Empire of Hate - Podcast One - An Overview of Iranian Hatred

Hello and welcome to Republic of Hate – Iran, Israel, and Anti-Semitism, in which we explore Iran’s hatred of Israel, Jews, and the West. These are essays by Dr. Mark Silinsky, president of Kensington Security Consulting, which brings education to the field of national security. And now to podcast one – An Overview of Hate "So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian." Christian Bible, King James Version, 6, 28.                 In 2020, world leaders gathered at Israel’s national Holocaust Memorial to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Soviet liberation of Auschwitz, one of history’s most deadly death camps. During the event, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence highlighted Iran’s goal to destroy Israel. Both leaders criticized what they saw as the weak international efforts to curb Iran's power and global influence. Referring to the Islamic Republic, Netanyahu said, "We have yet to see a unified and resolute stance against the most anti-Semitic regime on the planet.” Six years later, Israel and America united to confront that threat. But why? What are the roots of this anger and hatred? Why did both states, particularly Israel, see Iran as an existential threat?  Let’s explore the background with an eye to Iran’s leadership's hatred of Jews. We will begin this series of podcasts with a broad overview.  Iran’s deep-seated anti-Semitism has persisted for over four decades. With the rise of the Islamic revolution, hidden anti-Semitic sentiments surged to levels unseen in generations. A long-dormant hatred of Jews resurfaced. After seizing power in 1979, Iran’s new leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, reversed the Shah’s pro-Western policies. The once-prominent museum exhibitions and art-house cinema in Tehran disappeared. Non-Muslim Iranians became suspects in the eyes of the newly formed Iranian intelligence and security services.   In many ways, Iran's Islamic revolution was a upheaval as globally significant as the French, Russian, and Chinese revolutions. All three were highly authoritarian, intolerant of dissent, and determined to dismantle all remnants of existing governments. The ruling elites created by the revolutionaries held power completely. The new government developed security and intelligence agencies to uncover and eliminate enemies. In Iran’s new demonology, Zionists and Jews held a prominent position.             In the mid-1980s, Iranian state-controlled media outlets began vilifying Jews. Illustrators of children’s cartoons depicted Jews as pigs and apes. Themes in television talk shows and literary coffee klatches include Jewish vampirism and old blood libels. Clergy recycled ancient accusations of Jews persecuting Muhammad. Among politicians and public intellectuals, the word "Jew" is used as a slur in Iranian political discourse. The words "Jew" and "Zionist" are often used interchangeably and generally with disdain. Christians are somewhat better off than Jews, but they often pray quietly, sometimes secretly, and frequently out of fear. Like Jews and practicing Christians, Baha’i await a late-night knock on the door, followed by arrest and imprisonment on charges ranging from insulting Islam to espionage, both of which can be capital crimes.             Ancient History and Modern Times – The Past is a Foreign Country             Iran was not always a place of Jew-hatred. Jews have lived in Persia/Iran for 2,700 years, arriving more than a thousand years before Muslims. The Jewish holiday of Purim is filled with Persian heroes and villains. Jews considered Persian King Cyrus the world’s first Zionist because he allowed them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. When given the chance, many Jews returned to Israel, but many also stayed in Persia. There were friendships, conflicts, and a wide range of social interactions. Court Jews and prominent artists mingled with the Persian elite, and the Jewish poor struggled in poverty alongside other impoverished Persians. Jews were fellow countrymen.             For centuries, Iranian leaders provided Jews with basic protections mandated by Islamic law, or Sharia. Jews were able to practice their faith quietly as long as they paid a special poll tax, followed various restrictions—including bans on bearing arms and riding horses—and accepted a lower social status. Until the eighteenth century, Jews generally fared better in the Muslim world, including Iran, than in Christian Europe. Bernard Lewis noted that "Jews were never free of discrimination but only rarely subject to persecution.”             Islam introduced new challenges for Persian Jews. In the sixteenth century, the Safavid dynasty imposed restrictions on all minorities, including Jews, which limited economic opportunities and social interaction. When Tehran became the capital of the country in the eighteenth century, leaders confined Jews to a ghetto. Jews endured harsh living conditions and had a degraded social status. The most difficult aspect for many Jews was forced conversions to Islam. Jewish life improved as international pressure on key Persian leaders led to social and political reforms in the 1850s. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Shia clergy tried to resist the unstoppable forces of modernization and secularization.             In the early twentieth century, life improved, and by the 1930s, Jews could leave ghettos and live in integrated neighborhoods. Jews in the Ottoman Empire experienced better conditions and enjoyed privileges denied to Persian Jews. Many Jews began to prosper in Iran after World War II. The Shah looked to Western models of free enterprise to develop the country and saw Jews as agents of progress. At the same time, murmurs of Islamic revivalism started to grow in Iran and across the greater Middle East.                 If there was a golden age for Iranian Jewry, it was probably during the two-generation Pahlavi era before the Islamic Revolution. Jews generally lived as equals to their countrymen, and the sudden rise of violent antisemitism in Iran in the late 20th century surprised many Jewish residents. Some Jews had names of famous figures from Koranic literature, such as Habib, Abdullah, and Ruhollah. The mostly harmonious Jewish-non-Jewish relations were disrupted by the 1979 revolution. Khomeini was not only hostile toward the Jewish state but also openly expressed his hostility toward Jews. He claimed that Islam had been at war with Jews since the time of Muhammad.             Khomeini’s closest allies, isolated for years in Qom, now held power in Tehran, and they targeted opponents of the revolution. The ayatollah’s men rounded up the Shah’s supporters and sent them to prisons where they were imprisoned, often tortured, and sometimes killed. Among the victims were Jews, some of whom had supported both Jewish and Muslim community centers during the Pahlavi era. The first highly publicized execution shocked what remained of Iran’s old Jewish community. Rumors spread that women were also killed, and that a young woman, eight months pregnant, was hanged. Some were determined to leave Iran at any cost, many without possessions and with the knowledge that they would never recover their confiscated property.             Jews who left Iran during revolutionary times recall mixed memories of their childhoods and early adulthood. Some stay warmly nostalgic, remembering the joy of friendship they experienced in Iran’s small Jewish communities. In better times, they forged friendships with non-Muslim neighbors and business contacts, some of whom protected them from intelligence and security officials. However, they could not escape the constant fear of being arrested on false espionage charges or being arbitrarily beaten or robbed. One Jew, who later became Iran’s only parliamentarian, explained that he never considered leaving Iran. "I am Iranian - I pray in Hebrew, and I can speak English, but I can only think in Persian.” This concludes this podcast from Republic of Hate – Iran, Israel, and Anti-Semitism. We would love to read your comments. Dr. Silinsky’s latest book – Cauldron of Terror – Israel, Hamas, and the World – will be available for purchase in summer 2026. Nothing in this or any of Dr. Silinsky’s podcasts represents the official position of the United States Department of War or any other agency of the United States government. On behalf of Kensington Security Consulting, thank you for listening, and goodbye until our next podcast.