A Persian and a Hindu Who Stood with the Jews

Adapted from a speech delivered by the author at a United Against Terror rally in Western Sydney on 6 July 2025, organised by Minority Impact and Never Again is Now.

At a time when the comfortable West is learning to hate—when institutions like Harvard, Columbia, Oxford, Sydney University, and The Australian National University have become breeding grounds for antisemitism and moral confusion—it is worth pausing to ask: have we forgotten the examples we once revered?

Last month, as Israel conducted Operation Rising Lion—a decisive 12-day campaign in June 2025 to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missile capabilities—a familiar cast of performative radicals took to the streets. In city after city, cloaked in keffiyehs and echoing slogans they barely understand, they chanted genocidal rallying cries that call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state. These self-styled activists and ideological opportunists—many of whom may struggle to locate Haifa or Beersheva on a map—chose, in their infinite self-assurance, to align themselves with the Ayatollahs of Iran, one of the most violent and regressive regimes on the planet.

Had they taken a moment to step outside their echo chambers, they might have noticed something telling: for nearly two years, proud Australian Iranians have been rallying in support of Israel and the Jewish Diaspora. These men and women, exiled by tyranny, know friend from foe. And they have been consistently, visibly, and courageously standing with Israel—against the terror state that continues to brutalise their homeland and threaten the civilised world.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. It funds Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and death squads across Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. It jails artists, tortures dissidents, and murders its own citizens—teenage girls, minority faith leaders, LGBTQ individuals—with medieval cruelty. It executes people for speaking freely and sends drones and missiles across borders in pursuit of regional domination. It also provides ideological and financial cover to the broader Islamist terror ecosystem, which has brutalised parts of India for decades—through attacks on Hindu pilgrims, targeted bombings, and the ongoing infiltration of jihadist ideology across Kashmir and beyond.

This is the regime that Western protestors have chosen to celebrate—blind to its barbarity, or worse, complicit in it.

But history, thank goodness, offers us better models. Not all Persians were—or are—like Khamenei. Not all kings were butchers. If we are to reject the darkness, we must also embrace the light—and two figures shine brighter than most.

History is not short of villains. But if one knows where to look, it also offers giants of conscience—men who stood for justice across lines of ethnicity, religion, and empire. Two of them were a Persian emperor and an Indian king. And both stood with the Jewish people, not despite their identity, but because of their shared humanity.

Cyrus the Great: The Persian Who Freed the Jews

In the 6th century BCE, Cyrus the Great founded what would become the largest empire the world had yet seen: the Achaemenid Empire. But his greatness was not only in conquest—it was in compassion and wisdom.
After defeating the Babylonians in 539 BCE, Cyrus encountered the remnants of a broken people: the Jews, who had been exiled from Jerusalem and held captive for decades. Unlike so many rulers before him, he did not exploit them, enslave them, or erase their identity. Instead, he issued a decree: return to your homeland. Rebuild your temple. Worship your God in peace.

The Hebrew Bible, written by the very people he freed, honours him as God’s anointed—a title given to no other gentile king. The Book of Isaiah, written before his birth, proclaims: “This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus… I will go before you and will level the mountains… I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness.”

What a stunning reversal: a Zoroastrian king of Persia becoming a divine instrument in Jewish eyes. Cyrus’s example still echoes through time—of what it means to rule with justice, dignity, and tolerance.

And today, many brave Iranians—at great personal risk—continue that legacy. They revolt against the brutality of the ayatollahs and the terror of the IRGC. They resist not only on behalf of their own people, but in defence of the universal right to live free from tyranny and terror.

Maharaja Digvijaysinhji: The Hindu King Who Saved Jewish Children
Fast forward 2,500 years to World War II. Europe was burning. The Nazis were rounding up Jews and the gates of Auschwitz were open. And amid the horror, a Polish transport carrying over 1,000 orphaned Jewish children somehow made its way to Iran—and then to the shores of British India.
There, a remarkable man intervened.

His name was Maharaja Jam Saheb Digvijaysinhji, the ruler of Nawanagar in Gujarat. The British colonial authorities were reluctant to help. But the Maharaja didn’t hesitate. He opened his palaces. He gave the children food, shelter, schooling—and dignity.

When British officials protested, he replied: “They are like my own children. I will not throw them into the sea.”

These were not his subjects. They did not share his faith. But they shared his humanity. He saw them not as Jews, not as foreigners, not as political burdens—but as children who needed saving.

Israel has not forgotten. A school in Tel Aviv bears his name. And for Jews around the world, the Maharaja remains a symbol of moral clarity in an age of moral collapse.

What Can We Learn?

What links Cyrus the Great and Maharaja Digvijaysinhji is not religion, geography, or political alignment. It is that, in their own times and ways, both exercised power with a degree of restraint and humanity that stood out—respecting the dignity of others, especially the vulnerable, when they could easily have done otherwise.

Contrast their legacy with the slogans shouted on university campuses today. The protesters chant “from the river to the sea,” demanding the erasure of Israel. They pretend to fight for justice while justifying terrorism. They target Jews in shops, synagogues, and schools—then hide behind words like “decolonisation” and “resistance.”

This is not justice. This is hatred wearing a mask.

Some might argue Cyrus acted out of pragmatic interest—the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And yet, whatever the motivations, his actions aligned with righteousness. He chose restoration over revenge, dignity over domination. His legacy—enshrined in Jewish scripture and global memory—remains a rare example of a conqueror who liberated rather than subjugated.

A Rallying Cry for Our Time

On 6 July 2025, I stood in Western Sydney alongside Iranian, Hindu, Jewish Australians and Christian and non-denominational allies—united not by uniformity of belief, but by a shared stand against terror.

We came together to say: we reject Hamas, Hezbollah, and all who glorify the murder of civilians. We reject those who excuse it. And we embrace the values of those who stood up when it mattered most.

Let our children learn the names of Cyrus the Great and Maharaja Digvijaysinhji—not because they were perfect, but because they were righteous. In an age where so many fail the test of courage, their memory reminds us: moral clarity is possible.

And it is urgently needed.

Michael Scott CSC is the CEO and Founder of The 2023 Foundation, a charity focused on combating antisemitism through lived experience. While serving in the Australian Army he rose to the rank of colonel. The views expressed are his own and do not reflect the official positions of the Australian Defence Force or the Commonwealth Government of Australia.