Rabbi Younes Hamami Lalehzar, one of the leaders of the Jewish kehilla in Iran, attacked Israel live on Iranian television on Friday and disavowed the State of Israel. He spoke on the Machfel program, one of the most popular television programs in Iran. Beginning his speech in broken Hebrew,  he said: “We are Jews who believe in our holy Torah. We we absolutely do not approve of the Israeli government, what it’s doing in the Holy Land. We demand peace for the whole world, for all the inhabitants of the Holy Land.” He then switched to Farsi, speaking against Zionism and condemning “the Zionists and the government of Israel who are committing war crimes and killing innocent people in Gaza and Lebanon.” He emphasized that “Judaism as a religion acts according to the Torah of Moses, the prophet of G-d, and fundamentally opposes arrogance and oppression. There are rules in the Torah of Judaism, even in times of war, which indicate that one should avoid harming defenseless civilians.” In particular, he noted that “according to Jewish law, even in times of war, it is forbidden to cut down fruit trees in a besieged city. And although Zionism grew out of the Jewish community, it is political and not a true representative of Judaism.” He also compared Zionism to ISIS, which “carries out violence in the name of Islam,” adding that just like ISIS cannot represent Islam, Zionism cannot represent Judaism. The TV host noted that “Chacham Hamami referred to the true doctrine of Judaism, sees Zionism as a deviation from the Jewish religion and emphasizes that the crimes of the Zionist regime contradict the religious principles of Judaism.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)