Iranian authorities have downgraded the status of the tomb of Esther and Mordechai, and an official Iranian state news agency has publicized the Purim story as a Jewish massacre of Iranians.
Officials recently removed the sign that identified the mausoleum of the biblical figures in the central Iranian city of Hamadan as an official pilgrimage site. Two weeks ago, a group of about 250 militant students surrounded the tomb and threatened to tear it down.
The biblical Queen Esther was the second wife of Persian King Ahasuerus, identified as Xerxes I; Mordechai was her uncle. The Iranian state news agency has been reporting that Esther and Mordechai were responsible for the massacre of more than 75,000 Iranians.
In a letter to the United Nations, the Simon Wiesenthal Center urged UNESCO to “call upon the Iranian authorities to take appropriate measures to terminate this campaign of racism and desecration.” — jta