen to him financially if he held non-progressive views on Iran? I strongly suspect that his income would be minimally cut in half in less than a year’s time. Follow the money. It is normally very lucrative be a politically correct left-winger.

Mar 13, 2009 - 5:10 pm 32. Barry Dauphin:

Cohen reports on his next trip– North Korea.
Upshot… the food isn’t half bad, and he saw some fat people.

Mar 13, 2009 - 5:23 pm 33. Mary Jo:

Maybe his next story will be on Tristan Anderson?

Mar 13, 2009 - 7:34 pm 34. jw:

The March issue of COMMENTARY has a memoir by a Persian (”Iranian”) Jew who came to the U.S. just before the Khomeini revolution, Iraj Isaac Rahmim, “Unclean in Tehran, Adrift in San Diego.”

President Jimmy Carter forced the Shah of Iran out of power.

Mar 13, 2009 - 7:51 pm 35. Paul:

Walter Duranty lives.

Mar 14, 2009 - 2:53 am 36. Harris Snoparsky:

just curious……any mention of the serious persecution of the Baha’is which sheds light on the other minorities as well?

Mar 14, 2009 - 4:04 am 37. Roger L Simon:

Yes, there were several Baha’is in the audience eloquently speaking against the discrimination against their faith in Iran.

Mar 14, 2009 - 7:15 am 38. Mark S. Devenow:

If ever a dictionary decides to break the phrase barrier and include an entry for “self-loathing Jew” they will need Roger Cohen’s picture to accompany the caption. Having read his column about being “ashamed” of the State of Israel and now having viewed the video of his appearance Thursday night at Temple S’nai, it is entirely clear that Cohen, in the course of revealing, responsive peregrinations strays beyond the bounds of the description “useful idiot” into the status of an outright propagandist. Examples for this clearly abound, but one in particular strikes me from the audience question segment at Temple S’nai.

In response to a particular question, Cohen was somehow impelled to relate the nature of what crabbed and wary lives Iranian Jews are forced to lead in a totalitarian state; viz. an organized political society where the whims and fancies of a ruling class of medieval autarks, adherents of an expressly antisemitic eschatology at that, call the tune. In the course of this description Cohen begins by conceding that the lives of the Jews of Persia are “difficult.” From this he goes on to state that the Jewish population of Iran exceeds the number of Jews now living in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia etc combined; a fact from which Cohen infers that the mullahs must be encouraging a vibrant Jewish presence in the life and civic organs of the society. Then Cohen reveals what he really means by this stated deduction: So long as the Jews of Iran remain content not to cross certain “red lines” – specifically, “criticizing the Supreme Ruler” or “praising the State of Israel” (both conditions Cohen, himself, might happily live with) – their daily lives can continue to proceed and/or subsist in the common experience of subjects in a totalitarian state.

Now, all of this bit of blithe and bland insouciance from Cohen seems of a piece with his self-indulgent political fantasizing; fantasizing whereof it is presumed that totalitarian political societies, generically and as such, pose no special threats to the Jews (a premise which, at very least, requires a gross elision of entirely relevant history)and whereof it is to be presumed that the merger of authoritarian state power with the tenets of what only can be described as a dark and evil, specifically antisemitic religious-doctrinal component is of no consequence.

Giving Cohen due credit for stupidity – something which might be said to veritably ooze from his pores – it, still and withal, becomes difficult to believe that anyone – even Cohen – could align his perceptions with these kinds of fetishes. This is why, in the end, Cohen comes off as not any “useful idiot” but for an active and knowing propagandist for forces which may only be described as evil. The New York Times, if it weren’t already a disgrace in its own right, would be as ashamed of Roger Cohen as Roger Cohen is, confessedly, ashamed to be a Jew.

Mar 14, 2009 - 8:04 am 39. savage24:

I’ll bet he wasn’t there on his own dime. Liberals never pay their own way.

Mar 14, 2009 - 8:11 am 40. Morry Rotenberg:

It is a shame that so many “useful idiots” are of Jewish origin. They have replaced their Jewish faith with liberalism and have rejected the principle tenets of Judaism. The idea of moral equivalence is not compatible with religious principles but fits perfectly with leftist ideals.

Mar 14, 2009 - 8:27 am 41. JG:

Re the Baha’i, below is an online comment that I submitted in response to Roger Cohen’s “Iran, the Jews and Germany”, which the NYT “rejected”, notwithstanding their purported policy that “Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive”:

“Roger Cohen writes in “Iran, the Jews and Germany”: “One Iranian exile, no lover of the Islamic Republic, wrote to me saying that my account of Iran’s Jews had brought “tears to my eyes” because “you are saying what many of us would like to hear.” Foolish me, I always thought that journalism was more than telling people what they “would like to hear.”

Questions: When you wrote “What Iran’s Jews Say”, with how many Iranian Jews did you speak? Who selected these Jews for you? Did you speak with them via an interpreter? (Fess up, Roger, you don’t speak Farsi.) And when you spoke with them, who was present? (I have met and spoken with many Iranian Jews who fled Iran, and their descriptions of their former life differ in the extreme from your account.)

But more important, Roger, after a month in Iran, what about closure? Your message, as I understand it: “Indulge” Iran and cut them some slack as they pursue their nuclear plans, notwithstanding Khamenei’s potentially apocalyptic intentions; after all, young Iranians like Nikes, and I’m a Jew and was treated royally there. But haven’t you forgotten something? As I see it, there’s still unfinished business, i.e. the Baha’is, Iran’s largest religious minority, whose desperate plight must not be ignored. I think you owe it as a journalist to tell their story.

Yes, I know: Tucked away in a prior op-ed is the single sentence: “Among minorities, the Baha’i — seven of whom were arrested recently on charges of spying for Israel — have suffered brutally harsh treatment.” Is that all you have to say? You didn’t happen to ask to meet with the seven? Why not? Several readers’ online comments requested additional information about the Iranian Baha’i community, but you didn’t oblige, so allow me to assist:

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution “only” 13 Jews have been executed by Iran on the grounds of spying for Israel. In comparison, more than 200 Baha’is have been cruelly butchered during the same period. Why do Jews get “preferred treatment”? Simple: Judaism and Christianity are deemed predecessors to Islam, and both Moses and Christ are legitimate prophets; however, Mohammed is for some Muslims the ultimate and final messenger, whose precepts require no elaboration and tolerate no deviation. Although Judaism and Christianity are “not fully evolved”, they nevertheless paved the way for Islam, and Jews and Christians, although inferior, can on some level be suffered. On the other hand, in the nineteenth century, more than 1,200 years after the death of Mohammed, Bahá’u’lláh, Baha’i’s founder, appeared on the scene in Persia, and the Baha’i faith, which embraces Bahá’u’lláh, as opposed to Mohammed, as God’s latest manifestation, constitutes heresy for Iran’s ayatollahs.

The result: Tens of thousands of Baha’is have been slaughtered in Iran from the time this religion emerged. The most recent murder occurred in July 1998, when Rúhullah Rawhani, a Baha’i businessman and father of four, was executed in Mashad without sentencing and without any semblance of due process.

Concerning the seven imprisoned Baha’is you so casually mentioned in your last op-ed written from Iran, a 22 February 2009 VOA editorial “reflecting the views of the United States Government” (http://www.voanews.com/uspolicy/2009-02-23-voa5.cfm) states:

“More than 9 months have passed since 7 leaders of the Baha’i community in Iran were arrested and sent to prison with no access to legal counsel. Now the Iranian government has announced the 7 have been charged with espionage. The move is the latest in decades of repressive measures against the Baha’is, the largest non-Islamic religious minority group in Iran. Those measures include barring Baha’is from attending public universities or working in public agencies, destroying or closing Baha’i places of worship, bulldozing Baha’i cemeteries, legally confiscating Baha’i property, and killing Baha’is with impunity.”

I would also add that among the aspects of the Baha’i faith most rankling to Iran’s Shiite majority is its advocacy of women’s rights. For a personal harrowing account of the depths of brutal oppression experienced by an Iranian Baha’i woman, read an interview with Ms. Mehri Mavaddat (http://info.Bahai.org/article-1-8-3-15.html).

Roger, you would have us know that “Iranian civility toward Jews tells us more about Iran — its sophistication and culture — than all the inflammatory rhetoric.” I suggest you examine Iranian “civility” toward its gentle Baha’i minority before pronouncing judgment. More to the point, go back and try writing an op-ed “What Iran’s Baha’is Say”. I am confident “the consistent warmth” (your description) with which you were received in Iran by this savage theocracy will dissipate with the speed of a uranium enriching centrifuge.”

Mar 14, 2009 - 4:14 pm 42. JG:

Below is another online comment that I submitted in response to Roger Cohen’s op-ed, “Iran’s Inner America”, which the NYT also “rejected”:

“America, think again about Iran.” Thanks, Roger, for the kind advice.

And while “thinking again about Iran”, consider the following from the Voice of America website dated 25 January 2009 (http://www.voanews.com/uspolicy/2009-01-26-voa4.cfm):

“The government of Iran recently confirmed that in December 2 men in the city of Mashhad were stoned to death on the charge of adultery. A third man was able to free himself from the pit in which he was buried and survived.

According to the “Stop Stoning Forever Campaign,” an organization devoted to ending the gruesome practice, there are at least 8 women and 2 other men who are at risk of being stoned to death in Iran. However, Judiciary Chief Mahmoud Hashemi Sharoudi recently issued an order that the stoning verdict against one woman be changed to 100 lashes.

Despite a 2002 directive issued by Mr. Shahroudi, announcing a ban on stoning, in a recent news conference Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said that Mr. Shahroudi’s directive was advisory only, and that judges in Iran could ignore it if they chose to do so. However, the Tehran criminal court recently acquitted 2 sisters who had been sentenced to stoning on the charge of adultery.

The stoning verdict had been originally approved by the Supreme Court, but once it was taken to the Judiciary Chief for approval the Judiciary Chief said the verdict was not in conformance with religious laws and was not legal.

Amnesty International issued a statement deploring the stoning executions that took place in Mashhad. It also urged Iranian authorities not to carry out the sentences of death by stoning against Iranians in other areas of the country.

“Stoning is a sickening punishment, specifically designed to maximize suffering,” said Amnesty International United Kingdom Director Kate Allen. “The Iranian authorities should abandon it immediately.” The European Union also condemned the practice.

The United States joins the international community in denouncing the inhumane practice of stoning in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In a written statement issued by the Department of State, the U.S. called the practice “cruel and unusual punishment … that does not meet the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Iran has ratified. We call on Iran not only to permanently abolish the practice of stoning, but to offer all defendants fair and transparent trials.”"

Roger, I realize you probably did not witness a stoning in Iran (I am pleased that a woman smiled at you on the subway), but just to let you know: The victims of stoning are wrapped in white shrouds and pelted with stones that do not kill immediately, but sized to cause intense pain, leading to an agonizing death, sometimes observed by the victims’ children.

Think about that, America, if you are able to fathom this 21st century barbarity, while reaching out to Iran in the spirit of change.

Mar 14, 2009 - 4:20 pm 43. iran zadump:

The only thing that should be ‘reaching out’ to iran is a few hundred jdams and bunker busters

Mar 14, 2009 - 5:35 pm 44. m. moore:

It’s so nice to hear that Mr. Cohen enjoyed the gracious hospitality of the Iranian people but I almost choked on my chelo kebab trying to swallow the cultural noblesse oblige he also dished up. As someone who actually lived in Iran during the final days of the Shah’s regime, I can testify that many Jews were petrified at the prospect of a fundamentalist Muslim state. Unfortunately, for them and especially for the Bahai’i community, their misgivings proved accurate. Does Mr. Cohen actually believe that he would be the recipient of genuine expressions of concern by a vulnerable and exposed constituency? What a callow disregard for people who must constantly disguise their actual opinions and precarious position(s) in a society that unashamedly proclaims their second-class(dhimmi) position. By the way, it’s been this way for centuries but any hopes for improvement died in 1979.

Mar 14, 2009 - 10:30 pm 45. NYT Columnist Roger Cohen Speaks At Sinai Temple:

[...] Roger L. Simon writes: [...]

Mar 16, 2009 - 1:43 pm 46. Roger L. Simon » Iran: NYT’s Roger Cohen is new the Walter Duranty:

[...] Cohen – the op-ed columnist whose articles excusing the mullahs read like an embarrassment now.

Jun 14, 2009 - 3:49 pm

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