Roger Cohen at Sinai Temple

Roger Cohen appeared last night at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, to face an audience of about 500 people, mostly members of the LA Persian community, to answer questions about his February 22 column (“What Iran’s Jews Say”).  He traveled at his own expense, taking no fee, in response to the invitation Rabbi David Wolpe conveyed to him through Jeffrey Goldberg’s blog.  The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles has posted the video of the event, which it carried live.  Cohen is an urbane and articulate man.

In his column, Cohen portrayed an Iranian Jewish community purportedly living in “relative tranquility.”  He noted a synagogue opposite a mosque in Palestine Square that had put a banner over its entrance reading “Congratulations on the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution” and asked the synagogue leader about the chants of “Death to Israel” that punctuate life in Iran.  The leader purported not to be bothered by it and added that “when I see something like the attack on
Gaza, I demonstrate, too, as an Iranian.”  Another Jew told him the “Death to
Israel” chants bothered him, but “went on” to criticize the “double standards” that allow
Israel to have a nuclear bomb, but not
Iran.  A third Jew told him
Gaza showed
Israel’s government was “criminal.”  In his column, Cohen identified each individual by name. 

The Iranian media reprinted Cohen’s column, minus some parts it didn’t like.  Asked last night why he had reported statements of obvious propaganda use, Cohen responded “They said it, so why not report it?”  Told by a Persian member of the audience that the people he interviewed were obviously afraid, especially if they would be identified, Cohen responded “Just because they were afraid does not mean every word they said is not true.”

Cohen’s credulous responses reminded me of the Cold War story Gershom Gorenberg recently related:

A Soviet diplomatic delegation once visited the West — so goes the story — and a Jewish member of the team spoke to journalists.

Asked about the
Middle East, he parroted the party line and attacked “Zionist imperialism.” Afterward, a reporter cornered him and said, “You’re Jewish. You must have your own opinion about this.”

“Yes,” said the Jew from
Moscow, “but I don’t agree with it.”

The difference is the reporter in the story, hearing the improbable parroting of the party line, asked the obvious follow-up question.  Roger Cohen did not.  As someone “ashamed” of
Israel, Cohen evidently liked what he heard in
Iran, so he reported it.  

UPDATE: David Gerstman (Soccer Dad) emailed a link to Michael Rubin’s excellent post on Roger Cohen (http://tinyurl.com/Rubin-Cohen) and Roger Simon, who was at Sinai Temple last night, has an article at Pajamas Media on Cohen’s presentation (http://tinyurl.com/Simon-Cohen). PJTV filmed both the event and interviews afterwards.