(CNN) -- -- The well-publicized landing of 40 Iranian Jews in Israel on Tuesday spurred glee among some Israelis and the immigrants themselves and drew public scorn from a surprising quarter in Iran -- two officials from its centuries-old Jewish community. One of them described the emigration as a "misinformation" campaign and defended their lives under the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The arrival in Israel was publicized as the largest single group to arrive in Israel from Iran since Iran's Islamic Revolution, and the immigrants traveled via an undisclosed third country. Other Iranian Jews have immigrated to Israel over the years.
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Senior Iranian Jew calls mass emigration of 40 Jews to Israel "misinformation"
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40 Iranian Jews landed in Israel on December 25
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U.S.-based group behind incident receives cash from evangelical Christians
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Each immigrant received $10,000 to cover abanonded possessions, group admits
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Anti-Semitism has been a worldwide phenomenon for centuries and the state of Israel became a homeland for @placeholder to escape anti-Semitic persecution.
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It says it wants to help @placeholder flee such persecution.
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There has been great criticism of Ahmadinejad by @placeholder across the globe for his remarks about Israel, for the government's stance toward Israel, and for the regime's sponsorship of a recent Holocaust denial seminar.
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Eckstein said immigrants received $10,000 each because they left behind possessions to go to @placeholder.
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The immigration comes at a time of great tension between @placeholder, whose president stoutly rejects the Jewish state's existence, and Israel, which asserts that Iran is funding terrorism, has ambitions to develop nuclear weapons, and is intent on destroying the Jewish state.
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He said almost 95 percent of @placeholder went to the United States and as a result there is now quite a sizable Iranian Jewish community there.