Haaretz
Afghanistan’s last known remaining Jew allegedly demanded a financial payment from a group of volunteers working to facilitate his evacuation from Kabul following the Taliban takeover this week, refusing to leave when his request was rebuffed.
Israeli-American businessman Moti Kahana, who has been involved in several controversial high profile exfiltrations of Jews from Middle Eastern countries, told Haaretz on Wednesday that while 62-year-old Zabulon Simantov initially agreed to be evacuated, he subsequently conditioned his exit on the receipt of “personal financing.”
“I’m not paying Jews to save their own lives. I’m here to help. I’m not here to pay you to save your life,” Kahana said.
Simantov “claimed to have had some debts that he had to cover before he leaves. We’re not in the business of covering peoples’ debts. We’re in the business of saving people’s lives if they need to be saved,” confirmed Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, the Istanbul-based chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States and another participant in the aborted rescue mission.
“When the news about the Taliban came, he indicated that he wanted to leave, and we contacted the Turkish Foreign Ministry and Kahana and his team” but “if he doesn’t feel under threat” then “it’s totally up to him,” Chitrik said. “We don’t feel that there is a threat to his life.”
In an interview with Indian news network WION aired on Tuesday, Simantov said that while he had the opportunity to flee to the United States, he had decided to remain behind in order to look after Afghanistan’s last standing synagogue.
His remark stood at odds with comm…
