The only Jew living in Afghanistan is reportedly determined to remain in the country to avoid giving a get, despite the nation’s capital and government falling to the Islamist militia of the Taliban.
Zebulon Simentov refused to leave on a private plane on Wednesday because going to Israel would mean granting a divorce to his wife, the philanthropist who organised the escape plan told the JC.
Israeli-born Moti Kahana said he spent “two days of resources and a huge amount of money” to organise the plan, but it took Mr Simentov just over half an hour to change his mind and reject the chance to leave Afghanistan.
Reportedly Mr Simentov was already packing and reciting the prayer for travellers, the signal between them that he was agreeing to leave, when he suddenly changed his mind.
Though the Taliban are said to consider Mr Simentov an “infidel”, he claims to be a proud Afghan and has said he does not want to leave his homeland.
Austrian-Afghan journalist Emran Feroz, who has previously met and interviewed Mr Simentov, said on Twitter that he was in touch with him and he remains “fine”.
Concerns for the synagogue caretaker grew after Kabul fell to the Taliban last weekend at a speed that took Western leaders by surprise.
Jews worldwide expressed their fears for Mr Simentov, calling on social media for an assurance that he was safe.
Taliban officials have insisted that they will respect the rights of Afghanistan’s minority communities, including its sole Jew. The statement was greeted with widespread scepticism.
Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman currently in Qatar, told a journalist from Israel’s Kan television network, “I don’t know the last Jew.”
He insisted however that Afghans “don’t need to fear and run away” because, “we don’t harm minorities. There are Sikhs and Hindus in the country, and they have their religious freedom”.
Under the last period of Taliban rule, however, Hindus were forced to wear yellow badges whenever they left the house in a move reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s anti-Jewish legislation.
Mr Simentov had previously stated his intention to flee the country by the end of this year’s High Holy Day season, which begins in September. In April of this year he told AFP: “I’m the last, the only Jew in Afghanistan… It could get worse for me here. I have decided to leave for Israel if the Taliban returns.”
The 62-year-old has been the only Jew in Afghanistan since his wife and daughters left for Israel and Isaac Levi, another resident of Kabul, died in 2005.
Mr Kahana says he now intends to use the private jet Mr Simentov refused to rescue 15 Afghani women who are in “hiding”, as soon as he can get a country to accept them.
He told the JC, “Israel has refused to accept them - they have only said that I should get the women to Vienna, and then they would consider what to do with them from there.”
He said he was hopeful that America would take the women and that the American Jewish community would guarantee funding to help them.
