Iran Has Saved Jews 3 Times in History: Zarif

“To sell bigoted lies against a nation which has saved Jews 3 times, Netanyahu [is] resorting to fake history and falsifying Torah. Force of habit. Once again Benjamin Netanyahu not only distorts the realities of today, but also distorts the past — including Jewish scripture,” Zarif noted in a message posted on his official Twitter account on Sunday.

“It is truly regrettable that bigotry gets to the point of making allegations against an entire nation which has saved Jews three times in its history,” he added.

“The Book of Esther tells of how Xerxes I saved Jews from a plot hatched by Haman the Agagite, which is marked on this very day; again, during the time of Cyrus the Great, an Iranian king saved the Jews – this time from captivity in Babylon; and during the Second World War, when Jews were being slaughtered in Europe, Iran gladly took them in,” the Iranian FM went on to say.

The remarks by Iran’s top diplomat came after Netanyahu, during a recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, claimed that Iran had been trying to “destroy the Jewish people” for some 2,500 years.

Earlier on Sunday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said that Netanyahu had both misreported Iran’s pre-Islam history and inverted facts. “Apparently, he is neither acquainted with history, nor has he read the Torah.”