After a long weekend home in which work was minimal and delicious food plentiful, I am (ruefully) back.

Despite the mood of moroseness, the following story has succeeded in permeating the post-vacation gloom to elicit a vague ‘oh’:

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed to have Jewish past

A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his family has Jewish roots.

A close-up of the document reveals he was previously known as Sabourjian – a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver.

The short note scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth. [Continue...]

Interestingly, it is his multi-faith background that fuels his vitriol, as Ali Nourizadeh, of the Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies, indicates:

This aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad’s background explains a lot about him. Every family that converts into a different religion takes a new identity by condemning their old faith. By making anti-Israeli statements he is trying to shed any suspicions about his Jewish connections. He feels vulnerable in a radical Shia society.

Pity – imagine the possibilities if individuals exalted their multi-faith roots for the better, rather than concealing and condemning.

Although the subject of much dispute, I believe it is possible to be Jewish and anti-Zionist.

Indubitably, the faith holds tremendous links to the founding ideologies of Israel, but there should be a delineation between the heritage, culture and identity of individuals and their political orientation.

Of course, these are murky waters: the crux resides in Ahmadinejad’s response, for which the presidential press office is doubtless going into overdrive.