Israeli Journalist's Observations from Iran

A female journalist from the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, who recently traveled to Iran, published her observations and memories of the trip on Friday, April 14. The journalist, Orly Azulai, has been living in Washington for years and traveled to Iran from the United States. Her report, titled 'An Israeli Woman in the Land of a Thousand Ayatollahs,' does not mention what passport or name she used to enter Iran; given that Azulai is one of the most famous journalists at Yedioth Ahronoth, it is likely she traveled under a different name with a Western passport. She wrote that she tried to dispel feelings of fear and anxiety about 'this land of centrifuges, heavy water, and yellowcake,' but 'on her first night alone in the hotel, when she pulled back the curtain, Ayatollah Khomeini stared at her from a large photo on the wall next to the hotel.' Azulai stated she spent 14 days in Iran, visiting Tehran, Shiraz, especially Persepolis, and then Isfahan. She also visited the tomb of Esther and Mordechai, one of the most important holy sites for Jews worldwide, located in Hamadan. According to Azulai, during her trip to Isfahan, she went to one of the city's synagogues and spoke with the Jewish community as a Western tourist without them knowing she was an Israeli journalist. She noted that the number of Jews remaining in Iran has significantly decreased, even less than expected. The journalist observed eager Iranians expressing hope for a nuclear agreement with world powers to improve Iran's economy and free their country from heavy global pressure. She reported that everyone she spoke with in Iran mentioned the severe impact of sanctions on the lives of ordinary Iranians, which were largely imposed due to pressure from Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government against Iran. Azulai's memories were published on a day when Israel suffered a setback in its years-long efforts to prevent Iran and world powers from reaching a political agreement, as the Lausanne agreement was announced, which U.S. President Barack Obama called a 'historic agreement.' The Israeli journalist also told Israel Radio that one of her interesting memories from this trip was a lunch she had at one of the popular restaurants among Tehran's middle class; during lunch, a group of women celebrating a friend's birthday danced and even removed their headscarves while a male music group performed. Azulai said the happy women invited her to join them and expressed joy that men were 'serving' them, feeling they were taking 'revenge' on a patriarchal society. She wrote that while waiting to leave Iran at the airport and passing through passport control, she felt the most danger and was very worried that Iranian intelligence might discover her identity and attempt to arrest her at the last moment. However, these moments passed 'with the friendly demeanor of the security staff at the passport booth,' and she boarded the plane to leave Iran. Azulai noted that she remembered the 'hopeful faces and hopeful gaze of young Iranians,' all of whom spoke to her about their 'dream of leaving Iran and living happily in America' and even 'friendship with Israel.' Meanwhile, this female journalist's report from her two-week trip to Iran is filled with tedious clichés about Iranian society, which may reflect her depth of ignorance and possibly that of some other journalists and segments of public opinion in Israel regarding today's Iran.