Guardian Debunks Report Ahmadinejad Is Jewish

The Guardian debunked the claim of a rival newspaper that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is of Jewish lineage.

Guardian columnist Meir Javedanfar quoted experts in a column Monday that rebutted the claims in the London Daily Telegraph that Ahmadinejad's family converted to Islam after his birth.

The claim is based on a number of arguments, especially that his previous surname was Sabourjian, which "derives from weaver of the sabour, the name for the Jewish tallit shawl in Persia."

Professor David Yeroshalmi, author of "The Jews of Iran in the 19th Century" and an expert on Iranian Jewish communities, disputes the validity of the argument, Javedanfar wrote.

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