Zebulon Simantov, the last Jew in Afghanistan, fled with a group of women and children: “Go take our children.

Zebulon Simantov, the last Jew in Afghanistan, has finally decided to leave the country devastated after the Taliban seized power.

For more than five days, he and a large number of women and children traveled by bus flee the country commanded by the insurgent group, crossing a nation scarred by war and the recent terrorist attacks in Kabul.

The Israeli public broadcaster can had images of the dangerous journey made by Simantov before finally traveling safely to a neighboring country last weekend.

Simantov, 62, had long refused to leave Afghanistan despite threats. He was the last Jew in the country.

“I will not leave my house. If I had left, there would have been no one to maintain the synagogue. “, he said, according to Israeli media Jerusalem post.

But with the complete withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan at the end of August, which left the country in the hands of the extremist group, the pressures were mounting for him to leave.

After initially refusing, he finally accepted.

“What finally made him change his mind was that his neighbors told him to “go away and take our children because they too are in danger”Revealed the Israeli-American businessman Moti Kahana, who runs a private security firm that mined Simantov, according to The time of Israel.

“Their problem is not the Taliban, but the Islamic State, Al Qaeda. In her case, it’s the other crazy people who come every day now, ”Kahana told the Kan Network. “He fears them,” he added.

The operation was funded by Moshe Margaretten, an ultra-Orthodox American whose passion is save the Jews from danger.

“Moshe Margaretten, please take me to New York with the help of God”Simantov said in the video, according to The Times of Israel.

Kahana, who helped get people out of war-torn Syria, attempted to save Simantov amid the US withdrawal on behalf of Margaretten. Corn Simantov initially refused, apparently because of his prolonged refusal to grant his Israeli wife a “get”, or a divorce decree., because he feared to be confronted with Israeli justice, which sanctions such a refusal.

Although the Taliban spokesman assured in an interview last month that Simantov would be safe, The main fears for the last Jew in Afghanistan arose after the suicide bombing of the Islamic State in full retreat from the United StatesKan reported.

Simantov was a well-known local figure in Afghanistan. Journalists visited him regularly and some taxi drivers already knew where he lived in Kabul, where many streets are anonymous.

During the Simantov rescue operation, Kahana also released a few 30 Afghan women and children, according to The Times of Israel.

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