When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the joint sessions of the US Congress in March 2015, just as President Obama was about to sign a nuclear deal with Iran, he misquoted the Biblical story of Esther in an attempt to thwart the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action from being signed, and to set out his case that Iran posed an existential threat to Jews and the state of Israel.
In his speech, Netanyahu said the ancient Jewish people in Iran were almost killed by a Persian viceroy. However, it was an Amalekite official to the Persian court, Haman, who wanted to kill the Jews, but his plan was foiled by Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai.
The Persian King Ahasuerus instead ordered Haman to be killed and saved the Jewish people.
It is said that the remains of Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai lie in a tomb in the western Iranian city of Hamedan, which became an important pilgrimage site for Jews. In 2008, the Iranian government, under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, designated it a national heritage site.
Although Iran is perceived in the West as an antisemitic country, Jews have lived there for 2,700 years.
