Iran’s IRGC wanted to learn Hebrew, ex-hostage says
The jaw-dropping new book The Uncaged Sky by the Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert about the seizure of her as a hostage from 2018-2020 reveals that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sought to learn Hebrew from her, presumably for espionage purposes.
A riveting section of Moore-Gilbert’s account of her captivity states that Mohammad Reza, an IRGC official who interrogated her, said to Moore-Gilbert: “Have you thought about what you can offer us? You need to come to us with an offer. Can I make a suggestion? You speak Hebrew. You could give us lessons.”
Moore-Gilbert wrote “My eyes widened in surprise. The Revolutionary Guards want me to teach them Hebrew! The thought of me in a classroom teaching the Jewish language to a room full of antisemitic Islamic extremists was both intriguing and frightening.“
The jaw-dropping new book The Uncaged Sky by the Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert about the seizure of her as a hostage from 2018-2020 reveals that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sought to learn Hebrew from her, presumably for espionage purposes.
A riveting section of Moore-Gilbert’s account of her captivity states that Mohammad Reza, an IRGC official who interrogated her, said to Moore-Gilbert: “Have you thought about what you can offer us? You need to come to us with an offer. Can I make a suggestion? You speak Hebrew. You could give us lessons.”
Moore-Gilbert wrote “My eyes widened in surprise. The Revolutionary Guards want me to teach them Hebrew! The thought of me in a classroom teaching the Jewish language to a room full of antisemitic Islamic extremists was both intriguing and frightening.“
She told Reza that “If you agree to free me from prison and send me home. I would be willing to teach you Hebrew. But I’m not willing to spy for you. I am not a spy, and I have no interest in being one.”
A prisoner swap, and not Hebrew lessons, eventually secured Moore-Gilbert’s freedom in November 2020. Thailand’s government released three convicted Iranians who plotted a bomb explosion in Bangkok in 2012 in exchange for Moore-Gilbert’s release.
Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east