Ahmadinejad's parents were Jewish

Close scrutiny of a photo of Iranian president Ahmadinejad with his identity card shows his name was changed at age 4.

At least one arrest has been made of a blogger who called for an investigation of Ahmadinejad's background.

What does this mean for Ahmadinejad's political future in Iran? His leadership is already compromised following the controversial recent election results.

i read another article in the guardian this morning in which a scholar on jewish iranian communities (Tel Aviv Univ. Center for Iranian `studies) disputes this finding. he says:

and there is yet another different take of "Sabourjian" out there- "it derives from thread painter -sabor in Farsi- a once common and humble occupation in the carpet industry in Semnan province where Aradan is situated". and carpet weaving or thread coloring are not jewish professions in Iran.

[quote]
The reason that Ahmadinejad's father changed his surname has more to do with the class struggle in Iran (...) to avoid snobbery and discrimination from residents of the capital."

so who knows. but it would be very interesting if he indeed has jewish roots. i read somewhere that goebbels had the same thing going on. have you read about dan burros? then again, maybe it doesn't matter if he's a self-loathing jew. The result is exactly the same in terms of policy.

It's the same in terms of policy if he stays in power, yes, but if Ahmadinejad's followers have swallowed his hate-filled diatribes against Jews, and it turns out he is one himself, I would think that would further erode his already-dwindling support. Another leader might not bloviate so frequently and vehemently against the Jews.

Much as some would love it to be true there is no Jewish gene so he's not a Jew if he's a Muslim.

Though perhaps he's fighting against his Jewish ancestory and being gay? Doesn't explain his hatred of the west though. Maybe he was made to watch Dallas as a child?

How did you come to that conclusion?

Other than the mistranslated famous sentence (which he actually didn't say) that "Israel should wiped off the map" what makes you think that he babbles, quote "hate-filled diatribes against Jews"?
AFAIK he is against the Zionists/Zionism but not against Jews in general.
FYI, Jews are also represented in the Iranian parliament and also live in Iran.

IMHO, the aformentioned surname sounds Armenian.

Wasn't Jesus Armenian too?

Well holocaust denial is hardly showing a friendly face to the Jews of the world? As I've said before, it's also stupid as his hand would be far stronger by saying he feels sympathy for the Jews of the world but it didn't warrant the creation of Israel.

It sound very logical. Just with Hitler. Most of the Gentiles don't care about Jews one way or the other. It's only some deranged Jews who are our most bitter curse

Not Goebbels himself but Magdah was raised as step daughter of Jewish businessman, Richard Friedländer, she wasn't Jewish, but she was the fiancee of the Zionist leader, Haim Arlozoroff. She was even intended to emigrate with him to Palestine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magda_Goebbels

Magda's mother Auguste married a Jewish manufacturer named Richard Friedländer and moved with him to Brussels in 1908.[4] Richard Friedländer later died in Buchenwald concentration camp. They remained in Brussels, on cordial terms, until the outbreak of World War I, when all Germans were forced to leave Belgium as refugees, to avoid repercussions from the Belgians after the German invasion.[1]

They moved to Berlin where Magda attended the high school Kolmorgen Lycée. Auguste Behrend divorced the now impoverished Friedländer in 1914.[1]

It was at this time that Magda met and became close to another refugee from Belgium, Lisa Arlosoroff. It is commonly claimed that she later dated Arlosoroff's brother Haim Arlosoroff. He was to become a prominent Zionist and was assassinated in Palestine in 1933.

There is no evidence that Magda intervened to save her Jewish stepfather from the Holocaust. Though his fate has not been established, it is widely assumed that he perished in the camps, perhaps misnamed as 'Max Friedlander', a man known to have died in Sachsenhausen. A plea from a Jewish school friend on behalf of her daughter seems to have also fallen on deaf ears.[3] Asked about her husband's antisemitism, she answered: "The Führer wants it thus, and Joseph must obey".[21]

You say "Zionist," I say "Jew."

Iran is nominally a democracy. That one Jew serves in Parliament and that Jews live in Iran is no indication that the current Iranian president is not anti-Jewish.