(JNS.org) Iranian blogger Neda Amin was offered asylum in Israel after facing deportation from Turkey to Iran, where she would be at risk of being arrested due to her work as a Persian-language blogger with The Times of Israel. “I am very happy. Israel is my country,” she said at a press conference organized by The Times of Israel. Amin, 32, who has been critical of the Iranian regime, said she will likely seek permanent resident status or citizenship in Israel, and noted she has Jewish roots through her father. “My roots are somewhat connected to Judaism. I loved Israel since my youth. I never accepted all the [Iranian] regime’s anti-Israel slogans. I always dreamed that I will somehow get to Israel,” she said. The blogger relocated from Iran to Turkey in 2014, and has since been embroiled in a legal battle to prevent her deportation back to Iran. Amin sought asylum as a refugee in several other countries, and after Israel’s journalistic associations appealed to the Israeli government, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said Aug. 6 that Amin would be issued a special visa granting her asylum in the Jewish state.