NYC Council Testimony: Israel Only ME Country That Protects Zoroastrians, Other Minorities

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NYC Council Testimony: Israel Only ME Country That Protects Zoroastrians, Other Minorities

Israel is the only country in the Middle East “where Zoroastrians and other religious minorities could peacefully and openly practice their religion,” Tower contributing editor Zenobia Ravji testified at a New York City Council hearing on Thursday.

Testimonies at the hearing, which debated a resolution condemning efforts to boycott Israel, were frequently interrupted by protesters who chanted “Zionism is racism,” “ Israel” and “Free Palestine” until they were removed by security.

Among those testifying was Zenobia Ravji, the associate director of coalitions at The Israel Project (which publishes The Tower). Ravji, a Zoroastrian, pointed out the strong similarities between her coreligionists and Jews, both of whem have been “persecuted for millennia” and “forced to preserve their identity in the diaspora.”

Ravji, who spent two years in Israel, noted that “it was evident that Israel was the only country in the Middle East, where Zoroastrians and other religious minorities could peacefully and openly practice their religion.”

Anti-Israel campaigns have pretenses of being a “legitimate social justice movement.” But in fact, the movement is more “about bullying, genocide, anti-Semitism, and the abuse and manipulation of the unfortunate history of oppressed peoples around the world for sympathy and support from the international community.”

http://www.thetower.org/3903-nyc-council-testimony-israel-only-me-country-that-protects-zoroastrians-other-minorities/