Iran and the Jewish people: An alliance before war
3/5/202652 min
Israel and Iran have been in almost constant conflict for nearly 50 years. Media tends to frame the violence as endemic, and inevitable — but it’s not.
Between the creation of Israel in 1948 and Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, the countries cooperated, if cautiously. And the bridge between them was one of the largest and oldest Jewish populations in the Middle East: a thriving community of Iranian Jews.
Today on the show, the story of Iran and Israel, told through the life of Jewish Iranian Habib Elghanain.
Guests:
Roya Hakakian, author of Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran
Shahrzad Elghanayan, author of Titan of Tehran: From Jewish Ghetto to Corporate Colossus to Firing Squad - My Grandfather's Life
Meir Javedanfar, Israeli-Iranian political scientist and teacher at Reichman University
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
[wind blowing] In a halted, autistic evening of the bull, as the oriental child, the oriental child falls down, falls down.
Ramtin Arablouei· Host0:14
About 2,500 years ago in ancient Persia, what's now Iran, a king tossed and turned in his sleep. A nightmare consumed his mind. [footsteps] He saw visions of a baby growing into a warrior, a warrior that would one day forcefully take his throne. [sword unsheathing] [drumming music] The usurper in his dreams was no stranger. It was his own infant grandson. The king awoke terrified of the prophecy, and he ordered his servant to kill the baby at once.
Rund Abdelfatah· Host1:00
But the servant couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, he secretly smuggled the baby into the care of a shepherd, who raised him. [crickets chirping] [horse galloping] The boy grew up in the countryside, healthy and strong. He became a decorated warrior, leader, and general.