Iranians and Israelis — loving one another???

Yes, folks. It’s possible. And it’s happening.

It comes as no surprise that shortly after the October 7 massacre in Israel, Tehran celebrated by hosting a public fireworks display.

But guess what? Only a few dozen people bothered to attend. And the next day when some pro-government figures tried to incite the crowd at a soccer game, they were met with resounding backlash. The slogans that were shouted at them…well, let’s just say they weren’t too complimentary.

Could this turn of events be emblematic of a deeper reality that betrays the party line?

The Iranian side

Prior to the 1979 Iranian revolution, Iran and Israel had close relations. I say that not to downplay the despotism of the Shah. Rather I say that to highlight one simple fact: Iranians do not have a history of widespread antagonism toward Israel.

Let’s also not forget that up till a short while ago, Iran was aflame in protests. These protests were not aimed at Israel. They were aimed at the Iranian government. They were in response to the brutal death of Mahsa Amini for not properly wearing her hijab. They lasted for a full year — from September 2022 through the following spring. And this was just the latest iteration of unrest. There were other anti-government protests — in 2009, 2017, 2019, and 2020.

Put this all together, and you have a picture of a society that knows it has no reason to hate Jews but has every reason to loathe their own government. Oh and did I mention that outside of Israel, Iran has the second-largest Jewish population in the entire Middle East? It’s only 8300, but it goes back all the way to Bible times.

Speaking of which…

The Israeli side

Most Israelis are secular. So, Bible instruction in Israeli public schools is done for historical and cultural — not religious — purposes. After all, most of the Biblical narrative takes place in Israel.

Therefore, most Israelis are likely familiar with Cyrus the Great, the Persian emperor who emancipated the Jews from captivity. Sure, that happened 2500 years ago. A couple of things have changed since then. Still, most Jews know that it was a Persian who greenlighted them to return to Zion and rebuild their Temple.

Today there are about 250,000 Jews living in Israel from Iranian descent. And a group of them called “Persians of Israel” has been instrumental in facilitating dialogue with Iranians. One member of the group, Menashe Amir, arranged for a group of Iranian Muslims living in the West to come to Israel specifically for a visit to Yad Vashem — the Israeli Holocaust museum.

The God side

My wife and I couldn’t believe our eyes. On our television screen was newscast footage showing Iranian Christians singing Jewish worship music with Hebrew lyrics!

That was several years ago. Since then, the Iranian underground church has only continued to explode. Most of these underground Christians are former Muslims. They don’t come from traditional Christian backgrounds that are rife with historic “Christian” antisemitism. They are Philo-Semites who risk their lives to leave Islam and worship Jesus (a crime punishable by death in Iran).

Then there’s the specter of Israeli Messianic Jews (that is, Jewish believers in Jesus) embracing their Iranian counterparts.

Could it be that Jesus — of all people — is bringing together Jews and Iranians? Sure it’s happening (for the most part) under the radar. But I suspect it’s a bigger development that most of us may think.

In conclusion

Make no mistake about it: the Iranian government dreams of destroying Israel. At the very least, we know that Hamas and Hezbollah are Iranian proxies. This animosity may not end well for anyone.

But below the surface, there are many on both sides who refuse to be herded along by the status quo. Efforts like Iran Loves Israel is evidence of this. Persians of Israel is evidence of this. Christians on both sides embracing each other is evidence of this.

Indeed, the evidence is mounting of a brighter Middle East — and a brighter world — on the horizon.