Woman now thought to be Afghanistan's last Jew flees country

JERUSALEM — For years, Zebulon Simentov branded himself arsenic the “last Jew of Afghanistan,” the sole remnant of a centuries-old community. He charged reporters for interviews and held tribunal successful Kabul’s lone remaining synagogue. He near the state past period for Istanbul aft the Taliban seized power.

Now it appears helium was not the past one.

Simentov’s distant cousin, Tova Moradi, was calved and raised successful Kabul and lived determination until past week, much than a period aft Simentov departed successful September. Fearing for their safety, Moradi, her children and astir 2 twelve grandchildren fled the state successful caller weeks successful an flight orchestrated by an Israeli assistance group, activists and salient Jewish philanthropists.

“I loved my country, loved it precise much, but had to permission due to the fact that my children were successful danger,” Moradi told The Associated Press from her humble quarters successful the Albanian municipality of Golem, whose beachside resorts person been converted to makeshift homes for immoderate 2,000 Afghan refugees.

Moradi, 83, was 1 of 10 children calved to a Jewish household successful Kabul. At property 16, she ran distant from location and joined a Muslim man. She ne'er converted to Islam, maintained immoderate Jewish traditions, and it was nary concealed successful her vicinity that she was Jewish.

“She ne'er denied her Judaism, she conscionable got joined successful bid to prevention her beingness arsenic you cannot beryllium harmless arsenic a young miss successful Afghanistan,” Moradi’s daughter, Khorshid, told the AP from her location successful Canada, wherever she and 3 of her siblings moved aft the Taliban archetypal seized powerfulness successful Afghanistan successful the 1990s.

Despite friction implicit her determination to wed extracurricular the faith, Moradi said she stayed successful interaction with immoderate of her household implicit the years. Her parents and siblings fled Afghanistan successful the 1960s and 1980s. Her parents are buried astatine Jerusalem’s Har Menuhot cemetery, and galore of her surviving siblings and their descendants unrecorded successful Israel.

But until this week, she had not spoken to immoderate of her sisters successful implicit fractional a century.

“Yesterday, I saw my sisters, nieces and nephews aft astir 60 years done a video call. We spoke for hours,” Moradi said. “I was truly happy, I saw their children and they met mine.”

“They said ‘it’s similar she came backmost from the grave,’” Khorshid said.

During the archetypal play of Taliban rule, from 1996 until the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, Moradi tried to support a debased profile. But she risked her beingness by hiding Rabbi Isaak Levi, 1 of the fewer remaining Afghan Jews, from the Taliban.

Levi and Simentov lived unneurotic for years successful the decrepit synagogue successful Kabul but famously despised 1 different and fought often. The Taliban usually near them alone, but intervened during 1 specified dispute, arresting them, beating them and confiscating the synagogue’s past Torah scroll, which went missing aft the Taliban were driven from power.

“Isaak came to our location during the Taliban and we hid him for a month,” Moradi said, arsenic her grandson assisted her successful retelling the story. They said erstwhile the Taliban came looking for him they said helium was a Muslim. She made preparations to smuggle the rabbi retired of the country, but his wellness degraded and helium died successful 2005. Simentov said helium was blessed to beryllium escaped of him.

Levi’s remains were flown to Israel for burial, and Moradi has kept his aged passport arsenic a memento.

When the Taliban returned to powerfulness successful August, weeks earlier the U.S. completed its withdrawal aft 20 years of war, Moradi and her household feared for their lives.

The Taliban person pledged to reconstruct bid and information to the state aft decades of conflict, but the much extremist Islamic State radical targets those who bash not stock its utmost ideology, including the Taliban themselves.

Khorshid said a comparative had met an Orthodox Jewish businessman successful Toronto, Joseph Friedberg, immoderate years ago. After the autumn of Kabul, helium ran into Friedberg and sought help.

“He came to maine and said ‘they are going to termination my mother,’” Friedberg said. Friedberg said helium reached retired to IsraAid, an Israeli non-governmental humanitarian organization.

IsraAid CEO Yotam Polizer said the organization, which has provided alleviation aft disasters specified arsenic the Japanese tsunami successful 2011 and the Ebola outbreak successful West Africa, had already successfully extracted the Afghan women’s cycling squad and dozens of different Afghans from the state erstwhile it got connection astir Moradi and her family.

He said the two-month-long endeavor to get them retired was assisted by Afghan diplomats overseas, Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s office, and Jewish businessmen, including Israeli-Kazakh billionaire Alexander Mashkevich and Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams, who tapped contacts successful Israel, Albania, Canada and Tajikistan to assistance facilitate the family’s escape.

Mashkevich said helium “involved each my friends, due to the fact that it was precise difficult.”

The Israeli president’s bureau declined to comment.

“We are truthful thankful that they are harmless now,” Khorshid said. “For the past 2 months since the Taliban takeover, I did not slumber astatine night.”

Now, Moradi and six of her relatives are successful Albania, and different 25 relatives made it to Abu Dhabi successful the United Arab Emirates earlier this week. They anticipation to unafraid transition to Canada to reunite with her children who unrecorded there.

But she besides expressed anticipation she could sojourn Israel, spot her siblings and commune astatine the graves of her parents successful Jerusalem. Her household successful Israel could not beryllium reached for comment.

“We inactive request for them to scope their last destination,” Polizer said. “We’re disquieted that they’ll beryllium stuck successful limbo.”

Adams, the Israeli-Canadian businessman, said helium has appealed to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s bureau and Canada’s migration curate connected behalf of Moradi successful an effort to unafraid visas for the family. But efforts were hampered by September’s Canadian election.

“We are successful adjacent interaction and trying to enactment the due magnitude of urgency successful describing their plight,” Adams said.

Semini reported from Golem, Albania. Tameem Akhgar, successful Islamabad, Pakistan, and successful Rahim Faiez successful Istanbul, Turkey, contributed to this report.