Jews - Tag Search

If you're a Middle East news junkie, like us, then you've probably already heard the great news today out of London: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's real last name is Sabourjian, which means he probably has Jewish ancestry.

Well, at least that's the claim being put forth by the United Kingdom's Daily Telegraph. The Telegraph says that a close-up of a photograph of Ahmadinejad holding up identity documents reveals a "short note" that "suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth."

Predictably, there are problems with the Telegraph's sensationalist story. First off, we've known about Ahmadinejad's previous surname for years: The UK Guardian, profiling Ahmadinejad in 2005, said the family changed its name from "Saborjhian" after moving from its small hometown of Aradan to Tehran. But wait, there's more.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set out on a couple media wooing attempts in the wake of a meeting today between himself, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. - an attempt to "narrow the gaps" between their views on how to proceed with peace negotiations.

There's not a lot of news out there about how the talks went; probably there weren't any substantial advances, but hey, at least they shook hands. Netanyahu, meanwhile, seemed to do a skillful public relations job.