Rabbi Ahron Cohen

TEHRAN, March 6--A group of five rabbis from Britain and the US is in town to publicize their anti-Zionism campaign, calling for a speedy and peaceful dismantlement of Israel.
In an exclusive interview with Iran Daily, Rabbi Ahron Cohen of the Jews United Against Zionism said the group has found the situation of Jews in Iran quite satisfactory despite the negative western propaganda.
“Iran is depicted as a repressive religious state where minorities are not allowed to express themselves freely. It is also depicted as an anti-Semitic state, but we found the reverse. The Jews have the opportunity to express themselves and have their own parliamentary representative,“ he said.
Rabbi Cohen added that the group visited the Jewish community in Iran and did not get the impression that there is any problem.
He said most of the Iranian Jews are opposed to Zionism.
“There might be some people who would think otherwise out of ignorance, but I really did not come across such kind of people in Iran,“ he said.
Asked whether he can put it in a sentence why the Orthodox Jews are against the existence of Israel, the rabbi said there are two reasons for that. “Number one is that it is against our religious beliefs and we consider it as a rebellion against the Almighty God to try to establish a state,“ he said, adding that the second reason is that it is against universal principles to repress another people like what the Israelis did to the indigenous people of Palestine by pushing them out.
“This is not acceptable from any religious point of view,“ he said.
He insisted that Zionism and Judaism need to be viewed as two different concepts.
“Many Jews do not approve of Zionism, but they cannot say this publicly. Even the western media and politicians are scared because wealthy Zionists support them financially,“ he said, adding that the western media and politicians are controlled, to some extent, by the Zionists.
Rabbi Cohen said Orthodox Jews believe the opposition to Zionists should be made public. “They favor the peaceful dismantling of Israel,“ he said, noting that whoever criticizes Zionism is accused of anti-Semitism.

Brigadier Mohammad Rouyanian

TEHRAN, March 6--Islamic Republic of Iran Police (IRIP) wants to ensure that traffic officers do not penalize drivers without a logical reason by increasing control over their performance and appointment procedures.
Speaking to reporters after attending the IRIP’s Monitoring Center, Brigadier Mohammad Rouyanian, deputy head of IRIP’s Traffic Department, added 2,000 traffic officers have been reprimanded in the past two months, some of whom have been stripped of the authority to issue driving tickets, ISNA reported on Monday.
Traffic officers are appointed after undergoing qualification assessment procedures at the IRIP’s Intelligence Bureau.
The brigadier said the number of driving tickets issued since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 2005) has fallen by 20 percent, while complaints filed by fined drivers also decreased by 30 percent in the past one-and-half months compared with the corresponding period of last year.
Rouyanian admitted to the general dissatisfaction over services rendered by the department such as the time taken for issuing a driver’s license after passing the test.
He noted that the judiciary’s decision to set up dispute settlement councils for traffic complaints, which will function under the supervision of the Traffic Department, is to do away with the need to refer most cases to the judiciary.
“So far, 118 councils have been set up throughout the country, out of which 10 are stationed in Tehran,“ he said, adding that these members include representatives of IRIP’s commander and intelligence bureau.
Rouyanian said distribution of 30,000 books on traffic laws and regulations in schools is part of police effort to promote safe driving.

TEHRAN, March 6--Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad-Adel here Sunday stressed cooperation and solidarity among Muslim states regarding recent events in the Islamic world.
“Under the present sensitive and grave circumstances, unity and coordination among Muslim states is vital,“ said Haddad-Adel in a meeting with Secretary-General of the Council of Parliamentary Union of the OIC member-states (PUIC), Ibrahim Auf, IRNA reported.
Haddad-Adel said the council shoulders the role of drawing a framework for boosting cooperation among the parliaments of Muslim states and unifying Muslim stances at the international level.
He hoped that the upcoming PUIC meeting would play an effective role in promoting all-out ties, especially for averting ongoing threats facing Muslims.
For his part, Auf referred to the desecration of twin shrines in Samarra, Iraq, and said enemies try to foment sectarian and civil war in Iraq and pit Muslims against each other.
“The division of Islamic sects in Iraq and partition of the country are on top of the US agenda,“ he said.
Auf urged the presence of high-ranking Iranian delegation in the upcoming PUIC meeting, given Tehran’s influential role in the union.

TEHRAN, March 6--An MP from Tabriz, Akbar Alami, here Monday described the ongoing dispute between Majlis and government over the next year’s budget bill (starts March 21) as politicized.
Alami told ILNA that people have been made a scapegoat by both Majlis and government.
“After the government did not welcome the proposal for selling participation bonds for development projects, it became evident that the government does not have goodwill in this respect,“ he said.
He pointed out that the government wants to make use of the Foreign Exchange Reserve Fund for implementing development projects.
Alami, also a member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said that although 99 lawmakers agreed to his proposal of selling 80-180 trillion rials worth of participation bonds to finance incomplete development projects, the Majlis did not approve it.
“The sale of participation bonds will help attract liquidity, reduce inflation and give rise to many other benefits,“ he said.
The MP provided reporters with a 14-page catalogue packed with charts and tables regarding budgets allocated for governmental institutions.
“Although many projects have been considered for many provinces, there are no projects for certain provinces,“ he said.
Alami claimed that his catalogue shows that the next year’s budget is not functional.

Ahmad Mousavi

TEHRAN, March 6--An official said on Monday people will support executive officials promoting justice.
Speaking in a meeting with executive deputies, Ahmad Mousavi, vice president for legal and parliamentary affairs, added that administration of justice is one of the key slogans of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, IRNA reported.
“Officials, particularly those working in the legal affairs departments of all executive organizations, shoulder the responsibility of administering justice,“ he said.
He stressed the necessity of knowing the spirit of laws for serving people and called for facilitating people’s recourse to these laws.
Mousavi noted that deputies should clarify laws and regulations to prevent bewilderment among the people.
Also speaking in the meeting, Tehran University Chancellor Ayatollah Abbasali Amid-Zanjani said justice and law are inseparable while laws should be revised continually for the administration of justice.
“Such a new system requires an advanced system of law,“ he said.
The chancellor stressed that theological schools, universities and Majlis play the most important role in making laws compatible with new conditions of the society.
Amid-Zanjani expressed hope that deputies in the current administration, in addition to advancing legal plans, prepare the ground for rendering better services to people while using specialized staff and new systems of information dissemination.

TEHRAN, March 6--Members of Iran-Jordan Parliamentary Friendship Group here Sunday convened to discuss further expansion of bilateral relations based on commonalities.
A report released by Majlis Media Department said that during the meeting, the Jordanian co-chair of the friendship group, Mohammad Bani-Hani, referred to Muslim states as members of a single body, IRNA reported.
He urged the need for more unity and solidarity to overcome the threats facing the Muslim world.
Appreciating Iran’s approach to Muslim problems, particularly those related to Palestine, he said Iran stands in the frontline of the campaign against Zionism and global despotism.
He pointed out that the publication of blasphemous cartoons against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the explosion at the Shiite holy shrines were connected with such mischievous attempts.
For his part, the Iranian co-chair, Heshmatollah Falahat-Pisheh, added that the two sides should make full use of their political, parliamentary and economic potentials to further broaden their relations.
Stressing the inalienable right of Iran to peaceful nuclear energy, he said the use of nuclear weapons is contrary to Islamic laws.
At the end of the meeting, members of the joint friendship group called for a more decisive role of parliaments in broadening bilateral ties in political, economic and cultural fields.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 6--Current threats posed by the Zionist regime against Iran is nothing but psychological warfare, said an Iraqi MP on Sunday.
Mahmoud Osman, a member of Iraq’s National Assembly, also told IRNA that these threats are aimed at pressurizing Tehran and testing how fast Iranian officials respond.
He further said the Zionist regime cannot afford to launch a military attack in view of Iran’s powerful military and strong political and religious influence in the region.
Dismissing threats of a military attack by the Zionist regime or the US against Iran, he said it should be remembered that “Iran has zealous supporters in Lebanon, Palestine and Syria“.
Osman, who is a senior Kurdish Alliance representative in the assembly, further said threats would only aggravate tensions in the Middle East, which is already witnessing terrorist attacks.
“The US or Israel will face resistance from the region’s Muslims, should they attack Iran. And this would discourage them from even thinking of invading the country,“ he said.