Rohani Congratulates Jews On New Year

Efforts made in the nuclear negotiations were not only aimed at preserving the previous achievements, Rouhani said, addressing a gathering of managers of the Iranian knowledge-based companies in Tehran on Wednesday.

Rosh Hashanah signifies the beginning of the new year in the Jewish calendar and the start of the High Holy Days, a 10-day period leading up to Yom Kippur. “L’Shanah Tovah. #RoshHashanah”, he wrote Sunday night.

Iran does not officially recognise Israel as a sovereign state, but since Rouhani’s election over two years ago the heated rhetoric against Israel has cooled.

Hassan Rouhani tweeted season greetings to the Jewish community.

Early Monday morning, Rouhani’s Twitter account posted the message, “May our shared Abrahamic roots deepen respect and bring peace and mutual understanding”. He is believed to have tweeted a similar greeting in 2013, but presidential advisors denied he had posted it. There was a Jewish exodus during the Islamic revolution of 1979. Then-Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi as soon as accused Jews as an entire of being drug sellers.

In another gesture to the Jewish community, Rouhani later donated $170,000 to the country’s only Jewish hospital.

For many Jews, however, that reassurance falls on deaf ears, given the country’s long history of violent rhetoric – and actions – toward Jews, from supporting Hamas and Hezbollah to former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s repeated claims that the Holocaust was “a myth”.